Skip to main content

Albert I of Belgium Biography

Albert I of Belgium

(Brussels, 1875-Marche-les-Dames, 1934) King of Belgium (1909-34), nephew and successor of King Leopold II of Belgium.Son of Philip, Count of Flanders, and Princess Maria de Hohenzollern, from childhood he received a careful education and entered the prestigious École Militaire de Bruxelles.In 1900 he married Princess Isabel de Baviera, with whom he had two children: Leopoldo Felipe Carlos, future King Leopoldo III, and Carlos Teodoro Enrique.

Albert I of Belgium

That same year he made a long trip through the Belgian Congo in which he examined the hardships and needs that the territory demanded, so that, On his return, he recommended to the government the need to build a railway network in the colony, in addition to demanding a radical change in the treatment of its indigenous inhabitants, treated as slaves.

In 1913, already as King of Belgium, Albert I made a diplomatic visit to Berlin, where he was informed by the German Emperor himself, Wilhelm II, of the intentions to go to war with France and of the invasion plan of that country, which included the passage through Belgium of the German armies.Back in his country, Alberto I devoted himself to reinforcing his army in anticipation of the imminent war: he substantially increased the number of troops and established compulsory military service.In turn, Albert I informed the French government of Germany's plans.

Finally, after the outbreak of World War I, on July 31, 1914, Albert I sent a letter to the German emperor informing him of Belgium's neutrality in the conflict.On August 2 of the same year, Wilhelm II issued an ultimatum to Belgium in which he asked Albert I for free passage to German troops in Belgian territory, all of this to carry out the plan devised by Marshal Alfred von Schlieffen and directed by General Helmuth von Moltke, which consisted of carrying out a lightning occupation of Belgium and penetrating France from the north, which would allow, once Paris was occupied, to transfer the bulk of the German troops to the eastern front.

After the resolute refusal of Albert I to the German requests, the invasion of Belgium began two days later.Alberto I was placed at the head of the Belgian army, in which he distinguished himself under the orders of the French general Ferdinand Foch, operational chief of the Belgian troops.After the hard battle of Autweup, in October 1914, the German army occupied practically the entire country and forced the troops of Albert I to retreat to the southwest of Flanders, the only Belgian area that had not yet fallen into German orbit.While the Belgian government was transferred to free France, King Albert I remained on the battlefront, where he energetically resisted the continuous attacks of the German forces and closed the way to Dunkirk and Calais, necessary to maintain communications, to the invader.with the British Isles.

After the end of World War I, Albert I appealed to the allied powers to abolish the Treaty of London (signed in 1839), by which Belgium was considered neutral country and therefore conducive to being violated and invaded in the event of a warlike confrontation, as had happened.The request of Alberto I was accepted, incorporating the measure between the points fixed in the Treaty of Versailles (1919), by which Germany had to pay Belgium large war reparations, both economic and territorial.

Alberto I personally led, until his death, the reconstruction of his country, destroyed and devastated by the occupation of German troops.It carried out effective support work in the reindustrialization of Belgium, in which the effort made in the construction of a powerful merchant fleet stands out.After having encouraged the national pride of his subjects with his direct participation in the war, Albert I established the services of voluntary work for the sake of the reconstruction of Belgium, a measure that all the political forces of the country unanimously supported, which always accepted the arbitration of the king in all serious or delicate matters of government.

In 1926, Albert I of Belgium helped introduce a monetary reform, necessary for the country, whose consequence was make the internal and external economy of Belgium more flexible.A great fan of extreme sports, he met his death while practicing mountaineering, on February 17, 1934.He was succeeded to the throne by his son Leopold III of Belgium.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Egon Eiermann Biography

Egon Eiermann (Neuendorf, 1904-Baden-Baden, 1970) German architect.He was a disciple of H.Poelzig and was influenced by Mies van der Rohe.He brought the rationalist tradition to the utmost technological and functional refinement (Blumberg handkerchief factory, Merkur department store in Stuttgart).
Post a Comment
Read more

The human evolution: hominization process

The DNA of human beings only differs from the DNA of chimpanzees by 1.24%.That is, we share 98.76% of our genetic traits.The great difference between chimpanzees and humans that this small percentage, is explained through the human evolution and the main processes of hominization that our species has suffered throughout what we know as prehistory, when our ancestors They were hunters and gatherers: the skeletal changes associated with the upright position, the increase in cranial capacity and the birth of immature offspring. Article index Human evolution: hominization process The study of human evolution begins in 1859 with the publication of "The Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin , where he exposes his Evo Theory lucion, based on three fundamental premises: Different species have their origin in the evolution of a previous species. This evolution is governed by the principle of Natural Selection .Only those species that best adapt to the changes evolve. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Heinrich Gentz Biography

