What Happened to the Old Belgian Flag?

Belgium is one of the newer countries of Western Europe, and yet it's still had a few flags in its history. In today's video we'll look at the history of the Belgian flag and why it is the way it is today.
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#Belgium #belgië #flag

[@ally_crawford]

"The lion that was cancelled for insensitive jokes" is the children's book I never knew I needed.

[@lionelpil8707]

As a belgian guy, I really enjoyed learning about my own countrys history through your video. I didn't learn this in school unfortunately.

[@Munkeyy]

same

[@imwinningthisone7613]

We learn more about blackies and gays than our rich history before 1830

[@marcboonen5353]

im belgian too

[@uytteb]

To this day, the Belgian constitution defines the colours of the Belgian flag as "red-yellow-black". It does not say anything about the orientation and the list still starts with red. However, the flag was indeed changed in practice some time in 1831 (the Belgian revolution having happened in September 1830). Probably indeed to be more different from the Netherlands and at the same time closer to France - a double reason that also explains why the Belgian currency ended up being called franc and not guilder as was suggested by some. Anti-Dutch sentiment is unfortunately still a thing in Belgium, and Belgian princes still cannot legally marry anyone from the Dutch royal family. BTW: the Belgian revolution did not start as an independence movement, it was initially merely a call for policy reform.

[@colinD98]

Wasn't the whole thing also primarily led by the richer french regions in the country? I dont think the dutch speakers of flanders were super keen on it, probably knowing how they'd be treated for the large part in a future country where the french speakers were the ones in power.

[@uytteb]

@@colinD98 It was led in large part by the upper middle class and the ruling classes, which were very much French-speaking in the whole country, as opposed to the common people, who spoke Flemish (Dutch dialects) in the North and mostly Walloon (French) dialects in the South. The language of the ruling class (French) was of course more closely related to the Walloon dialects. What didn’t help was the Dutch king’s attempts to privilege Dutch as the language of government. I wouldn’t say there was a North/South divide at the time of the revolution, though.

[@namij2560]

I'm pretty sure flemish people only joke about their rivalry with the dutchw there isn't any real resentment towads the dutch, as for the walloons, I've never seen any criticize the Netherlands

[@rogink]

@@colinD98 Yes, Hilbert suggests that the independence movement was led by 'working people' but the reality is that up to the October revolution, any dissent was by nobles and gentry against the monarch. Whether it was the barons fighting King John in 1215 or the landed gentry trying King Charles in 1645, or the 'glorious revolution' of 1689, none of it was from the peasants.

[@826292]

​@@namij2560 as a walloon, I'm more used to seeing people critize flemish people and nothing about the dutch. As a sidenote in this conversation, walloon (the language) was killed when it became officially a dialect. Otherwise the people thought of french as a foreign language. This is also the reason why the south had no obligation to learn dutch. They already had to learn french so they didn't want to learn a third (this is a big summary of the situation)

[@soul22sofia]

I love how this situation is like a 'fun with flags' episode like Sheldon in TBBT and the first one I see is the one from my own country! Very interesting!

[@josedelapinio]

I am a belgian and indeed it was a hilarious piece with the dutch flag 😂

[@yakumoyukari4405]

That's a tradition of a channel When he mentions Netherlands here goes the Dutch

[@jeroenwubbels7824]

Idd, somehow he gets the wilhelmus in every vid, running joke still running strong :D

[@jonathandaniels1311]

Ik ben ook van België en die vlag is echt van duitsland

[@YaniGamingPlayz]

ME TO

[@YaniGamingPlayz]

@@jonathandaniels1311 ik ook

[@gusmonster59]

Interesting. As someone who has ancestors from Belgium I find this interesting. My great grandparents came to the States from Belgium (the french speaking part).

[@nairbvel]

Love your videos -- you absolutely crack me up AND educate me! (Having lived just outside of Brussels for a couple of years, some of your comments make it all the funnier for me.) Keep up the good work!

[@thatoneguy7191]

Geen Kuifje meer voor jou Hilbert

[@danielklijnsma5860]

Thanks for this, Hilbert! Question on another flag: the one of the Vrystaat in South Africa. It also changed, quite recently. Maybe an interesting study, too? Keep up the good work.

