hey guys welcome back to four reacts i'm doing a video right now and why i'm laughing is because
i just got onto here man and i somebody recommended this video one of my supporters
on patreon recommended this video and i got gotta get it done for him right
and um the title of the video is why is belgium a country history of belgium in 11 minutes right
and i saw one comment and the comment was like imagine being a belgian
and in on youtube and this guy is just like why is belgium a country
that's a wild ass comment but we're gonna get right into this video so if you have any
suggestions leave those in the comment section down below if you guys want to support my other
channel that's going to be the channel of me being in europe my life and your stuff like
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comment section and also i will have a link for my instagram and so on and so forth so y'all can
go check it out support and uh do whatever you guys want to do with that but um without further
ado guys we're gonna get right into this video so uh let's get it a country that claims three
official languages that is tightly packed between germany france luxembourg and the netherlands
belgium stands as its own independent kingdom and has since 1830 but with such a mixture of
culture language and ethnicity within its borders how did belgium become a separate
nation first it is worthwhile to consider the name belgium back in the times of julius caesar the
romans were able to capture gaul which was split into three regions galia celtica galia belgica and
galia quitania when the romans took galia belgica in 57 bc the people inhabiting the region were
known as the bell guy whether these belgae people were of germanic or even celtic origin is actually
still up for debate there are even some scholars who believe that the belgae themselves were not
quite sure of their own origins and they drew the particular attention of julius caesar due to their
noticeably different traditions and language as compared to the surrounding celtic and germanic
tribes the belgae people are also known to have attempted multiple uprising while under the hand
of the roman empire though none were successful and eventually the romans did lose control of the
region but only to the germanic franks in 486 ce from there gaul was dominated by a rotation
of conquerors including the holy roman empire which had a gradual rise and fall in what is
now belgium through this time gaul as a whole was split into a handful of small feudal states such
as flanders and the duchy of limburg the borders of today's belgium luxembourg and the netherlands
were created after what was known as the dutch revolt in 1566 after king philip ii of spain
a habsburg monarch gains dominion over the region he began what the dutch people considered to be a
tyrannical rule one pillar of king philip's rule was his determination to strengthen the catholic
church throughout his kingdom in response to growing protestantism across the continent
after luxembourg and belgium became known as the spanish netherlands with the capital at brussels
protestants were subsequently expelled from the territory in 1585. the spanish netherlands
remained a part of hamsburg spain until the start of the 1700s at which point the area was passed
between the french the british the dutch the holy roman empire and the austrian habsburgs after the
fall from grace of the powerful napoleon bonaparte europe came together for the congress of vienna
chaired by austrian statesman clemens von miternik lasting from november 1814 to june of 1815 with a
napoleonic and french revolutionary war stirring up some unignorable issues within the continent it
was necessary for the neighboring nations to all come together to create what they hoped would be a
long-term peace plan one result of the congress of vienna was the uniting of the netherlands creating
the new kingdom of the netherlands which included modern day belgium belgium remained a part of the
kingdom of netherlands until it eventually seceded in 1830 the move toward independence
within belgium really began after the unification of southern and northern netherlands the coalition
under king william the first was beneficial for only some members of the belgian state as well as
growing disapproval from the catholics of the new protestant king which led to the start of protests
many consider king william to be despotic and the working class was vastly unhappy with the
increasing levels of unemployment as unrest mounted the catholics and liberals of the
state joined forces to create a series of demands and an alliance known as unionism
finally on august 25th 1830 tensions boiled over the capital of the nation became the center point
of rebellion in a fittingly theatrical way protests and riots broke out around the
premiere of the la moet deportesi opera which had previously been banned after inciting other
nationalist movements across the border in france only a month prior the protest of the opera began
first in the form of patriotic posters placed inside that demanded a rebellion but quickly
escalated into looting and rioting throughout brussels as words spread so did the nationalist
and revolutionary spirit more riots and protests broke out in the surrounding cities causing king
william to send troops into the southern provinces in an attempt to subdue the uprising dissatisfied
with anything other than independence and freedom from the dutch the belgians refuse
bro
oh my gosh bro like ain't no country special when it comes to the type of stuff
rebel war riot killed this thing wow oh i'm here and i'm just thinking to myself like dang
wow it's like every country that i've watched on this channel had some major war like what
just to back down wow by september 27th only a month and two days following the start of
the revolt king williams troops were forced to withdraw it finally came time for belgium
to officially declare their independence and separation from the northern netherlands which put
immediate pressure on the european powers that it previously gathered for the congress of vienna
to take action king williams chose to refrain from any further military endeavors to retake
the nation and the conference of london was held starting december 20th 1830.
