War and Violence BELGIAN REFUGEE TREK Belgium, 1914 Fleeing from War and Violence War and tyranny are the main reasons why millions of people have to flee and seek safety. For many, what was initially believed to be a short-term escape from danger may turn into long-term or permanent displacement if borders are moved post-war or if a conflict simply drags on or becomes ‘frozen’. Displacement has become a universal experience that people have been suffering worldwide. The First World War (1914–18) triggered one of the 20th century’s first major refugee crises. The German invasion of Belgium alone caused 1.4 million to flee to the Netherlands, France or Great Britain. Concurrently, half a million Germans fled East Prussia in 1914 and headed west. The violence armies wrought against enemy civilians in this war took on a whole new dimension, as did the brutal treatment inflicted on the population through the instruments of the state. During the Second World War (1939–45) terror against civilians escalated once more in unprecedented ways, and after the two world wars and the devastation they wrought, the Cold War’s proxy wars also caused massive refugee movements. Fought indirectly between the blocs headed by the US and the Soviet Union, among the largest of these conflicts were the Korean War (1950–53), the Vietnam War (1955–75) and the Soviet-Afghan War (1979–89). The Korean War was directed in large measure LUDMILA GELWICH
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