[@Suldrun45]

The belgian flag also has a something quite peculiar: its dimensions... it's a rectangle with 13x15 proportions, making it almost a square

[@boeloevanboeloefontein]

Very old-fashioned in a way

[@MentalParadox]

Belgians are squares, so that fits!

[@w.callens1629]

@@MentalParadox since your name means 'van de seute/from the boring woman' I'm sure your family has been an authority on recognizing square people for several 100s of years... sorry for that

[@1959Berre]

Indeed. When you are in the train station of Brussels Nord, you can see the Belgian flag flying on top of the Proximus building. Depending on the wind directions the flag looks higher than wide. Just terrible.

[@MentalParadox]

@@w.callens1629 Gevoel voor humor: nul. En u zegt dat IK de saaipiet ben? Da's schattig. Als ik een grap wil maken over mijn eigen volk, zal ik dat doen ook.

[@Alrik.]

I'd love more videos about the Belgische Opstand (strategies and international responses) in future!

[@Robcobes]

Aka the biggest mistake ever /s

[@That-Belgian-Guy]

me too

[@jorenbosmans8065]

Yeah, we have to lil good content about Belgian history and I have the idea that schools just gloss over it. So more content would be nice.

[@belgianlegion]

true same same our history isn’t shared enough

[@JeroenJA]

it's only really about the international, first stimulation, (by french spies a lot i thought) and response, cause it were the big countries of Europe that really created Belgium, had they preferred a big the Netherlands, Belgium would not have existed, just some southern rebellion, and basically almost only around Brussels really ...

[@Swedishmafia101MemeCorporation]

The Belgian Flag lost a bet to his other flag friends and was dared to rotate 90 degrees

[@djroadie22]

I love your videos , greedz from Belgium

[@louvendran7273]

Can you do a few about the Boer Republics as they were descendants of the Hollanders and other protestant states of the region? Where else but in the middle of South Africa can you get a state named after the Dutch royal family. Lol.

[@masdenka6957]

Really great evolution of all your videos about Belgium. Not many youtube channel to talk about things related to Belgium (without just throwing the usual bullshit about the country). Your first video from years ago started off pretty bad I remember it was quite biased and missed a lot of importants things (but it was still not as bad as many other videos let's say). thanks for the quality content and greetings from Walloon Brabant.

[@morganevann3138]

Walloon Brabant is fake news, there is only one Brabant, change my mind O_o

[@belgianlegion]

a lot of ppl love to pick on us but it comes from their superiority complex

[@NickWendelsGuitarLessons]

Leuke video! Leuk om te weten!

[@F_x_SPIROU_]

Oh... It's really good video, very informative. I like it.))) ❤️👍🏻

[@Guardian1224]

As a Belgian myself I find this to be very interesting. I was expecting some explanations about the German flag too because it's the same old Belgian flag, but upside down... Maybe that's for a next video 🙂

[@TheGabygael]

As a Belgian I genuinely really like the 1790s flag, I feel like the black seperating the red and the yellow looks much more balanced and interesting,but it's maybe because I feel quite "meh" to the modern flag and any deviation from it feel novel and exciting. The way the colours of the flag were explained to me as at school was that Red and yellow were an acknowledgement to people from Liège who travelled the furthest and were particularly loyal during the revolution and black symbolised death ... But I don't really know what the emblem of Liège looks like so i might be misremembering things and a country's own telling of its history is bound to bend the Facts in favour of a compelling narrative Also I just noticed a few days ago that the reason why the whole cultural area of the low countries is so interested in lions is probably because its borders kinda look like one(or old maps where shaped like lions to reference its population ?)

