The Armenian Genocide In Peter Balakian's The Burning Tigris

In Peter Balakian’s bestseller, The Burning Tigris, the topic of the Armenian Genocide is heavily discussed. In the book, Balakain describes the horrors that were wrecked upon the Armenian people during the years of World War 1. In the beginning of the book, the history of the Armenians social decline in the Ottoman Empire is described. This decline is soon followed by the intentional killing of the Armenian people. After stories of mass shootings, death marches, and mass drownings reached the United States in the 1890’s, a public outcry prompted human rights activist and the Red Cross to take charge. In an attempt to ease the starvation, disease, and trauma that the surviving Armenians faced, thousands of volunteers and missionaries were sent to aid the survivors, in addition to the millions of dollars raised by the American people. This temporarily puts a hold on the rising death toll of the Armenian Genocide. Sadley, After

Balakain explains that although the Holocaust involved a more organized final solution, the two genocides both caused great damage to an ethnic group. Although the Genocides have much in common, the two share one main difference. For example, the Armenian mass-killings that took place in Turkey were known to the entire world, while the dark realities of the Holocaust were kept in the dark for most of World War 2. Despite this difference, both genocides are often denied in the media. In addition to comparing the Armenian Genocide to the Holocaust, Balakain expresses his belief that the denial of the Armenian Genocide encouraged the Nazis to execute the Final Solution. He explains that overtime, the lack of punishment experienced by the Armenian Genocide perpetrators encouraged other groups to carry out mass killings. Because of this change to the amount of punishment one receives for mass-killing, genocides have become more popular in recent