The Armenian genocide was the ruthless slaughter of millions of Armenians by the Turks of the Ottoman Empire in 1915. During World War I, leaders of the Turkish government set in motion a plan to expel and massacre Armenians. The Ottoman rulers, like most of their subjects, were Muslim. They permitted religious minorities like the Armenians to maintain some autonomy, but they also subjected Armenians, who they viewed as “infidels,” to unequal and unjust treatment.