[@TheGabygael]

I quite like the idea of it just adapting the colours of Brabant,it just makes more sense practically speaking. Also part of the mythos of it is that the flag is so simple in shape and design because the first one was built on a rush

[@funnySIMON99]

I'm from Liège and I've never heard this story about the Belgian flag being inspired by the flag of Liège lol. The Liègian flag is Red and Yellow (and during the revolution had "Vaincre ou mourir pour Bruxelles" (Vainquish or die for Brussels) written on it) and actually inspired the Walloon flag, the Belgian flag comes from the colors of Brabant, after all the Brabantine and Belgian revolution began in Brabant. Plus the colors Black, Yellow and Red are common to all Belgian provinces

[@perperald21]

Only amateurs lets colours meet , yellow and white are called gold and silver in heraldry, and since vexillology ,( flag science) takes most from heraldry, all colours should meet yellow or white. Black is a colour in vexillology. This is because it should be easier to see the flags colours on long distance and inclement weather

[@detaart]

@@funnySIMON99 If only they could see the future and what an absolute shithole Brussels would become lol

[@alansmithee8831]

Hello Hilbert. Interesting again for those of us who grew up learning flag and capitals and looking through books of old maps. I suspect you secretly would like to go back to horizontal? Oh and maybe review the need for a colour change? Imagine French fries to Belgian fries to Dutch fries (with mayonnaise of course. I have a picture of you in mind, as a diplomat in Vienna in 1815, insisting the Netherlands reach all the way to the newly restored to Britain joint Duchies of Normandy and Brittany. "That will keep the vertical tricolour wavers in order!"

[@micahistory]

interesting video as usual

[@rezeren5326]

Hilbert, thank you for all the work and time you put into researching these subjects and make videos about them in an approachable and easy to understand manner. I just have to ask: how did you learn to adopt such an excellent English accent? Is one of your parents from GB? Do you live there or have you lived there? If I didn't know any better I would 100% mistake you for an Englishman with that impeccable accent

[@bxle-biker]

i from brussels belgium and i learned something here thank you for sharing with us knew a lot about my country but not this one

[@jannes3290]

Generally good video but "for such a long time" (referring to 'Belgium' and 'the Netherlands' being united) is a bit misleading. The United Kingdom of the Netherlands with both today's Netherlands and Belgium, existed only from 1815 until 1830. Generally Dutch people tend to overemphasize this period so that it sounds like a longer time, and although it was without a doubt an important period, we mustn't exaggerate. Both countries have a longer history apart from each other than together.

[@cerebralflatulence2765]

You're not wrong (Dutchie here). However, ideas of some belonging together do go very far back, to at least the 16th century, as the Act of Abjuration (Acte van Verlaetinghe) was signed not just by delegates from what would later become the United Provinces, but also by Brabant and Flanders.

[@jannes3290]

@@cerebralflatulence2765 correct, but 'het Plakkaat van Verlatinghen' was more a reaction for economic reasons because the Netherlands (as in 'Lage Landen', not today's Netherlands) enjoyed some important privileges under Charles V. I don't think the average person in the this region felt a strong ('national') connection with the other political units of the Low Lands. I think the 'pragmatische sanctie' is an even better example of what you mean, but I think this was in the first place a way to streamline succession and political entities. Of course geographically, linguistically and to a certain extent culturally, the low lands were similar. But one must always be careful not to overemphasize politcal, but especially social unity. The idea of a nation state existed only from the 17th century, but realistically only from the 18th or often even 19th centuries, projecting this to earlier times is anachronistic.

[@cerebralflatulence2765]

@@jannes3290 I fully agree with you. That significant overlap does extent very far back, though. Using the term as used in the middle ages, I think a good argument can be made for most of the inhabitants of the lowlands belonging to the same ethnos throughout the middle ages and beyond. Ethnicity was defined by Regino of Prum in the late 9th century as resting on four parameters: race/descent, customs, language, and law. There is no ethnic distinction between people from Flanders or from Holland (the counties), nor was there at any point I can think of, but linguistic differences certainly existed within the modern Netherlands (think of Frisian as the most notable example), and even within the duchy of Brabant there was no uniformity in language. Wavre and Nivelles were most likely predominantly francophone before the duchy was created, whereas Antwerp and 's Hertogenbosch never were. Law in medieval Europe, especially in the low countries, is like a patchwork, too complicated to go into in this comment. Suffice to say that uniformity never existed, except between 1815 and 1830, but that the different laws were never so different as to be alien to people from elsewhere in the area. Customs suffers the same fate, a complex patchwork with significant similarities and overlap, yet distinguishable sometimes from one village to the next. The strong (national) connection you mention existed nowhere, not even within England, which came closest to nationhood in the middle ages in Western Europe. But I do think it can be argued that the later seventeen provinces were seen by Charles V as a unity for a reason. It wasn't a concoction of his own mind solely for political convenience (though it was convenient).

