Dadrian, Vahakn N. The History of the Armenian Genocide. Providence: Bergahn Books, 1995. Hardcover, 452 pp. ISBN 1-571-81061-7

On April 24, 1998 Armenians throughout the world commemorated the 83rd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the first mass genocide of the twentieth century. Vahakn N. Dadrian’s most recent book The History of the Armenian Genocide is a gallant effort in documenting the scope and depth of this most tragic event in Armenian history.

Drawing parallels with the Jewish Holocaust in Germany under the Nazis, which took place in the years leading up to and during the Second World War, Dadrian reminds us that the Armenian genocide, which unfolded in the early years of the First World War, was the precursor of the Holocaust that informed the Nazis to perpetrate the mass murder of millions of Jews in Germany and elsewhere in Europe during one of the darkest periods in the history of humanity.

Dadrian’s book is the most recent effort to provide a vivid account of this human tragedy that has haunted generations of Armenians. His encyclopedic knowledge of the history surrounding this colossal event that consumed the lives of 1.5 million Armenians in Turkey in 1915, and his analytical mind informed by a sociological perspective that situates historical events in their social context, has helped Dadrian produce what promises to be the most comprehensive classic text of the Armenian genocide for years to come.

The book is divided into nine parts and contains twenty-three chapters, as well as an introduction, a conclusion, an Appendix, an extensive bibliography, and a name and subject index. His stunning coverage of the massacres from beginning to end, his comparative-historical approach that takes into account other such cases of genocide, and his sharp political analysis leading him to draw some very crucial conclusions, places this volume among the best available recent scholarly works in Holocaust and genocide studies.

After providing the historical background that sets the stage for an analysis of the Armenian genocide, Dadrian focuses on the origins of the Armenian question and the Turko-Armenian conflict. He shows that the massacre of the Armenians in 1915 was part and parcel of a systematic and pre-determined policy of cycles of mass violence that the Armenians suffered in the hands of a succession of Ottoman governments, especially under Sultan Abdul Hamid in the 1890s, which continued and intensified in the early years of the twentieth century as a prelude to the events of 1915.

The defeat of the Ottoman State in the aftermath of the uprisings in the Balkans that brought the dissolution of the Eastern Question and the ensuing period that set the stage for the First World War, argues Dadrian, left the Armenians vulnerable to the whims of the Ottoman rulers like Enver, Cemal, and Talat Pashas, who, taking advantage of wartime conditions, played the leading role in perpetrating the mass annihilation of the Armenian population. Of special note here that Dadrian draws our attention to is the failure of the Western powers to provide humanitarian intervention to halt the genocide and to punish the perpertrators of this heinous crime against humanity.

The parallels Dadrian draws between the Armenian genocide and the Jewish Holocaust results in a powerful case that identifies the sources of evil that are common to conditions that parallel the two crisis periods in early- to mid-twentieth century history. As precursor to the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide was the product of a right-wing ultra-nationalist pogrom that had the same intent and effect—to victimize a vulnerable ethnic population in a period of societal crisis that would serve to mobilize the nation for colonial and imperialist ends. In both cases, the victimized population paid a heavy price, indeed. And in both cases, the perpetrators of these crimes were ousted from power.

A point of divergence, however, remains between the two cases: the Nuremberg Trials forced the Nazis to confront the crimes they committed against the six million Jewish and other victims who perished in their hands; the Armenians, on the other hand, continue to await for justice to be served to recognize the pain and suffering of the 1.5 million Armenians who perished in the hands of the Ottoman Turkish government 83 years ago. Unlike Germany, there has been no official recognition of the genocide in Turkey, and successive Turkish governments have continued to deny that a genocide committed against the Armenian people of Turkey ever took place.

Dadrian’s careful archival documentation of specific events and individuals who took part in the first mass genocide of the twentieth century brings to life sweeping historical developments at the national, regional, and international levels. His fluency in several languages, including Turkish and Armenian, makes the content of this study rich in both scope and depth, for he knows the land, the people, and the culture of the region too well, and as a historian and sociologist he is keenly aware of the events he describes and discusses. His ethnic origins—an Armenian born in Turkey - tangled in the web of Turko-Armenian relations, his scholarly credentials as a first-rate researcher and sociologist and social historian of ethnic relations, and his deep commitment to human rights and social justice, make Dadrian especially qualified to undertake such an important study - one that he has bravely undertaken and in which he has indeed brilliantly succeeded.

The richness of the intellectual vigor he brings to this crucial event in history, blended with the human dimension that runs as a thread through this brilliant study, makes Dadrian’s book on the Armenian genocide all the more compelling. A must reading for all students of Holocaust and genocide studies, Dadrian’s book will make a lasting impression on all those who value human life and cherish peace.

Berch Berberoglu
UNR Department of Sociology