The History of the Armenian Genocide: Ethnic Conflict from the Balkans to Anatolia to the Caucasus [Paperback]

Vahakn N. Dadrian (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 5, 2003

"... totally innovative ... Dadrian exhibits exemplary objectivity and provides us with the fruits of a life of scholarship and research. An inestimable contribution to our knowledge of history." · Journal of the Society of Armenian Studies

"... marshals considerable evidence to show how the development of the Turkish-Armenian conflict escalated to the point of genocide ... Dadrian makes [an] important contribution to our understanding of the dynamics of the Ottoman decision to destroy its Armenian subjects." · MESA Bulletin

"[The History of the Armenian Genocide] is without doubt the most important work ever done on this subject. [Dadrian's] painstaking archival work, and [his] wide reading in the relevant sources in Turkish, Armenian, German, French and English has no parallel. The book will stand as a monument parallel to Hilberg's master work, The Destruction of the European Jews ... [He has] forced me to rethink the entire issue of comparisons and differences between the Armenian experience in World War I and the Jewish experience in World War II." · Steven T. Katz, Cornell University

"... an outstanding piece of scholarship ... based on years of meticulous study of primary sources ..." · Leo Kuper, University of California

"... the author has pioneered the sociological study of the Armenian Genocide ..." · Roger Smith, College of William and Mary, Virginia

The Armenian Genocide, though not given such prominent treatment as the Jewish Holocaust which it precedes, still haunts the Western world and has assumed a new significance in the light of "ethnic cleansing" in Bosnia and, more recently, Darfur. This study by the most distinguished scholar of the Armenian tragedy offers an authoritative analysis by presenting it as a case study of genocide and by seeing it as an historical process in which a domestic conflict escalated and was finally consumed by global war.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...totally innovative ... Dadrian exhibits exemplary objectivity and provides us with the fruits of a life of scholarship and research. An inestimable contribution to our knowledge of history." - Journal of the Society of Armenian Studies "...marshals considerable evidence to show how the development of the Turkish-Armenian conflict escalated to the point of genocide ... Dadrian makes [an] important contribution to our understanding of the dynamics of the Ottoman decision to destroy its Armenian subjects." - MESA Bulletin "[The History of the Armenian Genocide] is without doubt the most important work ever done on this subject. [Dadrian's] painstaking archival work, and [his] wide reading in the relevant sources in Turkish, Armenian, German, French and English has no parallel. The book will stand as a monument parallel to Hilberg's master work, The Destruction of the European Jews ... [He has] forced me to rethink the entire issue of comparisons and differences between the Armenian experience in World War I and the Jewish experience in World War II." Steven T. Katz, Cornell University "... an outstanding piece of scholarship ... based on years of meticulous study of primary sources..." Leo Kuper, University of California "... the author has pioneered the sociological study of the Armenian Genocide ..." Roger Smith, College of William and Mary, Virginia

About the Author

Vahakn N. Dadrian is the Director of the Genocide Study Project, Geneseo, NY.

Product Details

• Paperback: 490 pages
• Publisher: Berghahn Books; 4 edition (December 5, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571816666
• ISBN-13: 978-1571816665
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #699,047 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #58 in Books > History > Asia > Armenia

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Scholarship, December 5, 2003

By 

Nikephoros Phokas (Dover, NJ, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The History of the Armenian Genocide: Ethnic Conflict from the Balkans to Anatolia to the Caucasus (Monographs in German History) (Hardcover)

This study took an interesting approach, despite its title it has little about the actual implementation and excecution of the Armenian genocide instead covering topics such as: the Abdul Hamit Massacres, the Adana massacres, the bank Ottoman raid, Islam's bent for domination which implies inferiority for non-muslims dhimmis such as Armenians, German complicity, the failure of European humanitarian intervention due to their vested and colonial interests, the Young Turks, how the precarious situation of Armenians constantly massacred and vulnerable with little weaponry or outside diplomatic assistance made them contrary to Balkan Christians take the route of asking for reforms and protection within the Ottoman Empire instead of seeking their independence as they were in an existential crisis where they decided upon the failed project of seeking protection from a Turkish system that thrived on repression and oppression, the Kemalist invasion of Russian Armenia, a comparison of the Holocaust and the Armenian genocide, the Turkish post-war tribunals that failed to punish the key players of the Armenian genocide(but these trials did provide proof of the intent to destroy the Armenians), the role of impunity during and after the genocide and earlier massacres in the failure to punish muslims for their crimes and how the implacable Kemalists along with European vested interests made sure there was little in the way of punishment, among other topics. Chapter 14 entitled: "The Implementation of the Genocide" only spans from page 219-235 in the edition I read(second revised edition 1997). Such an approach to this study makes ensures that it is well covered why the Armenian genocide occurred, which is more important than drudging page after page about the actual genocide and its implementation, which would have gotten tedious as this book is over 400 pages.

The scholarship of Dadrian shines throughout the work, he cites countless works in Turkish, Armenian, German, French and English and the work is very well referenced with a plethora of footnotes. This man has been studying the Armenian genocide for decades and it shows, I doubt much is written in the languages he can read about the subject that he has not already read, and most of it seems cited in this work. How Turkish historians and other historians can deny the Armenian genocide shows to anyone who has read this work their complete lack of honor and decency, to comment on history with no other desire than to extricate Turkish society and state from their mis-actions. Dadrian uses Austrian and German diplomatic archives at a time when they were Ottoman Turkey's wartime allies, he references the memoirs of architects and implementators of the genocide where they incriminate themselves, he cites the Turkish trials after the war to punish the Young Turks published in the official Turkish government gazette at the time(Takvimi Vekayi), Ataturk's speeches, eyewitnesses, Allied diplomatic archives, Turkish historians such as Refik and Akcam, and Turkish sociologist Ismail Besikci, who attest to the reality of the Armenian genocide. With such evidence how can one deny the Armenian genocide, and claim to be honest or better yet, a member of humanity?

31 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Extremely meticulous and well researched book, June 21, 2000

By 

"shamz" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The History of the Armenian Genocide: Ethnic Conflict from the Balkans to Anatolia to the Caucasus (Monographs in German History) (Hardcover)

Dadrian's book is probably one of the most intensely researched works on the Armenian Genocide to date. It gives an accurate big picture description of much of the international politics going on at the time, which many other books on the subject do not. I found it quite objective with a scholarly tone. I think it was actually a little weak on descriptions of the horrors of the Genocide, yet this was not the author's focus. If an uninformed reader were to read one book on the Armenian Genocide, then this may not be the best one, I think "Survivors: An Oral History of the Armenian Genocide" or "Black Dog of Fate" are easier and more personal reads. However, Dadrian's book is a must for historians and experts on the subject, as it is probably the best true historical account on the subject to date.

27 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars well written and thoroughly researched, January 17, 1999

By A Customer

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This review is from: The History of the Armenian Genocide: Ethnic Conflict from the Balkans to Anatolia to the Caucasus (Monographs in German History) (Hardcover)

This was a well written and thoroughly researched book documenting the treatment of the Armenians living under Turkish rule. Despite the scholarly nature of this work, it is not a dry academic tome. I highly recommend this book for those who seek to gain insight into this episode of genocide which, in many ways, may have inspired Hiltler's later genocide of the Jewish people.