What was the Belgian Revolution? | History of Belgium 1815

Why Isn't Belgium Part of France or the Netherlands? Well the reason why is the topic of today's video: the Belgian Revolution of 1815!
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0:00 - Intro
1:23 - Reasons for the Belgian Revolution
6:25 - The Revolution Breaks Out
10:46 - International Response
12:11 - Belgium's King
14:22 - Outro
Music Used:
Teller of the Tales - Kevin MacLeod
Prelude and Action- Kevin MacLeod
Lost Frontier - Kevin MacLeod
Symphony No. 5 - Beethoven
Ride of the Valkyries - Wagner
Sunday Dub - Kevin MacLeod
Send me an email if you'd be interested in doing a collaboration! [e-mail]
#Belgium #Nederland #Belgie

[@dundrawir8333]

Choosing leopold was a very smart move, firstly he is german. He was educated in the UK and married a French princess. Thus silenced all surrounding great powers. Besides this, another interesting fact. Members of the Belgian royal house are not allowed to marry members of the Dutch royal house by law.

[@naj_z]

Indeed. This is now a problem because rumours are going around that the Dutch crown princess has an eye on a Belgian prince haha.

[@melkorlapich802]

Isn’t saxe-coburg the house that prince Albert was from as well

[@timpauwels3734]

@@melkorlapich802 Leopold I was Victoria’s uncle

[@francoisdebellefroid2268]

It was... Leopold was indeed German, but wasn't raised in the UK. He was raised in Germany, then in Russia in which army he served during the napoleonic wars. Though, he was related to the UK since he married Charlotte, princess of Wales (making him the prince of Wales, a title he held until his death in 1865)... Unfortunately, Charlotte had a miscarriage where both the child and she died (making Victoria the new heir to the throne of Great Britain). Deeply saddened, it is said the future king never smiled again. Even though, the house of Sax-Coburg-and-Gotha didn't say its last word in the UK, since Leopold introduced his own nephew, Albert, to the very new and young Queen Victoria... and it was a great match !

[@WilfredVeltman]

Das Haus Von Sachsen Coburg. A family whose core business was something like a stud farm, where princes and princesses where bred and raised to marry within the European royal families...

[@SafariPilot]

Nice to see some history of Belgium that is not about the Congo or as a footnote of invasion.

[@animatorofanimation128]

I just want to say, as a Belgian, you did a fantastic job with this video and recounting the events. I remember your old video on Belgium was one of the first I watched years ago and I immediately had a bad impression of the channel due to the omissions and inaccuracies in it, but this retelling is great! looking forward to watching more of your stuff in the future!

[@here_we_go_again2571]

Will Belgian survive?

[@historywithhilbert146]

Thank you David I really appreciate the feedback! Wanted to revisit the topic and do it justice this time around :)

[@hydrocharis1]

@@historywithhilbert146 I must say that you kinda redeemed yourself with the last two videos. I thought you would just jump on the bandwagon of Dutch irredentism and change the history in this light like many Dutchmen along with some of the more extreme Flemish nationalists like to do. This irks me quite a lot as a Belgian and I do think I speak for the large majority of Belgians and Flemings despite our severe lack of nationalism and internal political division. I have no problem at all with you mocking general Belgian bureaucracy and general organisational mess. But always hearing on the internet that you are inferior and should be colonized in comment sections honestly hurts, spurred various channels with Dutch ties like yours in the past. However with these videos you do a nice job of representing the various factors that contributed to Belgian independence and educating the youtube public of the Netherlands, Belgium and beyond who want to bend history for their political standpoints. Even if unlike me you advocate for Flanders to join the Netherlands you are doing the history justice in this little series. So thanks a lot for that.

[@capusvacans]

Couldn't agree more, the first one was way too much "hup holland hup", almost making it seem asif the revolution happened because the weather felt revolutionary that day. And Flanders reuniting with the netherlands? Lol, if that happens it will also be the day that i become a separatist. Same if Flanders were to split from Belgium, in which case i will instantly become a west flemish separatist.

[@robrechtvanbethune7663]

@@capusvacans I see no problem in reuniting with the Dutch, if I look at Belgium now, Flanders with Wallonia, it doesn't work neither. So at least if we would join the Dutch again, we can speak the same language. No issue's about that, like we have now in the area like Brussels and other border regions.

[@Artur_M.]

Great video! One of the reasons for the outbreak of the November Uprising in 'Congress Poland' were rumours that Russia might intervene in the Belgian Revolution and that Polish troops are going to be used in such intervention. The conservative Emperor Nicholas I, who in time earned the nickname "gendarme of Europe", was also the brother-in-law of the Dutch Crown Prince, so it seemed quite possible. Mike Duncan talked about how the November Uprising influenced the London Conference in episode 6.8b (The Belgian Revolution) of his Revolutions Podcast, even remarking that "Poland is always the key to everything". ;-)

[@Dear_Mr._Isaiah_Deringer]

😮i didn't know Mike Duncan had another podcast besides the history of rome… thanks man!👍

[@Artur_M.]

@@Dear_Mr._Isaiah_Deringer Oh yeah, you are in for a ride! Revolutions podcast started in 2013 and has hundreds of episodes. It currently is in its (supposedly) final 'season', covering the Russian Revolution, which is already the longest one but doesn't seem to be anywhere near the completion.

