The Great Famine of Mount Lebanon (1915–1918): A Deep Human Tragedy
The Great Famine of Mount Lebanon was one of the most devastating civilian catastrophes of World War I, yet it is a chapter of 20th‑century history that remains relatively obscure outside of Lebanon and the Middle East. Between 1915 and 1918, starvation, disease, economic collapse, and political mismanagement combined to produce a humanitarian disaster that killed hundreds of thousands—in some estimates up to half of the Mount Lebanon population, a region corresponding roughly to the mountainous area of modern Lebanon.
This famine was not simply a matter of food scarcity. Rather, it was the catastrophic consequence of intertwined natural and political forces whose combined effects overwhelmed societies, disrupted centuries‑old food systems, and inflicted lasting trauma on families and communities.
1. The Setting: Mount Lebanon on the Eve of World War I
Before the famine, Mount Lebanon was an autonomous district within the Ottoman Empire known as the Mutasarrifate of Mount Lebanon. Established in 1861 after sectarian conflict between Maronites and Druze, it was unique for its mix of religious communities and semi‑autonomous governance under an international agreement.
Economically, the region was distinctive:
- It had limited agricultural capacity because of its rough, mountainous terrain.
- Local farmers tended olives, grapes, and fruit trees, but staple grains were often imported from the fertile Bekaa Valley or Syria.
- Traditional industries like sericulture (silk production) were deeply integrated with European markets. The majority of income came from exporting raw silk to Europe and from remittances sent by Lebanese emigrants abroad.
Thus, even before 1914, Mount Lebanon was economically vulnerable—dependent on external markets and imported staples, with little capacity for self‑sufficiency in basic food. This vulnerability would prove catastrophic once World War I disrupted trade and livelihoods.
2. World War I and the Interlocking Crises
When World War I engulfed the Ottoman Empire, its entry on the side of the Central Powers (Germany and Austria‑Hungary) set in motion a series of events that would starve Mount Lebanon and much of Ottoman Greater Syria.
2.1 The Allied Naval Blockade
In order to weaken the Ottoman war effort, the Allied powers (primarily Britain and France) established a naval blockade of the Eastern Mediterranean. This naval pressure—which aimed to restrict Ottoman imports of food, ammunition, and other supplies—also trapped the merchant trade that sustained civilian economies like Mount Lebanon’s.
This blockade drastically reduced imports of grain and other essentials, cut off the export of agricultural products like silk, eliminated the flow of foreign currency, collapsed remittance incomes, and contributed to swelling food prices.
2.2 Ottoman Internal Policies and the “Blockade of the Mountain”
Compounding the Allied naval blockade, Ottoman military authorities instituted severe internal controls. Most notably, Ottoman General Jamal Pasha, commander of the Fourth Army in the Levant, implemented a land‑based cordon on Mount Lebanon, cutting off the usual flow of grain and cereals from neighboring provinces (such as the Bekaa Valley and Syria) into the mountains.
While ostensibly an effort to prevent smuggling and enforce imperial control, this policy had the effect of withholding essential food supplies from civilian markets. Food requisitioned for Ottoman troops was prioritized for the front lines, and transport restrictions prevented villagers and merchants from moving produce legally.
Some contemporaries—such as the Lebanese‑American poet Khalil Gibran—blamed Ottoman policy directly, writing that starvation was “planned and instigated by the Turkish government.”
2.3 Environmental Disaster: The Locust Plague of 1915
In the spring and summer of 1915, swarms of locusts descended upon Syria, Palestine, and Mount Lebanon, stripping fields bare of crops, vegetables, and fodder. The locust infestation destroyed yields across a range of staples and reduced harvests dramatically, compounding food shortages already underway because of the blockades.
Historians note that the locust plague devastated the 1915 harvest by destroying fruits, vegetables, and grains that might have sustained rural populations through the coming winter and spring.
