Belgium in 1914

Overview

In 1914, Belgium, which had declared its independence as a separate country in 1831, had a population of about 7.5 million. Although relatively small, it was a wealthy country, with an economy based on trade and industry, but the population was dependent on imports of food. There were close economic links with Germany.

Belgium, a constitutional monarch, was ruled by King Albert I and the Prime Minister was Charles de Brocqueville, leader of the Catholic Party. It had remained neutral throughout the 19th century, avoiding the political and military alliances which divided the great powers before the First Word War.

Belgium’s geographical location meant that it was of great strategic importance. It occupied the European coast opposite the Thames estuary. It also shared borders with both of the opposing great powers France and Germany.

Belgium’s neutrality

Detail from an intelligence map of Belgium and northeast France showing the front line WO 153/985/1A

The 1839 Treaty of London guaranteed Belgium’s neutrality in the case of a war between the European powers (FO 93/14/4). However, in 1905 the German General Staff adopted the Schlieffen Plan in anticipation of a potential war with France. It required a massive attack against France carried out through the invasion of Belgium. The originator of the plan, German Chief of Staff Alfred von Shlieffen, thought that the question of Belgium’s neutrality was immaterial because the defeat of France would be achieved before there was time for an orchestrated international response (CAB 102/220).

Within Belgium, there was a strong commitment to neutrality. Trading links with Germany were important and there was therefore no strong commitment to the Triple Entente of Britain, France and Russia. With the threat of attack from Germany imminent in July, foreign governments were unsure of Belgium’s likely reaction to German aggression. It was only on 1 August that the British Minister in Brussels, Sir Frances Villiers, informed Sir Edward Grey at the Foreign Office that the Belgian Army was mobilising. (FO 371/2160 paper 35278).

On 2 August, the Belgian Foreign Minister received an ultimatum to allow the German Army to march through Belgium (FO 371/2160 paper 35631). The Belgian Cabinet immediately rejected the German demands and after further argument in the Crown Council it became apparent that the Belgians would resist the German Army. King Albert affirmed this to the Belgian parliament on 4 August, the day on which the German Army began its invasion (FO 371/2161 paper 35938).

The invasion of Belgium brought about the British declaration of war on Germany on 4 August 1914. The German Chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg, probably underestimated the British government’s commitment, calling the 1839 Treaty a ‘scrap of paper’.

Given the long period of neutrality, Belgium had not built a strong army. In the years before the First World War, the Belgium Army was small and poorly-equipped compared to the other European countries. Conscription was only fully extended in 1913, when the threat posed by Germany became clearer. By August 1914, the Belgian Army had 120,000 soldiers in seven divisions. Nevertheless, when the German Army crossed the border at Gemmenich, near Liege, the Belgians were heavily outnumbered and poorly equipped (WO 32/5562).

The Belgian Army defended Liege strongly, holding up the German forces for a few days. The Germans occupied Brussels on 20 August, as the Belgian Army fell back to defend the port of Antwerp. For the time being, the German Army concentrated on attacking France but was defeated by the French Army and British Expeditionary Force at the Battle of the Marne in September 1914. The German Army then tried to outflank the Allied Forces in what became known as ‘the race for the sea’, attacking Antwerp which fell at the end of September (WO 32/5561–5564). The remnant of the Belgian Army gathered near the North Sea coast at the River Yzer, West Flanders, close to the French border (WO 32/5086).

The Belgian Army, with support from the French and the Royal Navy, held the Germans in the Battle of Yzer from mid-October. Under mounting pressure, the Belgians opened the flood defences at Nieuport on 26 October, flooding the Yzer valley. This caused the German Army to withdraw and rendered a sliver of south west Belgium inaccessible to the Germans. The British and French continued to fight further south at the First Battle of Ypres, throughout November. The Yser Front became part of the ‘permanent’ Western Front and the Belgians held the remnant of their territory until the end of the war (CAB 37/122/172). The area was later the site of some of the major battles of the First World War, including the second and third Battles of Ypres and the Battle of Messines (WO 158/304, WO 158/307).

The Belgian government retained control of its African colony, Belgian Congo. It agreed to co-operate with British forces in the East Africa campaign against the German Army in Tanganyika (WO 32/5818). Belgium troops subsequently took part in the East Africa campaign and temporarily occupied parts of Tanganyika (CAB 24/17/51, CO 879/119/4).

