Abstract
Belgium’s pivotal role in World War I hinged upon the “mere scrap of paper,” the Treaty of 1839, which mandated that Belgium function as a neutral nation. The country was forbidden to pledge an alliance with Prussia, Russia, Austria, Great Britain and France, which was to guarantee a degree of stability within the area. But, because of that very idea of neutrality, the modern nation of Belgium thus began its existence exposed on three borders and sandwiched between two ancient opponents, France and Prussia. Very few steps were taken for the fortification of Belgian borders. All political parties resisted any defense spending, especially in the building of armies. The few forts that were built provided a false sense of security and the weaponry was soon outdated. Belgium only supported its first conscription law in 1909.
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Notes
The numbers were more likely 59% Femish at the beginning of the war, 67% at the end. And it is important to remember that during the war years, Flemings were only 55% of the Belgian population. Bruno De Wever, Greep naar de macht Vlaams-nationalisme en Nieuwe Orde. Met VNV 1933–1945 (Tielt: Uitgeverij Lannoo, 1994), 28.
Daniel Vanacker, The Myth of the 80% (Ypres: Yearbook Joris Van Severen, 2003), 65–108
Hans Keymeulen and Luc De Vos, “een definitieve afrekening met de 80% mythe? Het Belgisch Leger (1914–1918) en de sociale en numerieke taalver-houding onder de gesneuvelden van lagere rang,” Belgisch tijdschrift voor militaire geschiedenis 8 (1988), S. 589–612
See Randall Fegley’s The Golden Spurs of Kortiijk: How the Knights of France Fell to the Foot Soldiers of Flanders in 1302 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co, 2002)
William H. TeBrake, A Plague of Insurrection: Popular Politics and Peasant Revolt in Flanders, 1323–1328 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993), 36–40
J.F. Verburggen, The Battle of the Golden Spurs, Coutrai, 11 July 1302 (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1952
W. Kaschuba, “The Emergence and Transformation of Foundation Myths,” in Myth and Memory in the Construction of Community, ed. Bo Strath (Berlin: P.I.E. Lang, 2000), 219.
See Arnold van Gennep, Rites of Passage (1960) (London: Routledge, 2010)
Edith Turner, Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995
The King was clearly speaking to the Belgian nation when he gave his speech. The plea to the men of Flanders was echoed in a plea to the men of Wallonia: “Wallons de Liège, souvenez des 600 Franchimontois!” (“Walloons from Liège, remember the six hundred Franchimontois!”). King Albert directly referred to the legendary battle of the 600 Franchimontois, which was a story known to all residents of Wallonia. In 1468 600 men from Franchimont, led by Vincent De Bueren and Gosuin De Streel, attempted to end the siege of Liège held by Charles the Bold and King Louis XL The plan failed, all 600 men were killed and the following day Liège surrendered. However apocryphal the story may be, it served as a foundation myth for the newly independent Kingdom of Belgium when, in 1831, the battle of the 600 Franchimontois was revived as an example of the power of self-sacrifice and resistance for the fatherland. The date of the battle, October 9, again similar to July 11th and the Battle of the Golden Spurs, was officially revived once again when it was seriously considered as a French Community holiday when the French Community of Belgium was created in 1980. By recognizing the two identities that existed in Belgium in 1914 King Albert made an overt appeal to each region’s sense of patriotism and heroic past as a united front resisting the German army. See Hugh Dunthorne and Michael Wintle, eds., The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth-century Britain and the Low Countries (Leiden: Brill, 2012).
For a discussion on the history of flags, standards and shields, see Gabriella Elgenius, “The Origin of European National Flags,” in Flag, Nation and Symbolism in Europe and America, ed. Thomas Hylland Erikson and Richard Jenkins (New York: Routledge, 2007), 15.
Thomas Hylland Erikson, “Some Questions About Hags,” in Flag, Nation and Symbolism in Europe and America, ed. Erikson and Jenkins (New York: Routledge, 2007), 3.
Lloyd Kramer, Nationalism in Europe and America: Politics, Cultures, and Identities Since 1775 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2011), 90.
For information on the flag and the sacred see Carolyn Marvin and David W. Ingle, “Blood Sacrifice and the Nation: Revisiting Civil Religion,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 64(4), (1996): 767–780.
This tactic had already been prepared for the riverbank areas of Antwerp, but German victory was too decisive for flooding to be employed there. The plan was very complex. For success, the tides, direction of the wind and the opening of the ancient gates all had to work simultaneously. In addition, the gates were all still operated manually. The water had to also be controlled in order to avoid flooding the east bank of the IJzer River, which was held by the Belgians. The first attempt, on October 26, failed. For more information see Luc Vandeweyer, 1914–1918: Onder water: Oorlog in het over-stroomde gebied (Diksmuide: IJzerbedevaartcomité, 2006).
The term Frontbeweging was seldom used during the war. It was first applied in the beginning of 1918 when, in May of the same year, Corporals Karel De Schaepdrijver and Jules Charpentier used the term for the entire Flemish Movement at the battlefront. D. Vanacker, De Frontbeweging: De Vlaamse strijd aan de IJzer (Koksijde: De Klaproos, 2000).
Sophie De Schaepdrijver, “Belgium,” in A Companion to World War I, ed. John Home (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), p. 395.
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© 2014 Karen D. Shelby
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Shelby, K.D. (2014). The Battle of the Golden Spurs: Enlistment Propaganda and The Front Movement. In: Flemish Nationalism and the Great War. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137391735_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137391735_4
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