History of Belgium

Encyclopedia : H : HI : HIS : History of Belgium

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The History of Belgium before the last 175 years is entwined into that of other European countries, notably that of the Netherlands and of Luxembourg.

Before independence

Prehistory

Around 400,000 BC Neandertals lived on the edge of the Meuse river, near the village of Spy. From 30,000 BC on the inhabitants were Homo sapiens. Neolithic vestiges exist at Spiennes where there was a silex mine.

The first signs of the Bronze age date 1750 BC. From 500 BC Celtic tribes settled and traded with the Mediterranean world. From 150 BC the first coins were in use.

The earliest named inhabitants of Belgium were the Belgae (after whom the modern Belgium is named). They were a major part of Gaulish or Celtic Europe, living in northern Gaul at the time when Julius Caesar entered the territory of this nation. The exact nature of the difference between the Belgae and the Gauls to their south is controversial, but it seems clear that the Gauls were the Leitkultur of the area until the entry of Roman and Germanic influence. That Germanic tribes were entering from the north and east, is explained by Ceasar in his De Bello Gallico. Linguists have proposed that there is evidence that the Belgae had previously spoken an Indo European language intermediate between Celtic and Germanic. This language or group of languages is sometimes referred to as the Nordwestblock.

Antiquity

see main article Gallia Belgica

In 54 BC, the Belgae were overcome by Julius Caesar, as described in his chronicle De Bello Gallico.

In this same work Julius Caesar referred to the Belgae as "the bravest of all Gauls" ("horum omnium fortissimi sunt belgae").

What is now Belgium flourished as a province of Rome. This province was much larger than the modern Belgium. Five cities: Nemetacum (Arras), Divodurum (Metz), Bagacum (Bavay), Aduatuca (Tongeren), Durocorturum (Reims).

At the north-east was the neighbour province Germania Inferior. Its cities were : Traiectum ad Mosam (Maastricht), Ulpia Noviomagus (Nijmegen), Colonia Ulpia Trajana (Xanten) and Colonia Agrippina (Cologne). Both provinces include the Low Countries [link].

Pre-romanesque period

After the Roman Empire collapsed (5th century), Germanic tribes invaded the Roman province of "Gallia". One of these peoples, the Franks, finally installed a new kingdom under the rulers of the Merovingian Dynasty. Clovis I was the most famous of these kings. He converted to Christianity and ruled from northern France, but his empire included today's Belgium. Christian scholars, mostly Irish monks, preached Christianity and started conversion work under the pagan invaders (Saint Servatius, Saint Remacle, Saint Hadelin).

The Merovingians were rather short-lived, as the Carolingian Dynasty soon took over. After Charles Martel countered the Moorish invasion from Spain (732 - Poitiers), the famous king Charlemagne (born close to Liège in Herstal or Jupille) brought a huge part of Europe under his rule and was crowned as the "Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire" by the pope (800) in Aachen.

The Vikings were defeated in 891 by Arnulf of Carinthia near Leuven. The Frankish lands were divided and reunified several times under the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties, but eventually were firmly divided into France and the Holy Roman Empire. The County of Flanders became part of France during the Middle Ages, but the remainder of the Low Countries were part of the Holy Roman Empire. Through the early Middle Ages, the northern part of present-day Belgium (now commonly referred to as Flanders) had become an overwhelmingly Germanized and Germanic language-speaking area, whereas in the southern part people had continued to be Roman and spoke derivatives of Vulgar Latin.

Romanesque period

As the Holy Roman Emperors lost effective control of their domains in the 11th and 12th centuries, the territory more or less corresponding to the present Belgium was divided into mostly independent feudal states:

• county of Flanders
• Marquis of Namur
• Duchy of Brabant (see also Duke of Brabant)
• County of Hainaut
• Duchy of Limburg
• Luxemburg
• Bishopric of Liège.

During the 11th and 12th centuries, the Rheno-Mosan or Mosan art flourished in the region going from Cologne and Trier to Liège, Maastricht and Aachen. Some masterpieces of this romanesque art are the shrine of the Three Kings at Cologne Cathedral, the baptistry of Renier de Huy in Liège, the shrine of Saint Remacle in Stavelot, the shrine of Saint Servatius in Maastricht or, Notger's gospel in Liège.

