Dealing with an emergency in İstanbul: an urban analysis of the 1877-78 International relief operations for refugees from rumelia

Abstract

The Russian‑Turkish War of 1877‑1878 was a transformative moment in the history of humanitarianism. In Istanbul, a mosaic of local and European relief actors organised the care for displaced civilians and injured soldiers with the overall aim of preventing the spread of contagious diseases in the city. Drawing on the testimonies of Catholic missionaries and British relief organisations, memoirs of international volunteers, an official Ottoman medical report and various secondary sources, this article offers an in‑depth study of this short urban emergency. Rather than perceiving the city as a mere site of foreign intervention and humanitarian diplomacy, this contribution shows how the Ottoman capital became a global hub for technical innovation in relief and a meeting point of different humanitarian traditions. The article pays particular attention to the material setting where European and Ottoman relief actors cooperated, which ranged from modern transport infrastructure to converted historical buildings, and to the broader consequences of this entanglement of relief both within and outside the city.