[@alansmithee8831]

Hello Hilbert. Learned a lot about Belgium again. Spain - the Dutch are revolting All - the French are revolting All - the French are revolting again. Holland - the Belgians are revolting. Hilbert - I am Frisian. Looking forward to part 3.

[@koantao8321]

It's a revolting story for you, get over it, It's peaceful now.

[@belgianlegion]

we love the frisk

[@jannoottenburghs5121]

Also for the Dutch speakers here There is a great book (and podcast series) called het verlies van België that really goes into detail on the topic

[@jannoottenburghs5121]

Also a really good video, Hilbert!!

[@ZechsMerquise195]

I am looking forward to the next video. Especially because one of the battle during the "tien daagse veldtocht" was fought in the garden of the house I grew up in.

[@explodedgames984]

Loved the "België" meme with the Cadets marching in the beginning! Lmao

[@Dasbelg]

America: our revolution started when we threw shiploads of british goods into the ocean in a regection of royal taxation. France: our revolution started when we stormed the kings prison to free the politcal prisoners unjustly held there. Belgium: well there was this dam good oprah...

[@christoguichard4311]

No-one outside the U.S has a clue what you are referring to...🙄

[@Dasbelg]

@@christoguichard4311 i am quite confident that the bosten tea party is well known enough amongst people that watch historical content on KZbin. For them to understand what I mean. It is realy not an obscure insident.

[@MDP1702]

I'd argue the revolution started more due to the starvation/price and availability of bread and ofcourse some other factors, also the bastille wasn't stormed for the prisoners, rather the gunpowder stored there.

[@paulcock8929]

It was a terrible opera, and what followed is a prison state for the Flemish majority.

[@brandonlyon730]

I thought the U.S revolution started to pick up steam after the Boston massacre.

[@amaccama3267]

Thanks for this. I'm really enjoying these .

[@theearlofmarch]

Great video mate! Love this part of history! I had a random question and wanted to ask how many languages you speak? Your knowledge base is quite impressive! Cheers mate

[@peterjerman7549]

Honestly great video. Happy to see this topic given its proper justice in terms of an objective perspective on the Revolution. Some additional details: the revolution itself is called the Brabantian Revolution (also why the Belgian anthem is called "La Brabançonne". Also I'm sure this will be addressed in the next video, but eventually parts of the Southern Netherlands remained Dutch despite participating in the Revolution, Mostly thinking of Zeeland, Limburg and Brabant here.

[@remyvermunt8623]

Very interesting to watch. As a Dutch living in Belgium, i sometimes encounter prejudice or even hostility. Maybe this has a historical background ;) BTW my compliments for your pronunciation on 3 languages!

[@micahistory]

very interesting video, I never knew about this history

[@jeffgraham9208]

Fantastic! I use your information to open many fascinating discussions. Clearly the topic tonight at supper will be, “Who should be or where do you get the first King of the Belgians?” ; how fun.

[@BramVanhooydonck]

I'm really curious to see how Hilbert will cover the later topics, like continuation of French aristocracy and separatist movements within Belgium, as well as the economic shift.

[@nairbvel]

I've really been enjoying your history of Belgium -- somehow I never got a lot of this information back when I lived there in the 1980s! You also put a smile on my face with that little snippet of song at the end credits, I remember it being one of the very first music videos I ever saw (back while living there). 🙂

[@grainofsalt1217]

The song is Het Goede Doel - België (Is er leven op Pluto?)

[@Game_Hero]

I just love Belgium and especially its comic book scene and architecture.

[@kjellvanderpoten3141]

the comic book scene is dope, architecture though?

[@Game_Hero]

@@kjellvanderpoten3141 Have you ever been to Antwerp or Brussels? The buildings have such a charm to them and a unique visual flavour

[@kjellvanderpoten3141]

@@Game_Hero Antwerp I'm not really familiar with, but my impression is a mismatch of modern and old Brussels I know a bit though and that just screams poverty and crime. So it's hard to appreciatie the newer quarters. I guess being from Belgium colours my opinions of those places a bit. I guess the historic centers of the smaller citys are nice though, most famous example Brugge, but honestly that's more a lot rather then pretty

[@kjellvanderpoten3141]

@@thecrusader3400 maybe I go to brussels sometimes cuz it's nearby lmao, Bruges is such a tourist trap and Ghent I'm sorry I go semi-regularly to gent and that place is just so bland and feels very poluted, still better then Aalst though. can't speak for leuven though. but I liked bastogne and namur. Dinant was very unimpressive though. I guess Damme is ok. anyhow I personally like traditional for historic Germany like rhur area I guess(this was long ago though so don't take me to serious on that). and for modern Prague. Also the situation really did not call for that kind of language and if you do use it be a man and say fuck.

[@samspranghers2433]

@@kjellvanderpoten3141 well... I don't know which cities you actually like but Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges,... have a ton of historical buildings. The city maintains these things very well also. Just by looking around you can get a sense of how these three cities were a/the main economic medieval centre in Northern Europe. I don't think there are a lot of cities in Northern Europe that portray these riches from the past in a better way..

[@kazakhdoge1822]

Hey Hilbert, can you cover about Central Asia's role in WW2, please? Thank you!

