Overview
- Explores the complicated relationship between the Belgian army and society from 1830 to 1914
- Provides insight into the concepts of citizenship, nationalism and militarisation in a divided society
- Argues that the Belgian army failed to foster a unified national identity from independence to the start of the First World War
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About this book
This book explores Belgian state-building through the prism of its army from independence to the First World War. It argues that party-politics, which often ran along geographical, linguistic, and religious lines, prevented both Flemings and Walloons from reconciling their regional identities into a unified concept of Belgian nationalism. Equally, it obstructed the army from satisfactorily preparing to uphold Belgium’s imposed neutrality before 1914. Situated uneasily between the two powerhouses of nineteenth-century Europe, Belgium offers a unique insight into the concepts of citizenship and militarisation in a divided society in the era of fervent nationalism. By examining the composition, experience, and image of the army’s officer corps and rank and file, as well as those of the auxiliary forces, this book shows that although military and civilian society often stood aloof from one another, the army, as a national institution, offered a fleeting glimpse into the dichotomy thatwas pre-war Belgium.
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Keywords
Table of contents (8 chapters)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Mario Draper is Lecturer in Modern British and European History at the University of Kent, UK. His research focuses on the links between European armies and their parent societies in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with a particular focus on identity, nationalism, and citizenship.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Belgian Army and Society from Independence to the Great War
Authors: Mario Draper
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70386-2
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: History, History (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and the Author(s) 2018
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-70385-5Published: 22 February 2018
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-88929-0Published: 06 June 2019
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-70386-2Published: 13 February 2018
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIX, 281
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations, 2 illustrations in colour
Topics: History of Modern Europe, History of Military, Modern History, Social History, Political History