Born Then
1914–1918

Life during the World War I in the Ottoman Empire

Be born in a place it hit, a few years before it began, and see what it did to five ordinary lives.

What it meant for ordinary people

The Ottoman Empire mobilised close to three million men, and disease killed more soldiers than battle. Requisitions, blockade and locusts brought famine to Greater Syria, where perhaps a third or more of Mount Lebanon's people died.

Deaths: about 2–3 million Ottoman subjects, soldiers and civilians, including famine deaths in Syria and Lebanon.

How hard it hits each person in the game (risk of death, of being conscripted, of leaving) comes from scholarly estimates.

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