Rana Abu-Mounes provides a well-researched account of the violence of 1860 in Damascus and Mount Lebanon, which was an important episode in the historiography of the late Ottoman Mashriq. These events affect our vision of inter-confessional relations during the Ottoman Tanzimat period. Ussama Makdisi, in his seminal work The culture of sectarianism: community, history and violence in nineteenth-century Ottoman Lebanon (Berkeley, Ca 2000) has conducted an extensive study of the conflict in Mount Lebanon between Druzes and Maronites, leaving many to wonder about the corresponding violence in Damascus. Laila Fawaz in An occasion for war: ethnic conflict in Lebanon and Damascus in 1860 (Berkeley, Ca 1994) recorded the immediate causes of the attacks against the Christian quarter in Damascus. However, an analytical approach to the long-term underlying causes of the violence specific to Damascus had not been undertaken.
Bruce Masters, in Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Arab world: the roots of sectarianism (Cambridge 2001), provided a politico-economic framework for understanding inter-confessional violence in the region, which inspired works on various specific contexts. Following his lead, Rana Abu-Mounes fills a gap in the history of Damascus by replacing the massacre of Christian in the neighbourhood of Bab Tuma in the larger context of the Ottoman Tanzimat reforms and the economic transformations of the Mashriq in this period of foreign intervention.
This careful study, based upon British and Arabic sources, sheds some light upon the actors in the violence and the politico-economic dynamics underlying it. It also addresses the nineteenth-century imperial and international context. The inclusion of French and Ottoman sources could have provided additional perspectives, and challenged at times the British perspective.
The book is divided into eight chapters and also provides a number of useful appendices such as major treaties and reform edicts. The three first chapters delve into the context of Damascus, the effect of political reforms of the Ottoman empire and of foreign intervention. Chapters iv–vi focus on the violence itself and the role of the notables, the governor, Ahmad Pasha, and military forces. Abu-Mounes argues that Ahmad Pasha's inaction reveals him as complicit with the paramilitary troops which led the attacks (p. 148), but she argues that the ulema and notables did not play an important role (p. 154). Finally, chapters vii and viii deal with the aftermath of the riot, the Ottoman government's measures and foreign responses. Although the latter could again have been widened by including French actors, the well-documented assessment of the views about the riot of British diplomats reveal that they identified the underlying causes of the violence as the Ottoman reform programme.
An underlying argument of the book, and the most controversial one, is that the violence was planned and organised rather than being a spontaneous outburst by the people. Abu-Mounes argues that ‘rioters were merely a tool for implementing a political plan’ (p. 209). This argument could be nuanced as multiple motivations and interests tend to underline inter-confessional violence. While the violence had some organised elements, the agency and multiple personal, economic and political motivations of the perpetrators cannot be overlooked.
This book challenges the traditional interpretation of inter-confessional violence as a consequence of religious hatred and rather points to the economic and political motivations of individuals and the general tension that the Ottoman reforms had created in Damascus. Abu-Mounes argues successfully that the violence did not target all Christians but rather a Greek Catholic economic elite involved in trade, thus pointing to economic tensions as a cause of the violence. She also highlights the inter-confessional tensions caused by the implementations of the Ottoman Tanzimat reforms.
The politico-economic framework adopted in this work has been quite useful in challenging essentialising analyses of inter-confessional violence in the public discourse. However, it might now be time to go further and reconsider the role of religion thorough sociological lenses. The relevant question might not be whether religion mattered but rather how it mattered. The established historical discourse which needs to be challenged is no longer the permanence of religion but rather its negligible role. As such, the role of religious institutions, of the dynamics of community-building, of missionary encounters and of religious reform movements in shaping inter-confessional relations is worth analysing and can contribute to a politico-economic interpretation.
Abu-Mounes's book is accessible to the general reader but is also important for researchers in the field. It is an valuable work for the history of Damascus and the Mashriq in general. It is based upon careful research and unedited sources. Abu-Mounes's detailed analysis of the actors, location and motives behind the violence, and also underlying societal tensions reveal how Damascenes coped with the transformation of Ottoman society during the Tanzimat period and increasing foreign intervention. It is a valuable addition to the history of Damascus in this period of social upheaval which can help shed light on inter-confessional violence in other Ottoman cities and contribute to a larger discussion about sectarian violence in contexts of socio-political transformations.
