https://gyronny.dreamwidth.org/ Knight of a Different Era - Dreamwidth Studios Sun, 11 Nov 2018 22:00:25 GMT LiveJournal / Dreamwidth Studios gyronny personal https://v2.dreamwidth.org/11262025/3029643 https://gyronny.dreamwidth.org/ 100 100 https://gyronny.dreamwidth.org/585407.html Sun, 11 Nov 2018 22:00:25 GMT https://gyronny.dreamwidth.org/585407.html The day before Germany declared war on France, it wrote to the Belgian government demanding free passage for its troops. Albert I, the ‘soldier king’, famously retorted: “Belgium is a nation, not a road.”<br /><br />The Belgian army[‘s unexpected toughness against the German onslaught at] Liège and Namur gave both [the] British and French armies time to amass their forces.<br /><br />Belgium was almost entirely occupied except for a sliver of land in northwest Flanders, which would become one of the most strategic areas of Belgium and the scene of two further major battles, in 1915 and 1917.<br /><br />The war was an extraordinary era that radically changed society, from technological and medical advances to the politics and economy of the 20th century. <br /><br />(Quoted From “The Bulletin” article about Belgium in WW1)<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=gyronny&ditemid=585407" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://gyronny.dreamwidth.org/585407.html contemplative public 0