Except for a thin slice of territory south of the Yser River,
Belgium was entirely occupied by the Germans from October 15, 1914
until the end of the First World War. The suffering of the Belgian
people, which made such a vivid impression on Americans, British,
Canadians, and Australians at the time, has been largely forgotten.
The invasion was accompanied by mass executions and wholesale
arson; nearly 6,000 civilians were killed. Over 2 million Belgians
escaped to the Netherlands, France, and Britain. When order was
restored, the nation faced a grave economic crisis. A major
exporter and among the most prosperous countries in Europe, Belgium
was now cut off from its supplies of raw material and its markets,
and subject to heavy war taxes, fines, and requisitions. As Germany
began increasingly to feel the effects of the Allied blockade, the
temptation grew to exploit to the hilt all Belgian resources,
including labor. With eloquence and passion, the eminent
medievalist Henri Pirenne (1862-1935) describes the hunger, the
deprivations, the unemployment, the arbitrary arrests and
deportations, the indignities of home invasions and confiscations,
the censorship, the conscription of workers, the dismantling and
destruction of Belgian factories, and the administrative division
of the country. Belgium and the First World War comprehensively
surveys the catastrophe and chronicles the stoicism and the
resiliency with which Belgians responded.
General
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