Belgium gives in.

[TCO]

Patrick Henry: "Give me liberty or death."

Maniac: "appease, appease. Please don't hurt us."

[August Borms]

Originally posted by panag


hi ,

*cough* eben emael and the fortifications along many cities and rivers prove other wise , .....

but thanks to the economical crisis in the thirties albert the first decided he would use the money elsewhere , .....

one of the reasons he gave up after 18 days , .....

the original treaty can be seen on display in the army museum in brussels , ....

have a nice day

Eben Emael and the other fortifications are along the Belgian-German border, not the French-Belgian border

What I meant was, that the French didn't continue to build the Maginot line along the French-Belgian border because of our military alliance

[August Borms]

Originally posted by GP
Patrick Henry: "Give me liberty or death."

Maniac: "appease, appease. Please don't hurt us."

Yeah,

in 1936 we appeased Hitler
in 2003 we appeased Bush

[Panag]

Originally posted by GP


Don't you think, you would have been better off continueing the wall? How well did your passive strategy work out for you?

hi ,

they wanted to , but the king thought the money could be used somewhere else , .....

the intresting is that in most forts the germans had placed the guns from krups , one report from the company to the belgian gov in 1928 shows that they should have longer range howitsers and cannons , however in order to save money the belgians bought smaller calibers with lesser range , .....

airducts where not cleaned or not big enough , most where old forts from before wwI , the antitank trenches where not wide enough and not cleaned out , .....

the bridges on the huge rivers like the meuse had no explosives chambers build in to blow them up , ....

etc , .........

actually the germans build more fortifications in belgium in just four years then the belgians themselfs from 1870 to 1940 , .......

today you can still find loads of dragon teeths and antitank walls and ditches from them , .....

always intresting to visit them if you are there

have a nice day

[Panag]

Originally posted by August Borms


Eben Emael and the other fortifications are along the Belgian-German border, not the French-Belgian border

What I meant was, that the French didn't continue to build the Maginot line along the French-Belgian border because of our military alliance

hi ,

*cough* the french and belgians made a deal , the french would build to verdun , you can still see that today , the belgians would build on the meuse ( maas ) and a second line was to be the cities of liege ( luik ) , hasselt , turnhout , diest , antwerp and gent , .....

each of those cities was supposed to have a line of forts around them that would cover the other city , .....

en als ge het niet gelooft , ga naar het museum in brussel , ......

the belgians told the french they would build it but they never did it , ......

almost none of the forts along the river meuse where build , they where build in holland , but not in belgium , .....

a secret rapport given out thanks to declass in the 70's showed that the belgians where confident they would have time to blow all the bridges and that the belgian ardenness would stop the germans , ......

history would prove otherwise , ......

have a nice day

[Maniac]

Looks like poor judgement. And cowardice and laziness.

Maniac: "appease, appease. Please don't hurt us."

What's wrong with you man?? Had a bad day?

To begin with, I never said I agreed with an appeasement policy. If I would have been the leader of GB, France or the USA, I would have reacted much stronger already in March 1935, when Hitler reinstated military service (=dienstplicht??) and expanded the army, thus breaking the Treaty of Versailles. Though of course I have easy talking almost seventy years later.

Also, by calling the Belgian attitude in 1936 cowardy and lazy, you show you don't really have a keen historical insight.

It's not the responsibility of a small country like Belgium to take action against a giant. It's the responsibility of other major powers, like GB and France and the USA (not part of the League of Nations...) at that time, to maintain the international order. If the major powers don't take any decent action, the minors cannot be blamed for looking out for themselves first and blowing along with the wind. There's nothing cowardy about that, as you simplistically say, it's just POLITICAL REALITY.
Btw, if you are consequential with yourself, am I correct to assume you supported the European opposition against the war in Iraq?

Also, as panag mentioned, there was a major crisis in the thirties, so according to ECONOMIC REALITY it is understandable the forts weren't finished. Though on the other side if you believe in Keynesian policies, building those forts might have been a good method to get out of the crisis. So okay, the Belgian decision may not have been economically sound, but it certainly wasn't "lazy", such as you claim in your simplistic statement...

In the future, please try to understand what you're talking about before making such uninformed moralist and voluntarist statements.

[Maniac]

Originally posted by panag
hi ,

but thanks to the economical crisis in the thirties albert the first decided he would use the money elsewhere , .....

I didn't know that. Thanks for the info.

one of the reasons he gave up after 18 days , .....

have a nice day

Albert I died in 1934 IIRC. During WWII Leopold III was king.

[Panag]

Originally posted by Maniac


I didn't know that. Thanks for the info.



Albert I died in 1934 IIRC. During WWII Leopold III was king.

hi ,

was meaning the belgians and the king , .....

have a nice day

[Panag]

double post