When about 3,000 Belgian refugees came to Ireland in autumn 1914, some were catered for in the region of N.E. Leinster. They were accommodated in workhouses in Dunshaughlin, Balrothery, Ardee and in private homes at numerous locations in County Meath, including Drogheda, Laytown, and other centres. The refugee crisis began with the outbreak of World War One between Great Britain and Germany on 4 August 1914. When the German army broke through Belgian defences at Liege, it cut a swathe through rural and urban areas alike, thereby displacing Belgian civilians in their hundreds of thousands. Most of these sought safety in neighbouring countries not then affected by the German military juggernaut. The situation worsened and by 20 August, all of Belgium, except part of Flanders, was under German control. The King of Belgium and his government had fled from Brussels and over 1,000,000 Belgian civilians had been made homeless out of a population of seven and a half million. Of those displaced, 500,000 fled to Holland, 250,000 to Britain, and much of the remainder to France.