During The Balkan Wars of 1911–1913, the Turks lost sizable chunks of the empire to Christian regions that were breaking away for independence. This period led to the emancipation of several East European countries further eroding the Ottoman Empire.

This was a devastating loss of power, sparking a more virulent form of Turkish nationalism and further ostracizing the Armenian population. What’s more, Muslim refugees from the Christian breakaway countries poured into Constantinople with stories of Christian murder and violence against their families and countrymen, perverting the events of the Adana Massacre to fit their own agenda. These stories became the basis for pro-Nationalist propaganda and would feed the national thirst for blood. One leader from the Young Turk government said, “Our anger is strengthening: revenge, revenge, revenge… there is no other word.”