From March to October 1915,
swarms of
locust
Locusts (derived from the Latin ''locusta'', locust or lobster) are various species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have a swarming phase. These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumstances they b ...
s stripped areas in and around
Palestine
Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
,
Mount Lebanon
Mount Lebanon (, ; , ; ) is a mountain range in Lebanon. It is about long and averages above in elevation, with its peak at . The range provides a typical alpine climate year-round.
Mount Lebanon is well-known for its snow-covered mountains, ...
and
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
of almost all
vegetation
Vegetation is an assemblage of plants and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular Taxon, taxa, life forms, structure, Spatial ecology, spatial extent, or any other specific Botany, botanic ...
. This infestation seriously compromised the already-depleted
food supply
Food security is the state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, healthy food. The availability of food for people of any class, gender, ethnicity, or religion is another element of food protection. Similarly, househo ...
of the region and sharpened the misery of all
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
ites.
Historian Zachary J. Foster argues that the scale of the attack was far worse than anything Syria had witnessed in many decades. He suggested further that a huge percentage of the region's major foodstuffs and sources of livelihood, including fruits, vegetables, legumes, fodder and a small but not insignificant amount of the cereals, were devoured by the locusts. "The attack diminished the 1915 winter harvest (wheat and barley) by 10–15 per cent", he noted, "and completely wrecked the 1915 summer and autumn harvests (fruits and vegetables), in ranges varying from 60 to 100 per cent, depending on the crop".
The crop destruction resulted in several increases to the price of food. On 25 April 1915, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' described the price increases. "Flour costs
$15 a sack. Potatoes are six times the ordinary price. Sugar and petroleum are unprocurable and money has ceased to circulate." Among the consequences of the event was the
Great Famine of Mount Lebanon, which led to the deaths of nearly one half of
Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate
The Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate (1861–1918, ; ) was one of the Ottoman Empire's subdivisions following the 19th-century Tanzimat reform. After 1861, there existed an autonomous Mount Lebanon with a Christian Mutasarrif (governor), which had be ...
inhabitants from hunger and disease between 1915 and 1918.
Reaction
Djemal Pasha, who was the Supreme Commander of Syria and Arabia at the time of the locust infestation, launched a campaign to limit the devastation of the incident.
He appointed an official to fight the infestation.
Many people believed that prayer and petition were required to end the plague, as they viewed the swarm of locusts as a punishment from God for their sins.
Rav A.M. Luntz, who observed the development of the infestation said that the "
Badatz decreed that on the following day there should be a
Taanit Tzibbur and the whole day should be one of
selichot,
prayer
File:Prayers-collage.png, 300px, alt=Collage of various religionists praying – Clickable Image, Collage of various religionists praying ''(Clickable image – use cursor to identify.)''
rect 0 0 1000 1000 Shinto festivalgoer praying in front ...
and
petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication.
In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to an officia ...
. After a few days the locusts left the Land", as locusts do after they have finished feeding. However, in the amount of time they nested there, the locusts replenished themselves with new larvae.
Regulations

Midhat Bey, who was the official appointed to fight the infestation, helped enact a law which required every male between ages 15 and 60 in cities to collect 20 kilograms of locust eggs or pay a fine of £4.40. The ''New York Times'' reported that this law was strictly enforced. They said that people who failed to follow the law risked having their businesses closed. 800 had paid the fine by 21 November 1915.
Aftermath
The Great Famine of Mount Lebanon (1915–1918) was a period of mass starvation during
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. The Allies' blockade was made worse by another introduced by
Djemal Pasha, the commander of the
Fourth Army of the Ottoman Empire in
Syria region, where crops were barred from entering from the neighboring Syrian hinterland to Mount Lebanon,
and by the
locust
Locusts (derived from the Latin ''locusta'', locust or lobster) are various species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have a swarming phase. These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumstances they b ...
s infestation in 1915.
The famine was caused by a convergence of political and environmental factors that lead to the death of half of the population of
Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate
The Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate (1861–1918, ; ) was one of the Ottoman Empire's subdivisions following the 19th-century Tanzimat reform. After 1861, there existed an autonomous Mount Lebanon with a Christian Mutasarrif (governor), which had be ...
, a semi-autonomous subdivision of the Ottoman Empire and the precursor of modern-day Lebanon.
See also
*
List of locust swarms
References
{{reflist
Locust infestation
Locust swarms
1915 in Ottoman Syria
Natural disasters in Palestine (region)
Natural disasters in Ottoman Syria