Occupation

Zeppelin LZ38 leaving shed at Evere 1918 AIR 1/2547

Most of Belgium was occupied by the Germans and placed under the control of a Military Governor, Field Marshall Colmar von der Goltz (replaced in November 1914 by General von Bissing). The Belgian government, under Prime Minister Charles de Brocqueville, was exiled and set up its base at Le Havre while King Albert remained with the troops. The Belgian Government continued to govern non-occupied Belgium throughout the war and to direct the war effort (FO 371/2283-2293, FO 371/2635-2638, FO 371/2896-2899).

From the early stages of the invasion, with the capture of Liege, German soldiers took property, destroyed infrastructure and executed civilians. The British Government initiated an enquiry in alleged atrocities under the Viscount Bryce and the outcome was the Report of the Committee on Alleged German Outrages, published in May 1915.

The Report found the German Army guilty of massacring civilians. While the findings of the Committee were in respects true, the report was used by the British Government as a propaganda document to persuade the United States to join the war against Germany (WO 161/78).

Belgium was an industrialised nation, which before the war imported over 70% of its foodstuffs. The international Belgian Relief Commission played a key role in ensuring Belgium received sufficient food until its eventual liberation in November 1918. It raised funds for the purchase of food from allied governments and arranged delivery with the German authorities (CAB 21/63). The wealthy businessman Herbert Hoover, who later became the American President, was the Commission’s director. Some British leaders, including Winston Churchill were opposed to the work of the Commission, as they believed that it assisted Germany (CAB 37/159/21).

Belgium people did not revolt against its German occupiers, there was little co-operation either. With financial activity strictly limited, the Belgian economy stagnated. There was strict censorship, control of the movement of civilians and the country’s universities closed. At the same time, the German authorities sought to use Belgian resources for the war effort. Some 120,000 Belgians were conscripted to work in German agriculture and industry.

The occupation greatly damaged the Belgian economy as assets were stripped, infrastructure destroyed and manpower conscripted. A period of economic reconstruction was required at the end of the war, in which the British Army participated (WORK 6/362/8, WO 32/5566).

The experience of occupation during the First World War temporarily ended Belgium’s policy of neutrality. Belgium participated in the post-war peace negotiations at Versailles (FO 608/5/4) and in the occupation of the Rhineland and later the Ruhr (WO 106/450, WO 106/453).

Belgium refugees

Belgium soldiers working at Birtley National Projectile Factory 1916-1918 MUN/5/157

Many left Belgium during the war, with over a quarter of a million Belgian refugees moving temporarily to Britain. Initially, the voluntary War Refugees Committee was responsible for assisting the refugees and for administering relief from public funds.

In September 1914, this work was taken over by the Local Government Board. Some 1,500 local committees were set up in Britain and the refugees were dispersed throughout the country. Only a small percentage of refugees remained in Britain after the end of the war, most returning to Belgium (HO 45/10738/261921).

Details of individual Belgian refugees to Britain were recorded on ‘history cards’, which record names, ages, relationships, wives’ maiden names, allowances and addresses for payment (MH 8).

An English nurse, Edith Cavell, played a part in the escape of some war refugees. Cavell worked in a Brussels clinic which became a Red Cross Hospital at the outbreak of war. She treated wounded soldiers irrespective of their nationality.

Towards the end of 1914, Cavell gave refuge to British soldiers  in occupied Belgium and helped shelter a number of wounded British and French soldiers, as well as Belgians subject to conscription, concealing them from the Germans. A Belgian nobleman, Prince Reginald de Croy and his sister, Princess Marie de Croy, supplied falsified papers which enabled them to cross into the Netherlands, a neutral country (FO 383/256).

Cavell was, of course, defying German martial law and risking the death penalty. The German authorities were increasingly suspicious and arrested Cavell on the 3 August 1915, almost exactly a year after the outbreak of war.

Cavell confessed that she had helped some 175 British, French and Belgian soldiers and civilians to escape. The British Government was unable to help, given the circumstances, whilst the United States, still neutral, unsuccessfully tried to find a diplomatic solution. She was found guilty and executed by firing squad on 12 October 1915 (FO 383/15).

Edith Cavell became a powerful symbol of British war propaganda. After the war, her remains were returned to Britain and buried at Norwich Cathedral. There are a number of memorials to her around the world, including the Edith Cavell Memorial at St Martin’s Place in London (WORK 20/128).

Key documents

Aerial photos of devastation of Belgium - Nieuport Bains WO 316/10

• Treaty of London (1839) guaranteeing Belgium’s independence. Document reference FO 93/14/4
• German ultimatum to Belgium. Document reference FO 371/2160
• Fall of Antwerp. Document reference WO 32/5086
• Military operations on the Yzer in 1914. Document reference CAB 37/122/172
• Report of the Committee on German Outrages. Document reference WO 161/78
• Correspondence on Edith Cavell. Document reference FO 383/15