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Home | Overview | Controversies | Timeline | Combatants | Biographies | Glossary | Learn More
Combatant States - Central powers | Austro - Hungary | Germany | Turkey (Ottoman Empire) | Bulgaria
Combatant States - Allies | Serbia | Russia | France | Belgium | United Kingdom | Australia | Canada | India | New Zealand | Rhodesia | Union of South Africa | United States of America| Italy | Romania | Greece | Montenegro | Portugal | Japan
Entered War : 4 August 1914 (invaded by Germany)
Political system : Constitutional monarchy since gaining independence from Holland (1831). Belgium enjoyed universal male suffrage, but voting was weighted in favour of the affluent and educated.
Leader : Albert I: sovereign, 1909-1934
Population : 7.5 million (1910)
Army : 243,000 men plus 115,000 trained reserves (1914). Much of Belgium was occupied during the war and so the Belgian army could only expand to 170,000 men. A total of 267,000 Belgians served in the army during the war.
Air Force : 12 aircraft (1914)
Recent Diplomacy : Belgium commanded the only wide-open space between France and Germany and tried to remain neutral, avoiding both Triple Alliance and Triple Entente commitments.
Casualties by 1918 : 14,000 dead, 45,000 wounded.