We may think that the history of Belgium in 1914 was a long time ago, something that could never happen today. We couldn’t be more wrong! Belgium faced intense pressure from a much larger neighbor, a situation that small countries still experience to this day. What makes Belgium stand out is that, given only twelve hours to decide, they didn’t cave in, and in doing so, changed history forever. In 1914, Germany had a plan. Step one: march through Belgium. Step two: crush France. Step three: Win the war, or something like that. But they forgot that Belgium might say no. But now on a serious note, during The Great War Belgium was occupied for four years, and that’s all because Belgium didn’t allow Germany to move troops onto Belgian territory to attack France. But why did they refuse? Germany after all had around seven times more troops than Belgium. Well it boils down to a few reasons.
Kacper Szynal explains.
A Punch cartoon from 1914 showing ‘little’ Belgium barring ‘big’ Germany's path.
Why Germany needed to cross Belgium
The Schlieffen Plan required a fast, easy entry into France, which meant invading Belgium, and originally the Netherlands to strike France from their territory and crush them in weeks. Just before the war, the invasion of the Netherlands was scrapped because of Dutch trade neutrality and their trade routes, also because Queen Wilhelmina was a close friend of Kaiser Wilhelm II. The plan was simple: defeat France via Belgium before Russia could fully mobilize. Then, the entire German army could turn east and deal with Russia, a strategy that didn’t exactly go according to plan, but that’s a story for a totally different article.
Why Belgians Didn’t Believe Germany
This is something I often see overlooked. Germany tried to scare Belgium into thinking that France was the threat, by saying that France would attack them, to get to Germany. Of course Belgians didn’t take that seriously at all.
Belgium’s Neutrality and the Treaty of London
I think that speaks for itself. Belgium, being a neutral country, couldn’t just give them military access through their land because that would be seen, not as an attempt at surviving the war, but as a cooperation with the Central Powers. You may ask, what's the problem, a lot of countries are neutral. Yet the problem is Belgium’s neutrality wasn’t just their choice, it wasn’t just their policy, in 1839 Belgium signed the treaty of London, the treaty clearly said that Belgium will become permanently neutral, no matter what. If they would accept the German ultimatum in the worst case scenario where Entente wins, Belgium would cease to exist, because the whole point of Belgium was to be a neutral buffer state between Germany and France. In the best case scenario, Belgium would become a German puppet, and that’s a point we will talk about in a bit.
Germany’s Track Record with Occupied Territories
From France’s Alsace-Lorraine to Prussian Poland, Germany wasn’t keen on returning occupied territories, and allowing them to enter Belgium would be a death sentence for the country. As I said, in the best case scenario, they would become a puppet. And Germans weren’t really nice to non-Germans living inside their occupied land. Of course they would never allow something like that so their answer would be always no.
Belgium knew that resisting German occupation would save them
Of course, as I said, Germany had around seven times more active troops. But Belgium knew that if Entente would win the war, Belgium would be restored to full independence, maybe even gaining new territories. It was a bit of a gambit, because if Germany were to win The Great War, Belgium would not only become a puppet, but in the worst scenario would need to pay massive war reparations for not letting Germany in.
Belgians weren’t keen on Germans inside their country
I mean, would you want three quarters of a million foreign soldiers inside your small country? And let them attack your neighbor out of the blue? Imagine it like this: Russia or any big power wants to attack Sweden and asks nicely if their army could march through Finland. I don’t think anyone in Finland would allow something like that. That’s basically what happened in Belgium in 1914. They couldn’t just allow something like that.
Belgians thought they could stop the attack
Ok, let’s be clear, no, Belgians didn’t think that their small army could stop the German advance, but they were promised aid from France and the British Empire if Germany would attack. They thought that they could stop the advance with their help, and well it didn’t really go that well, did it?. It was a weird mix of optimism and overconfidence.
Aftermath of Belgians saying no
Now, after knowing why Belgians said no, let's talk about the aftermath of that important decision. Of course the most obvious one, Germany attacked Belgium. They sent the ultimatum on August 2, 1914 at 7pm giving them only 12 hours to respond. After Belgium refused to give them military access, Germany attacked two days later on August 4, 1914. Also because of that declaration of war, the British Empire joined the war, joining the Entente side. But why? Remember the Treaty of London? It didn’t only make Belgium neutral, it also guaranteed their borders. The UK, signing that treaty in 1839, wanted to keep the balance of power in Europe; they could have never imagined that 75 years later the same treaty would drag them into the greatest war Europe had ever seen.
Conclusion: Did Belgium make the right choice?
Well, we can’t say for certain what would have happened if Belgium had allowed German troops to attack France from their territory. But looking from the perspective of 1914, I think they had only one risky choice, and that was the one they went with, and that was not letting them in without a fight.
Belgium’s stance in 1914 serves as a powerful reminder that smaller nations deserve respect, and that bravery can truly change the course of history. And no, Germany didn't get any tea from Belgium during The Great War.
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References
Tuchman, Barbara W. The Guns of August. New York: Macmillan, 1962.
Zuber, Terence. Inventing the Schlieffen Plan: German War Planning, 1871–1914. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Zuckerman, Larry. The Rape of Belgium: The Untold Story of World War I. New York: New York University Press, 2004.
MacMillan, Margaret. The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914. New York: Random House, 2013.
Hastings, Max. Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes to War. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013.
