Germany and the 1890s Armenian massacres: Questions of Morality in Foreign Policy

Abstract

The massacres of the Armenians under Sultan Abdul Hamid II in the Ottoman Empire in the 1890s provoked reactions far abroad. In some societies, such as in Germany, where deeper connections with the Ottoman Empire existed, these reactions involved debates about foreign policy and morality. In Germany these debates continued in the years after the massacres, especially so with the German Emperor’s trip to the Ottoman Empire in 1898. It was around this trip that a new understanding of Germany’s role in the world in relation to ethics developed. Prominent among those discussing and developing ideas was the Protestant pastor and political thinker Friedrich Naumann. This article reexamines this debate and Naumann’s role in it. It shows how the Armenian massacres played a role in internal German debates and how coming to terms with them developed a special dynamic and created unfortunate precedents for Germany.