The Belgian Army and Society from Independence to the Great War

Mario Draper explores Belgian state-building through the prism of its army from independence to the First World War. He argues that party-politics, which often ran along geographical, linguistic, and religious lines, prevented both Flemings and Walloons from reconciling their regional identities into a unified concept of Belgian nationalism. The monograph shows that although military and civilian society often stood aloof from one another, the army, as a national institution, offered a fleeting glimpse into the dichotomy that was pre-war Belgium.