This supposed genocide and the war highly exaggerated to justify Republic City's existence so how can we be sure the facts are correct?
Just as a preemptive warning, apologist arguments for the Sozin regime and genocide denialism will not be tolerated at /r/AskHistorians, per our rules.
I am so done with people thinking reading one or two books makes them qualified enough to challenge the teachings of Avatar Aang, who not only survived the airocide but saved the world from the perpetrators of this crime a hundred years later. There are eye-witness accounts, you can still visit the ruins of the air temples. What do you think, that all those people just disappeared? That all the artefacts we find in these ruins were planted as part of some grand Airbender Conspiracy? Come on!
I love all of you.
Of course the air nomad genocide happened, and with good reason too!
The history books claim that all air nomads were airbenders because they were "more spiritual". But this doesn't make any sense, if the nomad gained bending by being spiritual, then why did the resurgence of airbending after the convergence target normal earth kingdom citizens, instead of the more spiritual air acolytes? The only reasonable conclusion is that spirituality is not a factor in bending, and that the nomad race has lied to the world. In fact, recent archeological digs have found a plethora of baby skeletons under the ruins of the Western air temple (where, I'll remind you, only women lived). The reason of course, being that the nomad race conspired to kill all children born without the gift of bending. Sozin's strike may be seen as start of his conquests by "mainstream" historians, but anyone who wakes up to the facts of the nomad race will see that it was in defense of innocent children!
I have asked this very question in the spirit world when I met Guru Laghima,
who lived 4000 years ago,
(you probably haven't heard of him)
and his answer was a very affirmative maybe. Perhaps if you could provide sources backing up your claim I could give a more detailed answer.
I was one of the first few people to visit the southern air temple after the events occurred, and we found dead fire nation soldiers surrounding monk Gyatso!
So I know that Air Nomad genocide denialism has really caught on in some circles. The fact of the matter is that the historical records are clear- no one is in denial that it happened, and in fact, the Fire Nation records released after the end of the Hundred Year's War show that the Fire Nation higher-ups were as clear in their intent to destroy the Air Nomads as everyone else in the world said they were.
There've been loads of archaeological digs at the Air Temples undertaken by researchers from around the world that clearly show that attacks happened. I know a lot of people like to point to the supposed lack of damage at the (surviving) Air Temples as evidence there was no attack, but the Fire Nation meant to destroy the people, not their temples, and besides evidence of fire damage is extensive. If there was no genocide, apologists would still have to explain why the Fire Nation undertook a massive coordinated attack on the Air Nomads and why the Air Nomads were nearly wiped out at the same time.
Sozin apologists often paint the genocide as a flimsy pretext to declare war on the Fire Nation on the part of the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom. Now, the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom were (very understandably) already wary of the Fire Nation's colonial ambitions and perhaps their concern for the Air Nomads was a little insincere, but that doesn't contradict anything about the historically accepted facts of the genocide.
The Air Nomad genocide never happened, but I wish it did.
Everyone knows that the so called "Air Nomad Genocide" was an elaborate hoax by the Air Nomads to victimize the Fire Nation.
When our beloved Firelord Sozin attacked the Air Temples, he was faced with the armies of the Air Nomads, who ruthlessly attacked him. Despite their numbers, Sozin was able top defeat them and burned the Air Temples. Unfortunately, some of them were able to escape to the Earth Kingdom where they wrote The Protocols of the Order of Nomads, and hid for a hundred years--waiting for their plan to come to fruition.
Avatar Aang knew full well that there were secret airbenders in the Earth Kingdom, but he decided to hide this fact to make the Fire Nation look bad.
Harmonic Convbergance was just a false flag that allowed the secret airbenders to come out of hiding. Bumi--yeah, he was just a suppressed airbender. When Harmonic Convergence came around, he didn't miraculously gain airbending, he just got over some of his issues that prevented him to airbend.
Absolutely. Mention of Air Nomads completely vanishes from the historical record around 12 ASC. Apart from Avatar Aang, his descendants, and Avatar Korra, no other Airbenders are attested from that point onward until after the occasion of Harmonic Convergence. If they went into hiding, they certainly did a more thorough job than any other group in history.
That said, the existence of a few Fire Nation noble families with grey eyes and penchants for acrobatics leads me to believe a few might have been hidden by sympathetic nobles for at least a while.
According to the Air Nomad scholar Zaheer (currently imprisoned due to a unfortunate misunderstanding of international law concerning the kidnapping of Avatars), the Air Nomad nation was in fact NOT killed by the fire nation. When Zaheer discovered that sky-bison couldn't crush stone beams, he began extensive research of the "genocide".
After attaining enlightenment when reading Guru Laghima's How to Attain Flight; and Other Short Stories he conducted numerous experiments on the soil and air around the Eastern Sky Temple. These experiments culminated in the discovery that all Air Bender's except Aang had achieved the third tier of enlightened release and had become one with the void. This caused them all to lose their earthly tether and erupt into flames. The other nations obviously blamed the fire nation and resulted in the hundred years war.
