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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 ...
In the early days of aviation in 1914, people already had soaring expectations of it. The airplane would allow humanity to go further, faster and higher. When the First World War broke out, both the Germans and the Allies immediately started exploring the military possibilities of aviation. Both sides set up their own air force, using the ...
At the start of November 1918, an allied delegation and representatives of the new German government came together to prepare an armistice. The negotiations were conducted in a train carriage in the woods of Compiegne, on the allied side of the front. The Germans, however, did not have much room for negotiation. Their troops were demoralised, and ...
The hardship, continuous fear and the powerlessness of the individual made life in the trenches a physically, but above all psychologically, horrifying experience. Though not visibly injured, many soldiers suffered nervous breakdowns and were no longer able to function. The British army counted 80,000 cases of shell shock by the end of the ...
Vier augustus 1914. De Duitse legers vallen België binnen en veroveren op enkele maanden tijd het grootste gedeelte van ons grondgebied. Al snel kampt het bezette gebied met een immens probleem: voeding en goederen tot bij de bevolking krijgen. Nationaal Hulp- en VoedingskomiteitDe oplossing dient zich aan in de vorm van een fijnmazig ...
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, ... 
