Efforts to Raise Social Awareness Against Cholera During the Second Constitutional Years (1908-1914)

Abstract

This study evaluates the measures against cholera based on the epidemics experienced in the Second Constitutional years. In the 19th century, cholera, which caused numerous deaths worldwide due to industrialization and poor urbanization, also affected the Ottoman Empire. The fear caused by cholera led to transformations in health policies and municipal services. Cholera, which also impacted the Second Constitutional Period, spread throughout the country, especially in Istanbul, between 1909 and 1913. The cholera epidemics, coupled with domestic and foreign political chaos, were frequently emphasized in the publications of the time. Periodicals, books, parliamentary debates, and state archives from the period provide much information on the epidemic. These data illuminate the nature of the disease and the struggles against it, embodying scientific, pragmatic, and popular methods of information dissemination. This article employs survey models and document analysis, utilizing literature that focuses on the local and global course of cholera, as well as archive documents, periodicals, books, and memorandums that clarify the period’s conditions. The data from the press and publication life reveal that, in addition to health policies, public awareness was also significant in the fight against cholera.