Gothic period

13th and 14th centuries

• Many cities gained their independence from their heirs.
• Huge trade within the Hanseatic League.
• Building of huge gothic cathedrals and city halls.

See also

• Battle of the Golden Spurs
• Bruges
• Antwerp
• Hanseatic League

1. redirect

Burgundian Netherlands

see main article Burgundian Netherlands

By 1433 most of the Belgian and Luxembourgian territory along with much of the rest of the Low Countries became part of Burgundy under Philip the Good. When Mary of Burgundy, grand-daughter of Philip the Good married Maximilian I, the Low Countries became Habsburg territory. Their son, Philip I of Castile (Philip the Handsome) was the father of the later Charles V. The Holy Roman Empire was unified with Spain under the Habsburg Dynasty after Charles V inherited several domains.

Especially during the Burgund period (the 15th and 16th centuries), Ypres, Ghent, Bruges, Brussels, and Antwerp took turns at being major European centers for commerce, industry (especially textiles) and art. The Flemish Primitives were a group of painters active primarily in the Southern Netherlands in the 15th and early 16th centuries (for example, Van Eyck and van der Weyden). Flemish tapestries hung on the walls of castles throughout Europe.

See also

• Early Renaissance painting
• Charles the Good
• Charles the Bold

The Spanish Netherlands

see main article Seventeen Provinces

The Pragmatic Sanction of 1549, issued by Charles V, established the Seventeen Provinces (or Spanish Netherlands in its broad sense) as an entity separate from the Empire and from France. This comprised all of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg except for the lands of the Bishopric of Liège.

Eighty Years' War

see main article Eighty Years' War

However, the northern region now known as the Netherlands became increasingly Protestant (i.c. Calvinistic), while the south remained primarily Catholic. The schism resulted in the Union of Atrecht and the Union of Utrecht. When Philip II, son of Charles ascended the Spanish throne, he tried to abolish all Protestantism. Portions of the Netherlands revolted, beginning the Eighty Years' War between the Netherlands and Spain. For the conquered Southern Netherlands the war ended in 1585 with the Fall of Antwerp. This can be seen as the start of Belgium as one region. That same year, the northern Low Countries (i.e. the Netherlands proper) seized independence in the Oath of Abjuration (Plakkaat van Verlatinghe) and started the United Provinces and the Dutch Golden Age. For them, the war lasted until 1648 (the Peace of Westphalia), when Spain recognized the independence of the Netherlands, but held onto the loyal and Catholic region of modern-day Belgium which was all that remained of the Spanish Netherlands.

See also

• Battle of Turnhout (1597)
• Battle of Nieuwpoort
• Battle of Gibraltar
• Battle of the Downs
• Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain

Southern Netherlands

see main article Southern Netherlands

While the United Provinces gained independence, the Southern Netherlands remained under the rule of the Spanish Habsburgs (1519-1713).

Until 1581 the history of Belgium (except the Bishopric of Liège), the grand-duchy of Luxembourg and the country the Netherlands is the same: they formed the country/region of the Netherlands or the Low Countries. In Dutch, a distinction still exists between on the one hand 'de Nederlanden' (plural, the Low Countries) and 'Nederland' (singular, the present-day state of the Netherlands) that is a consequence of this separation in the 17th century. Before 1581, the Netherlands refers to the Lowlands (De Nederlanden).

During the 17th century Antwerp was still a major European center for commerce, industry and art. The Brueghels, Peter Paul Rubens and Van Dyck's baroque paintings were performed during this period.

See also

• Gerardus Mercator
• Jodocus Hondius
• War of Devolution, Franco-Dutch War, War of the Reunions, Nine Years War, War of the Spanish Succession

Austrian Netherlands

see main article Austrian Netherlands

The Belgian and Luxemburgian territories except the Bishopric of Liège were transferred to the Austrian Habsburgs (1713-1794) after the War of the Spanish Succession when the French Bourbon Dynasty inherited Spain at the price of abandoning many Spanish possessions.

