Sasun Resistance (1894)

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=First Sasun Resistance
partof=


caption=
date=1894
place=Sassoun, Ottoman Empire
result= Suppression of the Armenian resistance, followed by wholesale massacres
combatant1=Ottoman Empire
combatant2=Hunchaks (members of the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party)
commander1=
commander2=
strength1=Hamidieh units
strength2=
casualties1=
casualties2=|

The First Sassoun resistance of 1894 (Armenian: Սասնո առաջին ապստամբութիւն) was the resistance of the Hunchak militia of the Sassoun region.

In 1894, Sultan Abdul Hamid II began to target the Armenian people in a precursor of the Hamidian massacres. This persecution strengthened nationalistic sentiment among Armenians. The first notable battle in the Armenian resistance movement took place in Sassoun, where nationalist ideals were proliferated by Hunchak activists, such as Mihran Damadian, Hampartsoum Boyadjian, and Hrayr. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation also played a significant role in arming the people of the region. The Armenians of Sassoun confronted the Ottoman army and Kurdish irregulars at Sassoun, succumbing to superior numbers.hy icon cite book | last = Kurdoghlian | first = Mihran | title = Hayots Badmoutioun, Volume III | publisher = Hradaragoutioun Azkayin Ousoumnagan Khorhourti | year = 1996 | location = Athens, Greece | pages = p. 42-44]

Foreign reaction

Foreign news agents protested vehemently against the Sassoun event; British Prime Minister William Gladstone called Hamid "the Great Criminal" or "the Red Sultan". The rest of the Great Powers also protested and demanded the execution of Hamid's promised reforms. An investigation committee composed of French, British, and Russian representatives were sent to the region in order to examine the event.hy icon cite book | last = Kurdoghlian | first = Mihran | title = Hayots Badmoutioun, Volume III | publisher = Hradaragoutioun Azkayin Ousoumnagan Khorhourti | year = 1996 | location = Athens, Greece | pages = p. 42-44]

In May 1895, the aforementioned foreign powers prepared a set of reforms. However, they never carried out, because they weren't actively imposed on Ottoman Turkey. In those days, the Russian Empire's policies vis-a-vis the Armenian question had changed. In fact, the Russian foreign minister Alexei Lobanov-Rostovsky supported Ottoman integrity. Moreover he was so anti-Armenian that he wanted "an Armenia without the Armenians". On the other hand, Britain had gained considerable influence and power in former Ottoman Egypt and Cyprus, and for Gladstone, good relations with the Ottomans weren't as important as they formerly were. Meanwhile, Turkey found a new European ally, Germany's Bismarck. The Ottoman Empire thus didn't feel threatened to commit further massacres in 1896.hy icon cite book | last = Kurdoghlian | first = Mihran | title = Hayots Badmoutioun, Volume III | publisher = Hradaragoutioun Azkayin Ousoumnagan Khorhourti | year = 1996 | location = Athens, Greece | pages = p. 42-44]

Footnotes

See also

*Social Democrat Hunchakian Party
*Armenian Revolutionary Federation
*Armenian militia
*Sasun Resistance (1904)
*Armenian resistance