Difference between revisions 117876195 and 117876197 on dewiki

{{Mergefrom|Battle of Van|date=May 2007}}
{{Infobox Military Conflict
|conflict=Van Resistance<br>Վասպուրականի ապստամբությունը
|image=[[Image:Van Defenders.jpg|280px]]
|caption=Armenian troops holding a defense line against Turkish forces in the walled city of Van in May 1915.
|date=[[April 19]], [[1915]] - [[May 6]], [[1915]]
|place=City of [[Van, Turkey|Van]], [[Van Province, Ottoman Empire|vilâyet of Van]]
|result=Armenian victory
(contracted; show full)
===Hamidian Massacres===
{{main|Hamidian massacres|Defense of Van}}

Throughout 1895-96 Armenians in the [[Ottoman Empire]] suffered in a wave of violence commonly known as the [[Hamidian massacres]]. While Van largely avoided massacres in 
[[1895]], the Ottomans send a military expedition in June of 1896. Armenians were initially able to defend themselves in Van, but upon agreeing to disarm in exchange for safety, massacres continued, culminating in the death of over 20,000 Armenians.

Despite this, Armenians continued to make up a relative majority of the population in what is today known as [[Eastern Anatolia]] or [[Western Armenia]]). According to [[Viscount Bryce]], their numbers were between 1.8 and 2.1 million.<ref>A.A. Türkei 183/44. A27493, October 4, 1916. (German archives); The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Documents presented to Viscount Grey of Fallodon, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs By Viscount Bryce, London 1916 </ref> In the Van province, they constituted an absolute majority over the combined Turkish and Kurdish population.<ref>Walker, Christopher J. ''Armenia: The Survival of a Nation''. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1990. p. 206</ref>

===Start of hostilities===

{{main|World War I|Battle of Sarikamish}}

With the start of hostilities against [[Russian Empire|Russia]] in fall of [[1914]], the Ottoman Army under [[Enver Pasha]] embarked on an expedition north into [[Russian Armenia]] that led to the defeat at [[Sarıkamış]] in winter of 1914. However, this had not been the only defeat on the [[Caucasus_Campaign|Caucasus front]].

==Jevdet's reign of terror==

The most important change prior to the start of the war had been the replacement of the more moderate Hassan Tahsin Pasha with Jevdet Bey, as the new governor of Van. Djevdet's extremism towards Armenians was more open. A man of dangerously unpredictable moods, friendly one moment, ferociously hostile the next, was capable of treacherous brutality.

===Massacres in Persia===

{{main|Assyrian Genocide|Armenian Genocide}}
[[Image:Vilayet.jpg|left|150px|thumb|Map of the [[Van Province, Ottoman Empire|vilâyet of Van]] and [[Salmas]] district]]
To the south, Ottoman forces attacked Russian-occupied [[Iranian Azerbaijan|Persian Azerbaijan]], and occupied its capital, [[Tabriz]] in January of 1915. There was a large non-Muslim population in this district, consisting of [[Armenians]] and [[Assyrians]]. Many fled with the retreating Russian army, in a horrible winter trek to the Russian border town of [[Julfa]]. Those that remained endured a grim period of looting and massacre; many villages were plundered and destroyed.

The Turks were thrown out of Tabriz on 30 [[January]] [[  1915]], but remained in occupation of part of Persian Azerbaijan. A campaign to capture [[Khoi]], 160 [[kilometres]] north-west of Tabriz, ensued, led by Djevdet Bey, brother-in-law of Enver. After an unsuccessful attempt, Djevdet ordered the cold-blooded killing of about 800 people – mostly old men, women and children – in the [[Salmas]] district (to the north-east of Lake Urmia) in early March.

===The massacres continue in Van===
[[Image:Aram Manoogian.gif|150px|thumb|[[Aram Manougian]]]]
(contracted; show full)[[Category:History of Armenia]]
[[Category:History of the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Middle Eastern theatre of World War I]]
[[Category:Armenian Genocide]]
[[Category:Armenian resistance]]


[[es:Resistencia de Van]]