Books by Sophie De Schaepdrijver

In central Brussels stands a statue of a young woman. Built in 1923, it is the first monument to a working-class woman in European history. Her name was Gabrielle Petit. History has forgotten Petit, an ambitious and patriotic Belgian, executed by firing squad in 1916 for her role as an intelligence agent for the British Army. After the First World War she was celebrated as an example of stern endeavour, but a hundred years later her memory has faded.

In the first part of this historical biography Sophie De Schaepdrijver uses Petit's life to explore gender, class and heroism in the context of occupied Europe. Petit's experiences reveal the reality of civilian engagement under military occupation and the emergence of modern espionage. The second part of the book focuses on the legacy and cultural memory of Petit and the First World War. By analysing Petit's representation in ceremony, discourse and popular culture De Schaepdrijver expands our understanding of remembrance across the 20th century.

Bruges 1914: a medium-sized Flemish city with a medieval core and a brand-new modern harbor is turned into a base for imperial Germany's naval and submarine war. Though close to the Western Front, Bruges saw another face of war: that of military occupation, of being made into a bastion for its conqueror's war, and of being bombed from the air as a result. The story of Bruges in the First World War is the story of a city that escaped destruction but faced violence. It is the story of its wartime rulers and how they saw their war effort. And it is the story of civilians who, even under military domination, made choices of their own.

Contents:
Introduction
1. Before the War; 2. From Menace to Invasion - 28 June- 14 October 1914; 3. The Taking of Bruges; 4. New Rulers: the 'Marinekorps';
5. 1914-1915 - Construction: November 1914 - June 1915; Base or Bastion?; A Lasting Bastion; Orderly Exploitation; Living in a Bastion; The Enemy inside the Bastion
6. 1916 - Naval Claims; (Counter-)Espionage; The Regime Hardens; Blond Idyll; Wonder Weapon
7. 1917 - The Underseas War; Violence from the Air (1917-1918); Alienation; Using Up the Las Card; Misery, Crime, Profiteering; An Adulterated Economy; Quertreiberei
8. 1918 - The Very Last Chance: The Spring Offensive; The Zeebrugge Raid; 'Poor Little Children'; Meanwhile: Flemish Policies; Expectations; Exploitation and Exhaustion; Retreat; Liberation
Epilogue; Notes; Bibliography

Our view of the First World War is dominated by the twin images of the fronts and the home fronts, yet the war also generated a third type of ‘front’, that of military occupation. Vast areas of Europe experienced the war under a military regime and this book deals with the occupations by the German and Austro-Hungarian empires. Their conquests ranged from Lille in the West to the Don River in the East, and from Courland in the north to Friuli and Montenegro in the south. They encompassed capital cities such as Brussels, Warsaw, Belgrade and Bukarest, as well as areas of crucial economic importance. Millions of people experienced military occupation and, even though they were civilians, the war had a deep impact on their lives. Conversely, occupied territories influenced the states that had conquered them and the way these states waged war.

The chapters in this book analyze military occupation in 1914-1918 both from the point of view of the occupied and from the point of view of the occupier. They study counter-insurgency warfare, forced labour, food regimes, underground patriotism, and cultural policies. They demonstrate that military occupation was an essential dimension of the Great War.

This book was originally published as a special issue of First World War Studies.

Le 4 août 1914, l’armée allemande envahit la Belgique, État neutre aux traditions peu martiales, qui se trouve propulsé au cœur même de l’immense conflit qui va marquer tout le XX^e siècle - y compris le sien, et notoirement…
La société belge en guerre forme le sujet de cet ouvrage qui constitue le premier essai de synthèse de l’histoire belge entre 1914 et 1918 depuis l’étude d’Henri Pirenne (La Belgique et la Guerre mondiale, 1928). Le « Moment 1914 », c’est le refus de l’ultimatum de Berlin, l’invasion, l’exaltation de la Belgique héroïque, puis, à l’occasion des massacres des civils, de la Belgique martyre. Ensuite, la guerre s’installe dans la durée : cinquante mois d’occupation, de silence, d’amertume et de misères multiples. Temps de solidarité mais aussi de méfiance, de résistances mais aussi de défaillances, de célébration de la patrie mais également, pour certains, de refus de l’« idée-Belgique ». Tout comme le front militaire, le front de l’intérieur va pourtant tenir.
Les années maigres de l’après-guerre révéleront toutefois, très vite, la mémoire de guerre comme source de divisions. La Grande Guerre fut cependant une expérience commune. Elle ne peut se penser que dans le contexte global de la société belge.
Un livre qui bouscule bien des clichés ou des positions partisanes. Un livre qui permet d’entrer réellement dans les strates les plus profondes de la société belge au XX^e siècle.