Massacre

The Chios Massacre refers to a famous incident during the Greek War of Independence in 1822.[1]
Twenty-six republicans were assassinated by Franco's Nationalists at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, between August and September 1936. This mass grave is placed at the small town named as Estépar, in Northern Spain. The excavation occurred in July–August 2014.
The El Mozote massacre, El Salvador, 1981

A massacre is a specific incident which involves the killing of people, although it is not necessarily a crime against humanity.[2]

The numbers killed range from just a few people to many millions. The common factor of a massacre (as with mass murder) is that multiple people are being violently killed by other people.

Etymology and history of the term

The modern definition of massacre as "wholesale slaughter, carnage", and the subsequent verb of this form, derive from late 16th century Middle French, evolved from Middle French "macacre, macecle" meaning "slaughterhouse, butchery." Further origins are dubious, though may be related to Latin macellum "provisions store, butcher shop."[3][4][5]

The term is also used allegorically for events that do not involve deaths, such as the Saturday Night Massacre—the dismissals and resignations of political appointees during Richard Nixon's Watergate scandal.

Definitions

Robert Melson's "basic working definition," reads, "by massacre we shall mean the intentional killing by political actors of a significant number of relatively defenseless people... the motives for massacre need not be rational in order for the killings to be intentional... Mass killings can be carried out for various reasons, including a response to false rumors... political massacre... should be distinguished from criminal or pathological mass killings... as political bodies we of course include the state and its agencies, but also nonstate actors..."[6]

Mark Levene defines a massacre as historically involving the murder of more than one individual, within an outrageous moral deficiency: "Although it is not possible to set unalterable rules about when multiple murders become massacres. Equally important is the fact that massacres are not carried out by individuals, instead they are carried out by groups... the use of superior, even overwhelming force..." Levene excludes "legal, or even some quasi-legal, mass executions." He also points out that it is "...most often ... when the act is outside the normal moral bounds of the society witnessing it... In any war ... this killing is often acceptable."[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Dadrian, Vahakn N. (1999). Warrant for Genocide: Key Elements of Turko-Armenian Conflict. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers. p. 153. ISBN 1-56000-389-8.
  2. ↑ Gallant, Thomas W. (2001). "review of Levene, Roberts The Massacre in History". Crime, History & Societies. 5 (1).
  3. ↑ "(Archived) Merriam-Webster: Massacre". Merriam-Webster.com. Archived from the original on 8 January 2017. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  4. ↑ "(Archived) Etymonline: Massacre". Etymonline.com. Archived from the original on 8 January 2017. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  5. ↑ "(Archived) Oxford: Massacre". Oxford Online Dictionary. Archived from the original on 8 January 2017. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  6. ↑ Melson, Robert (July 1982). "Theoretical Inquiry into the Armenian Massacres of 1894-1896". Comparative Studies in Society and History. 24 (3): 482–3. doi:10.1017/s0010417500010100.
  7. ↑ Levene, Mark; Roberts, Penny (1999-01-01). The Massacre in History. Berghahn Books. p. 90. ISBN 9781571819345.

Further reading

  • Kenz, David El. "GLOSSARY TERM: Massacre". Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence. Retrieved 22 November 2013. 
  • Levene, Mark; Roberts, Penny, eds. (1999). The massacre in history (1. publ. ed.). Providence: Berghahn Book. ISBN 9781571819345. 
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