Heinrich Gentz ​​ (Wroclaw, 1766-Berlin, 1811) German architect.He is one of the best exponents of the first German classicism.He looked for the relationship between the façade and the character of the buildings and between the internal layout and the use to which they were intended.
Post a Comment
Read more

Guillermo Cabrera Infante Biography

Guillermo Cabrera Infante (Gibara, Cuba, 1929) Cuban writer, nationalized British.In 1951 he founded the Cuban Cinematheque, of which he was director until General Batista ordered its closure, a work that he combined with his articles on film criticism for the magazine Carteles, which he published under the pseudonym G.Caín (1954-1960).He also directed the literary magazine Monday of Revolution, banned in 1961 by Castro.In 1966 he published his first renowned novel, Tres tristes tigres, whose experimental nature lies in the ingenious use of language in its most colloquial register and the constant play of winks and references to other literary works.He was a diplomat in Brussels, until he definitively broke with the Castro regime and settled in London.He has written other outstanding novels, such as Vista delmanecer en el tropico (1974), Exorcismos de esti (l) o (1976) and essays such as Vidas para leerlas (1998).In 1998 he received the Cervantes Prize.
Post a Comment
Read more

Heinrich bullinger Biography

Heinrich Bullinger (Bremgarten, 1504-Zurich, 1575) German Protestant theologian.On the death of Zwingli and expelled by the Catholics, he took refuge in Zurich.He wrote the first and second Helvetic Confession of Faith (1536 and 1566).
Post a Comment
Read more

Space, change and permanence ... elements to understand history

In some of our latest articles we have analyzed different aspects of knowledge construction historical .In the latter post we have to reflect on the historical categories of " space ", " change " and " permanence " and its importance to sharpen our understanding of the history . Old Map of Colonia del Sacramento , disputed by Portuguese and Spanish for its strategic location in the Rio de la Plata As we know the History studies human societies in the past .Y of course, these societies lived in a territory ( space ) in particular, so whenever we start studying a society of the past we must place it in space and time. The space is a very important aspect e to study the History. Each territory has its own characteristics that can be decisive for understanding many aspects of a society .For example: what economic production does it do, trade routes, the distribution of the population, the strategies in wars, etc.In addition, soc...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hugo Wast Biography

Hugo Wast (Córdoba, 1883-Buenos Aires, 1962) Pseudonym of the Argentine novelist Gustavo Martínez Zuviría, one of the most discussed Argentine writers of the 20th century.Of some of his novels, such as Flor de durazno (1911), taken to the big screen in what was Carlos Gardel's acting debut, more than one hundred thousand copies were sold, and many of them translations have been made in up to eight languages; however, the criticism is generally negative: some historians of Spanish-American literature go so far as to dispense with his name; others even affirm that their work lacks literary value. Hugo Wast, one of the most widely read Spanish-speaking writers in the world, became a lawyer at the Universidad del Litoral (Santa Fe), was a professor of Economics at said University and directed the National Library, in Buenos Aires, from 1931 to 1955.Deputy to the Cortes (1916-1920) and Minister of Justice and Public Education (1943-1944), he obtained in 1922 the gold medal of the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Antonio Pitloo Biography

Antonio Pitloo (Arnhem, 1791-Naples, 1837) Dutch painter.In 1815 he settled in Naples.Together with G.Gigante, he was the founder and essential figure of the Posillipo School, and an important Italian landscape painter of the s.XIX.
Post a Comment
Read more

Antonio Ribera Biography

Antonio Ribera (Antonio Ribera y Maneja; Barcelona, ​​1873-Madrid, 1956) Spanish conductor and musicologist.In Spain he was a student of Nicolau, and in the German cities of Leipzig and Munich he studied with Felix Mottl and Hugo Riemann.Interested in Wagner's music, he translated several librettos of his operas into Spanish and contributed to founding the Associaciò Wagneriana de Barcelona along with other musicians such as Joaquín Pena, and was its director between 1901 and 1904.Ribera was also an opera director in Bayreuth, Lemberg (1905-1912), Barcelona (1912-1925) and Madrid.
Post a Comment
Read more

Emilio de Bono Biography

Emilio de Bono (Cassano de Adda, 1866-Verona, 1944) Italian military and politician.He was one of the first followers of fascism, he collaborated with the founders of the party and helped Mussolini to take power. Emilio de Bono In 1884 he joined the army as second lieutenant.He fought in the colonies and rose to the generalship during the Italian-Russian war of 1911.During the First World War he participated in the offensives against the Austrians in Gorzia (1916) and Grappa (October 1818).After the war he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. Along with Italo Balbo, Emilio de Bono was one of the organizers of the fascist movement.In 1922 he was part of the quadrumvirate that organized the March on Rome, a show of force by the fascists that led to the appointment of Mussolini as prime minister and the establishment of the fascist regime in Italy.He actively participated in the fascist movement as chief of police and commander of the Fascist Militia.He was appointed ...
Post a Comment
Read more