2. The
German
Army
in
Dinant,
August
1914:
The
Atroci9es
and
the
War
of
Propaganda
that
followed
3. Presenta9on
outline
1)
The
Atroci+es
in
Dinant
(Aug.
21st-‐28th
1914)
2)
The
War
of
Propaganda
(Sept.
1914)
3)
Explaining
the
Violence
in
Dinant:
Military
Culture
&
the
Franc-‐Tireur
Myth-‐Complex
4)
AKermath
&
Memory
4. Why
Dinant?
! Wallonia
(South
of
Belgium)
! Meuse
Valley
! Worst
atrocity
in
Belgium
! Premeditated
aMack
on
civilians
! Unknown
outside
Belgium
10. The
trauma
of
invasion
Dinant,
1914
(above)
by
Louis
Raemaekers
11. ! Sedng
the
tone
! A
War
of
moral
purpose
! ‘Western
Civiliza+on’
vs
‘German
Kultur’
The
War
of
Propaganda:
Allied
exaggera9on
vs
German
delusion
(Sept.
1914
onwards)
12. Demonizing
the
enemy:
German
Barbarism
‘The
Triumph
of
Culture’,
1914
(left)
and
American
enlistment
poster,
1917
(right)
13. The
Manifesto
of
the
Ninety-‐Three:
To
the
Civilized
World,
Oct.
1914
! Defence
of
the
German
Army’s
conduct
in
Belgium
! 93
German
academics
! “We
hereby
protest
to
the
civilized
world
against
the
lies
and
calumnies
with
which
our
enemies
are
endeavoring
to
stain
the
honor
of
Germany”
! “It
is
not
true
that
the
life
of
a
single
Belgian
ciBzen
was
injured
by
our
soldiers
without
the
biDerest
self-‐defence
having
made
it
necessary;
for
again
and
again
the
ciBzens
lay
in
ambush,
shooBng
at
the
troops
out
of
the
houses,
muBlaBng
the
wounded,
and
murdering
in
cold
blood
the
medical
men.
The
Germans
justly
punished
these
assassins
for
their
wicked
deeds”.
! “The
German
Army
and
the
German
people
are
one”
14. Allied
Reports
vs
German
Reports:
The
Bryce
Report
&
the
White
Book
! German
White
Book:
-‐
‘Illegal
war’
-‐
Jus+fied
reprisals
against
Belgian
‘insurgents’
! But
Recent
scholarship
confirms:
-‐
Belgian
Commission
Inquiry
&
the
Bryce
Report
broadly
accurate
-‐
Atroci+es
commiMed
against
Belgian
civilians
without
provoca+on
-‐
No
evidence
of
organized
resistance
in
Belgium
15. How
to
explain
the
violence
at
Dinant?
1.
Psychology
of
Violence:
! Group
dynamics
! The
demands
of
War
(exhaus+on,
confusion
&
fear)
2.
Predisposi+ons:
! Military
Doctrine
&
Military
Prac+ce
! The
‘Franc-‐Tireur
Myth-‐Complex’
(John
Horne
&
Alan
Kramer)
16. German
Military
Culture
1888-‐1914
! Von
Clauswitz’s
‘Logic
of
Annihila+on’
! “Ins+tu+onal
Extremism”
(Isabel
Hull)
! Colonial
Warfare
(1904-‐1907)
! WWI
Planning:
The
Schlieffan
Plan
(1905)
Photo
of
Kaiser
Wilhelm
II
of
Germany
(1905).
The
symbol
of
German
Militarism.
17. The
Franc-‐Tireur
Myth:
its
origins
&
escala9on
! The
Ghosts
of
1870-‐71
(The
Franco-‐Prussian
War)
! The
Geneva
&
Hague
Conven+ons
of
1899
&
1907
! Military
Indoctrina+on
(War
Manuel
1902)
! Contempt
for
Belgium
! Projec+ng
the
inner-‐enemy
onto
Belgian
civilians
(Catholics,
Socialists,
French
sympathizers)
22. AKermath
&
Memory
! The
failure
of
the
Leipzig
Trials
(1919)
! German
denial
&
post-‐war
animosity
! The
rise
of
Post-‐War
pacifism
! A
great
forgedng
in
War-‐torn
Belgium
! The
legacy
of
WWII
overshadowing
WWI
! The
persistence
of
local
memory
&
the
renewed
debate
23. Dinant’s
Post-‐War
Memorials
“Furore
Teutonico”
The
power
of
memory
Constructed
in
the
1920s
Destroyed
by
the
Nazis
in
1940
25. Biblical
imagery
in
Dinant:
Vic9mhood
&
Martyrdom
Jesus
Christ
symbolised
to
commemorate
the
243
civilians
executed
at
Leffe
(leK).
Angels,
maternity
and
innocence
representa+ve
of
Dinant’s
vic+ms
outside
town
hall
(right)