[@jannes3290]

@@cerebralflatulence2765 I agree, but this applies to a larger geographical area than the Netherlands and Belgium (and Luxembourg). French Flanders, the French Ardennes and German Rhineland also share the characteristics you mentioned. And during the period of the Burgundian, Burgundy also fits into this description. So then the question arises of where this 'unity' starts and stops. In my opinion there was a superficial unity over the whole area I just described because laws didn't differ much between these areas and customs were also kind of intelligible. It's also likely that they all could understand each other to a certain extent, but linguistically there were major differences even between duchies that nowadays form one political entity. For example between the Duchy of Brabant and the County of Flanders there was a significant language difference. It's always difficult to get into the thought processes of the people who lived a long time ago, assuming they thought in the same way as we do today is probably anachronistic. So I like to keep it an open question with a broad answer, it is possible people from one area in the Low Lands could probably relate on some (potentially culturally important) subjects to people from another area in the Low Lands. But just as nowadays, I am certain that there were also major differences between these areas. Now that this comment is already super long I might as well give my opinion on how the Low Lands should advance in the future. I think the Benelux has some great potential to do mutually beneficial things to make our countries more connected. Public transport and transport of goods are good examples of this. Imagine being able to take the train from Brussels to Groningen (or even starting from Luxembourg), for the same price as tickets bought within one country (or imagine it being free, like Luxembourg already does). Imagine if the largest ports of Europe, Rotterdam, Antwerp (and Bruges because Antwerp and Bruges are already fusing in the coming years) joined forces, they would have a combined volume of around 30 million TEU, making it the 3rd largest port of the world.

[@joelvanderkelen804]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Belgicus

[@chikeh1]

1:18 Botswana flag spotted in the background

[@jasyggames4315]

I live there but i didnt know about that flag, thx for that.

[@fordsonmajoor]

fun with flags !!

[@farazkhorrami8979]

Dankuwel meneer.

[@Ralphieboy]

Also avoids confusion with Germany with its horizontal stripes in black/red/gold

[@wimdefoort7698]

Thx for this man. Belgian nerd out

[@DutchTunisian]

My grandma has that old flag of belgium on her wall atleast i thought that but then I discovered thats also the flag of the esperance football club lol Edit: my tunisian grandma

[@Emanon...]

The Belgian flag should be: The Walloon Cocquerel + The Flemish Lion = Black Griffon on a Burgundy background to tie it to its Burgundian history

[@ecurewitz]

That would be badass

[@belgianlegion]

meh

[@Emanon...]

@@belgianlegion Yeah, you're right. "Almost Germany" with no symbolic meaning is so much better. Just kidding. It's a matter of taste, of course.

[@belgianlegion]

@@Emanon... havent said a thing abt germany to you if i remeber, but just know the Belgian flags came before the current flag of germany so if someone copied somone its them, and if we were to change our flag well id take the horizontal Belgian flag of 1830 and idk if you knew the coulours derives from the national emblem Lion of Brabant

[@Silence_stp]

And the people from brussels don't exist. Ok we are always forgotten 😭

[@That-Belgian-Guy]

Nice I love this! I'm a proud Belgian! by the way are you from the netherlands?

[@mkooij]

I could be wrong but I believe he's from England but his father is Frisian and his mother is Dutch and as far as I know he speaks all 3 languages fluently (English, Dutch and Frisian) and he also seems to know some French, Spanish and old-english and old-frisian bit I honestly can't gauge his proficiency with it

[@belgianlegion]

🇧🇪🫡

[@MythicalHandler]

1:43, as a dutch i must say HOLY SHIT YOUR PRONOUNCIATON OF "BRABANT" IS GOOD!!

[@MarcusCactus]

No, it's dutch. Sounds boer. Brabant is also french. And when you speak English, you pronounce Paris or Utrecht the english way, not the peasant way.

