Conflicts Caused by Differences among Groups

Conflicts Caused by Differences among Groups Throughout history differences among groups have often led to conflict. Two specific conflicts were the persecution of Christians during the Roman Empire and the Armenian massacres. These two conflicts were caused by differences among groups. The persecution of Christians during the Roman Empire was caused by differences in religion. In 1914 the conflict between the Turks and the Armenians led to the Armenian massacre which was caused by political differences. The persecution of Christians during the Roman Empire was caused by differences in religion. The Roman Empire was quite tolerant in its treatment of other religions. The imperial policy was generally one of incorporation; the local gods of a newly conquered area were simply added to the Roman pantheon and often given Roman names. Even the Jews, with their one god, were tolerated. For the Romans, religion was first and foremost a social activity that promoted unity and loyalty to the state, a religious attitude the Romans called pietas, or piety. Cicero wrote that if piety in the Roman sense were to disappear, social unity and justice would perish along with it. The Roman distaste for Christianity then, arose in large part from its sense that it was bad for society.

The effect of this conflict was that it led to the persecution of Christians. Secondly, the Armenian massacre was another conflict that happened because of differences among groups. In 1914, the Turks entered World War I on the side of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Military leaders began to argue that the Armenians were traitors. If they thought they could win independence the Armenians would be eager to fight for the enemy. As the war intensified Armenians organized volunteer battalions to help the Russian army fight against the Turks in the Caucasus region. These events and general Turkish suspicion of the Armenian people led the Turkish government to push for the removal of the Armenians from the war zones along the Eastern Front. On April 24, 1915, the Armenian genocide began. That day the Turkish government arrested and executed several hundred Armenian intellectuals. After that ordinary Armenians were turned out of their homes and sent on death marches through the Mesopotamian desert without food or water. Frequently, the marchers were stripped naked and forced to walk under the scorching sun until they dropped dead. People who stopped to rest were shot. In conclusion, differences among groups have often led to conflicts. Two main conflicts were the persecution of Christians during the Roman Empire, which was caused by differences in religion, and the Armenian massacre, which was caused by political differences