King Albert I of Belgium became commander of the Belgian Army at the beginning of the
First World War. For four years he led his troops, and for four years his people stood
behind him, the first soldier of Belgium.
I’m Indy Neidell; welcome to a Great War Special Bio episode of who did what in World
War One. Today featuring King Albert I of Belgium.
Albert was formally named Albert Léopold Clément Marie Meinrad of
Belgium. He was born on April 8, 1875 in the Palais in Brussels. At the time of his birth
it was not foreseeable that Albert would ever be King, as he was the fifth child of Prince
Philippe of Flanders, who in turn was the younger brother of King Leopold II. Albert’s
mother was the Princess Marie of Hohenzollern. But even though he was 4th in line for the
throne as late as the age of four, by 1905 Albert was the heir, as the heirs ahead of
him in line had all died.
At the age of 16, Albert entered the Royal Military Academy and was appointed lieutenant,
and from 1893 he was also a member of the Senate. He was committed to social issues
and made incognito visits to industrial and working-class neighbourhoods to form his own
impressions of everyday life. In 1906 he founded the institution “Ibis“, providing homes
and education for orphans. He visited the Belgian colony of the Congo and was shocked
by it’s exploitation and promised protection for the locals and future political reforms.
When King Leopold died on December 17, 1909, Albert succeeded him six days later as the
first of his name and the third king of Belgium. He had married Elisabeth, Duchess of Bavaria,
in 1900, and by the time of his succession they had 3 children.
Albert was a popular monarch, and worked to give his people a real connection to the royal
family, opening his private life to journalists, and even taking his oath of office in both
French and Flemish. He also beefed up national security, and introduced general conscription
in 1913. When the war began, the army of little Belgium was 200,000 strong.
On August 2, 1914 the German High Command demanded that Albert open Belgian borders
to German troops even though Germany was one of the five powers that guaranteed Belgian
independence. Albert refused. That same night German troops entered Belgium, violating its
neutrality. Belgium was now at war, with Albert the commander of the army, as written in the
Belgian constitution.
But the Belgian army was not ready for war; even though it had a decent amount of manpower,
it lacked tactical skills and skilled officers. Both French speaking and Flemish speaking
soldiers served in the same units with the commands issued only in French. Still, Belgian
resistance was surprisingly tough for the invading Germans, delaying them for many days
from wheeling through Belgium and into France, and giving the French and British precious
time to organize and rally troops and stop the German advance at the Battle of the Marne.
Within the first few months of the war, though, 90% of Belgium was occupied. Albert and his
army withdrew behind the Yser river and Albert ordered that huge parts of the Belgian countryside
be flooded, to prevent the Germans from taking the rest of Belgium and ending the race to
the sea. It was now to be trench warfare.
Albert remained at the front until the end of the war, though his ministers relocated
to Le Havre. The first winter was especially tough- there was no functioning food supply
chain and no precautions against the cold. The flooding also, of course, worsened conditions.
Many soldiers died of disease. But come the spring, there were 34,000 new recruits, trained
in France, and four field hospitals near the front and the defense of the last corner of
Belgium would continue. The Yser Front actually remained the only unoccupied part of Belgium
throughout the war, as Albert strove to keep as many of his people free as possible. The
Belgian army did not join the allied offensives on the western front until near the end of the war.
On September 28th, 1918- my birthday, well, if I’d been alive then- Army Group Flanders
crossed the Yser, and over the next few weeks began the liberation of Belgium. After the
armistice, Albert and his army were welcomed home as heroes, though many returning Belgians
who had fled abroad were often branded traitors.
Albert took part in the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 and spent most of the rest of his
rule working with the reconstruction of his devastated country. One thing, here, part
of that devastation was caused by Albert’s decision to flood the Yser. The hygienic conditions
there became catastrophic and caused great suffering with some 14,000 people dying of
disease as a result. Still, the Germans had failed to break through and take the rest
of Belgium, which could likely have led to the fall of Calais and Dunkirk and given the
Germans a huge situational advantage.
King Albert I of Belgium died on February 17th, 1934 in, of all things, a hiking accident.
So there you have a very brief portrait of Albert. Now, I didn’t go into any depth
about the battles the involved the Belgian army, but that I do during our regular episodes.
As always, I encourage you to look up more about a man who, as king and leader of his
army in the war was a national hero, but was also often disparaged by his allies for not
sending his troops to join theirs in battle.
If you want to know more about the German invasion of Belgium at the beginning of the
war, you can check that out right here. And tell all your friends and history teachers
about us. Don’t forget to subscribe. See you Thursday.