[@consciousmushroom]

@@MarcusCactus Someone seems to have had a little accident with the salt-barrel 🤣 I ken teejst it tot hier hè 🤣🤣🤣

[@NLTops]

Hilbert: What happened to the old Belgian flag? Me, a fellow Dutch person: It fell over.

[@kennethobrien6537]

Jajajajah

[@philvanderlaan5942]

Maybe one of us Dutch ( Dutch American here ) knocked it over.

[@kennethobrien6537]

@@philvanderlaan5942 I use a fake name here. I'm Dey Van Rensselaer. Where do you live at? I'm in central jersey

[@philvanderlaan5942]

@@kennethobrien6537 Colorado

[@mkooij]

@@philvanderlaan5942 what I always wonder is why Americans from Dutch or Flemish descent started writing their last names as a whole. So your name used to be: Phil van der Laan in Dutch but in America it's become Phil Vanderlaan. I've seen that all over Dutch names in the US and Canada. Do you know why that happened?

[@MattijsVandebroek]

I am a belgian, and I even didn't know it!

[@Crypt4l]

They flipped it?

[@valentincafferata182]

No

[@br0dimi]

​@@valentincafferata182 yes they did otherwise it was confusing with the German 1 the only explanation. This video is totally wrong. The Flanders got invade by the franks the romans the france the Dutch the spanish and the germans learn some Flanders history we were here before even France was started

[@gggcfg7742]

@@valentincafferata182 they did

[@valentincafferata182]

@@gggcfg7742 no

[@0AThijs]

Belgium loves France a little bit too much lol.

[@josedelapinio]

I am looking for your sources, would love to read the books.

[@ohrino]

Nice to learn a bit more about the actual origin and story of our flag. On other news, Feel free to keep on reading Kuifje ;-)

[@Epic0201]

Funny enough, i knew of that old Belgian flag but everything behind it or inbetween our modern flag was brand new news for me, nice !

[@imwinningthisone7613]

5:25 i feel like the flag was just made to represent the cockade , as black is in the middle, then yellow and the outer ring is red

[@Roos_the_artist]

Me:11 and from belgium Me is this a vid belgium vs germany or what I dint know about this And you ghot a new sub;)

[@faucillon]

Anybody got a 'fun with flags by Sheldon Cooper' feeling? :p All jokes aside, it was told pretty interestingly. Thanks for the vid!

[@kimgosseye8588]

Belgian here. Not unsubscribed! In fact it was very interesting!

[@vindex8378]

Welcome to "Fun with Flags" ^^

[@mausklick1635]

I like the first flag best.

[@pact7836]

As a belguim it's interesting to now the history of the flag and own country😐👍

[@homelessmike2068]

I'm surprised to know this only now, born and living in Belgium for over 30 years now lol.

[@beeldpuntXVI]

Dear @hilbert The reasoning why the flag changed are probably correct. Some corrections are needed article 193 of the constitution only stipulates the colors, never is stimulated with orientation it should have. But the Belgian flag is probably warbanner. The dimensions are more in line whit napoleontic banners than the regular 2:3 format. The black hangs on the mast because it is the heraldic way to hang the dark colors on the mast. So one conclusion. Our Belgian flag is onconstitutional. Many articles can be found on this topic if you want.

[@breatharian2009]

5:32 "Can we no longer read Tintin?" ~ say the Dutch to the Belgians

[@bigboiganiga8356]

Europe goes like, you get tricolours, you get tricolours and everyone get tricolours.

[@jimmyhi]

Britain 🇬🇧 Norway 🇳🇴 Iceland 🇮🇸 Netherlands 🇳🇱 Belguim 🇧🇪 Germany 🇩🇪 France 🇫🇷 Estonia 🇪🇪 Latvia 🇱🇻 Lithuania 🇱🇹 Russia 🇷🇺 Those are the lands I could think of.

[@memeseagull6937]

@@jimmyhi also Ireland,Faroe Islands, italy,slovenia,serbia,andorra,belarus,moldova, and luxembourg

[@bigboiganiga8356]

@@jimmyhi To be honest, I dont hate British flag the same way I hate other stupidly similar tricolours flag. British flag even simple 3 colours, has a very modern design unlike any flag else. While German and Belgium flags look very uncreatively tricolours.

