Dictionary of Genocide - D Ank Unlimited

A
Abdul Hamid II (1842–1918). Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1876–1909). During his
reign, a series of massacres of Armenians took place throughout the empire, most notably
between 1894 and 1896. These massacres were ordered by the sultan for the purpose of
intimidating the Armenian population into acquiescing to Turkish demands that they
cease agitating for special status and that they dampen their national aspirations. For
these (and other) atrocities within the empire, Abdul Hamid was often described as the
“Red Sultan,” due to the bloodshed he was responsible for having unleashed. As sultan,
Abdul Hamid was conscious of the need for Turkey to modernize, but he sensed that by
doing so the inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire would see new opportunities through
education, technology, and commerce that could destabilize his autocratic rule. Consequently,
he was resistant to reform on a broad scale, notwithstanding his encouragement of
higher education for certain levels of society—though as a force for regime reinforcement
rather than public enlightenment. Abdul Hamid’s rule became renowned for its harshness,
even despotism, and his often reactionary approach to developments within his realm led
to a stifling of all initiative from those who might have been his chief supporters. In 1908,
a group led by educated military officers, colloquially known as the Young Turks, staged a
coup d’état in which power passed from the absolutism of the sultan to rule by a military
clique. He was succeeded in 1909 by Mohammed V (1844–1918; reigned 1908–1918),
whose rule was henceforth overseen by the Young Turks.
ABiH (Bosnian, ARBiH; Armija Republike Bosne i Hercegovine or The Army of the
Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina). The Muslim-led army of Bosnia and Herzegovina
during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia between 1992 and 1995.
Absolutism. A style of monarchy in which the monarch wields power to an almost
unlimited degree. It is important to realize that an absolute monarch does not possess the
same power as a despot, in that his or her authority is limited by age-old convention, often
unwritten constitutional constraints, and an aristocracy (or nobility) that can keep the
unrestrained power of the monarch in check should the exercise of that power descend
into arbitrary—and, therefore, unstable—behavior. Absolute power is most frequently a
highly centralized form of power, with the reins of government and administration often
embodied directly in the person of the monarch. The most famous example of absolutist
rule is to be found in the France of King Louis XIV (1643–1715), during whose reign the
notion of an all-powerful absolute ruler—in which the sovereign was the representative