Beirut 1915: The Great Famine That Killed a Third of Mount Lebanon

During World War I, the Ottoman Empire imposed a blockade on the Syrian coast, and a swarm of locusts devastated crops. The result was a famine that killed an estimated 200,000 people in Mount Lebanon alone — roughly a third of the population. Lucas and Luna explore how the Entente blockade, Ottoman conscription of draft animals, and the hoarding by Lebanese merchants combined into a catastrophe. They discuss the role of Djemal Pasha, the American relief effort led by the Syria Lebanon Committee, and the little-known figure of Halide Edib, who tried to expose the suffering. The episode also touches on how the famine reshaped Lebanese identity and emigration patterns, with survivors fleeing to the Americas. This is the story of a genocide by starvation that still haunts Lebanon's collective memory.

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