See also

• War of the Austrian Succession
• Barrier Treaty which excluded the Flemings to use the Scheldt
• Ostend Company
• Battle of Turnhout (1789)
• United States of Belgium of 1790

French period

Following the the Southern Netherlands were invaded and annexed by the First French Republic in 1795. The bishopric of Liège was dissolved. Its territory was divided over the départements Meuse-Inférieure and Ourte.

United Kingdom of the Netherlands

''see main article United Kingdom of the Netherlands

After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo in 1815, the major victorious powers (England, Austria, Prussia, Russia) agreed at Congress of Vienna on reuniting the southern Netherlands with the northern, creating the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, which was to serve as a bufferstate against any future French invasions. This was under the rule of a Protestant king, namely William I of Orange. Most of the small and ecclesiastical states in the Holy Roman Empire were given to larger states at this time, and this included the Bishopric of Liège which became now formally part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Independence

see main article Belgian revolution

In August 1830, stirred by a performance of Auber's La Muette de Portici at the Brussels opera house La Monnaie (Dutch: De Munt), the Belgian Revolution broke out, and the country wrested its independence from the Dutch, aided by French intellectuals and French armed forces. The real political forces behind this were the Catholic clergy, which was against the Protestant Dutch king, William I, and the equally strong liberals, who opposed the royal authoritarianism, and the fact that the Belgians were not represented proportionally in the national assemblies at all. At first, the Revolution was merely a call for greater autonomy, but due to the clumsy responses of the Dutch king to the problem, and his unwillingness to meet the demands of the revolutionaries, the Revolution quickly escalated into a fight for full independence.

Among the revolutionaries, there was an idea to join France, but after international pressure, Belgium became an independent state. A constitutional monarchy was established in 1831, with a monarch invited in from the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in Germany by the British. The major powers in Europe agreed, and on July 21 1831, the first king of Belgium, Leopold of Saxe-Coburg was inaugurated. This day is still the Belgian national holiday. The reason why the Belgian Revolution succeeded, even though it violated the accords made in 1815, is mainly that France was sympathetic to it, after it had had a new liberal government installed in the same year as the Belgian Revolution (see July monarchy or Louis-Philippe). In particular, the French troops "helped" the Belgians to maintain Antwerp inside their new country. One easily understands how important is was for both Britain and France to keep Antwerp and Rotterdam harbours located in two distinct enemy countries. The other major powers were, at that time, too much occupied with their own wars and problems.

The Netherlands still fought on for 8 years, but in 1839 a treaty was signed between the two countries. Belgium thus started life as an independent state, equipped with a very liberal constitution (constitutional monarchy), but with suffrage restricted to the haute-bourgeoisie and the clergy, all together less than 1% of the adult population, and fully French-speaking in a country where French was not the majority language.

By the treaty of 1839, Luxemburg did not fully join Belgium, and remained a possession of the Netherlands until different inheritance laws caused it to separate as an independent Grand Duchy. Belgium also lost Eastern Limburg, Zeeuws Vlaanderen and French Flanders (Dutch: Frans Vlaanderen) and Eupen, four territories which it had all claimed on historical grounds. The Netherlands retained the former two while French Flanders, which had been annexed at the time of Louis XIV remained in French possession, and Eupen remained within the German Confederation, although it would pass to Belgium after World War I as compensation for the war.

The Belgian Revolution had many causes:

• At the political level:
• * The Belgians felt significantly under-represented in the Netherlands' elected Lower Assembly.
• * The low popularity of Prince William, later King William II, representative of the King William I in Brussels.
• * The treatment of the French-speaking Catholic Walloons in the Dutch-dominated United Kingdom of the Netherlands.
• At the religious level:
• * The difference of religion between the Belgians and their Dutch king.
• At the economic level:
• * The Belgians had little influence over the traditional economy of trade centred in Amsterdam.
• * The Dutch were for free trade, while industries in Belgium called for the protection of tariffs.
• * Low-taxed imports from the Baltic depressed agriculture in Belgian grain-growing regions.
• At the international level:
• * French July Monarchy's support.
• * The passive agreement of the British.

