The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America's Response - Book overview written by James Lehman

            Author Peter Balakian, a recipient of the Pen/Martha Albrand Prize and a winner of the Guggenheim Fellowship award, is currently a professor at Colgate University where he teaches in the humanities department.  In this book Balakian provides an in depth look at the Armenian Genocide, often been referred to as the “forgotten genocide” of the 20^th century.  The Armenian genocide took place in the country of Turkey and involved the Turkish Islamic majority and the Armenian Christian minority, a group continuously ostracized by the Turks.  The atrocities spanned between 1895 and the end of World War I, with the climax of the genocide taking place in 1915, at the onset of World War I.  This book is divided into two parts.  The first examines the foreign policy of the United States regarding the Armenian genocide, the second examines why, when, where, and what tragic events took place in Turkey between 1894 to the present day.

            During the end of the 19^th century, the Ottoman Empire began struggling and was on the verge of falling apart.  Under leader Sultan Abdul Hamid, Turkey began using the Armenians as a scapegoat since they were not Muslims.  Hamid believed that this would keep the soldiers busy and also keep the peoples’ focus on the Armenians rather than the other problems surrounding the country.  From 1894-1896 massacres took place throughout Turkey, where an estimated 200,000 Armenians were killed.  There was a strong Turkish belief that the Christians needed to be eliminated in the name of Allah.  Violence would continue to reside in the region throughout the end of the 19^th century and into the beginning of the 20^th century. 

            In 1908, a new movement, known as the Young Turk Movement (also known as Progress and Union) swept through Turkey.  This new movement gave the Armenians hope because they believed that the Young Turks would be more accepting of the Armenians.  By the end of 1908 the Sultan seceded to the Young Turk movement and they eventually took control of Turkey.  Unfortunately for the Armenians, things did not improve.  The Young Turk movement actually became more nationalistic with little consideration for non-Muslim communities.  They adopted the Turkification plan, which was basically an agenda against multiculturalism and minority rights, which ended up promoting more violence towards the Armenians. 

            In 1914, at the brink of World War I, Turkey and Germany formed an alliance.  Shortly thereafter, the Jihad Proclamation called on all Turkish people to exterminate Christians --- except those of German nationality.  The slaughter of Armenians was underway.  In 1915 alone, around 1 million Armenians were killed.  It became the first full-fledged attempt by a modern state to practice disciplined, methodically organized genocide.  The killings did not end until World War I came to a close. 

            After the war, justice was never really served.  Many of the war criminals were never put on trial and many of them escaped with no real punishment.  The genocide itself slowly disappeared from everyone’s minds because of the presence of oil in Turkey.  Countries, such as the United States, became more focused on business interests than humanitarian concerns. 

           Another major focus of the book is on the foreign policy of the United States regarding Armenia.  The United States was very interested in what was taking place in Turkey because the oppressed group in Turkey was the Armenian Christians, who many Americans felt were like them.  When violence began to spread across the country, many articles, detailing the atrocities that were taking place, reached prominent newspapers around the U.S. such as the Harpers Weekly and the New York Times.  Immediately, private groups such as Friends for Armenia began raising money and providing financial and moral support for the Armenians.  This ended up becoming the first American human rights movement.  By 1916, twenty million dollars had been raised by private groups to provide food and shelter to many Armenian refugees. 

  The relief efforts by the United States would provide much assistance for the Armenians; however, at the same time many countries such as the United States failed to provide sufficient intervention to stop the genocide.  For example, since the United States did not declare war on Turkey during WWI, they did not have sufficient lobbying power with Turkey or the Ottoman Empire after the war.  Furthermore, after the war was over, the United States lost interest in the Armenian genocide and was more focused on keeping good relations with Turkey in order to gain commercial opportunities in the oil market. 

  The Burning Tigris is packed full of  historical information and provides valuable insight on the Armenian genocide and also on the foreign policy of the United States in the early 20^th century.  Its length may make it difficult for an educator to read and use it in their classroom; however, there are several passages that could be used very effectively.  Chapter 14 provides a description of the genocide and discusses the atrocities that took place.  One particular powerful quote that describes the number of Armenians killed is at the end of the chapter, beginning at the bottom of page 195:

"In the end between a half and two-thirds of the more than two million Armenians living on their historic homeland in the Ottoman Empire were annihilated.  While the number of dead continues to be debated, scholars of genocide, including the largest body of genocide scholars…agree that the dead ranged somewhere between 1.2 to 1.3 million." 

Page 244 gives a brutal description of the killing.  The quote starts in the last paragraph of the page: 

  "Muslims considered the clothes taken from a dead body to be defiled, all Armenians were forced to strip before being killed.  Because bullets were so precious, it was cheaper to kill with bayonets and knives…nearly all of the women lay flat on their backs and showed signs of barbarous mutilation by bayonets, these wounds having been inflicted in many cases probably after the women were dead." 

          The epilogue is very powerful.  It discusses the aftermath of the genocide and how countries such as the United States quickly forgot and disregarded the genocide, along with describing Turkey’s continuous denial of the incident.  It would be a good section to use for a teacher when looking at foreign policy in the United States. 

            The Burning Tigris tells a real life story about an event of which many people have never heard.  Regarded as the “forgotten genocide” and the “secret genocide”, the Armenian genocide is a significant event since it was the first mass killing of the 20^th century.  While planning the Holocaust, it was Hitler who asked, "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"   The history of the Armenian genocide needs to be addressed students studying 20^th century American and world history, especially those studying American government and foreign policy.