(Distribution outside Germany, Austria and Switzerland by
University Press Leuven) Rehearsals is the first book to provide a
detailed narrative history of the German invasion of Belgium in
August 1914 as it affected civilians. Based on extensive eyewitness
testimony, the book chronicles events in and around the towns of
Liège, Aarschot, Andenne, Tamines, Dinant, and Leuven, where the
worst of the German depredations occurred. Without any legitimate
pretext, German soldiers killed nearly 6.000 non-combatants,
including women and children, and burned some 25.000 homes and
other buildings. For more than seventy-five years, however, charges
against the German Army about the killing, raping, looting, and
arson have been dismissed in Germany, the U.K., and U.S. as mere
atrocity propaganda. Recently, the case has been made that the
violence, which crescendoed between August 19th and 26th, was the
result of a spontaneous outbreak of German paranoia about
francs-tireurs (civilian sharpshooters). Rehearsals provides much
evidence that the executions were in fact part of a deliberate
campaign of terrorism ordered by military authorities.
Rehearsals is the first book to provide a detailed narrative
history of the German invasion of Belgium in August 1914 as it
affected civilians. Based on extensive eyewitness testimony, the
book chronicles events in and around the towns of Liège, Aarschot,
Andenne, Tamines, Dinant, and Leuven, where the worst of the German
depredations occurred. Without any legitimate pretext, German
soldiers killed nearly 6.000 non-combatants, including women and
children, and burned some 25.000 homes and other buildings.
For more than seventy-five years, however, charges against the
German Army about the killing, raping, looting, and arson have been
dismissed in Germany, the U.K., and U.S. as mere atrocity
propaganda. Recently, the case has been made that the violence,
which crescendoed between August 19th and 26th, was the result of a
spontaneous outbreak of German paranoia about francs-tireurs
(civilian sharpshooters). Rehearsals provides much evidence that
the executions were in fact part of a deliberate campaign of
terrorism ordered by military authorities.
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