austria britain france prussia and russia all participated in the conference and resolved to
multilaterally recognize the independence of the kingdom of belgium which was now formally seceded
from the kingdom of the netherlands one of the rejected suggestions before the conclusion of
the conference was proposed by the french who recommended that belgium be split based
upon the language and ethnic lines within the nation labeled as the talirand partition plan
it was obviously never pushed forward but it did demonstrate from the start of the country just
how diverse the nation was in terms of culture and ethnicity while the french peacefully gave
up their suggestion the dutch were not so willing to compromise for some time in 1831
they launched an invasion into belgium triggered by their strong opposition to the concept of an
independent belgian state this last-ditch attempt to reassert dominance became known
as the 10 days campaign lasting from august 2nd through the 12th and incited french support for
the belgians luckily for the new nation the dutch proved unsuccessful in their military strike and
finally eight years later recognized the kingdom of belgium as an independent country in 1839
at the start of belgium's freedom from the north a national congress was created in order
to establish a constitution for the country chosen by an electorate of 30 000 men qualified for such
a job the national congress of belgium instituted the belgian constitution on february 7th of 1831.
this new constitution declared belgium to be a popular constitutional monarchy yet no
king had yet been chosen determined not to crown a monarch from the dutch house of orange nasa
the national congress first considered a lineup of three french prospects and leopold the first
of the saks coburg house leopold was dropped from consideration for some time due to influence from
the french but was eventually reconsidered on april 22 1831 leopold the first was officially
offered the throne he was initially unsure of the proposal but ultimately changed his tune
and was joyously welcomed by the people of belgium taking his oath on july 22nd 1813
leopold was formally inaugurated as the king of belgium and the revolution came to an end in full
this date is now celebrated annually as a belgian national holiday king leopold as well
as his son king leopold ii after him were focused on solidifying the nation's economic independence
and engaging in colonial voyages the latter of the two found significant triumph in these
endeavors even possessing a strong position in the 1884 conference of berlin and becoming the head
of state of the congo in 1885 congo later came under the dominion of the belgian state in 1908
and the nation was fairly smooth sailing until world war 1 broke out germany who had previously
signed the treaty of london back in april of 1839 breached the agreement which established
a permanent neutrality for belgium by invading the country in 1914 after the german chancellor
referred to the prior deal as just a scrap of paper though belgium under the command of
king albert the first by this point was sorely unequipped to truly match the german's army they
did manage to hold off the invasion to a certain extent the germans caused massive destruction
to the easer region but were unsuccessful in pushing past the river still the damage done
during the war was not non-existent additionally germany ignored belgium's neutrality once again
as world war ii rolled around and the reigning monarch king leopold iii chose to capitulate after
18 days of german assaults this decision sparked controversy within the belgian borders and leopold
eventually abdicated to his son bowdoin the first in 1951 after the wars belgium was eventually
transformed into a more secure state as political and governmental stances shifted while movements
pushing for a reunification between belgium and the netherlands did exist even beginning back
in 1830 at the birth of the nation disapproval of independence never reached a high enough level for
action to be taken aside from a ban of any orangism or reunification expressions in the
public sphere which could incite hefty penalties dished out in 1834 today the kingdom of belgium
remains its own country despite hosting a mixture of cultural ethnic and linguistic influences from
its neighbors still as of 2018 and determined by birthplace a whopping 88.1 percent of belgium's
population are actually belgian and the country is an important member of the european union
wow they got they had to do they had to go through a lot
and germany be like move over we coming through
man germany was like the big dog back then man like hey yo
i am 100 happy i did not live in those times i'm happy i am very happy like wow that's crazy man
it's crazy it's really crazy i really appreciate this suggestion because i would have never guessed
this that this was uh how they actually got independence they're actually not as old
as america which is very interesting i did not know that i would have probably thought
that every country in europe is older than america in terms of independence right but um
not even finland is older than america and i thought that a lot of european countries were
but hey man y'all want to leave some suggestions leave those in comment section down below i'm
ready to laugh watch these and just be amazed by what happened so um leave those in the comment
section down below i'd really appreciate it but either ways guys i'm out of here peace