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That's the Explorers Podcast. Hello everyone and welcome to history of the Second World War.

Episode 183, the fall of France, the invasion of Belgium.

This week, a big thank you goes out to Matthew, Tom, Wyatt, Meredith,

and Neil for choosing to support the podcast by becoming members. You can find out more over at

History of the Second World War.com slash members. Last episode discussed the German invasion

of the Netherlands, one of several neutral nations that German forces would invade during their

French campaign. Another would be Belgium. Belgium neutrality was an interesting topic during the

interwar years. As for most of the period between the wars, Belgium was not in fact neutral. In 1914,

it had been neutral, but that had not stopped the Germans from invading southern Belgium on

their way to France. And then, of course, during the war, there was a lot of fighting on Belgian soil.

Then in the years after the conflict ended, Belgium worked closely with France on military plans

and continued to pressure not the Germans to fulfill their obligations, as described in the

Treaty of Versailles.

But then, in 1936, the Belgian government did in about face, and brought the nation back

into its neutral position, in the belief that this would reduce the possibility of a German

invasion.

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