History of the Armenian People, From the Remotest Times to the Present Day e-bog

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. During this seemingly endless war, the worst ever to afllict mankind, Armenia has undoubtedly been the most unfortunate of all lands, the most racked and tortured, more so even than Belgium, more so than Serbia! Victim of the frightful massacres by the Turks, subjected to the cruelest horrors, partly delivered by the Rus sians and then woefully abandoned by them, Armenia has seen her fine and industrious rural population decimated to' an unthinkable ex tent through a most abominable series of slaughters. Not only is she the unhappiest of nations, but no national history is so little known as is hers, despite the fact that this history was once so famous. The reason for this is that for several centuries Armenia has been constantly held down beneath the most unbearable of servitudes, the bloody Ottoman yoke. In our western civilization hardly any but a very few scholars know the early history of the Armenians, those ancient and medieval times when this then warlike race played a most important r61e in the hinterland of the Eastern world, first the Roman and then the Christian. A few noble-minded men of this long and sorely tried na tion, along with some French friends devoted to their cause, felt it urgent to bring Armenia's hitherto neglected history to the knowledge of the general French public and that of our Allies, through a published work of high standing and practical value. This they deemed one of the best ways to interest the world, and France in particular, in the salvation of so worthy a people. These friends of Armenia, choos ing as spokesman one of the best among them, the great patriot Archag Tchobanian, kindly asked my advice as to whom they should appeal to carry out this difficult task. One name came at once to my thought that of my friend Jacques de Morgan, the intrepid explorer, the scholarly and enthusiastic traveler and great archaeologist, renowned for his excavations at Susa and in Egypt. No one is better acquaintedwith the vast regions around