Sunday, November 27, 2011

The Belgium keystone to Europe's peace & Germany's thwarted 1901 British invasion.

Belgium today stands at the edge of separation, Flanders from Wallonia. An independent Belgium was the creation of England's Lord Palmerston. The 1839 Treaty giving it perpetual neutrality was guaranteed by England, France, Russia, Prussia and Austria. Belgium's coast became England's secure frontier.

On Film4 this afternoon at 2:45 pm (Sky 315 and one hour later on Sky 316) British viewers can watch a film adaptation, Riddle of the Sands, of a true story of the planned invasion of England by Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II, which was thwarted in 1901. Centuries long German plans for domination of Europe, still on track to this day, thereafter required that the neutrality of Belgium had to be smashed to allow the invasion and defeat of first France, thereafter Russia to be finally followed by the defeat of Britain. (See yesterday morning's post below).

Belgium's democracy has been in suspension for over 530 days and is even more dangerously surrounded by, and host to, the EU chaos, its very existence must now be in doubt. A thoughful piece on the present strategic balance of economic power in Western Europe, appeared in the blog The Slog, yesterday morning, and I recommend it to my readers. It is linked from here.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Anoneumouse said...

Belgium shows little pluck

11:35 AM  
Blogger Martin said...

Partly due to the lessons of history I guess - Tuchman writes that on the first day (in August 1914) of the German invasion on the shooting of Belgian priests as wall as ordinary civilians had begun. "On the first day too the Germans shot six hostages taken at Warsage and burned the village of Battice as an example. It was "burned out, completely gutted," wrote a German officer who marched through it a few days later.

4:27 PM  

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