Rape of Belgium

In Belgium, German troops, in fear of French and Belgian guerrilla fighters brutally murdered thousands of civilians, most significally in these countries: Andenne (211 dead), Tamines (384 dead), and Dinant (612 dead). Not only did the Germans(fearfull of possible attacks from guerrilla warriors) massacure the masses of Belgium, they burned thousands of books. On 25 August 1914, the Germans set fire to the town of Leuven, burned the library containing about 230,000 books, killed 209 civilians and forced 42,000 to evacuate. Now it seems that this is a genocide that is otherwise forgotten. Many critics believe that a genocide is characterized with the forceful ethnic cleansing of a nation. In my opinion, this is a form of genocide, considering it was a massacure of thousands of people followed by the burning of books.