Preview

The Rwanda Genocide

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
258 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Rwanda Genocide
Rwanda Genocide Genocide was and is a horrible thing, but sadly it still exists today. One of the worst genocides happened in 1994, in the African nation of Rwanda. There were several causes to the genocide in Rwanda, there were thousands of people involved, and the outcomes were horrific.
There were several causes to the genocide in Rwanda. The Rwandan genocide started after World War I, when the country was taken over by the Belgians. When the Belgian colonists arrived in 1916, they produced identity cards classifying people according to their origin. The Tutsis are often taller and thinner than Hutus, with some saying their origins lie in Ethiopia. The Belgians considered the Tutsis to be superior to the Hutus. Not surprisingly, the Tutsis

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In the years of April and June of 1994, the Rwanda genocide occurred. The history behind this was the resentment of being inferior. When Belgium claimed Rwanda and surrounding areas for German East Africa in about 1924, there became tension between two tribes. The Belgiums favored the Tutsi (which were 12% of the population) and the Hutu (85% of population) grew angry for being considered inferior. This struggle waged on for sixty years and finally hit its peak.…

    • 417 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After WW1 Belgium took control of Rwanda and favored the minority, Tutsis, of the majority, Hutus, who were angered after Belgium left Rwanda and put the Tutsis in power of the Rwandan government (“The Rwandan Genocide”). Later a Hutu rebel group tried to, and did overthrow the Tutsi government (“Rwandan Genocide: 100 days of slaughter-BBC News”). This led to an estimated 300,000 Tutsi refugees that would flee the country in fear of Hutu rule and brutality (“Rwandan Genocide: 100 days of slaughter-BBC News”). After the Tutsis fled to the neighboring countries, the Rwandan Patriotic Force also know as the RPF, was created in response to the Hutu rebel group taking control (“Rwandan Genocide: 100 days of slaughter-BBC News”). Even before the genocide, conflict forced many Tutsis to flee in fear of a genocide which would eventually…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Conflict in Rwanda was caused by many actions throughout history and resentment and anger being built up which led to one swift cruel act - genocide. The road to genocide begins with labels, or classification. The people who brought these racist ideas to a once peaceful Rwanda in the first place were Belgian colonists who believed the white race was superior. Rwanda became a colony of Belgium in 1914, and, gained independence from Belgium in the 1960s (“Year of Africa”). Following Rwanda gaining independence from Belgium began the dispute to figure out who would rule Rwanda after the Belgians left and there was no one the favor, the Tutsis. This was when the genocide broke…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Imperialism In Rwanda

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Years before the genocide took place, Rwanda was colonized by Belgium .The Belgians divided Rwanda population into two groups , the Hutu ,the Tutsi and Twa in order to strengthen their control of Rwanda. As stated by the American University Washington College Of Law Center For Human Rights And Humanitarian Law:“The colonists created a strict system of racial classification. The size of the nose and…

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rwandan Genocide Dbq

    • 954 Words
    • 3 Pages

    As the Belgians came down to the weak and unstable country of Rwanda they had one thing in mind, to conquer their land. This was the initial goal of the Belgians which later turned out to be the most contributing factor to the Rwandan Genocide. It all started with the classification, done by the Belgians with I.D. cards, of the Rwandan people into two major groups which were the Hutu and the Tutsi by their physical features (Doc. 1&4). The Belgians described the Tutsi, the minority group as intelligent and skillful and gave the privileges over the Hutu who were the majority group and described as simple (Doc.4). As time passed and the power of the Tutsis got to their head they started to abuse their rights which angered the Hutu. A suspicious plane crash in April 1994 killed booth Rwandan president Habyarimana and the second president of Burundi which sparked the genocide. Within a few hours of the crash, Hutu extremists executed eleven UN peacekeepers from Belgium and started to carry out a well organized series of massacres (Doc. 4). Civilian death squads called Interhamwe had training prior to the genocide and were responsible for the largest massacres,…

    • 954 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Imperialism In Rwanda

    • 1380 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Rwanda, a small landlocked country in central Africa, has a long and rich history of differences and conflicts. One of the most known historic events of this region is the Rwandan Genocide which took 800,000 lives over the course of four months (Britannica). The conflict between two tribal groups, the Hutu and Tutsis, had been accumulating for decades before it finally reached its breaking point. The Rwandan genocide can be attributed to three main factors: Belgian colonial policies, tribal tensions between the Hutus and Tutsis, and the assassination of the Rwandan president. Before European colonization Rwanda was united under a total Tutsi government.…

