Istanbul’s Great War: Public Order, Crime and Punishment in The Ottoman Capital, (1914-1918)

Istanbul's Great War: Public Order, Crime and Punishment in the Ottoman Capital, 1914-1918 is a study of the social and economic life in an imperial capital at a time when the first total war of history swept through Europe, hitting the entire Ottoman Empire up to its borderlands in the Arab Peninsula. The book focuses on the impact of wartime conditions on life in a city of nearly a million citizens, with a specific emphasis on public order, crime and punishment. The author, Deniz Dölek-Sever, takes us through a six-chapter panorama of four years of hardship in the Ottoman capital during the war, analyzing various aspects of public order, crime and punishment as experienced daily by both Muslim and non-Muslim inhabitants of Istanbul, and as perceived by the state. In doing so, her study uncovers inner workings behind state officials’ policies on public order and crime. Tracing instruments of surveillance and control and various crime categories, and making extensive use of primary sources, the work provides a unique understanding of public order and crime, as well as practices of punishment in a period when the Committee of Union and Progress reigned over the political life of the Ottoman Empire. Istanbul's Great War is an attempt to bring a fresh approach to the current literature on wartime Ottoman Empire.