[Bilimsel Haber] New Publication: War, Epidemics and Medicine in the Late Ottoman Empire (1912-1918)

[Onur Inal]

New Publication: War, Epidemics and Medicine in the Late Ottoman Empire
(1912-1918) 
By Oya Daglar
ISBN: 9789069210025

Turquoise Series, 18 / Turkuaz Dizi, 18
Publisher: Haarlem, Netherlands: SOTA, 2008.
386 pp., including many documents published for the first time
Price: Euro 47 + postage

For more information and ordering please visit the webpage dedicated to the
book:  <http://www.turkistan.org/daglar.htm>
http://www.turkistan.org/daglar.htm

>From the back cover:

The Ottoman Empire spent its last century with wars coming one after another
and as a consequence had to suffer many physical as well as demographic
casualties. With a significant decrease in the population, one of the main
factors that had kept the Empire up disappeared and therefore the 600
year-old Empire collapsed at the end of the First World War. This study
focuses on the period of Balkan Wars and the First World War, which affected
the political history of the 20th century deeply and caused the collapse of
the Ottoman Empire, and examines the concerned period in terms of the
epidemic diseases. Taking into account that wars are important contributors
in the emergence of epidemic diseases, I have attempted to evaluate the
destruction caused by the epidemic diseases during the war years and effects
of these diseases on the results of the wars in a historical framework.

This particular study argues that, despite popular belief, the decrease in
the population was mainly caused by the epidemic diseases and health
problems, which emerged as a result of the wars, not by the direct armed
conflict at the front. Epidemic diseases seen as a consequence of lack of
hygiene during the war, congestion caused by mass movements like migration,
and the inadequacy of the health services resulted in the deaths of many
servicemen and civilians. Since the loss of manpower during the war as a
result of the epidemic diseases directly affected the war-making capability
of the Empire, the Ottoman government obligatorily placed an importance on
the health services. However, despite all efforts, none of the precautions
taken brought the desired level of success due to lack of proper health
personnel. Nonetheless, precautions taken against diseases and the struggle
made during the war introduced modern medicine methods into the Empire and
as a result important steps were taken for the preservation of both military
and public health. Furthermore, it is beyond doubt that the experiences
gained in this period, in the long run, constituted the infrastructure of
the developments seen in the area of health in the Republic of Turkey.

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