[@vivalarevolucion9]

Cool thing is that the house of Saxe-Coburg is directly related to the Thuringe, Burgundy and Hesse houses... themselves directly related (through many marriages) to the house of Brabant-Limburg, the ancient dukes reigning over the area as kings. The duchy hereditarily went from the house of Brabant-Limburg to the house Burgundy a bit before the Spanish era. Charles V, direct descendant of Charles the bold (duke of burgundy) and Philip II of Spain (his son) marked the Spanish era. Technically, the duchy of Brabant remain all along in the hands of legitimate descendants of the Brabant house... so having reinstalled a Saxe-Coburg as king was just like switching a branch (the "Romance" one) of one's family for another (the "Germanic" one), no big deal. 🙂

[@dantedante839]

"Brabant-Limburg" wasn't a "Romance branch" at all. IT WAS GERMANIC just like the rest of Burgundy until the French started to impose their language long time before.

[@beeldpuntXVI]

History with Gilbert, in het nationaal congres the Flemish part wanted Willem the second van oranje as its king. The son of willem was loved in Brussel. It was the belgian version of up your,…. But the English wanted Leopold gone, as an advisor of queen Victoria he’s time was long past due. Fun fact the horizontal flag is actually the only correct one by constitution. We use practically the warbanner whit vertical stripes. “ de Belgische kiest als kleuren rood, geel en zwart,…” en niet zoals wij nu leren zwart geel en rood.

[@KR-jt4ut]

People in Antwerp were against this "revolution", King Willem did very good things in/for Antwerp. A French army had to come to kick out the Dutch army from the citadel. .... and another French army came to beat the Dutch army coming from the north ('ten days war").

[@funkyfennec3680]

now that's a lot better than your previous one on Belgium (which I think you should delete for the sake of History), this one is clear, quick and good, proficiat !

[@lucinae8510]

Leopald I was originally married to Princess Charlotte, the only child of the future George IV of Britain. Sadly she died giving birth to a stillborn son, and Leopald stayed in Britain until he was asked to become King of Belgium and was remarried to Louise, eldest daughter of Louis-Philippe I of France. His sister Victoria was the mother of Queen Victoria, and his brother Ernest was the father of Prince Albert, making him both of their uncles. This is why the British and Belgian royal families were called the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, until WW1 to sound less German. Another brother was named Ferdinand, his eldest son (also named Ferdinand) married Maria II of Portugal, starting the House of Braganza-Saxe-Coburg and Gotha that ruled Portugal until it was deposed in 1910. While his second son August's youngest son became Ferdinand I of Bulgaria and founded the Bulgarian royal family.

[@gunterke]

The Belgian royal family still is called the house of Saxe-Coburg, we never changed it to something else.

[@kaloarepo288]

The last queen of Italy was a daughter of the Belgian king - In Italy she was known as "Jose del Belgio" and she was much loved but her reign only lasted about 1 month -she was married to the last king Umberto II.

[@macten6819]

Funny how most of the reasons for the revolution would be total non-issues today. -Church has been properly separated from the state and far too few followers to have an impact. -Monarchs have literally no power. -Political system is completely fair though the Dutch have a much larger population nowadays. -State debt is well managed. -People have the common sense now that learning another language increasing your chances for a good job.

[@eddys.3524]

Hilbert, great job in explaining how the separation of the Netherlands and Belgium came to be. The only thing in school that was tought, in my days, about these events was the Ten Day Campaign and the rather propagandistic claim that Belgium became independant after that campaign... which proves to be incorrect. The background of the uprising was completely disregarded in the curriculum, probably because it could be interpreted as critique on the Dutch Monarchy.

[@andreascovano7742]

3:51 not to scale obviusly

[@historywithhilbert146]

Lol I actually forgot to change that :O

[@CyberTribalism]

You forgot to mention that the Dutch revolt started in the South, was fought mostly in and by the South even.. Amsterdam was a village of 5000 people in 1560, that sided the first 20, 30 years of the war with the Empire.

[@MrPbhuh]

Partially, the first successes were in the far north by William the silents brother and in Zeeland by the watergeuzen. This pretty much secured the first areas of resistance. Further lots of fighting happened in catholic pockets here too, but you are right that most of the fighting was in the south and around the border.

[@owengalvin9275]

Nice

[@aaronmarks9366]

11:46 Damn, that's one hell of a political cartoon. France as a rabbit (or hare?), Britain as a fox, Russia as a freaking polar bear (!), Austria as a... sheep? ape?, Prussia as a horse, and tied up in the background, the Dutch lion and the Belgian (Wallonian?) rooster...

[@thinkandthank7406]

Look at the woman under the bear

[@proto6086]

Notification squad here

[@bambi8179]

Always great videos

[@LordBitememan]

Wait, wasn’t Saxe-Coburg also the royal family of England too?

[@here_we_go_again2571]

Yes. Victoria (born a Hanover) and Albert -- i.e. *"Albert,* *Prince Consort"* ... Victoria's husband, was from the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha dynasty. Victoria and Albert were related through Victoria's mother (born as Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld)

[@youthinasia4103]

They than changed their name to the house of Windsor during ww1 to souls less GERMAN to keep the eyes of the peasants off their backs long enough to distract them and defeat the German Empire along side Austria Hungary

[@cathedralboi4970]

@@here_we_go_again2571 Not only that but Albert was Leopold’s nephew. he was the one that urged albert to go to England to meet queen Victoria. Leopold was also Victoria’s pen pal. When you look at it now being her pen pal and introducing his cousin to her was properly a plan to make good relations with England insuring his young nasion would continue to exist thanks to international support.

