Belgian King Albert stopped the barbarian hordes
Belgian King Albert stopped the barbarian hordes - propaganda postcard from Belgium dating from WWI. At the outbreak of war Belgium was granted neutrality under the terms of a 1839 treaty and King Albert refused passage of the Kaiser's soldiers through his nation. When Germany subsequently invaded, the King (as prescribed by the Belgian constitution), took personal command of the Belgian army, and held the Germans off long enough for Britain and France to prepare for the Battle of the Marne. He led his army through the Siege of Antwerp and the Battle of the Yser, when the Belgian army was driven back to a last, tiny strip of Belgian territory, near the North Sea. Here the Belgians, took up a war of position, in the trenches behind the River Yser, remaining there for the next four years. During this period, King Albert fought with his troops and shared their dangers, while his wife, Queen Elisabeth, worked as a nurse at the front
