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Siege of Antwerp (1914)

1910s in Antwerp1914 in BelgiumBattles in FlandersBattles of World War I involving BelgiumBattles of the Western Front (World War I)
Conflicts in 1914History of the Royal MarinesOctober 1914 eventsSeptember 1914 eventsSieges involving GermanySieges of World War I
Belgian defense in Antwerp
Belgian defense in Antwerp

The siege of Antwerp (Dutch: Beleg van Antwerpen, French: Siège d'Anvers, German: Belagerung von Antwerpen) was an engagement between the German and the Belgian, British and French armies around the fortified city of Antwerp during World War I. German troops besieged a garrison of Belgian fortress troops, the Belgian field army and the British Royal Naval Division in the Antwerp area, after the German invasion of Belgium in August 1914. The city, which was ringed by forts known as the National Redoubt, was besieged to the south and east by German forces. The Belgian forces in Antwerp conducted three sorties in late September and early October, which interrupted German plans to send troops to France, where reinforcements were needed to counter the French armies and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). A German bombardment of the Belgian fortifications with heavy and super-heavy artillery began on 28 September. The Belgian garrison had no hope of victory without relief; despite the arrival of the Royal Naval Division beginning on 3 October, the Germans penetrated the outer ring of forts. When the German advance began to compress a corridor from the west of the city along the Dutch border to the coast, through which the Belgians at Antwerp had maintained contact with the rest of unoccupied Belgium, the Belgian Field Army commenced a withdrawal westwards towards the coast. On 9 October, the remaining garrison surrendered, the Germans occupied the city and some British and Belgian troops escaped to the Netherlands to the north and were interned for the duration of the war. Belgian troops from Antwerp withdrew to the Yser river, close to the French border and dug in, to begin the defence of the last unoccupied part of Belgium and fought the Battle of the Yser against the German 4th Army in October and November 1914. The Belgian Army held the area until late in 1918, when it participated in the Allied liberation of Belgium.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Siege of Antwerp (1914) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Siege of Antwerp (1914)
Theodoor Van Rijswijckplaats, Antwerp

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N 51.216666666667 ° E 4.4 °
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Theodoor Van Rijswijckplaats 4
2000 Antwerp (Antwerp)
Antwerp, Belgium
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Belgian defense in Antwerp
Belgian defense in Antwerp
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Antwerp
Antwerp

Antwerp ( (listen); Dutch: Antwerpen [ˈɑntʋɛrpə(n)] (listen); French: Anvers [ɑ̃vɛʁs] (listen); Spanish: Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at 204.51 km2 (78.96 sq mi) and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 530,504, it is the most populous municipality in Belgium, and with a metropolitan population of around 1,200,000 people, it is the second-largest metropolitan region in Belgium, second only to Brussels.Antwerp is on the river Scheldt, linked to the North Sea by the river's Westerschelde estuary. It is about 40 km (25 mi) north of Brussels, and about 15 km (9 mi) south of the Dutch border. The Port of Antwerp is one of the biggest in the world, ranking second in Europe and within the top 20 globally. The city is also known as the hub of the world's diamond trade. In 2020, the Globalization and World Cities Research Network rated Antwerp as a Gamma + (third level/top tier) Global City.Both economically and culturally, Antwerp is and has long been an important city in the Low Countries, especially before and during the Spanish Fury (1576) and throughout and after the subsequent Dutch Revolt. The Bourse of Antwerp, originally built in 1531 and re-built in 1872, was the world's first purpose-built commodity exchange. It was founded before stocks and shares existed, so was not strictly a stock exchange. In 1920, the city hosted the Summer Olympics. The inhabitants of Antwerp are nicknamed Sinjoren (Dutch pronunciation: [sɪˈɲoːrə(n)]), after the Spanish honorific señor or French seigneur, "lord", referring to the Spanish noblemen who ruled the city in the 17th century. The city's population is very diverse, including about 180 nationalities; as of 2019, more than 50% of its population had a parent that was not a Belgian citizen at birth. A particularly notable community among these is the close-knit Jewish one, as Antwerp is one of the only two cities in Europe (together with London and its Stamford Hill neighbourhood) that kept a considerable Haredi population in the 21st century; They are also more much visible than in London, due to them being concentrated around the centre. The centre is also most notably home to the Antwerpen-Centraal railway station; eclectically built in a combination of Neo-Renaissance and Art Nouveau, it is considered to be one of the most beautiful train stations in the world.