Abstract
The War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14) ended with the cession of Belgium to the Austrian Hapsburgs. Briefly annexed to France during the Napoleonic war, Belgium and Holland were reunited by the Treaty of Paris (1815) to form one state. The Belgians rose in revolt and the kingdom of Belgium was formed as an independent state in 1830. By the Treaty of London, 15 Nov. 1831, the neutrality of Belgium was guaranteed by Austria, Russia, Great Britain and Prussia. In 1914 Belgian neutrality was violated and, as a consequence, Britain declared war on Germany. In the Second World War Belgium was again invaded by Germany. In the post-war years, linguistic rivalry between the Flemish (Dutch)-speaking north of the country and the French-speaking Walloons of the south led to bitter political divisions. Following constitutional reforms voted by Parliament in May 1993, Belgium became a federal state.
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Further Reading
The Institut National de Statistique. Statistiques du commerce extérieur (monthly). Bulletin de Statistique. Bi-monthly. Annuaire Statistique de la Belgique (from 1870).—Annuaire statistique de poche (from 1965).
Service Fédéral d’Information. Guide de l’Administration Fédérale. Occasional
Deprez, K., and Vos, L., Nationalism in Belgium—Shifting Identities, 1780–1995, London 1998
Fitzmaurice, J., The Politics of Belgium: a Unique Federalism Farnborough, 1996
Hermans, T. J. et al. (eds.) The Flemish Movement: a Documentary History. London, 1992
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© 2002 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Turner, B. (2002). Belgium. In: Turner, B. (eds) The Statesman’s Yearbook. The Statesman’s Yearbook. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230271319_122
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230271319_122
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