Then and Now - The Great War: WWI in Memorials, Monuments and Cemeteries

The horror of the First World War resulted in an impressive cultural legacy of memorials, monuments and cemeteries. This book brings together then and now: the story of the Great War, told through the often very beautiful and dramatic memorials spread across the entire Belgian territory. A story full of special angles, moving stories and a renewed attempt to gain insight into madness and chaos.
The story of then and now begins on 4 August 1914, when the first Belgian soldier, a scout, was killed near the German border near the village of Thimister and a monument was erected there in 1923. It ends with the last soldiers who died in Mons on 11 November 1918. The specific approach of this book, conceived within both a chronological and geographical framework, provides a unique insight, because the number of graves steadily increases with the advancing violence of war. From that one dead person in Thimister, it continues to the graves of some 50 civilian victims in Visé and to the hundreds of soldiers who fell in the battle around the forts of Liège and Namur, after which we follow the trail of the German advance in Leuven, Brussels, Antwerp ... to finally reach a 'high point' in the large ossuary of the Westhoek.
The First World War. Then and Now follows the war trail from the small to the large, from the individual to the anonymous. The overwhelming splendor of colors and the unique approach will also appeal to readers who, with this book in hand, really want to enjoy some of the most beautiful and emotionally moving places in Belgium. The book takes the reader back a hundred years in time and brings him face to face with events that changed the face of the world.