Who is Abdul Hamid II ?

Abdul Hamid II, the last ruling sultan of Turkey before the war, was an oppressive dictator. As his empire crumbled, he took out his anger on the Christian minorities of Turkey, the Armenians in particular. In response to Armenian opposition, the sultan ordered the Armenian's slaughtered. By 1896, over two hundred thousand Armenians had been killed by the armies of Abdul Hamid II. In 1908, his reign was ended by the Young Turks (see Important People; Talaat Pasha, Enver Pasha, and Djemal Pasha).