[@moladiver6817]

@@bigboiganiga8356 At least the Dutch flag is the original tri-color and the first with red, white and blue. All the others are copies of the concept.

[@JohnDoe_75]

You are right but did you know that the Belgian flag as described in the constitution still is the one with the horizontal stripes rather than the vertical ones.

[@Japan_empire14]

I live in Belgium

[@BoerChris]

Can you perhaps tell us, in another video, why Noord-Brabant remained in the Netherlands after 1830?. I lived in Tilburg, Noord-Brabant for 5 years.

[@spitsmuis4772]

00:20 "Before 1830" and then the Wilhelmus starts, which has only been your national anthem from 1932

[@bloopbird7057]

nice

[@levinschmidt1121]

it is southern netherlands

[@MarcusCactus]

No. Netherlands is north Belgium, rather. Belgium was civilized since Roman times. North Netherlands only since many Belgians fled the Spanish inquisition and civilized Holland.

[@StoicHistorian]

More flag content

[@firenter]

Every year around the national holiday we still get people arguing wether or not it's the red or the black side that should go on the flagpole side xD

[@kennethobrien6537]

In the new Netherlands society of America we argue about red and orange every time too. I feel your pain.

[@jorenbosmans8065]

I only heard the argument when the Red Devils were doing well and somebody complained that people were hanging the flag wrong 😅

[@belgianlegion]

and i think it should be horizontal again

[@lkjmp]

A lot of flags in this video!

[@Leman.Russ.6thLegion]

Yo, the flip falg?

[@livewithintention1625]

Where are you from? Cos your Dutch accent is great but equally you sound a little northern (UK)!

[@uberbellith4892]

The old Belgian flag (from the second Belgian revolution in 1830) is still the one being mentioned in its constitution (and thus never changed)! Also the horizontal stripes may have been easier to use during war, as the flag could be damaged. "Art. 193 De Belgische Natie kiest als kleuren rood, geel en zwart, en als rijkswapen de Belgische Leeuw met de kenspreuk EENDRACHT MAAKT MACHT." "The Belgian nation chooses red, yellow and black, and the Belgian Lion as coat of arms with the motto 'unity / union makes power / strong'."

[@patrikfagard6525]

My interpretation of this is it just states what colours represents the Belgian nation. It makes no mention of what the Belgian flag should look like though it would make sense that it incorporates the national colours. Our flag is based more on convention rather than defined by a constitution and so we are free to change it any time we want.

[@Johan-ne4go]

Dutch and deutsch flags have almoust the same colors so thats why they changed it to a vertical oriantation for not to mess up.....

[@geerttaelemans657]

But why the strange size of our flag

[@northbreeze0111]

Wilhelmus van nassauwe ben ik van duitsen blood. Damn it, I'm Swedish. Cool song thpugh

[@kahdeksan]

it rotated 90 degrees

[@DeFraans]

Black at the hoist of the flag? I read a few times now that the order of colours was not described, people just assumed this was the order and they did it ever since.

[@uytteb]

Exactly. Even the orientation isn’t described anywhere.

[@devidia]

I don't think it was ever horizontal... The constitution does state that red comes first, but over time black came into use as first color because it's esthetically more pleasing

[@micahistory]

please visit micahistory 2, it would mean a lot!

[@markusskram4181]

Cool

[@kartizel7791]

It’s sad that the Belgium flag fell over

[@detaart]

It had to pay too much taxes and died

[@chiron14pl]

You left out Wallonia. Its flag is a red cock (rooster) on a yellow background, so both colors are also part of the Belgian national flag. The tension between the the French-speaking Walloons, and the Dutch-speaking Flemish may yet result in a fracture of the country.

[@moloreanm1657]

The constitution does not indeed says something about the orientation, it still to this day defines red yellow black...

[@daroachdawgjr]

*Why did it change?* Germany said no and the Netherlands was still bitter.

[@Thanadeez]

germany didn't have those colors at the time i think

[@kennethobrien6537]

Um... no.

