How did World War I contribute to the Armenian Genocide?

World War I served as the immediate catalyst for the Armenian Genocide, creating a national security crisis that the Young Turk government used to justify the systematic destruction of the Armenian population.12

The conflict contributed to the genocide in several key ways:

• Military Defeat and Scapegoating: Following a disastrous defeat against Russia at the Battle of Sarıkamış in January 1915, the Ottoman leadership shifted blame for the loss onto Armenians, accusing them of treachery and collusion with the pro-Christian tsarist enemy.342
• Strategic Displacement: The government ordered the deportation of Armenians from Eastern Anatolia, claiming their presence near the front lines posed a threat to the empire.2
• Systematic Violence: Under the guise of wartime security, the state disarmed Armenian soldiers, transferring them to labor battalions where they were murdered. This was followed by the mass arrest of intellectuals and the forced deportation of civilians toward desert concentration camps, during which hundreds of thousands were massacred or died of starvation.21

While the war provided the immediate context, these actions were also fueled by long-standing resentment toward the economic and political success of Armenians within the Ottoman Empire.1