| The Sacking of Dinant | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Rape of Belgium in World War I | |
 Devastated Dinant (top) and as it was a month before the war (bottom) | |
  Sack of Dinant (Belgium) | |
| Native name | Sac de Dinant |
| Location | Dinant, Namur Province, Wallonia, Belgium |
| Coordinates | 50°15′40″N 4°54′43″E / 50.26111°N 4.91194°E |
| Date | 21–28 August 1914 |
| Target | Belgian civilians |
Attack type | War crime, massacre |
| Deaths | 674 |
| Perpetrators |  Imperial German Army
|
| Motive | Presumed presence of francs-tireurs |
The Sack of Dinant[nb 1] or Dinant massacre[nb 2] refers to the mass execution of civilians, looting and sacking of Dinant, Neffe and Bouvignes-sur-Meuse in Belgium, perpetrated by German troops during the Battle of Dinant against the French in World War I. Convinced that the civilian population was hiding francs-tireurs, the German General Staff issued orders to execute the population and set fire to their houses.
On August 23, 1914, German troops carried out a brutal attack that led to the deaths of approximately 674 men, women, and children. The violence continued for several days, resulting in the destruction of about two-thirds of Dinant's buildings. Prior to this, the civilian population had been disarmed on August 6 and had been instructed not to resist the invading forces.
Belgium vehemently protested the massacre, and the global community was outraged, referring to the incident along with other atrocities during the German invasion as the "Rape of Belgium". Denied for many years, it was only in 2001 that the German government issued an official apology to both Belgium and the victims' descendants.
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