Work
Were American Indians the Victims of Genocide?
Guenter Lewy's 2004 essay.
- Dates
- 2004
Connections 3
features
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The scholarly debate over the word "genocide"
Scholarship & press
1
Stannard's claim, as Lewy reports it; Lewy accepts the loss and disputes the word. The site does not rank this history against any other.
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U.S. wars and massacres against Indian nations, 1776 to 1890
Scholarship & press
1
Lewy's case on the other side: event by event, he finds intent lacking at Wounded Knee and the Washita, and allows that Sand Creek might qualify.
author
- Guenter Lewy Scholarship & press 1
Timeline 1 date
- 2004 Were American Indians the Victims of Genocide?
Proof 1 source
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Were American Indians the Victims of Genocide?, History News Network, reprinting Commentary, 1 Sep 2004.
Scholarship & press
native Americans had undergone the “worst human holocaust the world had ever witnessed, roaring across two continents non-stop for four centuries and consuming the lives of countless tens of millions of people.”
It is thought that between 75 to 90 percent of all Indian deaths resulted from these killers.
But the largest loss of life occurred well before this time, and sometimes after only minimal contact with European traders.
Similarly, military engagements that led to the death of noncombatants, like the battle of the Washita, cannot be seen as genocidal acts, for the loss of innocent life was not intended and the soldiers did not aim at the destruction of the Indians as a defined group.
But, as Robert Utley has concluded in a careful analysis, it is better described as “a regrettable, tragic accident of war,” a bloodbath that neither side intended.
Were American Indians the Victims of Genocide? by Guenter Lewy
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