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In October 2018, the Belgian people will go to the ballot box to elect a new municipal council, as we do every six years. Before the First World War, this was as often as every four years! The mayors and municipal council members elected in 1911, however, kept their posts for almost a decade.Because of the war, the 1915 local elections ...
The border region between occupied Belgium and the neutral Netherlands soon became a smuggling paradise. Traffic in letters, military information and foodstuffs was rife. Young men who wanted to join the Belgian army also crossed the border. From the spring of 1915, the German troops decided to call a halt to this. They constructed a barbed wire ...
From the beginning of the war, the border with the neutral Netherlands had bustled with activity. Almost immediately after the occupation, the German authorities sealed off the border to the Netherlands with barbed wire. The Germans wanted to prevent Belgian war volunteers from reaching the front via the Netherlands, and at the same time to call a ...
The First World War created a gigantic stream of refugees. At least 500,000 Belgian citizens, more than 7% of the Belgian population, spent four long war years abroad.
Driven out by horror stories and the advancing German army, millions of Belgians fled their town or village. Many ultimately reached the borders with The ...
Immediately before The First World War, a democratisation of tourism took place. Tourism was no longer only reserved for the very wealthiest; the well-off middle class could also afford a trip every now and then too. At the outbreak of the war, tourism in occupied Belgium initially fell completely still. Conveyances such as cars and bicycles were ...
On 22 April 1915, French and British troops were surprised by a yellow cloud drifting towards their lines between Steenstrate and Langemark. When the cloud reached the soldiers, they suffered violent and painful coughing fits and burning eyes. This first large-scale gas attack using deadly gas sent a wave of panic through the soldiers. On that ...
The First World War had a devastating impact on most economic activities in Belgium. The breweries in the unoccupied part of the country behind the front formed an exception, however – they flourished, thanks to an explosive population growth in the region during the war years. This growth consisted of soldiers of various nationalities ...
Football was a popular pastime behind the front line. Soldiers would play a game themselves or watch matches played by former and current football stars serving in the ranks at the time. Popular football clubs of the past, such as Royal Antwerp FC and Beerschot VAC, regrouped in the unoccupied parts of Belgium, and teams from different regiments ...
For most of the foreign soldiers at the Western Front, keeping in touch with friends and family was relatively easy. They wrote and received letters, and some used their leave of absence to make quick visits home. Most Belgian soldiers did not have those options, as they were cut off from their loved ones in occupied Belgium by the front line. For ...
‘Always look on the bright side of life’, the crucified messiah Brian and his fellow-sufferers sing in the final scene of Monty Python's notorious film, ‘Life of Brian’. Brian and his companions aren't the only ones to laugh about their own fate. Gallows humour is a widespread phenomenon, especially in times of war. ...
According to Belgian law, every child was required to attend school between the ages of six and twelve. In the first months of the school year 1914/1915, however, this proved very difficult. Mobilisation had thinned out the teaching staff and many school buildings were occupied by refugees or Allied or German soldiers. The best the pupils could ...
After the spontaneous Christmas truce of December 1914, army command was not eager for any new fraternization between the contesting parties. On New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, rifle shots rang out and the guns pounded as usual. Yet, some soldiers still tried to give the passing of the first year at the front a festive character. ...
In October 2018, the Belgian people will go to the ballot box to elect a new municipal council, as we do every six years. Before the First World War, this was as often as every four years! The mayors and municipal council members elected in 1911, however, kept their posts for almost a decade.Because of the war, the 1915 local elections ... 
