This article investigates the attitude of Belgian diplomats in the debate about the creation of a stronger army in the decades before the First World War. Closely reading the writings of three members of the diplomatic corps and comparing their discourse with the words of their colleagues, it argues that the current historiographical narrative on the diplomats’ stance towards militarization is in need of revision.

Studies of soldiers’ lives and military culture in peacetime have hitherto mainly focused on life in the barracks. The role of maneuvers, exercises for all ranks and all arms aimed to train military men’s movements for specific strategies, have garnered far less attention. In this article, we examine the practice of maneuvering by the Belgian army from Independence (1830) until the Great War.