In 1994, one of the gravest instances of genocide of the 20th century happened in front of the international community’s eyes, and no one did anything. Rwanda, a small country in East Africa, did not have a spotlight on the global stage. Despite numerous warnings about the escalating violence of the Hutu on the Tutsi, the genocide was not stopped. Was it a lack of means, a lack of understanding, or simply a lack of political will which prevented the international community from intervening? This thesis will analyze the attitudes of the two most responsible countries: France and the United States. The first chapter analyzes the knowledge of the international community on the human rights abuses in Rwanda from 1990 and 1994, leading up to the genocide. The second chapter looks at the rapid military interventions to evacuate foreign nationals in Rwanda when the genocide started, coupled with a lack of any help for the Tutsi. The third chapter considers the French intervention during the second part of the genocide, and the absence of an American one at the same time, and explains how both were detrimental to the Tutsi. Both France and the U.S. were in privileged positions to intervene and had enough information to have an enlightened understanding of the situation, but simply lacked the political will to intervene, France blinded by its friendship to the Hutu, the U.S. refusing another humanitarian mission.