WWI · SITE OF MEMORY · 1914

Destruction of Louvain (1914)

On the WWI map as “Louvain”

25-30 Aug 1914 — Frightened by rumors of francs-tireurs, German troops burn the medieval university city of Louvain and its library of 300,000 books. They shoot 248 civilians. Across the invasion, some 6,500 Belgian and French civilians are killed. Remember them.

When: 25-30 Aug 1914
Type: Site of memory
Chapter: Schlieffen Plan and the Marne (chapter 4 of WWI)
Atlas: The Great War, 1871–1923

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Map showing Destruction of Louvain (1914), site of memory in The Great War, 1871–1923 — SITE OF MEMORY · THE GREAT WAR, 1871–1923

These maps are reconstructed from published sources · Cliopatria v 0.2.1 · Natural Earth physical geography · Anglo-Russian Convention, 31 August 1907, articles I–II · Maps of History: Great War geographic decisions · US Military Academy World War I atlas, chart 10 · US Military Academy World War I atlas, chart 29

Source details

Cliopatria contributors / Seshat Global History Databank. Source polygons retained with original identities; geographic selections and corrections by Maps of History.. CC BY 4.0
Made with Natural Earth; geographic reference and physical land only. No modern political boundary is used as a historical boundary.. Public domain
US Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States; convention’s named places define the two concession spheres.. Historical treaty facts, independently reconstructed
Maps of History. Campaign-sector connectors and contextual regions are identified separately from imported vector outlines.. Original geographic reconstruction using attributed historical evidence
US Military Academy, Department of History & War Studies, World War I chart 10. Selected geographic front facts reconstructed independently; no claim of blanket public-domain artwork rights.. Geographic evidence citation; source index requests permission for map reprints. Original artwork is not redistributed.
US Military Academy, Department of History & War Studies, World War I chart 29. Selected geographic front facts reconstructed independently; no claim of blanket public-domain artwork rights.. Geographic evidence citation; source index requests permission for map reprints. Original artwork is not redistributed.

Annual source features can describe claims, legal territory or military control. Occupied extensions are separated from the prewar Central Power homelands, while the original source names and shapes remain available.

The area east/north of the sourced western front is selected within the 1914 historical French, Belgian and Luxembourg footprints. It represents military control, not annexation.

The displayed state is iss 14 sep. Geographic reference dates and reconstruction methods are recorded for each feature.

reconstruction: 1871–1918 · reconstruction: 1914.72 · reconstruction: 31 August 1907 · reconstruction: November–December 1914 campaign reference · reconstruction: September 1914 Aisne withdrawal

Layer records and reconstruction methods