[@rogerdines6244]

@@here_we_go_again2571 Leopold was the older Victoria's brother. His first wife was Charlotte, Princess of Wales, George IV's daughter, who died in childbirth while her father was still alive, causing his brothers suddenly to rush to get married: Charlotte died in 1817, and the younger Victoria was born in 1819. Though her father was George IV's fourth brother, he was the most senior of them to produce a viable heir (Frederick, Duke of York had no legitimate children and all of William IV's legitimate children were either stillborn or died in extreme infancy).

[@here_we_go_again2571]

@@cathedralboi4970 Yes. All of the European monarchs were (still are) related in some manner. I agree about good relations between monarchs. Unfortunately, Kaiser Wilhem ii wanted to supercede others (like the English) and encroach on other's land (like the Russians)

[@normalgoat6419]

What I don't understand is the following: I have noticed relatively stark differences between Belgian and Dutch culture. For example, Flemish last names seem different from Dutch last names (vanden Berg vs van den Berg or De Bruyne vs de Bruine). Also, the architecture in Belgium seems completely different, especially historic architecture. This is even the case in places that are very close to the Dutch border, like Antwerp or Bruges. I often see certain types of buildings in Belgium that I simply never see in the Netherlands and vice versa. The mentality behind urban planning also seems completely different in both countries. Belgium also doesn't seem to care for orderliness, which is kind of weird. Ultimately, this all makes me think that these two countries have always been separate to some extent, but I'm not sure what the ultimate root cause is of these differences. I really like Belgium as a country, but I don't think we belong together.

[@flitsertheo]

Part of the differences are explained by the Netherlands being austere Calvinists and the Belgians Burgundian Catholics. A generalisation which is slowly fading away as religion is not so important anymore in either country. As for the name variations, those are not really linked to a country but more to a local civil servant and his idea of spelling a name.

[@xNeverlandxx]

Well , we are not that different tbh.. mostly indeed is because of religious reasons and migration.. Catholic had more catholic french /spanish influence and the protestant more german protestant influence , they also think that this might be the reason of the soft and the hard "g" sound ( cause if you hear the flamish and the southern Netherlands they are catholic and also have the soft "g" sound while the protestant have noticeable the hard "g" sound ) .. about the name , the flamish wer earlier with the surnames compared to the Dutch.. and altho it isn't much I think it's around 1795 that the Flamish had their surname (required) because of the French.. in 1804 they used the spelling of siegenbeek , while in the Netherlands they weren't required to have a surname untill 1811 , this is why you see the difference in the surnames.. The building's are actually really interessting .. Idk if you noticed but in big city's in Flanders or Brussels or the Netherlands they have a typical thing with their own touch to it.. The houses are small but tall , and this had to do with "tax" you had to pay based on how wide your house was.. So , they decided to build up to pay less. . This is what you notice in city's like Amsterdam , Antwerp , Brussels , .. ( at least that's what I learned about the building's in Brussels) So , I hope I could clear some thing's up for you . 😁

[@roelantverhoeven371]

the talleyrand proposal would give most of wallonia and brussels to france, antwerp and the county of flanders (so the western half of what is nowadays refered to as flanders) to the UK, the campine regio to the netherlands and the limburg and liege regio to germany

[@wesleyh7945]

While as a dutchy i can't NOT be salty about the existence of Belgium, i understand it a lot better now. Great videos. If the northern Netherlands were more accommodative and fair, and less tyrannical towards the south, they may very well have stayed. I blame the northern leadership of that time now instead of the foreign power intervention that's gonna be in the next part. Given the content of this series, that is just an inevitable, sensible conclusion. Hell, if the northern leadership was just better at being oppressive, or some actual fucks were given by the great powers at the London conference, Belgium likely would not exist today, at least not in it's current form. The existence of todays Belgium really seems like a weird fluke in all the possible outcomes in the multiverse.

[@davgg9621]

Just get over it, it's been almost 200 years now. We Belgians managed ourselves pretty good so far, without you.

[@jsb7975]

Since the separation at the end of the 16th century, the Flemmish weren't too fond of the Dutch. specially since the Scheld had been closed for Antwerp. The separation led to ever greater devide in culture during more than two centuries. Rejoining never would have worked (and never will).....

[@jfv65]

@@davgg9621 maybe Flanders + Zeeland + North Brabant + Limburg would have made a good stable state? 1 language, (almost) 1 catholic religion , 1 big seaport, good energy sources (coal), reasonable agricultural potential, river Maas for transport, heavy industry in Liege. River Rhine as the border. I think it could have worked.

[@paulcock8929]

@@davgg9621 No, we did not. We would be better of if Flanders stayed in the Netherlands, and Wallonia would go to France.

[@joskevermeulen3271]

@@paulcock8929 Ik ben liever Vlaming dan een Nederlander en gij kunt oprotten als het daar toch zoveel beter is.

[@galahad-history]

10:56 Hmm what about a video about November Uprising in Poland in 1830-31 then? Polish uprisings are pretty unknown for world public except maybe the Warsaw one from ww2.

[@aaronmarks9366]

I totally second this. So many in the 19th century alone.

[@brandonlyon730]

There was also a massive Hungarian revolt in Austria that happened prior to the creation of the 2 nation state of Austria-Hungary.

[@rondidju]

Will we hear about the one legged folk hero from my town, Jean Joseph Charlier in the 3rd part? :)

[@JJadx]

very interesting looking back to it's brief history. unfortunate we had to take it back again. Belgium: 1830 - 2023.