From the independence to WWI

See also

• List of Prime Ministers of Belgium
• List of Belgian monarchs

Laicity and catholicism

In the 19th century, the Belgian politics is a bipartisan system very deep influenced by the conflict between the Catholics and the laics.

See also

• Liberalism in Belgium
• Universite Libre de Bruxelles
• Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Industrial revolution

Léopold I went on to build the first railway in continental Europe in 1835, between Brussels and Mechelen. The first trains were Stephenson engines imported from Great Britain.

See also

• John Cockerill
• Cockerill-Sambre
• Val Saint Lambert
• Ernest Solvay
• Fabrique Nationale de Herstal
• Rail transport in Belgium
• Industrial revolution

The first scholar war (

The rise of the socialist party and of the trade unions

See also

• Emile Vandervelde
• Henri de Man
• Adolf Daens

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The Congolese colony

see main articles Congo Free State and Belgian Congo

At the Berlin conference of 1884-1885 Congo was attributed solely to Léopold II of Belgium, who named this land the Congo Free State. Power was finally transferred to Belgium in 1908 under considerable international pressure following numerous reports of gross misconduct and abuse to native labourers (read: slaves). Its territory was more than 80 times as large as the motherland.

The integration of traditional economies in the Congo within the framework of the modern, capitalist economy was brilliantly executed; for example, several railroads were built through dense regions of jungle. Léopold's fortune was greatly added to through the proceeds of Congolese rubber, which had never been mass-produced in such surplus quantities.

Many atrocities were committed in the colony, especially when it still was Léopold II's personal possession, one of the most famous reports being Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness. The behaviour of the Belgian colonists in Congo is still a conflict-laden topic in present-day Belgium.

See also

• Lado Enclave

Historicism and Art Nouveau

At the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century, the historicism style dominates the urban Belgian landscape (e.g. Justice Palace of Brussels, 50th-Anniversary Park in Brussels). Nevertheless Brussels became one of the major European city for the development of the Art Nouveau (Victor Horta, Henry van de Velde).

From WWI to WWII

World War I

The neutrality of Belgium was violated in 1914 when Germany invaded Belgium as part of the Schlieffen Plan.

The Germans were stopped by the allied at the frontline along the Yser, the battle of the Yser. The Belgian population suffered very much under the German rule.

Flanders saw some of the greatest losses of life of the First World War including the first and second battles of Ypres and the Somme. Due to the hundreds of thousands of casualties, the poppies that sprang up from the battlefield and that were immortalised in the poem In Flanders Fields, have become an emblem of human life lost in war. It is perfectly normal for poppies to invade disturbed arable ground. More important for the course of history is the resentment some felt of being used as cannon fodder, as a whole nation, and not as single soldiers.

Flemish feeling of identity and consciousness grew through the events and experiences of war. The German occupying authorities had taken several Flemish-friendly measures. More importantly the experiences of the Dutch speaking soldiers on the front lead by French speaking officers catalysed Flemish emancipation. Their suffering is still remembered by Flemish organizations during the yearly Yser pilgrimage and Wake of the Yser in Diksmuide at the monument of The Yser tower.

Between the wars

Politics

After the defeat of Germany, the two former German colonies, Rwanda and Burundi, were mandated to Belgium by the League of Nations.

After a period of alliance with France, Belgium tried to return to neutrality in the 1930s.

Development of fine arts

Flemish expressionism

The expressionism painting movement had a lot of influence in Flanders (James Ensor,Constant Permeke, Léon Spiliaert).

Belgian surrealism

The surrealism movement has major representant in Belgium

The Franco-Belgian comics

The comic-strip character Tintin was created in 1929 by Hergé. The Adventures of Tintin is one of the most popular 20th century European comics. Major representants of this popular art movement are Edgar P. Jacobs, Jijé, Albert Uderzo and André Franquin. See also

See also

• Sabena

World War II

Belgium was invaded by Nazi Germany 10 May 1940 (Belgium surrendered on May 28). The King remained in Belgium. Many Flemish and Wallons joined the German Waffen-SS for service on the Eastern Front.

