Enduring the Famine of World War I in Lebanon and Western Syria
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THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT LIVES DARKENED BY CALAMITY: ENDURING THE FAMINE OF WORLD WAR I IN LEBANON AND WESTERN SYRIA by AARON TYLOR BRAND A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Department of History and Archaeology of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the American University of Beirut Beirut, Lebanon May 2014 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For whatever reason, the process of writing my dissertation was neither arduous nor particularly distressing. At times I even enjoyed it. Nevertheless, I owe a great debt of gratitude to many people for guidance, assistance or support over the course of my graduate career. First, I must thank Kamal Salibi for putting me onto the topic in the first place. While listening in on a discussion wherein Samir Seikaly (justly) dismissed several proposed research topics as trite or foolish, Dr. Salibi commented that my growing interest in pestilence and death would make me well-suited to work on the famine, which by 2011 had received relatively scant coverage. I never looked back. I only regret that he passed before I could show him the product of the process he set in motion. The American University of Beirut has been remarkably supportive throughout my doctoral studies. Abdulrahim Abu Husayn has been a pillar of both my academic and personal lives here in Beirut, and I count myself honored and privileged to have received his guidance and friendship over the past five years. I want to thank John Meloy, Alexis Wick and Omar Dewachi for holding me to their high standards, as well as Leila Fawaz for lending her keen eye and technical understanding of the famine to my committee. I regret that Samir Seikaly was unable to participate in this final stage of my education here at the AUB, I have always valued his frank and honest appraisal of my work and his encouragement over the past half-decade. I would like to thank the archivists at the AUB Library, as well as the Presbyterian Historical Society, as well as Christine Lindner from NEST. I would also like to recognize Patrick McGreevy, Ellen Fleischmann, Elizabeth Thompson, Zachary Foster, Andrew Patrick, Najwa al-Qattan, Leila Hudson, Charles D. Smith, Simon Jackson, Keith Watenpaugh, and Cyrus Schayegh, Soumar Dakdouk, Joane and Hayat Chaker. Special thanks goes to Michael Provence, who shared a gem of a photo of Jamal Pasha holding a toddler, which adorned my desktop for some time. Emotionally, I am immensely indebted to my wife, Tamara, and son, Eli, who have loved and tolerated me throughout my doctoral career. I am deeply blessed to have been supported by my family. I especially want to thank my parents, Violet, Beth, Judy, Neil, Pop and Joanie, who always believed in me, as well as my dearest friends, Ty and Mel, Jamie, and my partner in crime, Salah. Extra recognition goes to Pop and Neil for inspiring me to travel and push my boundaries, if not for your lives, mine would be far less interesting. v AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Aaron Tylor Brand for Doctor of Philosophy Major: History Title: Lives Darkened by Calamity: Enduring the Famine of World War I in Lebanon and Western Syria Because the famine of World War I marked the cusp of the Ottoman and French eras of rule in Lebanon and Syria, the crisis has been regarded in the historiography as a pivotal event – but one which primarily derives its significance from its context in national history. The unintended consequence of this outlook has been the diminution of the period of the crisis as a distinct historical unit, reducing its value to that of a stepping stone between eras. However, the complexity of life in the famine period suggests that the greater historical value of the famine lies not in what caused it or came after, but in the systemic dynamics of the famine itself as it evolved over the course of the crisis from 1915 to 1918. Drawing from meteorological and medical reports, price lists, diaries, correspondence, relief documents and memoirs, this research explores how it was to live during the famine and how the aberrant conditions of the period fed back into the crisis to determine both how it developed and how individuals responded to it to survive. Over time, the high prices and social disintegration prompted transformations in individuals and society, increasing risk for many of the most vulnerable and compelling people to alter their behaviors and attitudes in order to cope with a world that had been redefined by the experience of the famine. Whereas many previous investigations of this topic have dwelled on death and suffering, the focus of this work is life: in spite of the appalling death tolls across the region during the famine, the dominant experience of the period was survival and endurance, not death and resignation. This dissertation seeks to reclaim these forgotten elements of life in the calamity that have so often been overshadowed by the horrors of the crisis. Key Words: Famine, World War I, WWI, Lebanon, disease, environment, survival vi CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS……………………………………………… v ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………. vi LIST OF GRAPHS …………………………………………………………. xi NOTE ON TRANSLITERATIONS ………………………………… xii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS…………………………………………… xiii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION: LIVES DARKENED BY CALAMITY………………………………………….