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Rape of Belgium
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The Rape of Belgium (4 August through September 1914) was a series of German war crimes in the opening months of World War I. The neutrality of Belgium had been guaranteed by Prussia in 1839. Germany accepted Prussia's diplomatic obligations and offered additional guarantees in 1871 and at the Hague Conference in 1907. However the German war plan, known as the Schlieffen Plan, called for Germany to violate this neutrality in order to outflank the French Army, concentrated in eastern France.
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Encyclopedia
The Rape of Belgium (4 August through September 1914) was a series of German war crimes in the opening months of World War I. The neutrality of Belgium had been guaranteed by Prussia in 1839. Germany accepted Prussia's diplomatic obligations and offered additional guarantees in 1871 and at the Hague Conference in 1907. However the German war plan, known as the Schlieffen Plan, called for Germany to violate this neutrality in order to outflank the French Army, concentrated in eastern France. The German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg dismissed the Treaty of London, 1839 as a mere "scrap of paper".
German troops, fearful of Belgian guerrilla fighters, or francs-tireurs, burned homes and executed civilians throughout eastern and central Belgium, including Aarschot (156 dead), Andenne (211 dead), Tamines (383 dead) and Dinant (665 dead). The victims included women and children. On August 25, 1914 the Germans ravaged the city of Leuven, burning the University's library of 230,000 books, killing 248 residents, and forcing the entire population, 42,000, to evacuate. These actions brought worldwide condemnation.Horn and Kramer give an explanation of these crimes: The source of the collective fantasy of the People’s War and of the harsh reprisals with which the German army (up to its highest level) responded are to be found in the memory of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1, when the German armies indeed faced irregular Republican soldiers (or francs-tireurs), and in the way in which the spectre of civilian involvement in warfare conjured up the worst fears of democratic and revolutionary disorder for a conservative officer corps.
The invasion of Belgium was cited by the United Kingdom as a reason for entering the war on France's side. The war crimes galvanized support for the government's decision. They also sparked much wartime propaganda -- in sensationalist war posters in Britain, the Germans were drawn as Huns or gorillas, completely dehumanized and immoral. In his book Roosevelt & Hitler, author Robert E. Herzstein states, "The Germans could not seem to find a way to counteract powerful British propaganda about the 'Rape of Belgium' and other alleged atrocities." (p.8). Reports paved the way for other propaganda of the war such as The Crucified Soldier, The Angels of Mons, and the German corpse factory, Kadaververwertungsanstalt.
In an attempt to substantiate the rumors, official commissions were established in Belgium and Britain. Thousands of witnesses were interviewed. While the conclusions of the British government in The Bryce Report were correct, the Appendix included some dubious testimony, particularly from Belgian soldiers. Testimony in the reports of the Belgian commission, particularly in the two volumes on war crimes issued after the war, is more accurate.
In-depth historical studies on this subject include German Atrocities 1914: A History of Denial by John Horne and Alan Kramer, The Rape of Belgium: The Untold Story of World War 1 by Larry Zuckerman, and Rehearsals: The German Army in Belgium, August 1914 by Jeff Lipkes.
While some civilians may have fired on German troops in the opening days of the war, the German White Book (Die völkererechtswidrige Führung des belgischen Volkskriegs) identified only two by name, both incorrectly. There were no legitimate trials or courts martial. None of the thousands of Belgian civilians deported to Germany was ever charged with any crime. There is good evidence that the German Army sought to terrorize civilians in order to assure a speedy passage through Belgium and to deter sabotage against supply lines. In some places, particularly Liege, Andenne, and Leuven, there is evidence that the violence against civilians was premeditated.
Even today, the war crimes of August 1914 are often dismissed as British propaganda. Scholars in the U.S. and U.K. began taking them seriously in the mid-1990s. The debate is now between those who believe the Germans acted primarily out of paranoia (Horne and Kramer) and those who emphasize additional causes (Lipkes). Zuckerman documents the continuing oppression of Belgians under German occupation, arguing that this is the real "rape of Belgium."
External links
- Review of Horne & Kramer,
The German Atrocities of 1914 : A History of Denial. Review of L. Zuckerman, The Rape of Belgium: The Untold Story of World War I. Review of J. Lipkes, Rehearsals: The German Army in Belgium, August 1914. Review of J. Lipkes Rehearsals: The German Army in Belgium, August 1914 by Jeffrey Smith.
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