The German invasion of Belgium began on 4 August 1914 during the first World War. On 24 July, the Belgian government had announced that if war came it would uphold its neutrality. The Belgian governme
Albert I, King of the Belgians since 1909; Albert commanded the Belgian army in the First World War
"Germany Violates Belgian Neutrality": Headline in Le Soir, 4 August 1914
Fortified position of Liège
Contemporary Belgian depiction of the Battle of Halen
Rape of Belgium
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The Rape of Belgium was a series of systematic war crimes, especially mass killing and deportation, by troops of the German Empire against Belgian civilians, many or most of them real or suspected fra
German invasion of Belgium (1914)
…civilians soon after the invasion, in which massacres, executions, hostage-taking and the burning of towns and villages took place and became known as the Rape of Belgium. After the Battle of the Frontiers ended, the French armies in the north and the BEF began the Great Retreat into France (24 August – 28 September…
L'exécution des notables de Blégny (The Execution of the Notables of Blégny, 1914), oil-on-canvas painting (1918) by Évariste Carpentier (1845–1922), depicting German soldiers executing Belgian civilians at Blégny during the early months of the German occupation of Belgium (on display at the Blégny-Trembleur administration building).
Corpses of victims of the Sack of Dinant at the "Bourdon Wall"
The ruins of the Catholic University of Leuven's library after it was burned by the German army in 1914
The destroyed city of Leuven in 1915