[@daroachdawgjr]

@@kennethobrien6537 Erm, yes. Kind of cringe tbh🤔

[@deur3598]

germany didnt have those colors yet though

[@Pakrac]

The change from horizontal to vertical had a more different reason. Flags with horizontal lines where to reflect that states were "ancient regimes". France was the first republic and therefore "enlightend". Other new "enlightened" states also changed that direction. During the so called revolution, French troups were involved, so therefore the French flag was rised. The Dutch troops that 'invaded' after, unsuccesfully they tried to take back land for the royal dutch. The name 'Belgium' is -by the way- a kind of mistranslation of the Latin Belgica what was the name for the complete Netherlands. In 1830 the "revolution" was a kind of return to France, 15 years after the fall of Napoleon in Waterlo (little village in Brabant). Therefore Germany and the United Kingdom placed a German royal (and brother of the king of the UK) to be king of Belgium. The beginning of Belgium has in fact nothing to do with locals who wants to be independed, but everything with the big states surrounding the land. Another example, the city of Antwerpen stayed the longest in the Netherlands and even when officialy part of the new state, Antwerp displayed other sympaties. The statue of Leopold the First was displayed riding on his horse back to Brussels. Much mayors of Antwerp have been confirmed as "orangist", and still today many Antwerp politicians from all sites of the spectrum shows a great appreciation for the orangist approach. Dispite that the royal house of the Netherlands started with the brother of Napoleon to be stated as a king, King Willem the First of the Netherlands is considered the best all time king for the Netherlands. Please, also remember, the French speaking part of the Netherlands were not French speaking in 1830, but they spoke Walloon and Picardic, both Germanic languages (with a strong Latin influence).

[@TheStickCollector]

I thought jus the old german flag changed or never got official. didn't know about belgium's

[@KDubOriginal]

Why was orange used instead of red in this whole video? Especially when the thumbnail has the correct colors

[@joenobody5631]

House Lannister is Belgian? I had no idea.

[@Cenn_Devel]

I like the way you pronounce “Brabant”. Almost like you are dutch.

[@suzygeysen1628]

For Hainaut however, he needs more practice....

[@kein-lebenx-x2197]

Mogen wij geen kuifje meer lezen? whaha ik ga stuk 😂

[@kwnwong4714]

im from belgium, didnt even know

[@SilentExplorer0]

Same

[@2adamast]

0:28 Dutch revisionism: _not recognized as the official national anthem until 1932_

[@The_O]

Your pronunciation of "Brabant" was almost spot on. Where are you from, Hilbert?

[@Mammel248]

He's Dutch and from the sound of it from "boven de rivieren".

[@Alden4]

@@Mammel248 He sounds like he comes from Sunderland in Northern England.

[@Mammel248]

@@Alden4 He's definitely Dutch or at least raised to speak Dutch from a very young age. The very last thing he says is Dutch and is pronounced like a native speaker from the northern part of the Netherlands would.

[@Alden4]

@@Mammel248 I never said he is not Dutch. 🙂 I said he sounds like he comes from Sunderland. It is possible for someone to be Dutch and also live in Sunderland for most of their life. 🙂 Also, you do not have to be a native of a country to pronounce words like a native. If you study a language properly, as a linguist does, you can pronounce words and speak as if you are a native. Finally, I know a lot of English people that cannot even pronounce some English words properly. So, that does not mean that they are not English. 🙂

[@joelvanderkelen804]

Very strange to hear "Hainaut" pronounced like "I know". How it was pronounced when Philippa of Hainaut became Edward III's queen consort I don't know. But nowadays, "Hennuyers", those living in Hainaut, say something like "hen-O", which is consistent with Hennegouw (Dutch) or Hennegau (German). Didn't understand the "Kuifje" joke. A century too early. Would have thought Kings & Flags were somehow related. The Earl of Chambord never became King Henry V of France, because he rejected the "Bleu-Blanc-Rouge" flag. In Belgium, there is the Blanc-Bleu-Belge, but that has nothing to do with flags. House Wettin, and thus Haus Sachsen-Coburg & Gotha, use horizontal sable and gold (black & yellow) as their coat of arms. No link ? And I think the coat of arms of Brussels is gules with a golden St Michael vanquishing a sable demon : red, yellow, black. Must have had some influence, mustn't it ?