[@istoppedcaring6209]

Brussels was not mainly french, that was just the capital where much of the elite would have been, and it is known that they immediatly started paying for recruits as well

[@Filip-ko8wl]

Fun Fact, Leopold I Is the uncle of prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and he is the one who introduced Albert to the soon to be queen Victoria, Albert and Victoria got married a few years later

[@jeanbonnefoy1377]

It is worth mentioning that while Leopold was crowned King of the Belgians, over the border in France, in the wake of July Revolution, Louis-Philippe had become King of the Frenchmen instead of King of France like all his predecessors, up to Charles X.

[@MrTohawk]

Why did you call it Orleans at 3:00 when it is Orléans?

[@flitsertheo]

Because Dutch like to speak French but can't pronounce it correctly.

[@arozes8324]

are you gona make a video about Belgium in ww2 ?

[@istoppedcaring6209]

the crazy thing is that the same dynamic in terms of representation exists today wallonia is overrepresented by about the same margin as the north was .

[@lorefox201]

incredible how influential just a play could be

[@faithlesshound5621]

Over a century later, a newsreel about the execution of Mussolini led the cinema audience to rush to the palace and hang the president of Paraguay from a lamp-post.

[@corpchannel2523]

Philippine Revolution (August 23 1896-June 12 1898) Next

[@ecurewitz]

When I think Revolution, I think of a totally sweet Beatles song

[@robbietorkelsonn8509]

fun fact: one of the only real author who was a veteran of the Belgian war of independence was Hendrik Conscience, a famous Belgian writer of Nationalist history, from wich most of the youth has a notion of Flemish history that is somewhat distorted.

[@redhutsgaming3067]

As a Belgian I really love the video since I hear different opinions about this. I think it is better then your other video you made about Belgium a year or two back. And I would like to think what the United Kingdom of the Netherlands would look like today but I wouldn’t work that well I think. Thank you so much for this video because I only will learn this next year.

[@belgian-choklate675]

In wallonia the common people spoke walloon and not french...French was the language of both the walloon and flemish/brabant/limburgish bourgeoisie.

[@toddbonin6926]

As someone with both Belgian and Dutch ancestry, I’m sincerely proud of both nations. I wish they were united, as it would be such an amazing country (and I always fear Belgium will split and the Walloons will unite with France … I don’t want that).

[@bitou592]

it might split, but waloons will do anything to not let that happens, walloons wont accept to be french as they really hate them ahahaah (who doesnt').

[@duneydan7993]

@@bitou592 to be fair I think it's not gonna split (well I hope so) as wallonia wouldn't unite with France and Vlanderen wouldn't unite with the Nederlands. And alone they aren't economicaly strong enough to survive. At least that's my theory.

[@bitou592]

@@duneydan7993 spliting or not, it's always painfull to see brothers stabing each others in the back, I Hope some day people reunites behind the same black yellow and red flag.

[@BamBamGT1]

Flanders with Netherlands, Wallonia with France, and Brussels can serve as European capital district. That's my ideal option.

[@epinoke4168]

@@BamBamGT1 NO thanks

[@mister4593]

Nooit geleerd op school, vreemd

[@kightsun]

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth is actually a Popular Monarch in Papua New Guinea. Her constitutional role is much more honest to practice than any other Commonwealth Realm.

[@alejandrocantu4652]

It would be interesting to thing if the southern area never revolved against the north and Netherlands remained as one country. What would the first world war look like, Since Britain guaranteed Belgium neutrality would their do the same for a United Netherlands and would Germany for invaded the Netherlands as part of the schliffen plan.

[@brandonlyon730]

Wonder how the Congo would’ve been divided in that reality?

[@alejandrocantu4652]

@@brandonlyon730 I think the french would be getting the Congo, as they tried to actually take it.

[@brandonlyon730]

@@alejandrocantu4652 Well every great power at the time of the African scramble wanted the Congo. The reason Belgium got it in the first place was because they were constitutionally a neutral state and was willing to trade all of the congo’s rich resources with all the other great powers so they just hand it over to them and not start a major war over it.

[@kjellvanderpoten3141]

well the brits guaranteed because of the revolt, and it kept belgium neutral in wars for the netherlands there is no such motivation an invasion of the netherlands as a whole is very possible as well then since again there is no reason to believe the brits would have guaranteed a united netherlands (off course that is assuming the netherlands just carried on as it did in the historical timeline)

[@TheAndrewSchneider]

Opera by Daniel Auber!

[@TheTryingDutchman]

6:22 why does the king have a c4meltoe lol

[@Aloyz3n]

3:15 wow, I didn't know there was a time when Belgium was more populous than the Netherlands, considering now the NL have nearly double the BG population

[@wartime-bu6cq]

dont forget Prince Diponegoro, he helped the belgian by diverting many dutch forces to Indonesia during the Java war, he also make The dutch go Bankrupt which may help the Belgian, like look at the dates, The java war ended and 2 month later belgium gets its independence

[@Vanyali]

awesome video, this and the previous one ! you got a lot of details right :)) like the king of Belgians :D It's a small detail maybe, but in that time it meant he couldn't become a tyrant to he's people as he wasn't head of the elected government unlike he's northern colleague. it's funny actually, although all our current neighbors voted for a buffer, most of them invaded us at one point or another :D Germany being the last one :) still, it doesn't work, Dutch and French aren't supposed to be in the same country we can work together on many fronts (see EU) but no need to be the same country.

