France, Germany and Belgium recognized their shared border and agreed to not modify it by force. Alleged German 'war crimes' Germany's invasion of Belgium on 4 August 1914 quickly prompted allegations of 'war crimes'. Ten years after the August 1914 declaration of war, cultural demobilization was finally able to begin, alongside a move away from violence in … The German Government cannot but fear that Belgium, in spite of the utmost goodwill, will be unable, without assistance, to repel so considerable a French invasion with sufficient prospect of success to afford an adequate guarantee against danger to Germany. In both World Wars, the fighting in the West began with a German invasion of Belgium. It brought the Germans very close to Paris and probably winning the War in just a few short weeks.
The German occupation of Belgium (French: Occupation allemande, Dutch: Duitse bezetting) during World War II began on 28 May 1940, when the Belgian army surrendered to German forces, and lasted until Belgium's liberation by the Western Allies between September 1944 and February 1945. To their opponents, it looked as if they were hiding behind a low bank. It was very significant; critical in fact: The UK amongst other nations had signed the 1839 Treaty of London guaranteeing Belgian neutrality. It proved, however, an action that brought world opprobrium of a brutal aggressor nation on Germany. As they pushed the French, Belgians, and British back, they acted as if they had already won. In both World Wars, the fighting in the West began with a German invasion of Belgium. Although some German troops were as exhausted as their opponents, others were over-confident. 1914: Why German strategy in the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries was based on the assumption that, in the event of a war with Russia, Germany would also have to fight France. German troops, thrown back by British infantry and artillery, took cover. It was the second time in less than thirty years that Germany had occupied Belgium. [12] By mid 1916, the situation was becoming increasingly pressing for the German army. 1914: Why German strategy in the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries was based on the assumption that, in the event of a war with Russia, Germany would also have to fight France. When the smoke cleared the awful truth was revealed; the Germans had taken cover behind a pile of corpses.
Nor as a neutral country was there any agreement with the surrounding powers about war contingencies. They in fact were concerned with both a German and French attack. Some of them were confined to excesses committed in the military conflict - witness, for example, a captured German soldier's diary describing how British POWs were beaten to … At Senlis, a group of German soldiers stopped for refreshments in a café. Figure 1.--Germany's invasion of France through Belgium was an act of military expediency. From 1915, the Germans encouraged Belgian civilians to enlist voluntarily to work in Germany but the 30,000 recruits of the policy proved insufficient to meet demands.