History
The Albert Canal was dug from 1930-1939. The German construction firm Hochtief AG worked on the canal between 1930 and 1934. It was used for the first time in 1940, but because of World War II, serious use only began in 1946.
During the Second World War the canal functioned as a defense line. It had to secure not only Belgium but also the northeastern arrondissements of France. The canal locks were used to control the water level. The crossing of the canal and the destruction of the Fort Eben-Emael on 11th May 1940 was a milestone in the invasion of Belgium. In September 1944, the Second Canadian Division forged a bridgehead across the canal as the Allies fought to liberate Belgium and The Netherlands from Nazi occupation.
Coordinates: 51°04′03″N 5°11′27″E / 51.0674°N 5.1907°E / 51.0674; 5.1907
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Famous quotes containing the word history:
“To care for the quarrels of the past, to identify oneself passionately with a cause that became, politically speaking, a losing cause with the birth of the modern world, is to experience a kind of straining against reality, a rebellious nonconformity that, again, is rare in America, where children are instructed in the virtues of the system they live under, as though history had achieved a happy ending in American civics.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)
“What has history to do with me? Mine is the first and only world! I want to report how I find the world. What others have told me about the world is a very small and incidental part of my experience. I have to judge the world, to measure things.”
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)
“History is the present. That’s why every generation writes it anew. But what most people think of as history is its end product, myth.”
—E.L. (Edgar Lawrence)