[@toveychurchill6468]

i feel like something is missing when Hilbert mentions the Dutch

[@MrMattie725]

To be clear, Leopold I isn't the one with the whole Congo thing. That was his son, Leopold II ;)

[@davidjohansson113]

Please Play Het Wilhelmus

[@robertneven7563]

het Wilhelmus???????????????????,, wel ieder land van de wereld (bijna dan) naam deel aan de eerste W O , ik was in Yper op 11 november enkelen jaren geleden , en daar werden veel volksliederen gespeeld, behalve het Wilhelmus, hoe zou dat nu komen ????????????????????

[@UB1976]

When you explain the history of Belgium to a foreigner and he has understood everything, it means that you have not succeeded in making yourself understood.

[@lovfro]

Indeed, the full official name is The Kingdom of REBELgium, Belgium for short.

[@napoleonibonaparte7198]

It’s best that Belgium is a monarchy. If it was a republic, it would’ve been a literal and metaphorical tug of war over who should be there.

[@moseshamlett3887]

Its kinda strange that the Belgium flag resembles the modern German flag, and the Dutch flag resembles the French flag. Also, I could have sworn you said Wilhelms son was named Wilhelm? So he was Prince WIlhelm Wilhelm?? I must be mistaken.

[@bluedevil3765]

It's interesting how back then Belgium had a larger population than the Netherlands. Now it's the other way around and even with a pretty big difference (6 million people). I wonder what's the cause of this.

[@AtParmentier]

WW1 would be a possible answer.

[@kjellvanderpoten3141]

@@AtParmentier sure could be it ruined belgium, still proud of those who came before me for fighting in it though

[@benjaminblabla]

I love Belgium and belgium people from France

[@samspranghers2433]

And we love you!! greetings from Gand

[@matthijsbouma]

Dankewol Hilbert, good video

[@casdeboy0767]

2:14 ik hoorde opeens iets in het Nederlands :)

[@uberbellith4892]

Don't forget to look at the first Belgian revolution! It's a failed attempt of creating a independed united states of Belgium from Austria which was squashed. It is called the 'Brabantse omwenteling'

[@rjh00]

11:42 Oh yeah, that's totally a fair deal. Awww Brittain, never stop being you.

[@dinolode4562]

Vive la Belgique

[@gunterke]

You probably should've mentioned how Antwerp, a city that like Ghent was orangist and against the Belgian revolution, was shelled by it's Dutch garrison. Not surprisingly, this led the people of Antwerp switch sides. For me, that was the point of no return for the orangist cause in Belgium. In general, the United Netherlands could've worked if only there would've been some more balance and fairness. It brought ideological opponents (liberals and catholics) together, while a more political savvy king than William I would've been able to play them by listening to grievances. Instead... he forced his view upon others. His son, who probably spoke more French than Dutch in his life and during the United Netherlands stayed in the south more than in the north, put forward a few liberal reforms like freedom of the press, that were some of the reasons of the revolution. Had he been king instead of his father, things probably would've gone differently in the histories of the Low Countries.

[@noobster4779]

I mean....pre unification Germany was definitly not lacking of nobles from rather meaningless small houses that could be made Kings with nobody really having an issue with it....kind of the advantage of having like 30 states around (post napoleon)

[@faithlesshound5621]

The down side for the UK was that the British royal family had to keep to the caste laws of the Holy Roman Empire until 1917. Before that they had to marry members of a ruling House, which meant all UK aristocrats were off limits for marriage, let alone commoners. After James II & VII, no heir to the throne married a British woman until Prince Charles. The future George VI was not heir to the throne when George V's reform allowed him to marry a Scottish earl's daughter.

[@Frenchylikeshikes]

The thing is that we always hear about "the French revolution", but I guess my question would be: which one of all are you talking about lol ?

[@Ralphieboy]

Huik, Luik and Duik are the names of Donald Duck's nephews in Flemish...

[@kristus20]

As a Flemish, I would’ve liked to see a video that goes a bit deeper into what was in play here. The revolution was never about independence in the first place, just about a number of reforms to reverse the unfairness in which the south was treated. In Flanders the majority couldn’t care less about the removal of the french language from government institutions and were quite glad to get rid of it. But the tax inequality, government spending in north vs south, political and social inequality was too much. At that time people in Flanders drew 12 w’s on the walls in city’s kind of like graffiti today, to express their desire. It stands for “wij willen Willem weg, wil Willem wijzer worden, wij willen Willem weer!” It translates as : “We want Willem gone, If Willem comes to his senses, we want Willem back”. This is about the rule of the king in general, never about secession. In 1815 manny were quite happy to see the Netherlands reunited. Also Belgium (Belgica) is the latin name for the Netherlands. It’s mostly the french speaking elite which were unhappy since they were losing their influence and power at a rate like never before, and the economical crisis triggered by bad policy in the north and the food shortage gave them the influence/opportunity they needed to galvanize the common people and regain wat they had lost. Even then they initially had very limited succes outside of Brussels and some french speaking cities.

