On this day in ...... 1914 (95 years ago today) , during World War I, Belgians, who'd been occupied over the course of recent months by the forces of the German Kaiser Wilhelm II, were delivered this proclamation:
His Majesty, the Emperor and King, having deigned to appoint me Governor-General in Belgium, I have to-day assumed the direction of affairs.
BARON VON BISSING. Brussels, December 3, 1914.
The rule of Moritz Ferdinand Freiherr von Bissing (above right), a Prussian military general, would be marked by collective punishments (violative of the Article 50 of the Annex to the 1907
Hague Convention No. IV respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land) and other harsh measures. Bissing signed the death warrant of a British nurse working with the Red Cross in Brussels -- Edith Cavell (left), who'd organized an underground network through whch Allied soldiers escaped Belgium.(Prior December 3 posts are here and here.)
