Blue Book (Bryce and Toynbee book)
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| Author | Arnold Joseph Toynbee |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire: Documents presented to Viscount Grey of Fallodon |
| Language | English |
| Subject | History |
| Publisher | Hodder and Stoughton |
Publication date | 1916 |
| Publication place | England, UK |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 684 |
The Blue Book, officially titled The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, was compiled by Viscount Bryce and Arnold J. Toynbee, and published as a British parliamentary blue book in 1916. The book is a compilation of statements from eyewitnesses of the Armenian genocide and Assyrian genocide in the Ottoman Empire during 1915-1916.[1]The report is seen as a major propaganda form that Britain used in order to influence international public opinion regarding the behaviour of Ottoman Empire on Armenians similar to the another well known report Committee on Alleged German Outrages. It was a significant publication from the War Propaganda Bureau at Wellington House.
The Report had a profound impact on public opinion in Allied and neutral countries against Ottoman Empire. The eyewitness testimony published included sensationalist accounts of mutilations and rapes for which there is no other evidence. These invented atrocities tainted the Report and have made it an often cited example of propaganda and psychological warfare.
Contents
Commissioned by the British Government and issued as an official Parliamentary "Blue Book" report in October 1916, the volume is divided regionally into twenty sections, each of which contains multiple eyewitness and secondhand reports, dispatches, news articles, and letters. In total there were 149 documents and 15 appendixes.[2] The publication presents Arnold J. Toynbee's analysis of the population in the Ottoman Empire. The presented table and map show the re-calculated values of the stated provinces using values where Armenians were the majority of the population, according to Toynbee's estimates.
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Ethnic values of Six vilayets according to presented data. -
Ethnic map of Six vilayets according to presented data.
Criticism
The book has been criticized by some Turkish denialists as propaganda to build up support for the war.[3] However, Bryce submitted the work to scholars for verification before its publication. Oxford professor Gilbert Murray stated of the tome, "...the evidence of these letters and reports will bear any scrutiny and overpower any skepticism. Their genuineness is established beyond question."[4] Other professors, including Herbert Fisher of Sheffield University and former American Bar Association president Moorfield Storey, affirmed the same conclusion.[5]
In 2005, the Turkish National Assembly demanded an apology for the publication of the book.[6]
See also
- The Blue Book, Political Truth or Historical Fact, a 2009 documentary film in support of the authenticity of the report
- Armenians in the Ottoman Empire
- Press coverage during the Armenian Genocide
References
- ^ The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, 1915-1916: Documents Presented to Viscount Grey of Falloden by Viscount Bryce, James Bryce and Arnold Toynbee, Uncensored Edition. Ara Sarafian (ed.) Princeton, N.J.: Gomidas Institute, 2000. ISBN 0-9535191-5-5
- ^ Michelle Tusan, "Crimes against Humanity": Human Rights, the British Empire, and the Origins of the Response to the Armenian Genocide, in American Historical Review, February 2014, page 57. [1]
- ^ "Arnold J. Toynbee ve James Bryce'nin Hazırladığı "Treatment of the Armenians in the Ottoman". Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi.
Arnold J. Toynbee 1915 Çanakkale ve 1921′de I. ve II. İnönü Savaşlarına savaş muhabiri olarak katılmıştır. İngiltere Dışişleri Bakanlığı adına da görev yapmıştır. PRO. W. O. 104 serisi incelendiği zaman bu görülecektir. Kendisi mutaassıp bir Hıristiyan olarak tanınır.
- ^ Dadrian. History of the Armenian Genocide, p. 228.
- ^ Dadrian. History of the Armenian Genocide, pp. 228–9.
- ^ Anderson, Margaret Lavinia (2015). "Genocide of Armenians: Through Swedish EyesThe Armenian Genocide: Evidence from the German Foreign Office Archives, 1915–1916". Holocaust and Genocide Studies. 29 (3): 483–488 [485]. doi:10.1093/hgs/dcv051.
Further reading
- Monger, David (2018). "Networking against Genocide during the First World War: the international network behind the British Parliamentary report on the Armenian Genocide". Journal of Transatlantic Studies. 16 (3): 295–316. doi:10.1080/14794012.2018.1482714.
