Belgians return to Brussels

The British chronology of the war records under 18 November 1918 that Belgian troops reoccupied Brussels. The Belgian capital had been in German hands since 20 August 1914. Belgian sources usually regard 17 November as the day of the city’s liberation, when there were no longer any Germans in the city, Belgian flags hung on the façades again, and Burgomaster Adolphe Max returned from German captivity. Over the following days Belgian soldiers entered the city, and the capital prepared for the ceremonial entry of the King and the army.

Revolution in the German garrison

The last days of the occupation in Brussels were turbulent. News of the sailors’ mutiny at Kiel and of the revolution in Berlin quickly reached the soldiers of the German garrison. On the evening of 9 November (according to some sources 10 November) a soldiers’ council was formed in trade union premises near the North Station. The mutinous soldiers tore the insignia off officers, took power in the city and occupied the parliament building, on which they hung a red flag. Their leaders proposed to the Belgian socialists of the Belgian Labour Party that they jointly maintain order, and even proclaim a republic. The party leadership refused and called on the inhabitants to remain calm.

On 11 November, when news of the armistice arrived, thousands of the people of Brussels went out into the streets to celebrate. The joy was marred, however, by clashes between the mutinous soldiers and units loyal to the Kaiser. There were dead and wounded in the streets, civilians among them, and in many places shops, banks and hotels were looted. The soldiers’ council had difficulty keeping order, and what it cared about most was getting the soldiers home as quickly as possible. In any case the armistice gave the Germans only 15 days to evacuate Belgium. According to the Belgian historian Chantal Kesteloot, the last German units left Brussels on 16 November.

The burgomaster returns

The burgomaster of Brussels, Adolphe Max, was a symbol of resistance to the occupier. Arrested in September 1914 for opposing German demands, he spent the last year of his captivity in prison at Goslar. According to some sources he escaped from it, according to others he was released on 13 November. On 17 November he was back in Brussels, where the inhabitants gave him a triumphal welcome in the Grand-Place.

On 13 November, in Ghent, the banker Émile Francqui handed King Albert I a letter from the Brussels city council asking him to send troops to the capital as soon as possible. The King himself, who was then living at the castle of Loppem (PL) near Bruges, feared the influence of revolutionary propaganda on the war-weary Belgian soldiers. The ceremonial entry of the King at the head of the army, with Queen Elisabeth, the princes and the Allied commanders, was set for 22 November.