Lebanon was created in the shadows of the 1860 massacres. Without this tragedy, I don't think there would have ever been a Lebanon. Thousands of Christians from Mount Lebanon and Damascus ended up resettling in Beirut, which contributed to the city's rapid economic growth.

This tragedy led to the creation of a new political system, the Règlement Organique, with French and Ottoman backing. As citizens of this part of the Ottoman world emerged from the chaos of 1860, they were forced to reexamine how they understood themselves and their neighbours.

The Nahda (Renaissance) that emerged afterwards was a reaction to the existential questions posed by the communal violence of 1860. Beirut laid at the very heart of this cultural renaissance, which saw educational reforms and the emergence of various ideologies (mainly secular).

In Beirut, ideas like equal citizenship, compatriotism, and antisectarianism were discussed. In the following years, when the Balkans and Anatolia entered the dark world of nationalist violence, ethnic cleansing, and genocide, the Levant enjoyed relative prosperity.

Tragedies have the ability to change the trajectory of a society. The explosion in the port of Beirut has further revealed the futility of the political system in the same way that 1860 forced its contemporaries to tackle the underlying issues that led to such misery.