Robert Laurence Binyon

To the Belgians

BELGIUM
TO THE BELGIANS

Caesar's praise

Julius Caesar conquered Belgium in 57 BC and wrote admiringly of the Belgae's fierce resistance in his *Gallic Wars*—"the bravest of all the Gauls." Binyon frames WWI as Belgium's second legendary stand.

ORACE that Cæsar knew,
That won stern Roman praise,
What land not envies you
The laurel of these days?
You built your cities rich
Around each towered hall,—
Without, the statued niche
Within, the pictured wall.
Your ship-thronged wharves, your marts
With gorgeous Venice vied.

Venice comparison

Bruges and Ghent were medieval trading powerhouses rivaling Venice—Flemish cloth for Italian spices. The wealth funded art: van Eyck, Rubens, Memling.

Peace and her famous arts
Were yours: though tide on tide
Of Europe's battle scourged
Black field and reddened soil,
From blood and smoke emerged
Peace and her fruitful toil.
Yet when the challenge rang,

The War-Lord

Kaiser Wilhelm II, who demanded Belgium allow German troops passage to invade France. Belgium's refusal on August 4, 1914 brought Britain into WWI under treaty obligations.

"The War-Lord comes; give room!"
Fearless to arms you sprang
Against the odds of doom.
Like your own Damien

Father Damien

Belgian priest Damien de Veuster (1840-1889) volunteered for the leper colony on Molokai, Hawaii, eventually contracting and dying of leprosy himself. Canonized in 2009.

Who sought that leper's isle
To die a simple man
For men with tranquil smile.
So strong in faith you dared
Defy the giant, scorn
Ignobly to be spared,
Though trampled, spoiled, and torn.
And in your faith arose
And smote, and smote again,
Till those astonished foes
Reeled from their mounds of slain.
The faith that the free soul,
Untaught by force to quail,
Through fire and dirge and dole
Prevails and shall prevail.
Still for your frontier stands
The host that knew no dread,
Your little, stubborn land's
Nameless, immortal dead.
Laurence Binyon
Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

Belgium's Moral Authority in 1914

This poem was written in the opening months of WWI, when Belgium's resistance to Germany transformed British public opinion. The German invasion of neutral Belgium on August 4, 1914—violating the 1839 Treaty of London—gave Britain both a legal justification and a moral cause for entering the war. Binyon published this in late 1914, when British propaganda was casting the conflict as a defense of "brave little Belgium" against Prussian militarism.

The poem's structure moves from peaceful prosperity to military sacrifice. Stanzas 2-4 catalog Belgium's cultural achievements—"pictured wall" (Flemish masters), "ship-thronged wharves" (Antwerp's trade), "Peace and her famous arts." This establishes what's at stake: a civilization choosing destruction over dishonor. The turn at "Yet when the challenge rang" (stanza 5) mirrors Belgium's actual choice in August 1914.

Binyon emphasizes asymmetry: "against the odds of doom," "Defy the giant." The Belgian army numbered 117,000; Germany sent 750,000 troops through Belgium. The Battle of Liège (August 5-16, 1914) saw Belgian forces hold German advance for nearly two weeks, disrupting the Schlieffen Plan's tight schedule. This "astonished foes / Reeled from their mounds of slain" refers to unexpectedly fierce resistance at fortified positions, not Belgian victory—the country was occupied by October 1914.

The Father Damien comparison (stanza 6) is crucial. Damien wasn't a warrior but a volunteer who chose certain death for moral principle. This frames Belgium's choice as spiritual rather than strategic—"faith" appears three times in the final stanzas. The poem argues Belgium fought not to win but to preserve "the free soul, / Untaught by force to quail." This resonated in Britain, where the war was sold as ideological, not territorial.

Binyon's Timing and Audience

Laurence Binyon (1869-1943) worked at the British Museum and published this in his 1914 collection *The Winnowing-Fan: Poems of the Great War*. He's best known for "For the Fallen" ("They shall grow not old..."), written the same year. Both poems share a memorial tone—"Nameless, immortal dead"—even though the war had barely begun. Binyon was writing prospective elegies, anticipating mass death.

The poem's Roman framing ("Cæsar," "stern Roman praise") serves British imperial self-image. Britain saw itself as Rome's heir, defending civilization against barbarism. By invoking Caesar's respect for Belgian ancestors, Binyon places 1914 in a 2,000-year continuity of resistance to tyranny. The "laurel" (line 4) is both victory wreath and poet's crown—Belgium earns immortality through suffering.

"Your little, stubborn land's" (line 43) captures the poem's central paradox: size versus significance. Belgium was small, militarily outmatched, and doomed to occupation. But its refusal to grant passage had enormous consequences—bringing Britain into the war, slowing Germany's advance, establishing the moral narrative that sustained four years of slaughter. Binyon writes as if the outcome is already known, the sacrifice already sanctified. The present-tense "stands" (line 41) makes the dead eternal guardians, not historical casualties.