    • 1380 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Rwandan genocide was an atrocity that marked an age of unrest and violence in Central Africa. A nation unbalanced for years had finally imploded, leading to the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of Tutsis. This genocide was the result of multiple things, creating instability and unbalancing the relationship between the Tutsis and the Hutus. Tensions built up for decades were finally released. While many would blame Belgium, Germany, and colonization for catalyzing the genocide, there were many other factors involved, including structural oppression, the rise of the Rwandan Patriot Front, and most notably propaganda spread by the Rwandan Radio; proving that while colonialism may have played a large role…

    • 1330 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Rwanda Genocide

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages

    During the colonial period time, Germany, had lost custody of Rwanda because of the first world war. So Rwanda was handed over to Belgium take custody. In the late nine- teen fifties there was a huge increase of intensity over decolonization in Rwanda, because Hutus wanted independence . "In November 1959, a violent incident sparked a Hutu uprising in which hundreds of Tutsi were killed and thousands displaced and forced to flee to neighboring countries." This started a the ‘Hutu Peasant Revolution’ which had only continued for two years 1959 to 1961, which had ended the Tutsi domination and now has obviously started negative ethnic tensions between each other. In 1962, Rwanda had gained independence, 120,000 people, primarily Tutsis,and automatically set one hundred -twenty thousand Tutsi refugees into the bordering countries to breakout the violence which had been started by Hutu community who was just coming into…

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It all started in 1894 when Europeans went to Rwanda and favored the Tutsis. This lead to the Tutsis ruling over the Hutu. Until 1959 when Belgium switched to the Hutu. The Hutu turned on the Tutsi, “In the 1960’s, some 20,000 Tutsi were killed and over a quarter-million driven into exile”(Anderson). Even though the Hutu made up most of the population they were being taken advantage of, “Hutu made up 85 percent of the population, while the Tutsi accounted for only 15 percent”(Anderson). Eventually the Hutu revolted and started to exert their power. Therefore it was known as the Rwandan Genocide. Hundreds of thousands were killed, government was using propaganda to attack the Tutsi, and even offered land to those who attacked the…

    • 685 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Genocide occurs more often than one might think. Actually, there is one happening right now! Some have endured for many years, while others have only lasted a few months, such as the Rwandan genocide. The Rwandan genocide, a long-awaited riot, began with Belgian aggressions towards the Tutsis (Belgium had once ruled over Rwanda). The Belgians concluded that the Tutsis were superior to the Hutus, two similar ethnic groups living In Rwanda. After 20 years, the Hutus had enough and they started a revolution that drove nearly away 300,000 Tutsis ("The Rwandan Genocide"). The Hutu Revolution granted Rwanda independence and the Hutus created their own government. Years afterwards, Rwandan exiles, mostly Tutsi…

    • 572 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Darfur Genocide

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Darfur Genocide began in February 2003 and is continuing to this day. It began when Sudan Liberation Movement and Justice and Equality Movement revolutionary gatherings started battling the Sudanese government, which they blamed for abusing Darfur's non-Arab populace. The administration reacted to assaults via doing a battle of ethnic purging against Darfur's non-Arabs. This brought about the passing of a huge number of civilians. One side of the contention was made predominantly out of Sudanese military and police and the Janjaweed, a Sudanese state army gathering selected for the most part among Arabized indigenous Africans and a little number of Bedouin of the northern Rizeigat; the dominant part of other Arab bunches in…

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Rwanda Human Rights

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Genocide can happen anywhere and for various reasons. Genocide has happened in Rwanda, Bosnia, and even in America. These three events, though all terrible, all occurred for different reasons and helped change the world. The Bosnian Genocide, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Japanese Internment Camps were all violations of Article 3 of the Universal Document of Human Rights. These events have shaped the world to this day. People are still learning from their mistakes and trying to correct and rebuild things that happened in the past. These events are important to know about because they can teach the public the harsh consequences of a terrible event such as…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The church was implicated in the genocide in a myriad ways. Not to mention, priests served a pivotal role in orchestrating and perpetrating mass murders along with the colonial state. Cultivated by the church, priests and nuns were scattered throughout Rwanda to speak out in favor of reform, denounce the rising ethnic tensions, and support the human rights groups that were supplying information about the genocide in Rwanda. There were, however, some exceptions, because not all priests and nuns were…

    • 81 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rwandan Genocide

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages

    800,000 people died in the Rwandan Genocide. Since it lasted 100 days, about 8,000 people died every day. Due to the efforts of an upstander, that number could have been higher. 1 upstander from the genocide is the Red Cross. They are brave and kind. I can compare the Red Cross to only one person, Greg Mortenson. Here are some similarities and differences from both upstanders.…

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    By the early 1961, Victorious Hutus had forced Rwanda Tutsi monarch into exile and declared the country a republic…

    • 88 Words
    • 1 Page
    Powerful Essays