The Rape of Belgium

The Rape of Belgium (French: Viol de la Belgique, lit. 'Rape of Belgium'; Dutch: Verkrachting van België) was a series of systematic war crimes, especially mass killing and deportation, by troops of the German Empire against Belgian civilians, many or most of them real or suspected francs-tireurs and other guerilla fighters, during the invasion and occupation of Belgium during World War I in violation of Belgian neutrality. The neutrality of Belgium had been guaranteed by the Treaty of London of 1839, which had been signed by the German Confederation (of which Prussia was a member). However, the German Schlieffen Plan required that German armed forces advance through Belgium (thus violating its neutrality) in order to outflank the French Army, concentrated in eastern France. Shortly before the beginning of the war in early August 1914 the German Chancellor, Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, had dismissed the treaty of 1839 as a mere "scrap of paper".