Brussels in 1918: Occupation, revolution and the Armistice

In August 1918, the German Army had been occupying Brussels for four years. On the battlefield and the infamous trenches of the Western Front in the Great War, the Kaiser’s military campaign was about to unravel. For the first time, many could see an end to the incessant brutality of the German occupation.

Bearing the brunt of the occupation was the population of Brussels. For civilians in the city, 1918 brought requisitions, arrests, rationing, chronic food shortages, hunger strikes among the Brussels police, deportations, the onset of Spanish flu and the dysentery epidemic.

As the Belgian army stood helpless in the firing line of the German war machine, Brussels had been given up by the Allied commanders in 1914 without a fight. French, British and Belgian commanders instead opted for a swift strategic withdrawal to Ghent; they were eventually pushed back all the way to the Ypres Salient. Brussels would remain under occupation throughout the First World War.

German retreat

By autumn 1918, Brussels was still the only Western capital to be occupied. In September, the first rumours of a German retreat began to circulate, coinciding with the final Allied Offensive launched a month earlier.

While the initial reports were met with joy by Brussels residents, a sense of trepidation would quickly engulf the city at the thought of the power vacuum left behind by the occupiers.

German soldiers occupy the Grand Place. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Some feared that all men of military age would be deported to Germany by the retreating army, or the country would break up along regional lines. Flemish nationalism was particularly strong during the occupation, which the German authorities nurtured in the hope of dividing the country.

By October 1918, the picture was becoming clearer. The Governor-General of occupied Belgium Alexander von Falkenhausen convened a meeting of all the heads of the administration at the Nation Palace to discuss the modalities of the evacuation. He believed the evacuation would last no more than five weeks.

Some German civilians had already left Brussels of their own initiative without waiting for the evacuation order. Another Brussels witness was hopeful when he heard that “German civilians, as well as the military, are preparing to move.”

Onset of Spanish flu

In the meantime, the municipal administrations were faced with a serious hygiene problem. The Spanish flu and typhus spread at alarming rates, resulting in a large-scale epidemic which claimed many victims among refugees and the Brussels population.

The Spanish flu wreaked havoc in the city, killing people within 24 hours. From 21 to 31 October 1918, there were 10,000 cases of this new influenza. Among the refugees, 1,500 were affected.

Belgian caricature of July 1918 that depicts the so-called "Spanish flu" pandemic as a Spanish toreador arriving in Belgium. The text says: "The Spanish flu enters Belgium... July 1918 / Being able to travel, because Spanish, it really overindulges: ... It is the globe-trotter flu!" Temporary exhibition "Brussels, November 1918 From War to Peace?" at the BelVue Museum (Brussels, Belgium). Credit: Hispalois / Wikimedia Commons

Much like today’s lockdowns, the municipal administration tried to put in hygienic measures and even asked the German occupying authorities for help closing inns, cabarets and theatres. The Germans ignored the calls.

German revolution

Against the backdrop of the inevitable military defeat in November 1918, a socialist revolution had broken out in Germany, and the revolutionary spirit swiftly spread to the occupied territories.

Historian Benoit Majerus claims that the revolution started much earlier in Brussels, citing the testimony of Dr Bayet, on 30 October 1918, who wrote in his personal diary that "a first 'printed document' signed 'Der Soldatenrat in Belgien' was posted in several prominent places in Brussels calling on the German soldiers to revolt.”

German soldiers in Place Rogier, Brussels. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The following day, a journalist wrote about the clashes that officially ignited the German revolution in Brussels through gunfire street battles between revolutionary and imperialist German soldiers:

"The bloody fights of yesterday [31 October 1918] were resumed this morning at Schaerbeek station. Some officers tried to silence a soldier who was haranguing his comrades and inciting them to revolt. New shots, new deaths. At the West Station, too, in the afternoon, two officers and a soldier were killed.”

At the end of the Great War, Brussels found itself in an unusual situation. The city and its inhabitants were not liberated by the Allied forces, but the very same German soldiers who had occupied the capital were now fighting among them themselves.

On 9 November 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm II was forced to abdicate and a parliamentary republic was soon proclaimed. The day after the fall of the empire, a group of German soldiers stationed in Brussels created a revolutionary Soldiers' Council – the Soldatenrate.

“The German Republic and the Council of Soldiers in Brussels addresses its fraternal greetings to the Belgian population, The bloodbath is over. Let us remain calm!”

The German Soldiers' Council declaration. Credit: idesetautres.be

This Soldatenrate now ruled the city and a red flag flew over the Brussels Kommandantur. Yet the shadow of violence never truly disappeared as machine guns lined the streets to “maintain the peace.” At first, Brussels was overjoyed. Fraternising with the population, the revolutionary soldiers refused to be occupiers.

Brussels streets played host to celebrations as the population embraced the revolutionary spirit which had brought down the military and imperial occupation. German soldiers and locals were singing the Brabançonne and also the Marseillaise. The people of Brussels were happy to be able to raise the national flag again, "finally, after four years, we Belgians can fly our flag!”

However, the legitimacy of the German Soldiers' Council was not accepted by everyone. The Belgian authorities refused to recognise the new revolutionary body and rejected any negotiations with the newly formed iteration of the German occupiers.

In spite of the presence of machine guns set up by the Soldiers’ Council to preserve public order, chaos soon followed the celebration.

