Belgium and Luxembourg

Under the terms of the 1814 Peace of Vienna, the former territories of the Austrian Netherlands and the Archbishophric of Liège - save the Philippeville and Marienbourg districts, located within the 1792 borders of France - were united with the Kingdom of the Netherlands to form a buffer state against France. Though the United Netherlands prospered in the sixteen years following its unification, the Catholics of the former Austrian territories and the Archbishophric were not reconciled to living under a king from the northern Low Countries. Though the Francophone Walloons particularly opposed their domination by the Dutch, their opposition was shared by the francophile Flemish and Limburger élites.

The 1830 revolution in France against Charles X precipitated an open revolt by the Francophones of Bruxelles against the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The revolt quickly spread throughout the southern Netherlands. By year's end, the southern Netherlands from Limburg in the east to West Flanders in the west was governed by the secessionist Belgian government. In the nine years following Belgian independence, the Dutch king tried to regain control over the secessionist provinces. The 1839 settlement of the Belgian question confirmed Belgium's independence and its perpetual neutrality, and granted to Belgium control over the entire province of Limburg. The province of Luxembourg, however, was detached from Belgian rule, transformed into a Grand Duchy under the rule of the Dutch king, and incorporated into the German Confederation..

In the two generations after the 1839 settlement, Belgium rapidly industrialized. By the end of the 19th century, it had become one of the wealthiest countries while being spared the political turmoil that marked contemporary France and Germany. Though the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg's modernization took longer, it also emerged as one of the most prosperous regions in the world. Following the accession to power of the first queen in the Netherlands in 1890, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg separated from the Dutch crown and became an independent and neutral state state. Both Belgium and Luxembourg, as neutral states, attracted political refugees from the breadth of the European continent. The sole problem that seemed potentially threaten Belgian and Luxembourgois prosperity was the presence of increasingly assertive linguistic minorities - speakers of Letzeburgisch formed almost half of the population of Luxembourg, while Flemish and Limburgers combined formed 70% of the Belgian population. Growing conflicts over language threatened to rend national unity.

Belgium and Luxembourg were fortunate enough to avoid embroilment in European conflicts throughout their first three generations. As the 20th century progressed, though, the growth of tensions between the Triple Entente and the Austro-German alliance made Belgians and Luxembourgois realized that their countries lay on the precise route that German armies invading France (or French armies invading Germany) would take in wartime. When the First World War began in August of 1914, the Germans quickly violated the neutrality of Belgium and Luxembourg as part of the Schlieffen Plan. At the request of the Belgian government, French and British expeditionary forces crossed into Belgium and successfully repelled the Germans from Brabant and the outskirts of Antwerp.

Luxembourg was occupied by the Germans in the first week of the war, and managed to avoid devastation. Belgium was not so lucky, however, and most of the trench warfare occurred east of the Dyle in central Belgium. The German occupying forces tried to detach Limburg from their half of occupied Belgium, and forced the east of Belgium to supply Germany with supplies and workers for the German war effort. Finally, in the spring offensive of 1917, the Franco-British allies succeeded in breaking the fragmented German line, and by the time of the armistice, all of Belgium and Luxembourg had been liberated.

The experience of both countries in the First World War convinced them to forsake their traditional neutrality. At the Versailles Peace Conference, both countries were given a share of the reparations for war damages made by Germany. Belgium also received the territories of Eupen, Moresnet, and Malmédy from Germany to bolster Belgian's eastern defense. In the inter-war period, both Belgium and Luxembourg were members of the French alliance system.

The Second World War initially bypassed Belgium and Luxembourg. Both countries were invaded by Nazi Germany in the 1943 invasion, and before the Nazis were finally crushed almost eighty thousand Belgians and Luxembourgois had died. The terrible experiences of this war convinced the populations of both countries that some kind of federal European system was required if war was to be avoided in the future. It was Belgian Socialist leader Hubert Pierlot, in his famous address to the graduating class of 1947 at the Université Catholique de Louvain, who most clearly stated the necessity and justification for a united Europe:

"When you go into the world of academia, you, the newest scholars of this generation, will be recognized as graduates of one of the most famed universities in Europe. You are heirs to a proud tradition that resonates down the pages of the history books. It is not a Belgian tradition, or rather not solely a Belgian tradition - It is a European tradition  ...

There was a time when everyone recognized the fundamental reality of a European culture and a European civilization. This is evidently not the case now, when Europe has been torn apart by two bloody fratricidal wars. Europe cannot survive a third. Why do Europeans forget their continent's unity?... It would seem, then, that we all need a reminder, one present in everyday life ..."

In the post-war period, Belgium and Luxembourg became fervent supporters of European unification, playing vital roles in the creation of a common European judicial system and the establishment of a full economic union. The location of both countries on the frontier between Latin and Germanic Europe has given both the strength of added diversity. As always, ethnolinguistic tensions continue to invigorate both countries. Tensions are particularly severe in Belgium, despite its transformation over the past three decades into a federal union of self-governing Limburg, Walloon, Flemish, and Brussels states. Regardless, both states easily rank among the most prosperous and peaceful in the world.