These pages were written in Belgium between the 4th August, 1914, and the 15th August, 1915.

I employed in this work only those books and periodicals which entered the country, whether secretly or openly, and which every one, therefore, can procure.

But to drive conviction into the reader's mind I have observed a rule of selection in using these documents: I have used those exclusively which are of German origin, or which are censored by the Germans.

They are—

(A) German posters exposed in Belgium.

(B) Books and newspapers coming from Germany.

(C) Newspapers published in Belgium under the German censorship.

(D) The Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant, the only foreign newspaper which has been authorized in Belgium since the beginning of the occupation. As for the Belgian Grey Books, the Reports of the Commission of Inquiry, and books published in Belgium, of these I used only those which were known to us in Belgium before the 15th August, 1915.

In short, since I crossed the frontier I have not inserted a single idea into this book: it therefore precisely reflects the state of mind of a Belgian who has lived a year under the German domination.

I have forced myself to remain as far as possible objective, in order to give my work the scientific rigour which characterizes the Reports of the Belgian Commission of Inquiry. I have simply transferred, to a domain which is new to me, the methods of my customary occupations.

Here is a list of my principal sources, with the abbreviations which denote them in the text:—

The English edition is not a complete translation of the French text. To save space, many facts, and above all, many quotations, have been suppressed.

Antibes, Villa Thuret,
October, 1915.