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Rehearsals purports to be "the first book to provide a detailed narrative history of the German invasion of Belgium in August 1914 as it affected civilians" (back cover). Author Jeff Lipkes, a historian of British economic thought, argues that the German Army launched a deliberately brutal campaign of terror against the Belgian population in order to intimidate them into obedience to the invading German army. Moreover, he contends that the suffering of Belgian civilians (more than 6,000 executions and 25,000 buildings destroyed) has been largely obliterated from the historical record, beginning in the 1920s, by overly zealous revisionist historians whose outlook has become the consensus among historians today. While providing interesting and important information on both matters, Rehearsals promises more than it delivers.
Lipkes's main contribution is in chronicling the brutality of the German Army in eastern Belgium. Rehearsals is richly detailed with evidence of the extensive atrocities and immense suffering that occurred throughout much of this region in August 1914. The book provides ample evidence that the German Army regularly took civilian hostages and often executed them (typically without the pretense of trial), deliberately looted and destroyed homes and other buildings--including churches and Leuven University's library--and forcibly expelled and deported civilians all on the mere suspicion of "franc-tireur" activity. Lipkes's detailed presentation of the victims' recollection of the misery inflicted upon them is a valuable contribution to our understanding of this important topic.
Yet, even in this arena, Rehearsals