The Century of Genocides

Congo

May 20, 1880

A British Explorer, Henry Morton Stanley, and King Leopold the Second formed a colony of their own in Congo. Stanley manipulated African Chiefs into giving away their land to Leopald. Leopald’s hunger for wealth, led the genocide in Congo. The Congolese people endured rape, slave labour and torture during this time. Approximately 5-21 million citizens of Congo were killed.

Armenia

Apr 24, 1915

Mehmed Talaat, Ismail Enver and Ahmed Djemal were young Turks who were dictators wanted authority and wanted to create a new Turkish empire with only one language and one religion. It was a systematic destruction of the Ottoman Empire and the Armenian citizens. Smart people were first tortured, jailed and killed. Women and children were forced to participate in death marches which involved them being shot, tortured and starved. The men worked as slaved and killed.1.5 million were killed.

Ukraine

Oct 21, 1932

Joseph Stalin was the leader during this period; his goal was to wipe out the entire Ukraine population. The main cause of death was starvation during this genocide. Stalin forbid people to eat, if someone were to take a bite of food they would be sentenced to death. He also prevented any transportation of food to any villages.

Nanking

Nov 13, 1937

China’s capital got a surprise visit from the Japanese Imperial Army who killed half of the population living in the city. This event occurred after a battle between Chinese and Japanese forces in Shanghai. The Japanese thought the remaining Chinese soldiers were unworthy and the decided to kill all of the surviving soldiers. Thousands of women were raped and tortured.

Holocaust

Apr 30, 1938

Adolf Hitler was the leader of the most brutal genocide in history. Hitler wanted the Jewish people of Germany, Poland and other countries to become extinct. He had his Nazis and some Germans on his side. Hitler felt that Caucasians were the superiority race. The main causes of death included, concentration camps, gas chambers, torturing, famine and slavery.. Approximately, 11 million died during this genocide.

Raphael Lemkin

Jun 27, 1944

Lemkin was a Polish-Jewish lawyer who created the term genocide. “geno” means group or racial tribe, “cide” means to kill. Raphael changed to world’s view of the term genocide.

International Military Tribunal

Nov 20, 1945

Between 1945-1946 in Nuremberg, the International Military Tribunal took the 22 major Nazi leaders to court for crimes against humanity and peace, conspiracy and war crimes. This tribunal was the first time national leaders were brought to justice.

Cambodia

Dec 25, 1975

The Communist Party, Khumer Rogue led this genocide under the control of Pol Pot. The goal of this genocide was to make the Vietnamese, Chinese, Buddhist Monks eventually become extinct. The Rouge wanted power. The main causes of death included, starvation or relocation of the population. The number of estimated number of deaths is 1.7 million people.

Bosnia

Nov 16, 1994

The Serbians led this genocide. The campaign was for ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims. It left thousands of Bosnian Muslims dead. The main weapon was the citizens being shipped off to death camps.

Rwanda

Apr 6, 1998

An estimated 500 000 civilians were killed in four months. This genocide included the Hutus against the Tutsis; the Tutsis were the minority group in this case. This was one of the most gruesome genocides in history. The Hutus were craving power and superiority. The main weapon were machetes and rape.

U.S Signs the Genocide Convention

Nov 4, 1998

Ronald Reagan, the US president at the time, decided to sign the UN Convention on the Preventation and Punishment of Genocide. Strong people supported this convention however people argued. This convention went on for years.

Iraq

Jan 14, 2003

This genocide was led by Ali Hasan Al-Majid, Saddam Hussien’s cousin and was a direct attack against the Kurdish people. Chemical warfare was one of the main ways of killing the Kurdish citizens. Deportation and aerial bombing on villages happened as well. The Kurdish villages were declared, “forbidden zones.”

Darfur

Feb 3, 2003

Secretary of State, Colin Powell stated, “We concluded, I concluded that genocide has been committed in Darfur and that the Government of Sudan and the Janjaweed bear responsibility, and that genocide may still be occurring. The genocide of Darfur included the Black Sudanese and Janjaweed people. The attack consisted of malnutrition, rape, torture, and invasion of villages. Approximately, 2 million people were killed.