Belgium was liberated beginning in 1944 by Allied forces, including British, Canadian, and American armies, including a small Belgian national contingent. The British 2nd Army seized Antwerp in September 1944, and the First Canadian Army began conducting combat operations around the port that same month. Antwerp became the most fought highly prized objective due to its deep water port facilities and the fact that French ports remained in German hands until the end of the war. The Battle of the Scheldt in October 1944 was fought primarily on Dutch soil, but with the intent of opening the waterway to Antwerp. The port city was also the main objective of German armies in December; the inability of the Allies to end the war in 1944 meant that Allied troops had to winter in Belgium, during which time the Ardennes Offensive was launched by the Germans, resulting in heavy fighting on Belgian soil lasting into 1945.

During the war, the largest known reserves of uranium were in the Katanga (a province of the Belgian Congo). The Belgian company Union Minière du Haut Katanga provided the United States the uranium required by the Manhattan Project and the early cold war (see: history of nuclear weapons).

See also

• Rexism
• Lions of Flanders
• Fort Eben-Emael
• Battle of the Scheldt
• Battle of the Bulge
• Malmedy massacre

After WWII

The royal question

''See main article Léopold III of Belgium

A dispute over King Léopold III's conduct during World War II caused civil uprisings, and eventually led to his abdication in 1951 following a state-wide referendum. In Flanders they voted in favor of his return, in Wallonia against (especially the provinces of Liège and Hainaut; Namur and Luxembourg being split 50/50). Although he narrowly won the referendum, the militant socialist movement in Liège, Hainaut and other urban centres incited major protests and strikes. Because of the probability of the escalation of the conflict, Léopold III abdicated on July 16, 1951 in favour of his 20-year-old son Baudouin.

During Leopold's exile in Switzerland (1945-1950), Prince Charles of Belgium acted as the regent.

See also

• Prince Charles of Belgium
• Baudouin I of Belgium

The Atomium monument

Post-war economic growth

During the period 1945-1975, Keynesian economic theory guided politicians throughout Western Europe and this was particularly influential in Belgium. After the war, the government cancelled Belgium's debts. It was during this period that the well-known Belgian highways were built. At night, their street lights make them easily seen from space.

In this sphere of economics, World War II marks a turning point. Because Flanders had been widely devastated during the war and had been largely agricultural since the Belgian uprising, it benefited most from the Marshall Plan. Its standing as an economicaly backward agricultural region meant that it obtained support from Belgium's membership of the European Union and its predecessors. At the same time, Wallonia experienced a slow relative decline as the products of its mines came to be less in demand. The economic, hence the political, balance between the two parts of the country has remained less in favour of Wallonia than it was before 1939.

European and international integration

• Belgium has been one of the foremost advocates of collective security within the framework the Atlantic partnership (NATO). Belgium has been member of the NATO since April 4, 1949
• Belgium is part of the Benelux since 1944.
• Belgium is one of the founding members of the European Coal and Steel Community in July, 1952 and of the European Economic Community founded on March 25, 1957 by the signing of the Treaty of Rome.

See also

• Paul-Henry Spaak

The second school war (

The Congo crisis (

see main article Congo Crisis

The Congo became independent in 1960. Belgium played in this crisis an ambiguous role which lead to the murder of Patrice Lumumba and to the establisment of the Zaire.

Logo of the Taal Aktie Komitee

The linguistic wars

This Flemish resurgence has been accompanied by a corresponding shift of political power to the Flemish, who always constituted an absolute majority of the population (now around 60%).

The linguistic wars attained their climax around 1968 with the splitting of the Catholic University of Louvain into the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and the Universite Catholique de Louvain.

Well-known "battles" (quite harmless ones indeed) found place in Voeren between the Taal Aktie Komitee and the Walloon leader Jose Happart.

