When the German Empire declared war on Russia and France in the summer of 1914, German commanders formed a plan to march through Belgium to attack Paris, France. The Belgian government declined to cooperate, and so German armies invaded Belgium in August 1914. The British government was obliged by a standing treaty to come to Belgium’s aid, which led to Britain declaring war on Germany.

From August through November 1914, German armies sacked several major Belgian cities in a sweep that came to be called “the Rape of Belgium.” Over 5,000 civilians—men, women, and children—were killed by German soldiers under the pretext of discouraging guerrilla warfare. The Sack of Louvain (or Leuven), from 19-22 August 1914, resulted in the death of around 250 people, mostly civilians. Hundreds of homes and public buildings were destroyed, and over 1,000 Belgian citizens were deported to Germany. The invading army set the library of the Catholic University in Louvain on fire, destroying its collection, which included several medieval manuscripts and incunabula (early print or first editions). Among the medieval collection were illuminated manuscripts, which were rare, unique, and irreplaceable.

Hundreds of thousands of Belgian refugees sought shelter in France, the Netherlands, and England. After the invasion, approximately 250,000 Belgian refugees escaped to Britain (“Tracing the Belgian Refugees.” Imperial War Museums. Accessed 29 March 2026). A village, Elisabethville, was established near a munitions factory in Birtley to house several thousand Belgian refugees who would work building munitions for the war effort (“How Belgian Refugees Kept the British Army Going During the First World War.” Imperial War Museums. Accessed 29 March 2026). In The Bookbinder, this influx of refugees and the wartime crisis in Belgium are reflected in Lotte and Bastiaan’s experiences.

The brutality of World War I was unprecedented due to the introduction of chemical weapons such as mustard gas, advanced artillery like machine guns and tanks, and airborne weapons. The high rates of injury necessitated advances in nursing responses. The American Red Cross provided trained nurses as well as support staff, and in the United Kingdom, the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) recruited people to serve as nurses, attendants, ambulance drivers, and cooks. Several hospitals were established in Étaples, France, which also served as a base camp and training facility. The mutiny Tilda refers to in her letters, which resulted in the execution of Australian private Jack Braithwaite, took place in August 1916. Australian artist Iso Rae, featured in the novel, painted many images of the war. The bombing Tilda refers to took place during the summer of 1918, and in one of the attacks, the Canadian hospital was struck, and three nurses were killed.

The tide of the war turned in favor of the Allied Powers when the United States declared war on Germany in April 1917 and began sending troops, as well as supplies and munitions. Armistice was declared on November 11th, 1918. The estimates of those killed range from 15 to 22 million and up to 21 million wounded (“The Unprecedented Tragedy: World War 1 Casualties by the Numbers.” History Tools. 26 May 2024). The toll led to this conflict being called “the Great War” until the next world war began in 1939. The influenza epidemic that was first identified in 1918 and is sometimes called the Spanish flu lasted through 1920, becoming a global pandemic that killed millions more. Together, these two disasters reshaped life in Europe and the world of international diplomacy.