[@kjellvanderpoten3141]

well this is something people seem to misinterpret a lot. The dutch being forced to speak in the southern Netherlands was different from the dutch your regular flemish peasant spoke. And the enforcement of a single dutch language rubbed all of em the wrong way because sure it's dutch but still not the same and while that's nothing to start a war over the flemish where unhappy about the language reform because it was not their dutch. Even today as a belgian speaking dutch my whole life I consider dutch from the netherlands another language. And I use far less of the local dialect then people 200 years ago did. It was also not a matter of elites losing because as said in the video our catholic faith was being discriminated against which again affected all of us. The economic hardships which can be easily blamed on the dutch even if not entirely justified. And a lot of other reasons made it so it wasn't the elites pushing us to regain their power. We had very good reasons to be upset both high society and the common man. But the best proof it wasn't an elite driven power grab is that you can't have a revolt let alone win a revolt like this one where you are right next to your occupier without the backing of the people

[@barongrenadier327]

@@kjellvanderpoten3141 Something that people also misinterpret (and Hilbert himself made the mistake) is that those so-called french cities were not speaking french. Only the bourgeoisie spoke french. The Walloons spoke, well... walloon, and not french. And as a french speaker, I tried to understand walloon, and I can tell you : I didn't understand shit.

[@kjellvanderpoten3141]

@@barongrenadier327 well I'm not that adept at french myself, but I do know there are some differences between the "standard" french and walloon as well, but if you then go into dialects influencing speech I can see there being a big difference, never knew it was as big a thing with "walloon" vs french as it seems to be with dutch vs "flemish" though

[@kjellvanderpoten3141]

@@thecrusader3400 I never said it was. But there are clear differences exactly because of those dialects. They cause the phenomenon known as "tussentaal". But ye I saw in your other comment you are from Limburg right near the border obviously for me the difference is way bigger then from you I'm from eastern flanders. Hell I don't always understand the way anyone from past Brussels talks. So I certainly see a big difference with the dutch.

[@kjellvanderpoten3141]

@@thecrusader3400 I think something that was unclear in my original comment is that I spoke about "the flemish" I used this term to denote all the different subgroups that collectively form Flanders. And as said dialects are way less important to language now then back then so the difference was big and imo still is.

[@im0rtalpunk]

Your French pronunciation is quite alright but Hainaut is pronounced ey no, or in Dutch phonetics eenoo. The rest was right :p greetings from your bilingual southern neighbour.

[@robrechtvanbethune7663]

The best way to pronounce Hainaut is by pronounce it Henegouwen, in Flemish. Because it officially became a province of Wallonia in 1963, when they change the language barrier again in the advantage of Wallonia. Same as they did when they split Brabant in half in 1995.

[@user-up8cu4qr9v]

​@@robrechtvanbethune7663Hainaut and Walloon Brabant have always spoken Roman dialects. in 1963 was the fixing of the linguistic border and not of the regions, modern Flanders and Wallonia are 2 artificial regions which took their powers in the 90s when Belgium became federal. Tournai and Ath, for example, are Picardy towns with Roman dialects near the linguistic border. Mouscron, Comines and Enghien are culturally Flemish but the rest of Hainaut is Picard or Wallo Picard. Nivelles and Tubize form the Roman country of Brabant, they are indeed Brabant but of Roman dialect and I come from this region with Flemish origins from Ghent

[@robrechtvanbethune7663]

@user-up8cu4qr9v First of all, Picard is was a language which has a lot of flemish influences and sounds almost like a Flemish dialect... but it isn't, which was also spoken in some areas in the west of Henegouwen, long time ago (Galliciaans Vlaanderen and Henegouwen). There is no such thing as Wallo Picard. All other areas speak French in Wallonia , with a wallonian dialect. And now Picardy is a region in France, and the French language dominated the Picard language, which ended the Picard language in France... and Belgium as well. Secondly, Komen-Waasten, Edingen, Moeskroen, Doornik, and Tubeke have indeed Flemish culture because culture is passed on by language. This means the Flemish language was originally spoken in those areas. Which officially ended in 1963. Third, Nijvel and Tubeke are originally Flemish with a Brabants dialect. Back when there was only 1 province called Brabant, which was Flemish and ended in 1995. All these regions are given to Wallonia by corrupt politicians in the first place. Also, the french language is "forced " upon the Flemish in those border areas because the ppl in Wallonia refuse to speak Flemish. That's why the language border moves to the north and why they could claim Henegouwen and the south part of Brabant. Wallonia will not stop forcing their language upon us until they can claim Brussels . Wallonia suffers a little bit of a Calimero complex if you ask me. Hopefully, we can split the country very soon or at least live in a system with confederalism .

[@unimog404]

Henk Westbroek ❤️

[@exilehell6521]

Je suis Belge 😘🇧🇪

[@roelantverhoeven371]

the vast majority of brabant spoke dutch, a lot more than in flanders were allmost all elite spoke french... the city of antwerp for example (located in brabant) always used dutch in the city council, and the mayor and aldermen weren't exactly poor commoners... brussels (the capital of historic brabant) itself was also still mostly dutch speaking, but the elite there spoke french, that is true. as for antwerp they were initially pro-holland during the revolution, untill king Willem had the city bombarded by his navy and artillery... in a great example of how to turn your own allies against yourself XD

[@faithlesshound5621]

Léopold I was "King of the Belgians" rather than King of Belgium in the same way that his father-in-law Louis Philippe was "King of the French" rather than King of France. The Comte de Paris, the Orléanist pretender, hopes to be "King of the French," unlike the Legitimist who wants to be King of France and the Bonapartist who wants to be Emperor.

[@raphlvlogs271]

what does Belgium means in Latin?

[@robertneven7563]

BRAVE

[@NateVDZ]

The Netherlands

[@tokken294]

Did you know that Leopold the second of Belguim wanted to invade The Netherlands?

