The War of Famine

236 Pages·2012·1.74 MB·English

by  Melanie Tanielian

The War of Famine:
Everyday Life in Wartime Beirut and Mount Lebanon (1914-1918)

by

Melanie Tanielian

A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction

of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

in

History

in the

Graduate Division

of the

University of California, Berkeley

Committee in charge:

Professor Beshara Doumani
Professor Saba Mahmood
Professor Margaret L. Anderson
Professor Keith D. Watenpaugh

Fall 2012
The War of Famine: Everyday Life in Wartime Beirut and Mount Lebanon (1914-1918)
© Copyright 2012, Melanie Tanielian
All Rights Reserved
Abstract

The War of Famine:
Everyday Life in Wartime Beirut and Mount Lebanon (1914-1918)

By
Melanie Tanielian
History University of California, Berkeley
Professor Beshara Doumani, Chair

World War I, no doubt, was a pivotal event in the history of the Middle East, as it marked the
transition from empires to nation states. Taking Beirut and Mount Lebanon as a case study, the
dissertation focuses on the experience of Ottoman civilians on the homefront and exposes the
paradoxes of the Great War, in its totalizing and transformative nature. Focusing on the causes
and symptoms of what locals have coined the ‘war of famine’ as well as on international and
local relief efforts, the dissertation demonstrates how wartime privations fragmented the
citizenry, turning neighbor against neighbor and brother against brother, and at the same time
enabled social and administrative changes that resulted in the consolidation and strengthening of
bureaucratic hierarchies and patron-client relationships.

This dissertation is a detailed analysis of socio-economic challenges that the war posed for
Ottoman subjects, focusing primarily on the distorting effects of food shortages, disease, wartime
requisitioning, confiscations and conscriptions on everyday life as well as on the efforts of the
local municipality and civil society organizations to provision and care for civilians. Although
all residents of Beirut and Mount Lebanon took part in the same war, their experiences were
often different, mediated by existing gender and class differences and communal belongings,
which the international conflict – and concomitant interventions by the state as well as
international relief agencies – both exposed and exacerbated. The war aggravated the
inequalities embedded in late Ottoman and European colonial definitions of citizenship, since
class and communal affiliation determined people's access to food, their ability to avoid
conscription, fight disease, obtain provisions, and secure relief funds. Moreover, mutual
sacrifice, collective martyrdom and communal resistance rule loom large in state-sponsored
national narratives about World War I. Post-colonial Lebanon is no exception. This dissertation
reveals how attempts to construct a dominant 'collective' memory of World War I to promote
national unity served to mask the continued perpetuation of social inequalities and contributed to
tensions within post-independence Lebanese society.

This dissertation contributes to the general scholarship of World War I, which so far has
dismissed the experience of civilians on the Ottoman homefront as peripheral. Second it shifts
the historiographical focus of World War I in the Middle East as a political diplomatic event,
toward it being understood as a dynamic social, economic and political process the outcome of
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which was dependent as much on the immediate necessities of war, its political economy and
strain on civilians, as on long-term historical developments that had left the region vulnerable to
the wartime disruptions in the world market and hence more susceptible to famine. Third, this
social history of World War I in the Middle East outlines interactions between the Ottoman
military authorities, provincial representatives of the state, municipal council members, religious
leaders, greedy merchants, bakers and local law enforcement agencies and their relations to the
urban and rural poor, that force us to rethink common perceptions of Ottoman tyranny and
ambivalence in regards to its civilians and poses a challenge to sectarian interpretations of the
war experience on the homefront.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Abbreviations iii
Acknowlegment iv

Introduction: The War of Famine 1
Beirut and Mount Lebanon 3
The Predicament of Memory 6
Toward a Social History of World War I 8
Why Famine? 15

Chapter I: The Locust Simply Eats? Toward an Explanation of the Lebanese Famine 19
Nature’s Curse: Fertility, Heat and Vermin 22
Man-Made Disaster: War, Waters and the World Markets 27
Famine as a War Strategy 28
Government Failures: Conscription, Commandeering, Confiscation s 34
Conclusion: A Perfect Storm? 48