Revolution descends into chaos

The week between 9 and 17 November 1918 saw looting, murders and incidents between factional German soldiers. Along with the German occupiers, Brussels citizens were among the victims.

On 11 November 1918, the day of the official signing of the Armistice, gunfire broke out across the city centre.

Brussels during the Soldiers Uprising, November 1918. Credit: Alfred De Ridder / La Belgique et la Guerre / Creative Commons

Bloody conflicts broke out in the northern district between "red" soldiers, imperial soldiers and the civilian population. Machine guns in the street were put into action and rang out through the city.

Gunshots were heard at the Bourse, Rue Grétry and Boulevard Anspach, where the private secretary of the mayor, Mr. Roeland was wounded. In the area of Place Stéphanie and Avenue Louise, the headquarters of Kronprinz Rupprecht of Bavaria was targeted by rebel soldiers.

In Place de Brouckère, an appropriated bar became the scene of warring German factions. Rival soldiers also laid siege to the Hotel Scheers, opposite the Gare du Nord, and machine-gunned officers and murdered the owner. The Hotel Régent was also looted and the manager murdered.

On the night of 12 November, atrocities were committed against the Brussels population. Acting Mayor Camille Lemonnier would visit victims in hospital and expose the behaviour of German soldiers to the international press.

Looting and disorder

As German forces began pillaging and expropriating what was left, the violence resulted in 3 or 4 civilian deaths in Brussels, 10 in Schaerbeek, 3 in Saint-Josse and 2 in Boitsfort. Many more were wounded. The mayor alleged of soldiers robbing civilians in the street, breaking into and entering civilian homes to steal money and looting banks.

The explosion of violence at the time of the signing of the armistice was largely believed to have been committed by non-revolutionary Germans feeling attacked on all sides. Following the Kaiser’s abdication and under the pretext of maintaining order, they fired machine guns and rifles into crowds of either civilians or revolutionary soldiers.

Faced with enemies within their own ranks and a civilian population which was tired of the occupation, the non-revolutionary soldiers hid behind the myth of franc-tireurs (civilian free shooters) to justify their brutality against Belgians. This claim dates back to the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 and was used as a pretext for similar brutality and violence towards Belgian civilians in the occupation of 1914.

German Army in Brussels. Credit: Montanelli / Cervi / Wikimedia Commons

Even in those days, Germans were accusing Belgian civilians of firing on their soldiers, though there was never any evidence. Yet the violence and repression continued, which led the Brussels authorities to appeal for help abroad.

“It is possible that the German military, escaping all discipline, will indulge in the most fearful acts of violence. These acts will almost inevitably provoke resistance and reprisals on the part of our population,” wrote the Council of Brussels conurbation mayors to the foreign ministries of Spain and the Netherlands.

Acts of violence against the Brussels population were considered to be a breach of the terms of the Armistice and, consequently, would “motivate an immediate resumption of hostilities.”

Seeing that the looting and violence continued unabated, the Mayor Lemonnier demanded on 14 November 1918 that the Germans evacuate the capital as quickly as possible, and for Allied soldiers to replace them.

German retreat in Brussels, 1918. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The Soldiers’ Council had failed to maintain law and order in the city. It also oversaw the evacuation of German troops. On 16 November 1918, German soldiers finally began to withdraw and left Brussels.

The final days of the occupation saw German soldiers selling their looted objects back to Brussels residents; retreating soldiers left ammunition and weapons scattered around the city. Ammunition wagons were left abandoned in stations. Many buildings were booby-trapped with explosives. Shells were even found left in public urinals.

The power vacuum

Large explosions killed numerous civilians at most stations in the following days. The damage to the tracks, railway infrastructure and rolling stock was extensive. About 2,300 houses suffered varying degrees of damage.

With the collapse of the regime, a sense of chaos engulfed the city. Newly-armed gangs spread terror around the Tour et Taxis station. Police often felt powerless against gangs armed with rifles and machine guns: in Koekelberg, on the Chaussée de Jette, armed children were running around in the street and the police were unable to disarm them.

Other places in the city had also been booby-trapped, such as the Palais de Justice, the Parc de Bruxelles and buildings used and abandoned by the German occupying authorities. These explosives were defused in time.

Brussels - November 22, 1918 - Royal family parade in Brussels. Credit: VestPocket Kodak / Marius Vasse 1891-1987 / Wikimedia Commons)

As the German soldiers abandoned the city, the newly-freed Allied prisoners of war were also now roaming the streets of Brussels. The local population took them in with warmth. British, French, Italians and Russians tasted Belgian beers, Belgian culinary specialties even in times of shortage, and learnt the definition of the "Brussels zwanze"!

Liberation of Brussels

In November 1918, the liberation took place in two phases. The German revolutionaries put an end to the civil and military occupation of Belgium and allied soldiers entered the city. However, it was the return of Mayor Adolphe Max to Brussels on 17 November 1918 that was seen as the real liberation of the capital.

Tens of thousands of Brussels residents cheered on the return of their mayor on the Grand-Place, seen by all as a true resistance icon. Adolphe Max had just spent four years in German prisons and his return marked a decisive stage in the tumultuous liberation of Brussels: the return to normalcy.

On 22 November 1918, the Belgian army and the Royal Family returned triumphant to the capital city. Freedom for Belgium would last for 22 years, as in May 1940, Nazi German troops would take over the city again.

Belgian soldiers back from the Yser front marching through Molenbeek-Saint-Jean on 22 November 1918. Credit: Wikimedia Commons