The charity of war : famine, humanitarian aid, and World War I in the Middle East / Melanie S. Tanielian.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tanielian, Melanie S., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

World War, 1914-1918--Civilian relief--Lebanon.

World War, 1914-1918.

World War, 1914-1918--Food supply--Lebanon.

World War, 1914-1918--Health aspects--Lebanon.

Famines--Lebanon--History--20th century.

Famines.

Humanitarian assistance--Lebanon--History--20th century.

Humanitarian assistance.

History.

Lebanon.

Physical Description:

xiii, 350 p ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, 2017.

Summary:

With the exception of a few targeted aerial bombardments of the city's port, Beirut and Mount Lebanon did not see direct combat in World War I. Yet civilian casualties in this part of the Ottoman Empire reached shocking heights, and Lebanon was incontestably war-stricken. As a food crisis escalated into famine, it was the bloodless incursion of starvation and the silent assault of fatal disease that defined everyday life. The Charity of War tells how the Ottoman home front grappled with total war and how it sought to mitigate starvation and sickness through relief activities, Melanie S. Tanielian examines the wartime famine's reverberations throughout the community: in Beirut's municipal institutions, in its philanthropic and religious organizations, in international agencies, and in the homes of the city's residents. Her local history reveals a dynamic politics of provisioning that was central to civilian experiences in the war, as well as to the Middle Eastern political landscape that emerged post-war. By tracing these responses to the conflict, she demonstrates World War I's immediacy far from the European trenches, in a place where war was a socio-economic and political process rather than a military event. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction : total war: politics, power, and benevolence

A city and its mountain, a mountain and its city

Wartime famine : strategies, logistics, and catastrophe

The politics of food : wartime provisioning for civilians

Prayers and patrons : the politics of neutrality

Rats, lice, and microbes : health provisions and sanitary space

Local relief initiatives : civil society, women, and the state

Beneficial benevolence : international wartime relief efforts

Conclusion : Beirut 1919: the chaos of memory and politics.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781503602403

1503602400

9781503603523

1503603520

OCLC:

1009134198