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Inayah Morris
Mr. Hawkins
Modern World History-P, Period 4
21 March 2016
Hitlers plan of mass extinction of Jews isnt the first major genocide to occur. Before the
Holocaust other atrocities toward humanity occurred that affected different regions of the world.
Many suffered horrible injustices by powerful dictators or dominant countries. Discrimination of
races has been displayed throughout history and has caused hardships on minority races. The
three precursors of the holocaust are the Armenian genocide, the rape of Nanking, and Stalins
forced famine.
The Armenian genocide started in 1915 when three-hundred Armenian political leaders,
educators, and religious leaders were taken from their homes to be tortured then executed. The
group called The young Turks planned, to unify all of the Turkish people by creating a
new empire with one language and one religion, (website 1). After influential leaders were
taken out, civilians also did death marches that went for miles and lasted for months. The route
for these marches were also purposefully longer and far away from Turkish villages. The
Ottoman Empire successfully destroyed any evidence of Armenian culture, history, or society.
The Turks leveled, entire cities including the once thriving Kharpert, Van and the
ancient capital at Ani, to remove all traces of the three thousand year old civilization,
(website 1). Unfortunately, no Allie powers came to help the struggling country and the tiny
empire collapsed. The small portion that survived was the eastmost part because it joined the
Soviet Union. In a letter to home, Swedish Ambassador Per Gustaf August Cosswa Anckarsvrd

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noted, The persecutions of the Armenians have reached hair-raising proportions and all
points to the fact that the Young Turks want to seize the opportunity [to] put an end to
the Armenian question. The means for this are quite simple and consist of the
extermination of the Armenian nation, (website 1). Many others had similar opinions on the
threat. New York Times also shared their view by having 145 articles on the issue in 1915 alone.
The Allied powers finally decided to handle Turkey by giving a warning saying that they will
hold the Ottoman Empire personally responsible for such matters. The warning didnt make a
difference. Today, Armenians commemorate the lives lost on April 24, the day the massacres
began.
The Rape of Nanking occurred in December of 1937 when the Japanese Imperial Army
invaded Nanking, the capital of China, and killed 300,000 civilians and soldiers. Before this, a
tough battle in Shanghai occurred in the summer preceding the invasion. Japan expected a quick
victory, saying that they would defeat all of China in just three months. The strong force that the
Chinese put up made the battle drag on from the summer into late autumn. This angered the
Japanese and led them to attack Nanking. Unlike the Shanghai troops, the soldiers at Nanking
were poorly trained and werent prepared for the ferocious Japanese army. The tactics of Japan
were not to take prisoners. Many of the Chinese troops surrendered and to the opposing army
this was an unthinkable cowardice act. Because of this they looked at them as less human. The
Japanese started to kill off the army by driving them to the outskirts of Nanking. As soon as
they were assembled, the savagery began, with young Japanese soldiers encouraged by
their superiors to inflict maximum pain and suffering upon individual POWs as a way of
toughening themselves up for future battles, and also to eradicate any civilized notions of
mercy, (website 1). The Japanese were extremely gruesome and showed no mercy. They would

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display the decapitated heads and mutilated corpses as souvenirs. Along with killing innocent
lives, they introduced many narcotic drugs like heroin and opium, making the spared civilians of
savagery addicted. The western world was very skeptical of the reports that they heard from
China. They couldnt believe the atrocities taken place and they were also mainly focused on the
terror caused by Adolf Hitler at the time. Fortunately for the remaining Nanking civilians, An
extraordinary group of about 20 Americans and Europeans remaining in the city,
composed of missionaries, doctors and businessmen, took it upon themselves to establish an
International Safety Zone. Using Red Cross flags, they brazenly declared a 2.5 square-mile
area in the middle of the city off limits to the Japanese, (website 1). These people on some
occasions would risk their lives to prevent execution or rape of the innocent. As many as 300,000
people took refuge in the Safety Zone. The westerners also, wrote down their impressions
of the daily scenes they witnessed, with one describing Nanking as hell on earth. Another
wrote of the Japanese soldiers: I did not imagine that such cruel people existed in the
modern world. (website 1). Anyone who did not reach the zone during the Rape of Nanking
would ultimately meet their end at the hands of the gruesome Japanese army.
During the control of Stalin in Russia, Ukrainians faced hardship. The Ukraine sought out
the opportunity for independence after the czar collapsed but unfortunately a bigger threat came,
Vladimir Lenin. Therefore, four years of chaos and conflict followed in which Ukrainian
national troops fought against Lenin's Red Army, and also against Russia's White Army
(troops still loyal to the Czar) as well as other invading forces including the Germans and
Poles, (website 1). After this drought occurred in the Ukraine which caused starvation and
hatred toward Lenin. Because of this, Lenin relaxed his grip on the Ukraine and lessened the
output of grain. Once Lenin died and Stalin took over the peoples culture and free will was

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stripped from them. To crush the people's free spirit, he began to employ the same methods
he had successfully used within the Soviet Union. Thus, beginning in 1929, over 5,000
Ukrainian scholars, scientists, cultural and religious leaders were arrested after being
falsely accused of plotting an armed revolt. Those arrested were either shot without a trial
or deported to prison camps in remote areas of Russia, (website 1). Soon enough, Stalin
controlled the food supply of the Ukraine. He started by arresting Kulaks and putting them to
work in labor camps. All the food grown in Ukraine was put in areas controlled by the KGB and
anyone who would try to steal it was immediately shot on sight. Malnourishment and starvation
was a common thing that led to desperate means of getting food. Some would even result to
cannibalism. In Europe, America and Canada, persons of Ukrainian descent and others
responded to news reports of the famine by sending in food supplies. But Soviet authorities
halted all food shipments at the border, (website 1). The Soviet Union denied the existence
of famine and the any words related to that werent allowed to be said. Staged visits were also
displayed for press and celebrities. Many didnt believe the stories of famine as they were
heavily denied by Stalin. Journalists were also warned that they would be put on trial if they
were to write about the famines occurring. A good portion of Ukrainians died due to the lack of
food and the class of kulaks diminished all together. After Stalins desired outcome for Ukraine
took place, he allowed food distribution again and the famine subsided. Not long after that,
Hitlers troop of Nazis marched through and the breadbasket of Europe was destroyed once
again.