Belgium declares it will defend its neutrality

On 24 July 1914, as the crisis following the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to Serbia began to engulf the whole of Europe, the government of Belgium publicly confirmed that in the event of war it intended to maintain its neutrality whatever the consequences. The position seemed calm, but it was in fact very firm. Belgium was reminding the world that its status as a neutral state was not a diplomatic convenience but the foundation of the country’s security and existence.

Since 1839 Belgian neutrality had been guaranteed by the European powers, and so it lay at the very core of the international order in Western Europe. By July 1914 the Belgian authorities already knew that a war between larger states could very quickly put their country in an extremely dangerous position. Its location between France and Germany meant that any great clash in the west of the continent almost automatically raised the question of whether Belgian territory would remain inviolate.

That is why the declaration of 24 July mattered more than it might have seemed at the time. Brussels took no side in the Austro-Serbian dispute or in the emerging clash of blocs. It did, however, signal that a violation of Belgian neutrality would not be accepted passively. Politically, it was a warning addressed to all the powers: Belgium had no intention of voluntarily becoming a corridor for war or an object of its neighbours’ strategic calculations.

In July 1914 such a declaration could still pass as part of the cautious policy of a small state wishing to stay clear of the approaching catastrophe. In the light of later events, however, it takes on particular weight. When, a few days later, German war plans began to point ever more clearly towards a march through Belgian territory, the earlier assurances about defending neutrality ceased to be a purely diplomatic formula and became a promise of real resistance.

On 24 July 1914 Belgium could not yet know that it would soon find itself at the very centre of a European war. It could, however, foresee that its neutrality would be put to the test. That is precisely why the government in Brussels made matters clear that day: if the conflict spread across Europe, Belgium would remain neutral not only in the legal sense but also as a state ready to defend that status despite the risks and the costs.