During World War I, the Ottoman Empire was engaged in a war with Russia, which had a significant Armenian population. The Ottoman government, fearing that the Armenian population would side with Russia, began a campaign of deportation and extermination against the Armenian people. This campaign, which is now known as the Armenian Genocide, resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians. The Ottoman government was responsible for the forced relocation of Armenians from their homes, the confiscation of their property, and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians due to starvation, dehydration, and disease. The Armenian Genocide is widely considered to be one of the first modern genocides of the twentieth century.