Chapter II: Famine and Family: Hunger, Death and Survival 50
The Horrors of Famine: Hunger and Death 52
Dangerous Consumption: Stretching Flour and Wheat 60
Family: “Do Father and Mother Devour Their Own Children?” 64
Conclusion 69

Chapter III: Rats, Lice and Microbes: The Spread and Prevention of Infectious Diseases 70
Disease in the Middle East 73
War, Famine, Disease: Inevitable Boon Companions? 75
The Social Function of Disease: 19th Century Beirut 78
“The ‘Other’ War” 85
Making Sanitary Citizens 88
Creating a Healthy Space 96
Surveillance, Regulation, and Resistance 98
Conclusion 106

Chapter IV: Feeding the City: The Beirut Municipality and Provisioning of Civilians 107
Origins, Social Demographics and Transformations 112
Food Crisis (1914-1915): Initial Stages of Municipal Intervention 117
Disciplining the Market: Regulation, Surveillance and Punishment 120
Rationing and Riots 125
Legislating Food: The Ottoman State’s Efforts to Feed its Civilians 128
Conclusion 134

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Chapter V: Soup Kitchens, Workshops and Orphans: The American Relief Efforts 135
Humanitarianism, Politics and Power 139
Urban Relief: Educator, Missionaries and Diplomats 141
Moving into the Mountains 150
Enclosure, Hygiene, and the Nuclear Family 155
The Children’s Court: Lessons in Self-Government 161
Teaching Self-Sustainability 163
Childhood Agency 165
Conclusion 167

Chapter VI: Fiat Panis! Let There Be Bread! The Aid Campaigns of Civil Society 169
A ‘Purely Local Initiative: Civil Society and Wartime Relief 173
The Alternative: The Syrian Women’s Association 183
Aid in Mount Lebanon: Between State and Church 187
Acts of Small Charity: Politics of Patronage 201
Conclusion 203

Conclusion: The Ghosts of the War of Famine 206
The Paradoxes of War: Ruptures and Continuities 210

Archives Consulted 214

Bibliography 217

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ABBREVIATIONS

AA Politisches Archive des Auswärtigen Amtes, Berlin, Germany

ACSAR American Committee for Syrian and Armenian Relief

ARC American Red Cross

AUB American University Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

BEY Archive of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchy, Beirut, Lebanon

Bkerke Archive of the Maronite Patriarch, Bkerke, Lebanon

FKS Fliedner Kultur Stiftung, Kaiserswerth, Germany

GCA Archives of the Greek Catholic Archdiocese, Beirut, Lebanon

GCCA Greek-Catholic Charity Association, Beirut, Lebanon

HL Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States

HI Hoover Institute, Stanford University, Palo Alto, United States

ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross

LNA Lebanese National Archive, Beirut, Lebanon

NEF Near East Foundation

NER Near East Relief

NEST Near East School of Theology, Beirut, Lebanon

PO Archive Proche-Orient, Beirut, Lebanon

SKA Stanley Kerr Archive, Zoryan Institute, Toronto, Canada

SPC Syrian Protestant College

StPH Archives of St. Paul, Harissa, Lebanon

USEK Université Saint-Esprit de Kaslik, Lebanon

USJ St. Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude first and foremost to my dissertation committee. I could
have not asked for better and more caring Doktorväter and Doktormütter. Professor Beshara
Doumani was the first to encourage me to write a social history of World War I. His enthusiasm
for the project, his generous advise, friendship, ardent support, and critical analytical feedback
not only gave me the confidence to carry out the project, but also challenged me to ask deeper
and more probing questions. Moreover, he made my and my fellow graduate student’s time at
Berkeley a unique experience of collegial cooperation and intellectual exchange. He created a
community that I will truly miss, but the friendships created I will carry with me. The project
was inspired in Professor Margaret Lavinia Anderson’s seminar on World War I at the
University of California, Berkeley. To spend an entire semester discussing the political,
economic, military, social and cultural history of the war with her and a wonderful group of
graduate students from a variety of fields was not only a great luxury, but motivated me to
embark on this project, as I realized the limitation of the existing scholarship in my field. But
most importantly, Professor Anderson’s great commitment to mentoring me and reading drafts of
the work with analytical acumen and an editorial keenness has been irreplaceable. Saba
Mahmoud whose academic rigor and intellectual curiosity has set an example that I can only
aspire to. Professor Keith D. Watenpaugh who has believed in my work, offered his time and
expertise most generously, helped me formulate important questions and whose work on Aleppo
and on humanitarianism in the Middle East have been guiding paradigms.

