Latest / The Story of Armenia: Survival Through Empires and Genocide — Fexingo History / The 1895-96 Hamidian Massacres: Armenia's Pre-Genocide Warning
Transcript
- Lucas: If you've been stepping into history with us episode by episode, you know we've talked a lot about 1915. About the Armenian Genocide, the trials, the survivors. But there's a massive chapter that comes almost twenty years earlier, and it's one of those things that makes you wonder — could it have been stopped? Luna: The Hamidian Massacres? Lucas: Exactly. Between 1894 and 1896, under Sultan Abdul Hamid II, somewhere between a hundred thousand and three hundred thousand Armenians were killed. It was a brutal wave of violence that swept through the Ottoman Empire, from the mountains of Sasun to the streets of Constantinople. And honestly, if today's worth a coffee to you, it's the kind of story that makes you want to make sure these things aren't forgotten. The link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's just that. Luna: It really puts the later genocide in context, doesn't it? Lucas: It does. Because the Hamidian Massacres were like a dress rehearsal for 1915. The same patterns — government orchestration, Kurdish irregulars, the use of religion as a weapon — it all happened here first. And the world saw it. There were European consuls, American missionaries, journalists reporting on it. But almost nothing was done. Lucas: So let's start with the trigger. In the summer of 1894, in the Sasun region — that's near Lake Van, rugged country — Armenian villagers had been resisting forced taxation and Kurdish raids. The Ottoman authorities responded by sending in the army, along with Kurdish tribesmen. And it wasn't a military operation; it was a massacre. Whole villages wiped out. Luna: How many died in Sasun alone? Lucas: Estimates range from three thousand to ten thousand. And the news spread. European governments — Britain, France, Russia — they protested. They demanded reforms. The Sultan even agreed to a commission of inquiry. But the commission was stacked with Ottoman officials, and the report blamed the Armenians for provoking the violence. Luna: Which is exactly what would happen later, too. Lucas: Exactly the same playbook. Then in 1895, the Sultan issued a set of reforms — the May 11 reforms — that were supposed to protect Armenians. But they were never implemented. And that's when the massacres really exploded. Between August and December of 1895, violence spread like wildfire across the empire. Lucas: We have detailed accounts from British diplomats like Sir Philip Currie, the ambassador in Constantinople. He reported that the Hamidiye regiments — Kurdish cavalry units created by the Sultan specifically to suppress Armenians — were leading the charge. They'd ride into a town, the local authorities would hand over lists of Armenian homes, and they'd systematically loot and kill. Luna: And the Ottoman army just stood by? Lucas: Often they participated. In some places, they refused to intervene, or even helped the rioters. In Trabzon, for example, the governor himself was implicated. In Diyarbakir, the telegraph office was cut off so news couldn't get out. But some resistance did happen. In the town of Zeytun — in the Taurus mountains — the Armenians actually held off the Ottoman army for months. Lucas: The Zeytun uprising of 1895 is remarkable. The Armenian fighters, around 6,000 of them, fortified the town and repelled several Ottoman attacks. They even captured some Ottoman soldiers. Eventually, European consuls negotiated a settlement — the Ottomans withdrew, and the rebels were given safe passage. But that was a rare victory. Luna: And then came the Ottoman Bank incident in Constantinople. Lucas: Right. On August 26, 1896, a group of Armenian revolutionaries from the Dashnaktsutyun party seized the Ottoman Bank in the Galata district. They were armed with bombs and pistols. Their demand was simple: the European powers should enforce the reforms. They held the bank for 14 hours, and the standoff ended when the Ottoman ambassador to France, through French mediation, promised safe passage. Luna: But that didn't end well for the broader community. Lucas: No. The day after the bank occupation, the Ottoman authorities unleashed a three-day pogrom in Constantinople. Thousands of Armenians were killed in the streets, in their homes, in churches. The mobs were organized by the government — they even had lists. And the European powers? They condemned the violence, but they didn't intervene. Lucas: One of the figures who witnessed this was an American missionary named William Sachtleben. He was a journalist and explorer, and he documented the aftermath in the provinces. His reports, along with those of the British vice-consul in Van, gave the world a clear picture. And yet, the Great Powers were more concerned with the Macedonian crisis and the scramble for colonies. Luna: So the message was: you can attack Armenians with impunity. Lucas: That's exactly the lesson Abdul Hamid took, and it paved the way for the Young Turks after him. The Hamidian Massacres were a warning that went unheeded. In fact, some historians argue that if the international community had acted decisively in 1895, the Armenian Genocide of 1915 might never have happened. But instead, the world looked away.