Genocide

Genocide involves the calculated targeting and killing of a specific ethnic group, or any huge deliberate killing of civilians carried out as a consequence of government policy. The worst of these were carried out by Communist governments in the USSR and China.

Other 20th century examples include:

• 1916-1917: The Turkish genocide of the Armenians
• 1939-1945: The Holocaust
• 1979-1981: The Khmer Rouge in Cambodia
• 1991-1995: The former Yugoslavia, involving the killing of Bosnian Muslims
• 1995: Hutu genocide of the Tutsi population in Rwanda

A current example involves the events in the Darfur region of Sudan, which the United States government has recognised as genocide.

The term applies mostly to mass killings since the beginning of the 20th century, although throughout history there have been many cases of bloodshed like this. Even in the Bible, there was the Israelite conquest of Canaan, where God instructed them "...do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them...as the Lord your God has commanded you..." (Deuteronomy 20:16).