Excerpt from The Invasion the War in Belgium From Liege to the Yser: With a Sketch of the Diplomatic Negotiations Preceding the Conflict
In writing this book on The Invasion and the War in Belgium, our aim has been to give, for the first time, a connected account and a complete survey of all the events of the German invasion and the war in Belgium, from the attack on Liege till after the Battle of the Year. Of course, this account includes only the really important features of that period of recent history, whereas writing on every detail would have been impossible, owing to our lack of knowledge of all these details and also to the fact that it would have required many a volume. That will be the task of the future historians. However, we have gathered sufficient material to be able to expose the facts of the invasion as they really happened. We have submitted our evidence to a careful enquiry and sifting; we have deliberately passed by all that proved to be of a legendary character, and we have adopted, for this work on recent history, the same method we are enjoined to adhere to in dealing with medi?val chronicles or records of modern history.
In that sense, then, our sketch is a critical one; and it is also critical for the fact that we have always referred to our sources, so as to enable the reader to control our evidence.
Our task would have been impossible without the help of accounts furnished by eye-witnesses of the events, actors themselves in the great drama of Belgium's deeds and sufferings. We have not blindly followed their reports; we have tested them by the comparison of the sources and by an enquiry into their respective value.
We are thus greatly indebted to the distinguished Belgian officer who, under the name of Commandant Willy Breton, has published very valuable material in Les pages de gloire de l'armee belge, as may be seen by our numerous references to that source. We have also to acknowledge the information we gathered from the official report of the Belgian General Staff: L'Action de l'armee belge, and from an account published by Le XX Siecle newspaper in a separate booklet, under the title La campagne de l'armee belge. We have also availed ourselves of private reports furnished by officers and soldiers of the Belgian army; and, however small they may be, we have interwoven the report of our own experiences during the early days of the war with the accounts from other sources.
As to the chapters or passages relating to atrocities and excesses committed by the invaders, we have been as cautious as possible: only authenticated reports have been used, and where the slightest doubt occurred, we have systematically refrained from using material tainted by that suspicion.
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