Although more often remembered only as a bloody battleground, Belgium -- along with its smaller neighbor, Luxembourg -- was critical to the strategic landscape of Europe, and played a pivotal role in spreading the war in 1914 beyond the European Continent, making it into a true World War. Both created as independent states in the nineteenth century, Belgium and Luxembourg were linchpins in the delicate balance of power, as well as crucibles of the new social divides in a secularizing and industrializing Europe. Image: Painting of the Citadel of St. Esprit, Luxembourg, by JMW Turner, 1839. Please sign on as a patron to hear all lectures, including Part 6, on Germany -- https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632