2.4 Economic Dislocation and Currency Collapse
With trade cut off, foreign remittances halted, and agricultural production failing, Mount Lebanon’s economy collapsed. Food prices skyrocketed—wheat, barley, potatoes and other staples became prohibitively expensive for most families. At the same time, the Ottoman government issued paper money that rapidly depreciated, further eroding purchasing power.
Black markets emerged. Merchants sometimes withheld grain to manipulate prices. Wealthier families could sometimes bribe officials or hoard supplies, but the poor and working classes were left without means to secure sustenance.
3. The Human Toll: Starvation, Disease, and Social Collapse
The combined effect of blockades, locust plagues, economic disintegration, and wartime requisitions was not just food scarcity—it became a famine of access. People starved not only because food was scarce, but because it was economically and legally inaccessible.
3.1 Scale of Death and Suffering
Exact figures are difficult to ascertain, but most historians agree that the famine resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths—with estimates often cited around 200,000 fatalities in Mount Lebanon, which at the time had around 400,000 inhabitants.
Other contemporary estimates, including those by foreign relief organizations like the American Red Cross, suggested even higher death tolls.
Because there were no systematic death records, some areas—such as Tyre, Zahle, Akkar, and Bint Jbeil—have unknown casualty counts. But even conservative historical accounts describe this as one of the highest civilian mortality rates in any bounded territory during the First World War.
3.2 Pictures of Desperation
Eyewitness accounts from the period paint a picture of profound suffering:
- In urban centers like Beirut, starving families scavenged streets and dumps for scraps.
- There were reports of people eating cats, dogs, and rats to survive.
- Accounts even mention cannibalism in extreme cases, especially among those who could no longer find any other sustenance.
- Children, the elderly, and the infirm succumbed rapidly once disease took hold. Malaria, typhus, dysentery, and tuberculosis spread rapidly among weakened and malnourished populations.
One contemporary wrote that nights in the cities were filled with cries of “Ju3an, Ju3an”—“hungry, hungry”—as people begged for bread.
3.3 Impact on Social Structures and Living Memory
The famine did more than kill. It shattered families, destabilized social networks, reversed patterns of community support, and forced migrations. Higher mortality was concentrated among the poor, especially rural laborers and urban workers, while wealthier families could sometimes survive through hoarding or bribery.
Rumors, contested narratives, and collective grief wove the famine into Lebanese national memory. Letters and memoirs from the time, including those by writers like Khalil Gibran, captured both anger and despair at what many perceived as political failure, if not intentional cruelty.
4. Aftermath: The War’s End and Lingering Legacies
4.1 End of the Famine
The famine began to recede in late 1918 with the collapse of Ottoman control, the withdrawal of Ottoman armies, and the arrival of Allied forces. These events ended internal transport restrictions and blockades, allowing food and supplies to reach starving populations again.
Even so, the normalization of food systems was slow. Economic disruption and psychological trauma endured well beyond the armistice, leaving many communities struggling to rebuild their lives.
4.2 Political Transformations
After the war, the French Mandate replaced Ottoman rule. In 1920, Greater Lebanon was proclaimed—a political entity that included new territories beyond the old Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate.
This new national configuration was shaped in part by the war, the legacy of famine, and shifting colonial ambitions. The memory of famine, alongside other wartime experiences like the executions of 1916 (Martyrs’ Day), became part of Lebanese national identity and politics.
4.3 Historical Controversy and Interpretation
Historians debate the extent to which the famine was deliberately engineered versus the result of a tragic confluence of war pressures, climatic events, and administrative failure. Some argue that Ottoman policies disproportionately hurt certain communities; others emphasize environmental devastation, economic collapse, and the unavoidable consequences of global war.
5. Conclusion: The Famine’s Place in World History
The Great Famine of Mount Lebanon was a human catastrophe of immense proportion. It reveals how war, economics, environment, and politics intersect to produce suffering on a massive scale. Unlike famines caused purely by drought or crop failure, this event combined human choices with climatic misfortune and global conflict.
It remains a painful chapter in Lebanese and Middle Eastern history – a stark reminder that famine is not only a physical lack of food but also a failure of policy, infrastructure, and compassion.
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