Source: An Idiots Guide to Air History and Achieving Tetherless Flight by Guru Zaheer.
Yes there is clear evidence that the genocide happened. Besides the various mentions by members of Sozin's regime and officials later in the war, there have been crews to investigate the air temples for signs of the genocide. Most of the deniers repeat the same tired nonsense on how there is no evidence of a fire nation invasion and how most of te Air Nomads were wiped out due to disease. The notion that there was no invasion comes from the lack of burn marks and ashes at the temples, but these temples have been exposed to the elements for so long that these marks would have faded away and most of the structures from that period have crumbled. The claim also omits the work of a team of Earth Kingdom researchers that attempted to prove that the genocide happened (as if that was really necessary) as they found that in the deeper parts of the temples burn marks and even old fire nation armor was found. The claim that most of the victims at the Air Temples died of diseases spread by the nomads migratory nature is also nonsense. While many of the Nomads may have died of diseases it is rediculous to assume that an entire population was wiped out by a plague, especially one that is as isolationist as the Air Nomad Temples. We know the Fire Nation was the scientific leader in its day with most of the world's greatest minds originating in the Fire Nation. With their technological prowess it would have been easy for them to wipe out the Air Nomads, and that technologiacl advantage was combined with the effects of the comit. Only a little digging is necessary to uncover all this information, so it is clear that Sozin apologists are not aiming for historical accuracy. On a personal level, I am appalled at the mods would allow this blatent anti-aero sentiment to be permitted on this subreddit.
This is obviously a really touchy topic, given how many Comet Deniers are really just anti-airbenders. But there actually is a great deal of uncertainty regarding exactly how much of the genocide was ordered by Sozin, and the degree to which it was planned in advance. Considering the way the Fire Nation dealt with Water- and Earthbenders (taking them captive and using them for slave labor), it's possible that they had a similar intention for the Air Nomads, but ultimately ended up commiting genocide as a last resort when the airbenders kept escaping. Certainly there is no record of an order from Sozin to extirminate the airbenders - some scholars believe that it may have been done independently by Azulon, then a general, and that Sozin did nothing wrong.
Downvote me if you wish, but I agree. Now, I'm no fan of the Fire Nation, but you can clearly see the Fire Lord's goals in starting that war. Have you looked at the Earth Kingdom's records on longevity? It rose dramatically as the Fire Nation spread their industry throughout the world.
The Air Nomads were strategic targets for the Fire Nation. Now, some may label me as a Fire Nation apologist, but I'm not. The Avatar was always going to step in and stop their plans--and by the way, how happy are we that the Avatar just enforces stasis, or "balance" as he says?--so attacking them made military sense.
The so-called Great Convergence did not bring back Air Bending as is commonly repeated. These are descendants of the Air Nomads who scattered. Yes, Fire Nation propaganda said they had armies, which is absurd, but they also weren't all killed out. They went into hiding, and only recently with the troubles in the Earth Kingdom, did they discover their heritage.
Wake up koala-sheeple!
I learned in class that the Air Nomad Army was getting ready to launch an attack on the fire nation. It was purely a preemptive attack.
Of course it happened. This is why we have laws in the Fire Nation that ends people who dare question the Air Nomad Genocide.
I hope Korra takes all of your bending.
No, it didn't happen. If it did it was clearly exagerated. lets look at facts
Even the strongest fire benders have max of 200 degrees fareinheight for the temperture of their fire, it takes 500 degrees to burn the air temples material.
Many elemental justice warriors claim that "sozins comet" magically made the fire 200 percent higher but simple math shows us that would make it 400 degrees
check mate EJWs
I think the actions of Firelord Ozai show just how insane the Fire Nation was. That guy wanted to literally incinerate the Earth Kingdom. Sozen was just as crazy.
OP, if you're really interested in knowing more about the truth, read the book On Genocide and Deceit: How Republic City Rests on a Foundation of Lies. Very interesting read.
If you've ever visited any one of the grand temples built by ancient Air Nomads, you would be impressed. I can only describe the views as breathtaking. I'm not usually one to exaggerate, they're honestly quite beautiful. The worn structures that still stand strong today are a testament to the elegant designs and structures favored by Air Nomads long ago.
I am not here to tell you about my journeys in the air temple. Rather, I am here to tell you the shocking secrets uncovered from a spiritual awakening I had. The truth, dear readers, is that the genocide that supposedly wiped out the Air Nomads all those years ago never even happened.
They go into a lot of detail later on in the book. For instance, have you ever noticed the alarming amount of airbenders in your Television Shows and Movers? Doesn't it seem peculiar how Airbenders always win the popular vote when it comes to elections? Are Airbenders using a supposed "genocide" as leverage to control the media and the people? Did the Airbenders assassinate Asami Sato?
