Wesleyan University Repeat Performance: A Psychohistorical Study of Leopold III and Belgian Neutrality Author(s): Rudolph Binion Source: History and Theory, Vol. 8, No. 2 (1969), pp. 213-259 Published by: Wiley for Wesleyan University Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2504324 Accessed: 06-04-2016 01:31 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. Wesleyan University, Wiley are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to History and Theory This content downloaded from 147.9.69.210 on Wed, 06 Apr 2016 01:31:42 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms REPEAT PERFORMANCE: A PSYCHOHISTORICAL STUDY OF LEOPOLD III AND BELGIAN NEUTRALITY RUDOLPH BINION The neutrality proclaimed by Belgium in 1936 and guaranteed by Belgium's big neighbors in 1937 was a precondition for Nazi Germany's bloodless, then bloody, victories of 1938-1940. For neutral Belgium shielded Germany against a prospective French invasion, in that the French high command regarded the Rhineland bordering Belgium as vulnerable, but was pessimistic about assaulting Germany's fortified French frontier. The upshot was that Hitler conquered Czechoslovakia without a battle and that the German armies subjugated Poland, then Denmark and Norway, while fighting only a "phony war" in their rear.