International audience ; Rumors about the massacres of civilians by the Germans during the invasion of Belgium and France in 1914 and their repercussion in France between 1914 and 1918 OUT 1914, violating the Belgian neutrality, the Germans caused a world conflict of more four years, marked by unprecedented violence. The staff of William II applied to the letter the Schlieffen plan, though known to the Allies. In France or Great Britain, nobody wants to believe that the Germanic soldiers will dare to flout the European treaties and invade Belgium. Thus, General Joffre sends an insufficient number of troops to stop the enemy advance, preferring to attack in Alsace-Lorraine. But from the first days of fighting, surprised by the fierce resistance of the small Belgian army, the troops of William II revenge against the civilians. Many exactions enamelled the invasion of the kingdom: nearly 6,500 Belgian and French were killed; hundreds of municipalities in both countries are ravaged by the Germans. Thousands of people are fleeing towards France. Crossing each locality, they report massacres, the extent of which is aggravated as the stories unfold. True myths, amplified by Allied propaganda, destined to make Germans barbarians, have been developing since the first days of the conflict. Among them, there is that of children with their hands cut off, widely relayed by the Allied newspapers throughout the end of 1914. Frightened by these rumors, thousands of French living in the border regions of Belgium take the road and flee to Paris. Once the French border is reached, the German troops continue their policy of destruction vis-à-vis goods and people, they terrorize the enemy, and thus affirm their superiority. Rape, killings, fires, looting, so many abuses perpetrated by the Germans in 1914 as well in Belgium as in France. We will thus try to analyze how these have taken such a scale and how the Allies have used it to forge a negative image of the Germanic troops around the world. Forged on real facts but amplified by ...