[@tibobruffaerts]

Im from belgiun black is from being brave yellow is mood and red is love

[@alainadriaens9662]

There are lots of sorts of yellow. The real color yellow used in the Belgian flag is "gold", symbol of whealth. A Belgian and proud to be one.

[@noahvandepitte406]

Yes the dutch have their stripes horizontal so the flag would last longer😂

[@imwinningthisone7613]

I'm pretty sure germany uses gold and belgium yellow

[@Munkeyy]

Good Video i liked watching it since im belguim but... The way you say brabant and limburg is like any dutch guy would. +Extras

[@30-hz]

i have to commend you on pronouncing the location names correctly, most people just take a wild guess lol

[@moladiver6817]

I'm pretty sure he's multi lingual. 😉

[@TheRealMarx]

This video made me want some waffles

[@ecurewitz]

And chocolates

[@valeriozoncheddu1033]

Do the Italian flag please

[@IceGuadian]

Shouldve been a tricolour on 45 degree angle to really stick out from all the big powers

[@detaart]

And the actual flag should have been a trapezoid

[@IceGuadian]

@@detaart with the skinny side of the trapezoid to the pole

[@detaart]

@@IceGuadian Except for bank holidays.

[@Titanic126]

So wasn't it because of the influence of the first king of Belgium? Because he was a formal Gerrman noble (duke) and he thinks the flag of Belgium looks to simular to the German flag if the lines where horizontal (that's the story I always learnt, even on school).

[@martijnkeisers5900]

The Germans used a different flag at that time.

[@tpr4eu]

There was no such thing like “Germany” in that time, it was a bunch of different states in the middle of Europe, today’s German flag didn’t even exist. The first King of the Belgians was of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha origin but a British army officer.

[@barvdw]

as others have said, Germany didn't exist at that time, and the particular colour scheme is of a more recent date than the Belgian flag. The German tricolour dates from the 1848 Revolution, a largely failed series of liberal uprisings, and wouldn't be used as the national colours until after WWI, rescinded by the Nazis who didn't appreciate the liberal and pro-democratic origins, and renewed after WWII. The colours were said to originate from the German Burschenschaften or student associations.

[@SylviaRustyFae]

It didnt change, someone just tipped it over and no ones got around to fixin it since

[@bear.2d]

poor lion 😿

[@tibobruffaerts]

There is a flag of flanderens where the flag is red whit red cause of us being brave and winnen a miricale fight and the whole river had blood exept from the middle thats why red white red

[@janbormans3913]

Sheldon, is that you?

[@peterderidder2655]

There is one little mistake my friend , the flag of flanders you showed to us is not the original flag of flanders, The ONLY original flag of flanders is a yellow field with a complete Black lion ! no red clauws on it . Only yellow and black, nothing red in it. BTW this was a verry interesting vid, thanks !

[@shinobisauren]

De vlaamse vlag is altijd roodgeklauwd en getongd geweest, teruggaand tot het wapenboek Gelre en het wapen van graaf Robrecht van Vlaanderen op zn minst. De zwart geklauwde 'strijdvlag' is altijd enkel een recenter symbool voor vlaams-nationalisten geweest. Laten we geen hedendaagse politiek met geschiedenis verwarren.

[@peterderidder2655]

@@shinobisauren Kan zijn, ik heb 50 jaar geleden geleerd op school dat het zwarte klauwen zijn. En zo zal het voor mij steeds blijven. Wellicht heb je gelijk, maar het kan mij echt geen bal schelen. Vriendelijke groetjes en nog een fijn weekeind

[@robertnortan87]

The first flag of the French Republic started as red white and blue too.

[@williamromine5715]

Being an American, I fully agree that the French revolution was much more significant at the time, than the American revolution(although, I would note that the American revolution had some impact on the subsequent French revolution). It took some 100+ years of expansion, before America became a powerhouse on the world stage. Whereas, the after effects of the French revolution were felt on the continent fairly quickly. Thank you for your channel. It's informative and entertaining.