The Hamidian massacres, also referred to as the Armenian Massacres of 1894-1896, refers to the massacring of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire, with estimates of the dead ranging from eighty thousand to 3three hundred thousand, and at least fifty thousand orphans as a result.
The massacres are named for Abdul Hamid II, whose efforts to reinforce the territorial integrity of the embattled Ottoman Empire reassert Pan-Islamism as a state ideology.
Abdul Hamid believes that the woes of the Ottoman Empire stem from "the endless persecutions and hostilities of the Christian world."
He perceives the Ottoman Armenians to be an extension of foreign hostility, a means by which Europe can "get at our most vital places and tear out our very guts."
One of the most serious incidents occurs in Armenian-populated parts of Anatolia.
Although the Ottomans had prevented other revolts in the past, the harshest measures are directed against the Armenian community.
They observe no distinction between the nationalist dissidents and the Armenian population at large, and massacre them with brutal force.
However, this occurs in the 1890s, at a time when the telegraph can spread news around the world and when the Christian European powers are vastly more powerful than the weakening Ottoman state.
