Mass Atrocities in the 20th Century [AP World History Review—Unit 7 Topic 8]

Mass Atrocities of the 20th Century

Overview of Human Capacity for Violence

• The speaker acknowledges the discomfort in discussing mass atrocities but emphasizes the importance of understanding these events from the 20th century.

• The two World Wars are highlighted as significant contributors to human death, with an estimated total of about 120 million deaths, half of which were civilians due to bombings and famine.

• New technologies, particularly in warfare, exacerbated these atrocities; aerial warfare and firebombing during WWII caused massive civilian casualties.

Extremist Political Ideologies

The Armenian Genocide

• The first atrocity discussed is the Armenian Genocide (1915-1916), where the Ottoman Empire targeted Armenians under suspicion of supporting enemy forces during WWI.

• This led to a systematic program of extermination and forced relocation, resulting in approximately 600,000 to 1.5 million Armenian deaths.

The Holocaust

• Nazi Germany's actions during WWII represent another major atrocity; Hitler aimed to create a "pure" German race through extermination policies known as the Final Solution.

• Jews faced severe persecution starting with the Nuremberg Laws that stripped their rights and forced them into ghettos before being sent to concentration camps for labor or extermination.

• Approximately six million Jews were murdered alongside five million others from various targeted groups using industrial methods in camps like Auschwitz.

Cambodian Genocide