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From 1916 onwards, an estimated 180,000 Belgians were forced to do hard labour for the Germans. The deportation of Belgian civilians to Germany especially provoked a wave of protest. The Belgian government in exile called the forced labour slavery, and speaking for the Catholic Church, Cardinal Mercier took the Germans to task for the ...
The news of the German invasion of Belgium did not leave Americans indifferent. As early as 1914, they organised large-scale campaigns to provide ‘poor little Belgium’ with food and clothes. Actual participation in the war, however, was not on the cards yet. Having been in office for only a year and a half, President Woodrow Wilson ...
In many Western European countries, Sinterklaas (or St. Nicholas) is celebrated around 5 - 6 December. In Belgium and the Netherlands, Sinterklaas is the ultimate children’s festive holiday, much more so than Christmas. St. Nicholas brings tasty treats and presents. This was also true on the eve of The First World War. At the time, it was ...
The first Christmas at the front, in 1914, passed in a remarkable atmosphere. At the start of hostilities, the soldiers had hoped for a short war. They had expected to be home long before Christmas and were surprised to find themselves still in the trenches. This is why there was little will to fight amongst many of the soldiers. This attitude was ...
In January 1919, representatives of 32 countries travelled to Paris to re-draw the map of the post-war world, and to discuss what was to happen to the losers of the war. Each country brought its own agenda to the negotiating table. Belgium and Serbia were hoping for reparations, Polish and Irish nationalists sought recognition for their countries, ...
Before the war, Émile Verhaeren (1855-1916) was a celebrated symbolist author. The work of the French-speaking Flemish writer was highly acclaimed in the Francophone world, and Verhaeren became an urbane public figure with an extensive network of acquaintances in international cultural circles. He also made friends with King Albert I of Belgium ...
The International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA) was founded by leading feminists in 1904. The organisation was devoted to securing women's suffrage and held regular international conferences. In 1915, it was due to take place in Berlin but was cancelled because of the war.
On a proposal by the Dutch feminist Dr. Aletta Jacobs, the ...
In the face of Britain's powerful war fleet, the Germans decided to bring a new weapon into action: the submarine. Especially once the German army declared unrestricted submarine warfare on 1 February 1917, submarines started playing an important part. From a military point of view, the weapon was a success, with German submarines sinking ...
In 1915, Catholic intellectuals at the frontline launched initiatives to protect soldiers from slipping moral standards and temptation, sexual and otherwise. They offered 'appropriate', organised forms of recreation through study and prayer groups, and football clubs. The initiators grasped the opportunity to push a political agenda as ...
Shortly after the armistice, the First World War became a rich source of inspiration for artists and writers. Flemish authors were fond of portraying the tragic front soldier, who struggled not only with enemy fire, parasites and the cold, but also with aloof officers who didn’t speak Dutch. One of the authors to write about the tough life ...
In 1915, the Germans closed off the border between Belgium and the neutral Netherlands with the 'Wire of Death'. Clandestine attempts to scale this high voltage fence were extremely dangerous: if you were not electrocuted, you risked being shot by German border guards. But this did not deter all refugees, or indeed spies, from trying to ...
In the First World War, the Dutch-Belgian border was not an ordinary national boundary. South of the border there was war, while to the north lay the peaceful, neutral Netherlands. The Germans army did not initially invest very heavily in the defence of this northern border, as an attack from the neutral Netherlands seemed unlikely.
The Germans ...
From 1916 onwards, an estimated 180,000 Belgians were forced to do hard labour for the Germans. The deportation of Belgian civilians to Germany especially provoked a wave of protest. The Belgian government in exile called the forced labour slavery, and speaking for the Catholic Church, Cardinal Mercier took the Germans to task for the ... 
