The Great War was never supposed to come to Belgium, still scarred nearly a century after the culmination of the Napoleonic Wars — the Battle of Waterloo.

The 20th century had seen the expression of nationalist and imperialist positions throughout Europe, but Belgium adopted a neutral stance and saw itself as an arbiter for the strife that many saw as inevitable.

Belgium was a constitutional monarchy that still vested many powers in the king, Albert I. Although there was an army of 190,000, many members were not actively serving and the force was run by French-speaking officers who issued orders to mostly Dutch-speaking Flemings. The army depended on weapons that mostly dated back to the 19th century, with some defences manned by veterans of previous wars.

The Belgian government was not blind to the tensions between France and Germany in 1914, and as autumn approached there were still arguments as to which side would invade Belgium first in order to reach their enemy’s territory.

The Belgians had attempted to modernize their army in December 1913, when the government issued a decree reinforcing neutrality while ordering up-to-date artillery to strengthen their defense. But in one case a large order was placed with Krupp of Germany, which delayed delivery so that Belgium was left with little to stop the German march.

When the invasion came in August 1914, the Germans expected to roll over the ill-equipped Belgian forces. Instead they faced strong resistance. In only the second week of the war, a Belgian regiment composed of mounted cavalry and 450 cyclists repelled a German attack more than twice the size.

The slow advance of their forces frustrated the German command. Soon attacks and retaliations on civilians began with executions in towns throughout Belgium. Famously, the German army also set fire to the library of the University of Leuven, which contained over 300,000 medieval books.

These events became known as The Rape of Belgium and the country soon became an effective a tool of propaganda. The victimization of Belgium played no small part in the American entry into the war in 1917, the event which signalled the beginning of the end for Germany.

After the invasion, Belgium did not participate in any major battles until the closing months of the war. However, its initial resistance prevented Germany from taking the preferred path toward France, instead moving north. This gave the French army and the British Expeditionary Forces enough time to arrive in numbers sufficient to halt the German march.

The two sides eventually faced off near Ypres, West Flanders. Trenches were dug and the two sides soon battled over inches until the war ended in 1918. These trenches, known as the Ribbon of Death, eventually stretched from the English Channel all the way to Switzerland, leaving much of the Belgian province of Flanders in ruins.

It would take many years to rebuild.