War, epidemics and medicine in the Ottoman Empire from the Balkan wars through the Graet War (1912-1918)

Abstract

This thesis 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. 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 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. In short, this thesis examines the epidemic diseases that were caused by the war, the methods pursued by the state in its struggle against the same and the effects of the diseases on the social transformation and on the result of the wars.