I have to thank the many people at the University of California, who have supported me and
made me feel at home. First of all, I would like to thank Professor Stephan Astourian for
advising, examining and at times sharing his office space with me. But also for encouraging me
to pursue an academic career, when I still was an undergraduate. The late Susanna Barrows
whose humor and commitment to collective intellectual growth never failed to make me feel at
ease and encouraged even during the most difficult of times. Her kindness combined with her
judicious intellect will always be a model that I seek to emulate. Words cannot express the loss
our community has experienced by her untimely death. My deepest gratitude goes to Gene
Irschick, Samera Esmeir, Salim Tamari, Thomas Brady, Leslie Peirce and Emily Gottreich for
their advice and intellectual encouragement. I am grateful for the friends and wonderful
colleagues at Berkeley who offered their support and guidance especially Osamah Khalil and his
partner Dalal Yassine, Murat Dagli, Amy Aisen Kallandar, Malissa Taylor, Heather Ferguson,
and Alan Mikhael. I have been fortunate enough to have an exceptional cohort who has
contributed to my intellectual growth and would like to thank Hilary Falb, Nick Kardahji, Nora
Barakat, Ryan Calder, and Lena Salameh for sharing the experience.

The research and completion of this dissertation was made possible by the generous financial
support of a number of institutions and granting agencies. I would like to thank the Department
of History at the University of California, Berkeley; the Sultan Program of the Center for Middle
Eastern Studies at the University of California, Berkeley; the Institute of International Studies at
the University of California, Berkeley for awarding me the Allan Sharlin Memorial Award; and
the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (German Academic Exchange Service).

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In Beirut, a place I like to call home and I was fortunate to enough to spend significant time, I
was blessed with overwhelming hospitality, friendships, and intellectual support. I thank the
archival staff at the American University of Beirut, in particular Samar Mikati-Kaissi and Imam
Abdallah, and the staff at the Bibliothèque Orientale at Université Saint-Joseph, the Near East
School of Theology, Beirut University, Lebanese University, and at the Université Saint-Esprit
de Kaslik. I would also like to thank Loulou Saybaa and Professor Suad Selim who were kind
enough to facilitate my work in the archives of the Greek-Orthodox Archdiocese. The staff at
the Lebanese National Archives, the archives of the Maronite Patriarchate at Bkerke, the Greek-
Catholic Bishopric in Beirut and at the convent of Saint Paul in Harissa. I would like to express
my thanks to Bishop Joseph Kallas for his knowledge and suggestions; as well as Father Elie
Azzi who shared his research with me and Father Elias Agia who assisted me in maneuvering the
sijils of the order of Saint Paul and Mr. Maalouf at the Greek Catholic Charity Association;
Professors Fawaz Traboulsi, Tarif Khalidi, Maysun Shukari, George Sabra, Hasan Hallaq, and
Kalil Matta for their time and help. I would like to thank in particular Professor Stefan Leder at
the German Orient Institute in Beirut for taking an interest in my project and welcoming me as
an affiliate, as well as Julia Hauser who has been a helpful and inspiring colleague.

Most of all, however, I am indebted to Mrs. Marie Chahwan, who not only assisted me in my
research, introduced me to archivists, took me under her wings as a researcher and opened her
house to me and my daughter as a great friend. The friendship of Jill and Naji Butrous and their
wonderful children made our stay in Beirut the most amazing experience. Their care, concern
and hospitality was more than anyone could ever expect from friends. It was the Butrous family
who made Lebanon a home away from home, who opened their home and hearts to us and
became life-long friends.

