Following the Treaty of London in 1839, pre-war planning theories in Belgium oscillated between two positions: secure and defend endangered borders or create a powerful military stronghold in Antwerp. On the eve of the Great War, King Albert I and his chief of staff held opposing strategies for protecting Belgium. The King advocated a concentration of the army on the Meuse, where the Germans had completed fortifications in 1892, but the chief of staff ultimately selected a central position to secure his line of communication with Antwerp. The lack of a determined, standardized doctrine at the highest level of the army led to a mixed, compromised plan adopted hurriedly during initial mobilization in August 1914. ... : 1914-1918-Online International Encyclopedia of the First World War ...