The importance of the Great War compared to long-term developments in restructuring the rural landscape in Flanders (Belgium). (October 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Claeys, Dries; Van Dyck, Celina; Verstraeten, Gert; Segers, Yves
• Is Part Of: Applied geography. Volume 111(2019)
• Publication Date: 2019-10
• Subjects: Aerial photography -- Agricultural history -- First world war -- Historical geography -- Landscape change; Geography -- Periodicals; Human geography -- Periodicals; Human ecology -- Periodicals; 910
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apgeog.2019.102063
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0143-6228

Abstract

Abstract: The centenary of the Great War has amplified the voices that advocate the preservation of remaining war traces in the Belgian landscape. Modern technologies, such as Lidar, have recently highlighted that much war heritage is still preserved either at or below the surface, including mine craters, shell holes and trenches. However, these traces are largely hidden from the human eye. Less is known about the impact of the Great War on the overall landscape properties and the changing experience of the rural landscape. In this study, changes in land use and landscape structure since the mid-19th century were reconstructed for four study sites in Flanders that experienced the Great War differently. Historical maps and aerial photography were combined to produce time series of landscape properties, time depth maps and landscape fragmentation and diversity metrics. The interpretation of changes in land use and landscape patterns reveals that the Great War and post-war land recovery did only mark a break for some landscape elements. For two study sites along the Belgian front that were intensively degraded by the war activities, no significant difference in landscape evolution could be identified compared to two study sites that hardly suffered during the Great War. For the most part, long-term socio-economic developments eroded the significance of the war as a short-term cataclysmic event. Highlights: World War I was not a rupture, but a catalyst for long-term landscape changes. While land use remained unaltered, closed ( bocage ) landscapes opened up after WWI. Methods to study land use and visibility can be applied to historical contexts.