Latest / The Story of Armenia: Survival Through Empires and Genocide — Fexingo History / The Siege of Van 1915: Ottoman Empire vs Armenian Resistance
Transcript
- Lucas: We've talked a lot about medieval Armenia — the Bagratids, the Mamikonians, the whole nakharar system. But today I want to jump forward to a moment that's searing in Armenian memory: the siege of Van in 1915. It's a story of desperate resistance, and it's also a window into the early stages of the Armenian Genocide. Luna: Van — that's the city near Lake Van, right? In the heart of historic Armenia. Lucas: Exactly. Lake Van, the great inland sea, and the city of Van itself — for centuries it had been a center of Armenian life. By 1915, it was part of the Ottoman Empire, but with a large Armenian population. And World War I had just erupted. The Ottomans were fighting the Russians on the Caucasus front, and Van was strategically important. Lucas: The Ottoman governor of Van province was a man named Jevdet Bey. He was the brother-in-law of Enver Pasha, one of the ruling triumvirate. And Jevdet was known for his harshness. In early 1915, he began demanding that Armenians hand over weapons. Then he ordered the arrest of Armenian leaders. And rumors started flying that a massacre was being planned. Luna: So the Armenians decided to fight back? Lucas: Not all of them — many in the countryside were disarmed and deported. But in the city of Van itself, the Armenians organized a self-defense. They barricaded the streets, set up barricades, and prepared for a siege. The leader was Aram Manukian, a fedayee — a guerrilla fighter from earlier struggles. He had been involved in the Armenian revolutionary movement for years. Luna: Fedayeen — that term we've heard before, in the context of the late Ottoman period. Lucas: Right. The fedayeen were Armenian freedom fighters, often operating in small bands. But in Van, they became an organized militia. The siege began in earnest on April 20, 1915. The Armenian quarter of Van was surrounded by Ottoman troops and Kurdish irregulars. The Armenians had maybe 1,500 fighters, with a few hundred rifles, and faced an Ottoman force that grew to several thousand. Lucas: What's remarkable is how long they held out. For over a month, the Armenians defended their neighborhood. They dug trenches, built barricades, even manufactured gunpowder. Women and children took shelter in basements. The fighting was house to house. And they were running out of food and water. Luna: Were there any outsiders who witnessed this? Lucas: Yes — and that's one of the key sources for what happened. An American missionary, Dr. Clarence Ussher, was in Van at the time. He and his wife, Elizabeth, ran a hospital there. Ussher kept a detailed diary. He describes the shelling, the wounded, the burial of the dead in courtyards. He even tried to mediate between the Armenians and Jevdet Bey, but it didn't work. Lucas: The Ottoman forces used artillery. Ussher wrote about shells crashing into the hospital compound. Elizabeth Ussher died during the siege — from typhus, not from a bullet, but her death added to the horror. Yet the Armenians kept fighting. And they knew that if they held on, the Russian army was advancing and might relieve them. Luna: So the Russians were coming? Lucas: General Nikolai Yudenich, the Russian commander, had launched an offensive. The Russian Caucasus Army pushed toward Van. And on May 17, 1915, the Cossack cavalry reached the city. The Ottoman forces withdrew. The siege was over. The Armenians had survived — but only for a little while. Luna: What happened next? Lucas: The Russians occupied Van, and the Armenians set up a provisional administration. Aram Manukian was the de facto governor. They tried to restore order, bring in food, and protect the surrounding villages. For a few months, Van was a kind of Armenian safe zone. But then the tide of war shifted. The Russians were forced to retreat in the summer of 1915, and the Armenians faced a terrible choice: flee with the Russians or stay and face Ottoman reprisals. Lucas: Most of them chose to retreat. Thousands of Armenians from Van and the surrounding area joined the Russian withdrawal. They became refugees, marching through the mountains toward the Russian border. Many died of disease, starvation, or exposure. And behind them, the Ottoman forces re-entered Van and found a largely empty city. The Armenian quarter was burned. Luna: So the siege of Van was a short-term victory but a long-term tragedy. Lucas: Exactly. And it's also a crucial episode in the larger genocide. The Van uprising gave the Ottoman government a pretext for the deportations and massacres that followed. In late May 1915, the Ottoman cabinet passed the Tehcir Law, which authorized the forced relocation of Armenians. The justification was that Armenians had rebelled in Van and elsewhere. So the siege became part of the official narrative. Luna: But the rebels in Van were acting in self-defense, weren't they? Lucas: That's what the evidence suggests. The Ottoman governor Jevdet Bey had been demanding weapons and arresting leaders — classic prelude to massacre. And we know from the accounts of Ussher and others that the Armenians only took up arms after they heard that villages around Van were being attacked. It was a last resort. Lucas: Nevertheless, the siege remains a powerful symbol. For Armenians, it represents courage and resistance in the face of annihilation. There's a famous photograph from that time: Armenian fighters posing on a barricade in Van, rifles in hand, looking determined. It's one of the iconic images of the genocide era. Luna: And Jevdet Bey — what happened to him? Lucas: He was later tried by a Ottoman court-martial after the war, but he escaped and eventually died in 1922. He was never held accountable for his role in the massacres. But the story of Van lives on. Every year, Armenians commemorate the siege, and it's a reminder that even in the darkest times, people fought back. Lucas: So next time you hear about Van, think of that city by the lake, where a few thousand Armenians held out for a month against an empire — and left a legacy that still inspires. Luna: Thank you for that. It's a story that deserves to be remembered.