See also

• Flemish movement
• Flemish emancipation movement
• Flemish independence
• Yser pilgrimage, Wake of the Yser, The Yser tower
• Volksunie
• Vlaams Belang or Vlaams Blok
• Front Démocratique des Francophones
• Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde
• Municipalities with linguistic facilities

The rise of the federal state

The successive linguistic wars have made the successive Belgian governments very unstable. The three major parties (Liberal -right wing-, Catholic -center- and, Socialist -left wing-) split in two according to their French- or Dutch-speaking electorate. A fixed linguistitic border was established within Belgian between Wallonia, Flanders and, Brussels which gained progressively a lot of political autonomy.

See also

• Politics of Belgium
• Politics of Flanders
• Politics of Wallonia
• List of governments in Belgium

The fall of the Belgian economic miracle

Belgium made huge debts during the time the rates were low and made new debts when it had to reimburse. Its debts were amounting to about 130% of the GDP in 1992 and have been reduced to about 99% in 2001 when Belgium entered the euro zone. This very drastic politics has caused a rigorous cutting of all unnecessary budget spending like scientific research and alike.

See also

• Jean-Luc Dehaene
• Philippe Maystadt

The Marc Dutroux Scandal

see main article Marc Dutroux

In 1996, Belgium's political and criminal justice systems were shaken when Marc Dutroux was arrested and charged with several counts of murder and kidnapping. Many charged that local law enforcement had not acted competently enough to observe and eventually arrest Dutroux and his accomplices before they kidnapped at least six girls (Julie & Melissa, An & Eefje, Sabine & Laetitia) of which they murdered four (Sabine & Laetitia being rescued just in time) and most probably some gang members. Dutroux went on trial in March 2004 and got a life sentence in prison.

Subsequent parliamentary inquiries indeed proved that the three main police forces were horribly incompetent, bureaucratic, and fighting more with each other than the criminals. On top, the judicial system appeared to suffer from similar problems: bureaucracy, very poor communication with, and support for, the victims, slow procedures and many loopholes for criminals.

As a consequence of this scandal, on October 26, 1996, about 300,000 Belgians marched in Brussels to protest at the failures of the police force and judicial system in this affair. It was one of the largest demonstration in Belgium ever and was called the "White March" (French: "Marche Blanche", Dutch: "Witte Mars").

The rise of the Green parties

The three-party (i.e. six plus some purely Flemish and Walloon parties) political systems got disturbed by the Green parties (the Dutch-speaking Agalev, now Groen!, and the French-speaking Ecolo) in the 1980s which took a lot of influence after the Marc Dutroux Scandal and the "dioxin affair", a food scandal (chickens containing dioxin levels far above the maximum allowed) which would not have had any major repercussions, had it not erupted just days before the elections.

See also

• Political parties in Belgium

The rainbow government (

First government since 1958 without the Catholics but with the Greens.

Renewal of the Belgian foreign politics. Strong anti-Iraq-war diplomacy during the Iraq crisis of 2003.

In July 1999, Belgium's nuclear phase-out legislation was decided by the Flemish Liberals and Democrats-led Government including the Belgian Greens party, Groen!. The phase-out law calls for each of Belgium's seven reactors to close after 40 years of operation with no new reactors built subsequently. When the law was being passed, it was speculated it would be overturned again as soon as an administration without the Greens was in power [link], pdf). After a new government was elected in 2003 without the Greens, there is still no indication the current Government will revoke the phase-out law [link] after the incident at Tihange in November 22, 2002 turned public opinion against nuclear power [link].

See also

• Guy Verhofstadt
• Louis Michel
• Same-sex marriage in Belgium
• War Crimes Law (Belgium)
• Murder of Joe Van Holsbeeck
• Henri Pirenne
• Hans Van Themsche

References

• This article contains material from the CIA World Factbook which, as a US government publication, is in the public domain.

2000

• This article contains material from the US Department of State's Background Notes which, as a US government publication, is in the public domain.

2003

External links

• [Historical maps of Belgium from 1340 to 1990 on WHKMLA]
• [History of Belgium: Primary Documents]
• [World Wide Web Virtual Library - Belgian History Index]
• [Sacred Destinations: Belgium] - Cathedrals, Catholic shrines, churches, Jewish sites
• [Rulers.org — Belgium] List of rulers for Belgium

 

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