International Responses to the Armenian Genocide

About This Lesson

In the previous lesson, students analyzed the range of choices that people and groups inside the Ottoman Empire made in response to the organized mass murder of Armenians. In this lesson, students will learn about some of the factors that influenced the responses of foreign countries. By learning about the responses from Germany and the United States, students will analyze the concept of sovereignty and consider when, if ever, it should be violated by foreign countries to protect minority groups from persecution.

Essential Questions

• What choices and conditions led to the genocide of the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire during World War I?
• How can learning about these choices and conditions help us protect the most vulnerable groups in our society today?

Guiding Questions

• How did other countries respond to the Armenian genocide while it was taking place? What factors influenced these responses?
• What actions are permissible for a country to take in order to stop atrocities from occurring against a minority group inside another country?
• When, if ever, do countries have a responsibility to take such actions?

Learning Objectives

• Students will understand the multiple factors that influenced the choices of Germany and the United States in response to the genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.
• Students will learn about the concept of sovereignty and consider when, if ever, it should be violated by foreign countries to protect minority groups from persecution.
• Students will deepen their understanding of universe of obligation by analyzing arguments that were made for and against intervention to protect and aid Armenians in 1915 and 1916.

See the Additional Context & Background section in the Google Doc version of this lesson plan for the essential historical knowledge needed to teach this lesson.

Lesson Plan

Activity 1: Reflect on the Ability to Act From Afar

Begin the lesson by asking students to turn and talk with a neighbor about the following questions:

When we learn about an injustice, atrocity, or genocide occuring in another country, how can we respond? How should politicians or elected leaders respond? How should ordinary people respond?  

After a few moments, ask for volunteers to share their ideas.

Then explain that in this lesson, the class will learn about international responses to the news of the mass murder of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. (You might remind students that people would not have heard news about genocide because the term did not yet exist in 1915.) 

Students should know that the news of the mass murder of Armenians was widely reported in hundreds of newspapers around the world, especially in the Allied countries of Britain, France, and Russia. In this lesson, students will primarily focus on the responses of Germany, a leader of the Central Powers and an ally of the Ottoman Empire, where news of the violence against Armenians was censored from the public, and the United States, a neutral country in 1915 where The New York Times alone featured almost 150 articles about the atrocities that year.

Activity 2: Define Sovereignty

Before students engage with this lesson’s readings, it is worth taking a few moments to discuss the concept of sovereignty. Explain to the class that this is an idea that often comes up when a government takes actions within its country that concern people or governments outside of that country (including international institutions such as the United Nations). Share the following definition with students and have them copy it into their journals, project it on the board, or write it on chart paper for all students to see:

Sovereignty refers to the idea that the government of a state has the authority to govern affairs within its own territory without foreign interference. In other words, the idea of sovereignty means that what a government does inside its own country is none of any other country’s business, and no other country has the right to get involved. ¹

You might ask students to share their initial reactions to the concept of sovereignty. Is it fair? Are there times when countries should be permitted to interfere in each other’s affairs?

Activity 3: Analyze the German and American Responses

Assign The German Response to the Armenian Genocide to half the class and The American Response to the Armenian Genocide to the other half. 

Then have students work with a partner who has the same handout. Together, they will read the handout and respond to the analysis questions that follow. Time permitting, you might have each partner group compare their responses with another partner group who read the same reading to further check their understanding.

Then, instruct each student to find a new partner who had the other handout. Give the new partner groups a few minutes to share a summary of their reading with each other and their responses to the analysis questions.  

Activity 4: Evaluate the German and American Responses with a Barometer Activity

Use the Barometer discussion strategy to give students the opportunity to take a position on both the German and American responses to the ongoing mass murder of Armenians in 1915–1916. 

Tell students that you will read two statements to them, and after each they will stand at a point between two signs you have placed in the room—”Agree” and “Disagree”—that most represents their level of agreement with them. Positioning themselves in the middle represents ambivalence. To encourage students to take a clear position, you might make the rule that no one can stand exactly in between the two signs.

Read the first statement: Germany shares equal responsibility with the Ottoman government for the Armenian Genocide.

Before having students leave their seats, ask them to write in their journals about where they plan on standing and why. This will prepare them to speak during the activity.

Once all students are standing, ask students at different positions to explain their views. Tell students it is okay to move if someone says something that causes them to change their mind.

After several students have shared their thinking, instruct students to return to their desks and repeat the process with the second statement: 

The United States should have done everything in its power to stop the mass murder of Armenians, even if it meant getting drawn into the war.

Activity 5: Exit Ticket

To finish the lesson, as an exit ticket or a homework assignment, ask students to respond to one of the following questions:

• What is the most important point you are taking away from today’s class?
• What are you finding challenging, puzzling, or difficult to understand?
• What question from today’s class would you most like to discuss further? ²

What is something you found especially surprising or interesting from this class?

• 1Edward N. Zalta, ed., "Sovereignty", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, accessed May 1, 2024.
• 2Questions adapted from the “Take Note” thinking routine by Project Zero, a research center at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.