But none of this could have happened was it not for the support of my family. My mother
Ingrid, who inspired me as the strongest and uncompromising women I know. Who never
questioned my decisions, but supported me in every new adventure with her love and curiosity.
My dear mother-in-law Yvonne Tanielian, who with her great wisdom, stories of Palestine
Jerusalem, and amazing cooking has fed my curiosity and stomach all through Graduate School.
Not to speak of the endless hours of babysitting and love. I could have not done it without her.
My daughter Nikita , who has grown up to be a wonderful human being and never complained
too much over my absences and having to move to Beirut leaving her friends and family behind.
And my husband Hrair who has not only been my best friend through the ups and downs of this
project, but also has been my biggest cheerleader through all of it. His confidence in me and
loving support gave me the necessary stamina, and whose sense of humor and unparalleled joie
de vivre made me laugh and push on when the task seemed impossible. To him, my partner in
life, I owe my most sincere and unequivocal gratitude.

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INTRODUCTION

The War of Famine

On October first, the year 1918,
A wonderful sight in our village was seen:
Guns popping, flags flying, sky rockets went up:
We were so excited we hardly could sup:
The Turks had all left us, the British were near:
Our troubles were over, we knew peace was here.
Hurrah for the Arab nations—three cheers!
Away with all sorrows and sighing and tears:
The people are happy because they all know
That their Arab nation in freedom may grow.
(Anonymous ten-year-old American girl)1

On Sunday September 29, 1918, a violent earthquake like “a super-titanic Dog took the world by
the scruff of its neck” and shook the city of Beirut as if to forewarn its inhabitants that great
change was on its way.2 Only two days later Ottoman officials stationed in the provincial capital
fled under cover of darkness, marking the beginning of the end of the multi-ethnic empire that
had ruled the region for four hundred years.3 It is well known that the end of World War I
(1914-1918) meant the division of the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire by the victors of
the war and years of colonial occupation to come. A group of European politicians and
diplomats sat around tables in Paris in 1919 and made it their prerogative to draw a new political
map of the Middle East based on British, French and Zionist interests and with the strokes of
their pens determined the regions national futures.4 The immediate concerns and requests of the
region’s inhabitants, in the meantime, were buried at the bottom of piles of papers on the oak
desks in Paris. The fact that for civilians of the vast Ottoman Empire the Great War was first and
foremost a demographic and economic catastrophe of world-historical proportion was then and
still continuous to be largely forgotten. Mass conscription, famine, deportations and genocide
were the realities on the Ottoman homefront. In the course of four seemingly endless years of
war, the Ottomans had mobilized the extraordinary number of 2,85 million men, between fifteen
and fifty-five, to fight what—we now with historical hindsight know—would be a losing battle.
By the end of the war, the empire had lost a fourth of that army and the civilian mortality in parts
surpassed nineteen percent.5

1 Wadad Makdisi Cortas, A World I Loved (New York: Nation Books, 2009).
2 AUB: Bliss Collection, AA 2.3.2.17.2. Frederick Bliss “Retrospect: (1914-1919).”
3 Ḥassān Ḥallāq, ed. Mudhakkirāt Salīm ̒Ali Salām (1868-1938): ma ̒a dirāsah lil- ̒alāqāt al- ̒Uthmānīyah al-
̒Arabīyah wa ̒alāqāt al-Faransīyah al-Lubnānīyah (Bayrūt: al-Dār al-Jāmiʻīyah,1982).
4 A secret agreement between the Russians, French and British that divided up the territories of the Ottoman Empire
according to Entente interests had already been reached in form of the Sykes-Picot Agreement in May of 1916. In
addition, the British agreed to work for the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine, articulated in the
Balfour Declaration of 1917. For an account of the negotiations in Paris, see Margaret MacMillan, Paris 1919: Six
Months that Changed the World (New York: New York University Press, 2002).
5 It has to be pointed out that casualty figures are educated guesses and there is no consensus among historians as to
moralities among soldiers and civilians. The historians Stephane Audoin-Rouzeau and Annette Becker give some
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