Published on 5 Dec 2015
Indy sits in the chair of wisdom again to answer your questions and this time we are telling the story of German New Guinea and talk about Germans passing through Belgium in 1914.
December 10, 2015
Why Weren’t The Germans Allowed to Pass Through Belgium in 1914? I Out Of The Trenches
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On the Belgium issue. Belgium’s neutrality was pretty much a precondition for its existence as a country. It is no coincidence that Waterloo is in Belgian and that the major Western fight in World War I was in Belgium and that the control of Belgium’s one of the issues that caused the 80 years war between the Dutch and the Spaniards in the 16th and 17th century, which also contributed to 30 years war. Belgian neutrality was a very important issue not just for Belgians French and Germans, but for Britain and other great powers as well.
Comment by Steve Muhlberger — December 10, 2015 @ 08:15
I’ve seen lots of discussion about whether Britain was right to go to war over the invasion of Belgium, as it guaranteed a long and very bloody conflict (the theory being that if Britain had stayed out of the fight, Germany would have defeated France relatively quickly in a replay of 1870). Such speculation disregards the damage to British prestige if a blatant violation of a border that Britain had formally guaranteed was not followed up by meaningful action.
The creation of Belgium was clearly intended to prevent both French expansion (all of Europe had seen far too much of that) and any kind of new threat to British control of the North Sea and the eastern approaches to the English Channel.
Comment by Nicholas — December 10, 2015 @ 08:36