Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Osmanli Bilimi Arastirmalari, cilt.24, sa.2, ss.611-625, 2023 (Scopus, TRDizin)
The Ottoman Empire fought on many fronts in World War I, and as the young population decreased rapidly, it recruited university students as they were all young people of conscription age. The exact number of students who lost their lives on the battlefield and their distribution by school are unknown. On the other hand, the narratives of students who were known to have voluntarily joined the Gallipoli front, where heavy losses were experienced and many were martyred, can transform into myths over time in the oral tradition. A narrative covering medical students who were martyred on the Çanakkale front during the Allied attacks on May 18-19, 1915 claims that all the volunteer first-year students in the Turkish troops were martyred and that Darülfünun’s Medical School in Istanbul had no graduates in 1921. This study plans to investigate the Darülfünun’s Medical School students who participated in the Çanakkale War in 1915 and has been carried out over the archives of the following institutions: Istanbul University, General Staff Military History and Strategic Studies Department (ATASE), the Ministry of National Defense, and the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye - Directorate of State Archives. The research establishes that eight doctors had died in the battle of Gallipoli and that no records exist of medical students lost in the battle. Due to the Medical School being closed for the year 1915, the students were conscripted, which is why no graduates appear in the faculty’s registers for this year. In fact, students did graduate in 1921 from the military and civil sections of Darülfünun’s Medical School. This research concludes that the year in which no students graduated from the Medical School was not 1921, but 1915.