…………. 1 A. A Theoretical and Substantive Critique of the Historiography of the Famine in Syria during World War I………………………………… 5 B. The Geographical Limits of this Inquiry…………………………….. 16 C. Structure and Purpose………………………………………………... 18 II. AN INCLEMENT ECOLOGY: DEFINING THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENT IN THE FAMINE…………………… 32 A. Causality and Multiple Agency in the Development of the Famine….. 35 B. Environmental Crisis and its Effect on Prices ………………………. 40 C. The Ripple Effect: The Effect of Climate and Crisis on an Unstable System ………………………………………………………………. 46 D. Climate and Price …………………………………………………… 53 vii E. Climate and Prices during the War…………………………………... 57 F. The Assessment: Was Environment Implicated in the Famine?…….. 66 III. A TIME TO DIE: ECOLOGY, SOCIETY AND DISEASE IN A TIME OF FAMINE …………………………………….... 69 A. Ecology and Disease: A Primer …………………………………….... 71 B. Disease and the Region ………………………………………………. 74 C. Meteorology and Malaria: A Case Study of Climate and Disease Ecology ……………………………………………………………… 79 D. Climate, Ecology and the Malaria Crisis of 1916-1919 ……………... 83 E. Ecological Disruption and the Spread of Disease during the Famine …………………………………………………………… 92 F. Conclusion: An Ecological Crisis? ………………………………….. 101 IV. FROM EVERYDAY ADAPTATIONS TO ACTS OF DESPERATION: FAMINE SURVIVAL STRATEGIES ……………………………………………….. 103 A. Survival, Death and Dumb Luck: Theorizing Experience and Risk During Famine ………………………………………………………. 108 B. Sustenance and Survival in a Time of Need.. ……………………….. 114 C. Coping……………………………………………………………….. 131 D. Survival and Place ……………………………………………….….. 143 E. Support Networks and Survival……………………………………… 148 F. The Immoral Economy: Illicit Dealings and Survival ……….……… 156 G. Conclusion …………………………………………………………… 159 viii V. EMOTIONAL SURVIVAL AND PERSEVERENCE.. 161 A. Cognitive Responses to Crisis: Emotional Suffering and Survival in the Famine ………..……………………………………. 162 B. Normalcy and Emotional Self-Preservation in the Crisis ..………… 169 C. The Interplay of Social and Cognitive: Mitigating Suffering in Daily Life ………………………………………………………………… 179 D. Suffering in the Eye of the Storm: Pain and Coping Among Relief Workers………………………………………………………………. 187 E. Children in the Famine: A Duality of Experience in an At-Risk Population……………………………………………………. 196 F. Conclusion ……………………………………………………….…… 218 VI. A FAMINE OF THE SPIRIT: ATTITUDES AND SOCIAL INTERPRETATIONS………………………………. 221 1. The Observer as a Reporter ………………………………………….. 223 2. The Darker Side of Normalcy: Judgment and Coping in Crisis………. 229 3. A Famine of Faith: Belief, Religiosity and Judgment in the Face of Crisis ………………………………………………………… 234 4. Social and Physical Inhitat and the Stigma of Poverty ……………… 248 5. Morality and Mortality: Adjusted Attitudes and the Perception of Death in the Famine …………………………………………………. 262 6. Separating the Sheep from the Goats: Relief and the Implications of the Moralization of Suffering ……………………………………………. 272 7. Conclusion ……………………………………………………………. 280 ix VII. CONCLUSION: LIVING THE FAMINE …………………. 282 1. Transformations………………………………………………………. 287 BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………………………………………………….. 291 x LIST OF GRAPHS Graph Page 1: Rainfall in Beirut 1914 to 1918……………………………………..…… 56 2: Annual Rainfall Beirut 1916-1916 ……………………………………… 58 3: Barley Prices 1915 ……………………………………………………… . 61 4: Barley Prices 1916 ……………………………………………………… . 62 5: Wheat Prices 1916 ………………………………………………………... 62 6: Onion Prices 1915-1918 ………………………………………………….. 64 7: Wheat Prices 1917 ………………………………………………………... 64 8: Beirut Rainfall 1917 ………………………………………………………. 65 9: Rainfall in Beirut 1914 to1918 ……………………………………………… 89 xi NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION This work uses a simple standard transliteration style. Arabic quotes have almost all been translated in the text into English, and use of Arabic is largely restricted to footnotes to render extreme detail largely unnecessary. This choice was made to enhance readability and to ensure compatibility. No distinctions have been made Familiar terms and .(ي .or long vowels (e.g ( ص .regarding emphatic consonants (e.g proper nouns will use their normal or colloquial spellings rather than the more specific transliterated one (Beirut rather than Bayrut, Chouf rather than Shuf). For reference,