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    The Americans arrive

    At the outbreak of the First World War, the American president Woodrow Wilson decided that the United States should stay neutral. A series of diplomatic and military incidents gradually made this neutral stance untenable, and on 6 April 1917, Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany. From that moment on, the US were officially at war, ...

    Easels At the Frontline

    Ruined countryside near Nieuwpoort, a flooded air-raid shelter and a self portrait in army uniform; those are just a few of the scenes painted by artists of the Section Artistique between 1916 and 1918. La rue haute à Nieuport, by Léon Huygens (La patrie belge, 11/03/1917, p. 1) The war had already sparked plenty of creativity in the years ...

    Mutilated and Vagrant

    The industrial nature of the First World War resulted in an unprecedented number of casualties, making effective medical organisation necessary. While a great many wounded soldiers died before reaching the field hospitals and others were sent back to the front after treatment, a third group of casualties proved no longer suited for military ...

    A Network of Tunnels

    "Gentlemen, we may not make history tomorrow, but we shall certainly change the geography," General Plumer told his staff on the eve of the attack. After several days of intense Allied shelling, everything suddenly fell silent at the German front at Messines Ridge near Wijtschate in the early hours of 7 June 1917. The Germans were ...

    The Madonnas of Pervyse

    In the First World War, thousands of women played an active part at the front as paramedics and nurses, including the divorced English midwife Elsie Knocker and the wealthy Scotswoman Mairi Chisholm. The care and medical treatment of wounded soldiers at the front was a chaotic affair. The Belgian Red Cross could not cope with the stream of ...

    Hollow Cheeks

    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 ...

    Wilson and the Politics of Neutrality

    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 ...

    St. Nicholas in wartime

    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 ...

    A Christmas spirit with a dark side

    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 ...

    The Treaty of Versailles

    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, ...

    Emile Verhaeren

    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 Congress of Women

    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 ...

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