World war 1

World War 1 What happened in Belgium?

Declaration of war in Belgium On 4th August 1914 came the sad news of the declaration of war.

The march of the soldiers on the Market place in Sint-Niklaas

2013

1914

Preparations for the war

The hospitals were used for ill and injured people; the school in the De Meesterstraat in the centre of Sint-Niklaas and the Sint-Carolus School were used for nursing. People who were slightly injured were nursed in different schools, there was room for 1600 injured people.

One of the preparations All the horses and vehicles were claimed and given to the army.

This action took only 1 day.

The defense was built 100 workmen were sent to build fortresses. This was a sign for the population that the enemy was coming to Belgium.

The first months

The Germans attacked Antwerp, the population could hear the bombs.

They were scared. Many left the city and went to Holland. This happened at the end of September.

The soldiers

Some people wanted to defend their country.

There were 500 volunteers in Sint-Niklaas.

The soldiers The date: 21st October 1914

One of the soldiers kept a diary. He wrote about how close the enemy was. They were only 500 metres away. The enemy killed his friends but he survived the whole attack.

Death notices

These are some death notices of people in Sint- Niklaas who were killed in the war.

After all this preparation, the real war began. There were more than 90.889 victims.