Brussels during the Soldiers Uprising November 1918

A Soldiers' Council () was established in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

on 10 November 1918 after news of the naval mutiny at Kiel and the November Revolution reached German troops in German-occupied Belgium in the final days of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Intended as a kind of revolutionary council and

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

and

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

in inspiration, it was created after the soldiers mutinied against their officers and seized control of Brussels which had been occupied since August 1914. They tried unsuccessfully to create an alliance with Belgian civilians and socialists and there was sporadic fighting in the city between right-wing and revolutionary German troops. At the same time, the Soldiers' Council struggled to maintain law and order. Its chief concern was to secure the repatriation of its men to Germany. After a few days, the council disbanded and the last German troops left Brussels on 16 November. The

Belgian Army The Land Component (, ), historically and commonly still referred to as the Belgian Army (, ), is the Land warfare, land branch of the Belgian Armed Forces. The King of the Belgians is the commander in chief. The current chief of staff of the Land ...

under

King Albert I Albert I (8 April 1875 – 17 February 1934) was King of the Belgians from 23 December 1909 until his death in 1934. He is popularly referred to as the Knight King (, ) or Soldier King (, ) in Belgium in reference to his role during World War I ...

finally entered the city on 22 November 1918. The Brussels soldiers' council was contemporary with another similar body established at Beverloo at the same time. Both looked to the more important soldiers' council at

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

for nominal leadership. ;Notable people involved in the Council *

Carl Einstein Carl Einstein, born Karl Einstein, also known by pseudonym Savine Ree Urian (26 April 1885 – 5 July 1940), was a German writer, art historian, anarchist, and critic. Regarded as one of the first critics to appreciate the development of Cubism, ...

References

Bibliography

* *

References

Bibliography

Further reading