PUBL.- War, Epidemics and Medicine in the Late Ottoman Empire, by Oya Daglar
Posted by: Mehmet Tutuncu <m.tutuncu@quicknet.nl>
New Publication:
War, Epidemics and Medicine in the Late Ottoman Empire (1912-1918)
By Oya Daglar
ISBN 978-906921-002-5
Turquoise Series: 18
Published in 2008, Haarlem, Netherlands
386 pages with many documents for the first time published
Price: 47 euro + postage
For more information and ordering please visit the webpage dedicated to the
book:
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 the 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 inadequacy of the health services resulted in death of many servicemen
and civilians. Since the loss of human force 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 the diseases and the
struggle made during the war introduced the 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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