Beginning in 1894, Abdulhamid ordered the Ottoman military to crush the Armenians' aspirations. The result was a widespread series of massacres, the most publicized of which occurred between 1894 and 1896, but which continued sporadically until 1905. More than 200.000 Armenians were killed. To press their political demands, the Armenian revolutionaries' activities included the seizure of the prominent Bank Ottoman in 1896 and an assasination attempt on the sultan in July 1905.
