Editing Druze (section)

=== Civil conflict of 1860 ===
{{Main|1860 civil conflict in Mount Lebanon and Damascus}}
[[File:Zahlefashion.jpg|right|thumb|Left to right: Christian woman from [[Zahlé]], [[Lebanese Druze]] woman, and a Christian woman from [[Zgharta]] (1873)]]
The relationship between the Druze and [[Christians]] has been characterized by [[harmony]] and [[Plurinationalism|coexistence]],<ref name="Collection 1">{{bulleted list|
|{{harvnb|Hazran|2013|p=32|ps=: "the Druze had been able to live in harmony with the Christian"}}
|{{harvnb|Artzi|1984|p=166|ps=: "...Europeans who visited the area during this period related that the Druze "love the Christians more than the other believers," and that they "hate the Turks, the Muslims and the Arabs [Bedouin] with an intense hatred."}}
|{{harvnb|Churchill|1862|p=25|ps=: "...the Druzes and Christians lived together in the most perfect harmony and good-will..."}}
}}</ref><ref name="auto5">{{cite book |title=Near East/South Asia Report |last=Hobby |year=1985 |page=53 |publisher=Foreign Broadcast Information Service |quote=the Druze and the Christians in the Shouf Mountains in the past lived in complete harmony..}}</ref> with amicable relations between the two groups prevailing throughout history, with the exception of some periods, including [[1860 civil conflict in Mount Lebanon and Damascus]].{{sfn|Fawaz|1994}}{{page needed|date=October 2024}}<ref name="auto4">{{cite book |last=Vocke |first=Harald |title=The Lebanese war: its origins and political dimensions |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fvu6AAAAIAAJ&q=The+Lebanese+war:+its+origins+and+political+dimensions |year=1978 |publisher=C. Hurst |isbn=0-903983-92-3 |page=10}}</ref> In 1840, social disturbance started between Druze and their [[Maronite Christians in Lebanon|Christian Maronite]] neighbors, who had previously been on friendly terms. This culminated in the civil war of 1860.{{sfn|Hitti|1924}}{{Rp| needed=yes|date=April 2012}}

After the [[Shehab dynasty]] converted to Christianity, some prominent Druze families, including the Druze Abi-Lamma clan—who were close allies of the Shihabs—also converted to Christianity and joined the [[Maronite Church]].<ref name="Harik 2017">{{cite book |title=Politics and Change in a Traditional Society: Lebanon 1711–1845 |last=Harik |first=Iliya F. |year=2017 |isbn=9781400886869 |page=241 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |quote=the Abillama' amirs, were mostly Christians converted from the Druze faith.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Breakdown of the State in Lebanon, 1967–1976 |last=al-H̲azīn |first=Farīd |year=2000 |isbn=9780674081055 |page=35 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |quote=So did other amirs, like the originally Druze Abi-llamah family, which also became Maronite}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=A House of Many Mansions: The History of Lebanon Reconsidered |last=Salibi |first=Kamal |year=1900 |isbn=9780520071964 |page=162 |publisher=University of California Press |quote=namely the emirs of the house of Abul - Lama, used to be Druzes before they converted to Christianity and became Maronites}}</ref> The Druze community and feudal leaders came under attack from the regime with the collaboration of the [[Maronite Church|Maronite Catholic Church]], and the Druze lost most of their political and feudal powers.<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire|first=Bruce Alan |last=Masters|year= 2010| isbn=9781438110257| page =352|publisher=Infobase Publishing|quote=}}</ref> Also, the Druze formed an alliance with [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]] and allowed [[Protestant]] missionaries to enter Mount Lebanon, creating tension between them and the Catholic Maronites.<ref>{{cite book|title=Dangerous Gifts: Imperialism, Security, and Civil Wars in the Levant, 1798-1864|first=Hilmi Ozan|last= Özavcı|year=2021|isbn=9780198852964|page=235|publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref>

The Maronite-Druze conflict in 1840–60 was an outgrowth of the Maronite independence movement,{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} directed against the Druze, Druze feudalism, and the Ottoman-Turks. The civil war was not therefore a religious war,{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} except in Damascus, where it spread and where the vastly non-Druze population was [[anti-Christian]].{{sfn|Fawaz|1994|p=81}} This animosity was fueled by economic disparities, with Christians, who were generally wealthier and more prosperous, compare to the economically struggling Muslim residents.{{sfn|Fawaz|1994|p=79–80}} The movement culminated with the 1859–60 massacre and defeat of the Maronites by the Druze. The civil war of 1860 cost the Maronites some ten thousand lives in [[Damascus]], [[Zahlé]], [[Deir al-Qamar]], [[Hasbaya]], and other towns of Lebanon.{{sfn|Fawaz|1994|p=58}}

The European powers then determined to intervene, and authorized the landing in Beirut of a body of French troops under [[Charles-Marie-Napoléon de Beaufort d'Hautpoul|General Beaufort d'Hautpoul]], whose inscription can still be seen on the historic rock at the mouth of [[Nahr al-Kalb]]. French intervention on behalf of the Maronites did not help the Maronite national movement, since France was restricted in 1860 by the British government, which did not want the [[Ottoman Empire]] dismembered. But European intervention pressured the Turks to treat the Maronites more justly.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1111/j.1478-1913.1977.tb03313.x |last1=Abraham |first1=Antoine |year=1977 |title=Lebanese Communal Relations |journal=Muslim World |volume=67 |issue=2|pages=91–105|issn=0027-4909 }}</ref> Following the recommendations of the powers, the Ottoman Porte granted Lebanon local autonomy, guaranteed by the powers, under a Maronite governor. This autonomy was maintained until World War I.{{sfn|Hitti|1924}}{{Rp|needed=yes|date=April 2012}}{{sfn|Churchill|1862|p=}}{{Rp|needed=yes|date=April 2012}}

The [[Maronite]] [[Catholic]]s and the Druze founded modern Lebanon in the early eighteenth century, through the ruling and social system known as the "Maronite-Druze dualism" which developed in Ottoman-era Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate,<ref name="Deeb 2013"/> creating one of the calmest atmospheres that Lebanon had ever lived in.<ref name="Yu Chen 2021 344">{{cite book|title=Handbook of Asian States: Geography – History – Culture – Politics – Economy |first=Ying |last=Yu Chen |year=2021 |isbn=9783643911001 |page=344 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |quote=}}</ref> The ruling and social system in the [[Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate]] was formed from the Maronite-Druze dualism, and the security stability and Druze-Maronite coexistence in the Mutasarrifate allowed the development of the economy and the system of government.<ref name="Yu Chen 2021 344"/>