Armenian East

In the heart of the Ottoman Empire as World War I rages, Stepan Miskjian's world becomes undone. He is separated from his family as they are swept up in the government's mass deportation of Armenians into internment camps. Gradually realizing the unthinkable - that they are all being driven to their deaths - he fights, through starvation and thirst, not to lose hope.

Compact Eastern Armenian Phase 1, Unit 1 contains 30 minutes of spoken language practice, with an introductory conversation, and isolated vocabulary and structures. Detailed instructions enable you to understand and participate in the conversation. The lesson contains full practice for all vocabulary introduced in this unit.

The destruction of the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire in 1915-16 was the greatest atrocity of World War I. Around one million Armenians were killed, and the survivors were scattered across the world. Although it is now a century old, the issue of what most of the world calls the Armenian Genocide of 1915 is still a live and divisive issue that mobilizes Armenians across the world, shapes the identity and politics of modern Turkey, and has consumed the attention of U.S. politicians for years.

Even before World War II, there was a genocide. We are talking about the Armenian deportations that killed between one and two million innocent civilians, an atrocity the Turkish government still doesn’t fully acknowledge. At the time of World War I, the Armenian genocide led to the organized death of around one million ethnic Armenians. The Ottoman Empire was collapsing, and in a cruel act of desperation and vengeance, they decided to take out their empirical frustrations on the Armenians. It became one of the ugliest faces of the First World War in history.