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Ancient Armenia refers to Armenia's history during Antiquity. The Armenian community, one of the world's oldest civilizations, existed in a vast region of the Middle East for nearly 3,000 years. Armenia was the first county to accept Christianity as its state religion.

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The Ottoman Empire, ruled by Muslim Turks, invades the Armenian homeland. Armenians are now governed according to Islamic law rather than Christian law. This demoted non-Muslims to second-class citizens by denying them their civil rights.

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The Armenians began to campaign for an expansion of rights, including a contingent who called for sovereignty. As a result, the first Armenian massacre takes place under the rule of Ottoman Sultan Abdul-Hamid II. The death count nears 300,000.

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The Young Turks, an officers' movement that had seized power in 1908, establish a new constitution. They promised to improve the treatment of minorities in the Ottoman Empire. Instead, with the eruption of wars around them and the increased xenophobia against Armenians, they would soon make Armenia their scapegoat.

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The Young Turks - calling themselves the Committee of Unity and Progress (CUP) - entered the war on Germany's side. Turkish propaganda at the time presented the Armenians as saboteurs and a pro-Russian ‘fifth column. They adopt an ultra-nationalist ideology and set out to convert the country's minorities. The Ottoman army uses the event of war to forcibly remove the Armenian population from its homeland.

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The Young Turks begin their campaign to eliminate all Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Hundreds of Armenian leaders, educators, and writers, are taken from their homes. They are then jailed, tortured, and finally murdered.

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Before the Young Turks began their campaign against the Armenians, the empire totaled around 2 million Armenians. After, a mere 500,000 remained. These survivors may have survived the massacre but they were exiled from their homeland soon after.

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World War 1 ends and the Ottoman Empire surrender. The empire soon collapses, leading to the establishment of the Republic of Turkey. Massacres and ethnic cleansing of Armenian survivors continued through the Turkish War of Independence after World War I, carried out by Turkish nationalists.

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In the Republic of Turkey today, any mention or report of the Armenian Genocide is illegal. Of the estimated 11 million Armenians in the world, just under a third of them live in their rightful homeland due to the past atrocities committed to them. Turkey continues to deny that this genocide ever even took place, saying that it was all a result of war.

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President Biden officially recognizes the Armenian Genocide becoming the first president to acknowledge this genocide since its occurrence. By recognizing the genocide he moves toward genocide prevention in the future by spreading the history and helping grieving Armenians. He may have damaged relationships with Turkey as a result but he chose the moral choice over the politically sound one.