TY - BOOK ID - 1691509 TI - Rehearsals : the German army in Belgium, August 1914 PY - 2007 SN - 9789058675965 9058675963 9461660391 9789461660398 PB - Leuven Leuven University Press DB - UniCat KW - 944 Eerste Wereldoorlog KW - 852 Internationale conflicten KW - Academic collection KW - 855.3 Genocide KW - 949.3.034 KW - 857 Oorlogsslachtoffers KW - 949.32 LEUVEN KW - 949.3.034 Geschiedenis van België: 1ste wereldoorlog (1914-1918) KW - Geschiedenis van België: 1ste wereldoorlog (1914-1918) KW - 949.32 LEUVEN Geschiedenis van België: hertogdom Brabant; provincie Brabant--(reg./lok.)--LEUVEN KW - Geschiedenis van België: hertogdom Brabant; provincie Brabant--(reg./lok.)--LEUVEN KW - World War, 1914-1918 KW - Atrocities KW - Belgium KW - History KW - History of Belgium and Luxembourg KW - anno 1910-1919 KW - Première guerre mondiale KW - Atrocités KW - Belgique KW - Histoire KW - Campaigns KW - Germany. Heer KW - World War, 1914-1918 - Atrocities - Belgium KW - Belgium - History - German occupation, 1914-1918 KW - Guerre mondiale (1914-1918) KW - Andenne (Belgique) KW - Campagnes et batailles KW - Atrocités KW - Liège (Belgique) KW - Louvain (Belgique) KW - Dinant (Belgique) KW - Tamines (Belgique) UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:1691509 AB - Rehearsals is the first book to provide a detailed account 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 Liege, Aarschot, Andenne, Tamines, Dinant, and Leuven. Fearing resistance from guerilla fighters and determined to cross rapidly through Belgium, German armies, particularly in locations where they met resistance from Belgian or French forces, treated civilians with great ruthlessness. Nearly 6,000 non-combatants were executed as "franc-tireurs," including women and children (the equivalent of about 230,000 Americans today), and some 25,000 homes and other buildings were burned. But there were no franc-tireurs, only innocent Belgians who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even today, accounts of the killing, looting, and arson are dismissed as "atrocity propaganda," particularly in the U.S. and U.K. Those historians who acknowledge that the German war crimes took place attribute them to a spontaneous outbreak of paranoia about franc-tireurs. Rehearsals offers evidence that the executions were part of a deliberate campaign of terrorism ordered by military authorities, and reflected beliefs that differed from those of their counterparts in other Western European nations. ER -