World War, 1914-1918 -- War work -- Young Men's Christian Associations
Armenia has suffered relatively more than any of the other nations.
Mr. Henry Morgenthau, the American Ambassador to Turkey, said: "One
million of these people have either been massacred or deported and
unless succor reaches them shortly, those remaining will be lost." In
all history there is no record more sad than that of the persecution
and extermination of the Armenians. University professors educated in
the United States have had their hair and nails torn out by the roots
and have been slowly tortured to death. Women and girls were outraged
and brutally killed. Little children perished of hunger. It is said
that probably 1,000,000 of the 2,000,000 Armenians in Turkey have been
slain, or have been driven into the country to starve, or have been
forced to accept Islam.
The American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief reports:
"Men in the army were the first to be brutally put to death. These and
civilians, after being subjected to horrible tortures, were shot. Even
priests were made victims of brutal murder. Women, children, the sick
and aged, were forced at a moment's notice to start on foot on a
journey of exile. Mothers, torn from their children, were compelled to
leave the little ones behind. Women giving birth to children on the
road were forbidden to delay, but, under the whiplash, were made to
continue their march until they dropped from exhaustion to die. A
United States Consul reported that he saw helpless people brained with
clubs, while children were killed by beating their brains out against
the rocks. Other children were thrown into rivers and those who could
swim were shot down as they struggled in the water. Crimes that have
been, and are being, practiced upon Armenian women are too cruel and
horrible for words. The mutilated corpses of hundreds bear testimony
to this inhuman reign." [3]
Who was responsible for these outrages, and how long will the world
permit them to continue?
Whichever way we turn, whether we survey the number of killed, wounded,
or prisoners, the cost of the conflict, or the suffering of the
devastated nations, we realize that _the war means sacrifice_. It is
difficult for us at home in America to appreciate the spirit in which
the men in this great struggle in Europe are fighting, and the
sacrifices they are making. In all these months in many lands, the
writer has not heard from the lips of a single soldier who had actually
seen service at the front, words of hatred or of boasting. Quietly and
often with sadness most of these men are going forward to face death.
Here is a letter from a young officer who fell on that fatal first day
of July on the Somme.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account