I'm probably going to be banned for this post, but the mods here are just shills. In the interest of being fair and unbiased, you can also read Air Nomads: A Nation Reborn by Tenzin. He goes into detail about the history of the genocide from his father's perspective and adds his own. He acknowledges the truth, but writes it off as "something only misinformed and ignorant people will believe.".
The problem is that a lot of the records that would have documented the genocidal period have been lost. Previously many of the records that documented this period would have been stored in the major cities' libraries and codexes.
But then the Fire Nation attacked, and collateral damage rendered many of the texts illegible or destroyed. We only really have secondhand notes on the existence of these records, so we can't say for certain.
lots of Aeorophobes and Sozin-apologists in this thread. Mods pls. Next thing you know they'll try to argue that the Dai Li wasn't a puppet for Firelord Azula at the time.
So here's the thing, no serious historian denies Sozin's crimes, but they are often put in context here the air nomads are depicted as a purely peaceful monastic culture, whitewashng the real complexities of their history.
They were ruled by unelected elders who blatantly favoured their own people in any disputes. Peasants in the areas controlled by air temples were treated terribly, and crime by airbenders aaainst them was fequent ad unproscuted. They frequently demanded tribute in the form of "temple donations".
And thats just the official air nomad government. People forget that much of the population were essentially independent and roamed the world, accountable to no-one. (Sozin's massacre only succeeded because they were gathered at the temples for festivals when it happened.)
To be clear. None of this excuses genocide. But pro air nomad historians frequently depict them as blameless in all things, when they clearly weren't. [Before anyone calls me an elementit, my grandfather was an air nomad, yeah so much for celibacy]
As from historical documents and archaeological finds suggest, yes, the air nomands were slaughtered.
From the air temple ruins, we find multiple bones, and all have the same markings only found on what air monks use.
Another source of evidence is that the bones were left in large gathering places, not in traditional air nomad burial sites, and majority of the bones had burn markings, and only one nation uses those.
The Fire Nation.
Firebenders can't melt rock beams.
Ok, lets be honest here. There's little evidence from either side.
On one hand; we have no evidence for the genocide other than the missing airbenders. A group of nomads who were known to keep to themselves already. None of the Air Temples showed evidence of extreme damage that would be cause by a full military attack and the entire theory of the genocide hinges on the fact that Sozin was able to simultaneously wipe out EVERY AIRBENDER IN THE WORLD in just several hours during the comet.
Why would Sozin do this? He himself stated that the war was to help spread the prosperity of the Fire Nation at the time. And we know we can take Sozin's reasons for the war as truth seeing as it was confirmed not only by Fire Nation archives but by Avatar Roku himself to Avatar Aang. Killiing off one of the most peaceful nations first not only doesn't make sense from a military stand point (you don't drop a spirit bomb on the weakest enemy) but also from an expansionist one seeing as none of the temples were ever used to house firenation colonists or military.
For those who try to argue that they went after the Air Nomads to kill the Avatar before he became a threat you obviously have not paid attention to anything. Killing the avatar just restarts the cycle with the next nation. They even explicity avoid killing Avatar Aang towards the end of the war to avoid this. If they had commited any sort of genocide then why would they believe that the avatar was now a part of one of the water tribes? They would have had no reason to believe that Aang survived and would have moved on to the next nation in the cycle.
So, we have no mass graves. Only a few skeletons at ONE temple. No signs of a large scale battle or extermination taking place. And the only sources are the founders of the United Republic who involve an Air Nomad Avatar, his wife, his brother in law, his earth bending teacher and extremely rich inheriter of the Bei-Fong family fortune, and a former Fire Nation prince who was exiled TWICE for poor conduct, conspiricy to commit regicide, sharing of military secrets with foreign powers, and full on renouncing his claim! And what happens after the war? The avatar's brother-in-law becomes a head of the Republic City council, the exiled prince becomes the Fire Lord, his teacher becomes head of the Republic City police force, and the Avatar and his wife not only have direct political influence but own an island and obviously use UN funds to support his restoration of the Air Temples.
This is legitimately one of the best threads I've seen on reddit
Even Genohoax believers have to admit that its awfully strange how all the world leaders currently have a connection to either Avatar Aang, or Avatar Korra:
That's an awful lot of international ties
Shit! I know so much about this but all my sources are comic books and kids TV shows. I am the worst historian :( Can I have a flair of shame?
Yes.
DUDE!
No they created a massive robot to defy the gods then vanish when they used the tools of Kagrenac on the robot. Ang survived because he is reincarnated to kill the tribunal forces who is behind the recent Klingon insurgencies. Republic City really exists to house the giant robot from prying eyes for if it's existence goes public there will be mass riots where the TARDIS might be destroyed.
The hell is going on in this sub today? April fools show up a day early? Lol.
It's about as real as the holocaust and the Armenia genocide
...not much...