[@badjo117]

I am from flanders in belgium and Splitting from the netherlands was a biiiiig mistake

[@mahakalabhairava9950]

No. We would be poorer.

[@gongboom]

If Belgium were to break up, what would happen to Bruxelles. Would it join France along with the rest of Wallonia? If you take a good look at the map you see several Flemish towns and cities so close to what will become a new French border. Many less than 10 km.

[@warrehoebeke2900]

hzo is jouw nederlands zo goed?

[@richardbloemenkamp8532]

"Not just any revolution but the Belgian revolution". I wonder how you manage to pronounce that phrase without burting into laughter. But seriously they had valid reasons to oppose the arrogant Ollanders. Luxemburg, Noord Brabant, Limburg and Gelderland should probably have joined Belgium too.

[@iwto_ampere5821]

Belgian revolutionists beating the dutch army twice >>>>>

[@secutor7142]

O Belgique, ô mère chérie, A toi nos coeurs, à toi nos bras, A toi notre sang, ô Patrie! Nous le jurons tous, tu vivras! Tu vivras toujours grande et belle Et ton invincible unité Aura pour devise immortelle Le Roi, la Loi, la Liberté! Le Roi, la Loi, la Liberté! Le Roi, la Loi, la Liberté! 'O dierbaar België O heilig land der vaad'ren Onze ziel en ons hart zijn u gewijd. Aanvaard ons kracht en het bloed van onze adren, Wees ons doel in arbeid en in strijd. Bloei, o land, in eendracht niet te breken; Wees immer u zelf en ongeknecht, Het woord getrouw, dat ge onbevreesd moogt spreken: Voor Vorst, voor Vrijheid en voor Recht! Voor Vorst, voor Vrijheid en voor Recht! Voor Vorst, voor Vrijheid en voor Recht! O liebes Land, o Belgiens Erde, Dir unser Herz, Dir unsere Hand, Dir unser Blut, dem Heimatherde, wir schworen's Dir, o Vaterland! So blühe froh in voller Schöne, zu der die Freiheit Dich erzog, und fortan singen Deine Söhne: 'Gesetz und König und die Freiheit hoch!' O Belgien, o teure Mutter, Dir gehören unsere Herzen, unsere Arme! Dir gehört unser Blut, Vaterland! Alle schwören wir Dir: Du wirst leben! Grosz und schön wirst Du immer leben und der Wahlspruch Deiner unverbrüchlichen Einheit wird heiszen: Für König, Recht und Freiheit!

[@robertneven7563]

speciaal commando asault rifle SCAR

[@sirjmo]

Nowadays many of the southern belgians still do not understand Dutch... Or Flemish.

[@capusvacans]

Most of the flemish don't even understand flemish, aj wet winne dank wiln zeh'n.

[@lorenzodocx4021]

I still angry that that the younger politicians chose to become a monarchy while the original revolutionaries wanter a belgian republic. Louis de potter zou een nationale held moeten zijn

[@tixagui7143]

With the climate in Europe at the time, the major powers would never have accepted their independence if they hadn't been a monarchy.

[@alex_zetsu]

Was Leopold even honest in his conversion or did he just pay lip service because he wanted to be king? Or to put it another way, did Leopold I consider himself Catholic? I know we won't have a definitive answer since we can't ask him, but what do you think is likely?

[@robertwilloughby8050]

It's a funny one. It is probable that Leopold had Catholic sympathies, but only when he was pushed to choose did he come down as a Catholic. There is a branch of the Church of England that is called Anglo-Catholic, and it is highly likely that Leopold was quite interested in this religious viewpoint.

[@kjellvanderpoten3141]

from what I know he didn't really care all that much so conversion was the obvious choice, like he was religious but the change was minor

[@mezelf01]

Leopold I never converted to Catholicism. He stayed a protestant (Lutheran) for his entire life. Even on his deathbed he refused to convert.

[@kjellvanderpoten3141]

@@mezelf01 I went on wiki just to be sure and ye I got confused, it was Leopold 2 that was catholic

[@robvoncken2565]

We don't want to be forced to speak Dutch REVOLT spend the next 150 years fighting over what language to speak. Really think we Dutch came out on top there

[@philipgodal2469]

Why was the British plan of splitting the southern Netherlands considered so bad? It makes sense to me;)

[@capusvacans]

Uhm, and you think the french would just have accepted a big english military base on their northern border? The only thing this would have achieved is ensuring another big war. Also, it might sound strange to you, but flanders isn't english.

[@philipgodal2469]

@@capusvacans the British plan was to give Flanders to the Netherlands, not to take it themselves

[@capusvacans]

@@philipgodal2469 While keeping the port of antwerp, which strategicaly is the same thing from a french perspective.

[@philipgodal2469]

@@capusvacans missed that part! Kind of crucial

[@L_univers_De_K]

Team belgium 🇧🇪🇧🇪🇧🇪

[@edwardblair4096]

Was this the same Leopold who "owned" the colony of the "Belgian Congo"? Or was that his son or grandson?

[@speerboom]

That was Leopold II I believe.

[@gilan3580]

His son

[@shivanshna7618]

Belgium in Europe : 🛣️ Belgium in Congo : 😈🔪🔪👐

[@bluedevil3765]

The atrocities in Congo happened when Congo was private property of king Leopold II. When it became Belgian in 1908 the living conditions of the Congolese improved.