Portrait of the new German rulers of Belgium: from left--Count Harrach; Lt. Von Loebel; and Dr. Von Sandt, Civil Governor. Belgium's legitimate ruler, King Albert, had withdrawn toward Ypres along with his troops to fight the Germans alongside the British for the duration. Below: Belgians gaze at a German troop formation in historic Antwerp. |
| Below Left: The destroyed library in the medieval town of Louvain, Belgium, which resulted in the loss of its world-famous collection of ancient manuscripts. The library was needlessly burned and the entire town of Louvain shelled by Germans in an attempt to intimidate the Belgian people into submission. Below Right: Edith Cavell, a British nurse working in occupied Belgium, shot by a German firing squad in Brussels on October 12, 1915, because she had helped some British soldiers who became lost behind the German lines. |
| Below: In the Belgian countryside, civilians taken prisoner by a German patrol. They are suspected of being franctiruers (irregular snipers) and therefore subject to being shot without mercy according to occupation orders issued by the German Army. |
Return to World War I Timeline - 1914
The History Place - World War I Index Page
The History Place Main Index Page
Copyright © 2009 The History Place™ All Rights Reserved
Terms of use: Private home/school non-commercial, non-Internet re-usage only is allowed of any text, graphics, photos, audio clips, other electronic files or materials from The History Place.