page_title: Belgian Armed Forces
section_title: Army in 1914
hierarchical_section_title: Belgian Armed Forces / History / Army in 1914
caption_attribution_description: English: Belgian Dogs trained to draw quick-firing guns Deutsch: Bild aus einem Buch von 1915: Hunde ziehen ein Maschinengewehr
context_page_description: The Belgian Defense Forces is the national military of Belgium. The King of the Belgians is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The Belgian Armed Forces was established after Belgium became independent in October 1830. Since that time Belgian armed forces have fought in World War I, World War II, the Cold War, Kosovo, Somalia and Afghanistan. The Paracommando Brigade intervened several times in Central-Africa, for maintaining public order and evacuation of Belgian citizens. The Armed Forces comprise four branches: the Land Component, the Air Component, the Marine Component and the Medical Component.
context_section_description: On the eve of World War I, the Belgian Army comprised 19 infantry regiments (line, Chasseurs à pied, Grenadier and Carabinier), 10 cavalry (Guides, Lancers and Chasseurs à cheval) and 8 artillery (mounted, field and fortress). Support forces included engineers, gendarmerie, fortress troops, train and civil guards. The seven divisions of the Field Army were intended to provide a mobile force while the 65,000 fortress troops provided garrisons for the substantial forts constructed around Antwerp, Liège and Namur. These fortifications had been built in several stages beginning in 1859, though a number were still incompleted in 1914. While well-designed and built by 19th century standards, these fixed defences with their sunken artillery turrets had been rendered obsolete by recent advances in heavy siege artillery howitzers.
caption: A Belgian machine gun team, 1914
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