Armenian Genocide: 1915-1917 In 1915, the Young Turks came to power in the Ottoman Empire (Modern-day Turkey) and developed a systematic strategy to eliminate the Armenian population. All Armenian's lived as 2nd class citizens in the empire. Armenians were ordered to be sent to the Syrian desert. This became known as the "Death Marches". Armenian males were disarmed and killed immediately during the Genocide. In phase I, the government murdered 60,000 men alone, Phase II they targeted the intellectuals and over 800 were murdered, Phase III all remaining Armenians were marched to the desert. The government released prisoners from jail to help track down and murder Armenians during the marches. In all, 1.5 Million Armenians were murdered!
The Holocaust 1938-1945 The Holocaust was the state sponsored murder of Jews in Europe (other groups were targeted as well; Roma, Political prisoners). The Nazi regime took power in 1933 and from that point they established laws and decrees that would segregate the Jews from neighborhoods and cities, stripping them of their citizenship and eventually their way of life. The Nazi's created ghettos, concentration camps and death camps during this time to achieve their goal of eliminating Europe of Jews. The Nazis used killing squads in E. Europe and Soviet Union known as the Einsatzgruppen, which went from village to village across the region, rounded up all the Jews and executed them in firing squads. The "Final Solution" led to the death camps were Jews were murdered using gas called "Zyklon B" or they died completing hard labor, close-range execution or disease in the camps. Over 6 million Jews would be murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
Cambodian Genocide: 1975-1979 In 1975, Pol Pot (Leader of Community group known as the Khmer Rouge) came into power in Cambodia and he wanted to reshape the population into collective farming districts. He forced all Cambodians out of the cities and move to the rural countryside to work in "harsh labor" farming camps. All schools, hospitals, Buddhist temples were destroyed, all intellectuals would be killed. All those that oppose the Khmer Rouge were taken to the killing fields (mass graves all across the country) and murdered. The infamous S-21 prison was extremely brutal where over 20,000 Cambodians would be sent and by the time the Genocide ended less than 10 survived. Nearly 2 million Cambodians were murdered by the Khmer Rouge.
Rwandan Genocide April-July 1994 Rwanda is a tiny central African nation (around the great lakes region of the Continent) and during the time of Imperialism they were controlled first by Germany and later Belgium. During this colonization, the Belgians started to identify and create cards for the ethnic groups of Rwanda; Hutu (85% pop), Tutsi (13% pop) and the Twa (2%). The Belgians showed preferential treatment to the Tutsi's and this along with built up resentment and hatred for them led to the systematic murder of Rwandan Tutsi's. The government planned the massacre well in advance and when President Habyarimana (Hutu President of Rwanda) plane was shot down and he was killed, the Hutu's started the genocide. They used the Rwandan military forces, created roadblocks, used the radio to transmit hatred against the Tutsi's, and they used large meeting areas like churches to hunt and kill Tutsi's. The government also trained and armed a militia group called the "interahamwe" to execute Tutsi's. The Rwandans used mainly machetes to murder. The genocide ended when the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front), a Tutsi led military group took control of Rwanda and pushed all the Hutu's towards Zaire (Modern-day Congo). In only 100 days, the Génocidaires (those committing genocide) murdered approximately 800,000 Tutsi's and moderate Hutu's.