Western Civilization II / Unit 14 WC2 1309 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Belgium: Neutrality Violated, Civilians Massacred, Britain In
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The idea
Belgium was neutral and resisted. German troops, believing civilians fired on them, executed men in the towns they took and burned over a thousand buildings, the witness says, including Louvain's library. Refugees reached Britain. On the fourth of August Britain, Belgium's protector, declared war on Germany.
In practice
Hundreds of civilians killed, women and children among them.
Where people slip
Both sources carry the atrocities.
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