The United States of Belgium

The United States of Belgium PDF Author: Jane Judge
Publisher: Leuven University Press
ISBN: 9462701571
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 311

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Book Description
New and comprehensive insights into the seminal events that shaped Belgian identity In 1790, between the birth of America (1776) and the creation of the French National Assembly (1789), nine provinces nestled between the French and Dutch borders declared themselves a new free and independent country: the United States of Belgium. Before then, the provinces had been part of the vast Austrian Habsburg Empire ruled by Joseph II. In 1789 revolutionaries from Brussels to Ghent to Namur recruited a grass-roots army that, to the surprise of many, successfully chased imperial forces from the majority of the territories. The exhilaration of military triumph and political independence quickly faded as revolutionary factions fought each other and the European monarchies became more nervous in the face of French radicalization. Yet, the course of events had fostered the solidification of a new identity among the provinces’ inhabitants: Belgianness. This is the story of the emergence of Belgianness in the crucible of revolution. The United States of Belgium tells the story of the First Belgian Revolution before the creation of a language barrier between French and Dutch. It incorporates over 50 contemporary images of the revolutionary era.

The United States of Belgium

The United States of Belgium PDF Author: Jane Judge
Publisher: Leuven University Press
ISBN: 9462701571
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 311

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Book Description
New and comprehensive insights into the seminal events that shaped Belgian identity In 1790, between the birth of America (1776) and the creation of the French National Assembly (1789), nine provinces nestled between the French and Dutch borders declared themselves a new free and independent country: the United States of Belgium. Before then, the provinces had been part of the vast Austrian Habsburg Empire ruled by Joseph II. In 1789 revolutionaries from Brussels to Ghent to Namur recruited a grass-roots army that, to the surprise of many, successfully chased imperial forces from the majority of the territories. The exhilaration of military triumph and political independence quickly faded as revolutionary factions fought each other and the European monarchies became more nervous in the face of French radicalization. Yet, the course of events had fostered the solidification of a new identity among the provinces’ inhabitants: Belgianness. This is the story of the emergence of Belgianness in the crucible of revolution. The United States of Belgium tells the story of the First Belgian Revolution before the creation of a language barrier between French and Dutch. It incorporates over 50 contemporary images of the revolutionary era.

Belgium

Belgium PDF Author: Bernard A. Cook
Publisher: Peter Lang
ISBN: 9780820458243
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
Although Belgium has only been an independent state since the 1830s, it has a long and complex past. This history is essential for understanding the complexities of issues that led to a devolution of the unitary Belgian state into a federation of linguistically based regions. In addition to the elements that contributed to Belgium's particular political evolution, the history which is traced in this book is a composite of many themes of broad historical interest and importance. Belgium: A History covers the gamut of Belgian history through dramas of religious and cultural conflict, intense localism, state building, uneven development, divergent class interests, war and domination, and finally, integration into a larger European community.

Belgium

Belgium PDF Author: Samuel Humes
Publisher: Hurst & Company
ISBN: 9781849041461
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This concise history describes the traditions and transitions that over two thousand years have developed in Belgium in a sense of shared identity, common government, and a centralized nation-state - and then over a few recent decades paved the way for Flemish-Walloon schism that now threatens to break up Belgium. It responds to the question: Why does a government, unified for more than 600 years, no longer seem capable of holding together a linguistically divided country In tracing the evolution of Belgian governance, Humes describes why and how the dominance of French-speaking propertied elite eroded after having monopolized the land's governance for centuries. The extension of suffrage, combined with the rise of literacy and schooling enabled labor and Flemish movements to gather sufficient momentum to fracture the Belgian polity, splitting its parties and frustrating its politics. The presence of the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has, in a tangential way, enable the Belgian separatists to discount the merit of a national government that is no longer needed to defend the country militarily and economically.

United States Relations with Belgium and the Congo, 1940-1960

United States Relations with Belgium and the Congo, 1940-1960 PDF Author: Jonathan E. Helmreich
Publisher: University of Delaware Press
ISBN: 9780874136531
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
The low country's participation in NATO, trade of Congo goods, and American policy toward UN action in the Congo are also involved. This work analyzes the contrasting diplomatic styles of Belgian foreign ministers Paul-Henri Spaak and Paul van Zeeland and the atmosphere of disappointment that often hovered over a relationship officially characterized as warm and strong.

The Bright Side of Belgium

The Bright Side of Belgium PDF Author: Sigrid Vandensavel
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789460581137
Category : Belgium
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
An inspiring photo book and a passionate ode to the most beautiful cities and regions of Belgium.

City of Belgium

City of Belgium PDF Author: Brecht Evens
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
ISBN: 1770465855
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
An exquisitely drawn exploration of three lost souls’ emotional terrain As night falls in the City of Belgium, three strangers in their late twenties—a most dangerous age—arrive at a popular restaurant. Jona is about to move away; he calls his wife, who’s already settled in Berlin, before trying to make plans with friends for one last night on the town. No one bites—they’re all busy or maybe they just don’t want to party—but he’s determined to make this night something to remember. Victoria is lively and energetic, but surrounded by friends and family who are buzzkills, always worrying about what is best for her. Rodolphe glumly considers his own misery and then suddenly snaps out of it, becoming the life of the party. The three careen through the city’s nightlife spots and underbelly, getting ever deeper in the messiness of human existence as they chase pleasure—or at least a few distractions from their daily lives. Each has a series of misadventures that reveal them to be teetering on the edge of despair, of destruction, of becoming the people they’ll be for the rest of their lives. The City of Belgium occupies a place between lucid dream and tooth-grinding nightmare.

A Small Nation in the Turmoil of the Second World War

A Small Nation in the Turmoil of the Second World War PDF Author: Herman van der Wee
Publisher: Leuven University Press
ISBN: 9058677591
Category : Banks and banking
Languages : en
Pages : 495

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Book Description
This monograph presents an in-depth analysis of Belgium's monetary and financial history during the Second World War. Exploring Belgium's financial and business links with Germany, France, The Netherlands, Great Britain, the United States, and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the study focuses on the roles played by the Central Bank and private bankers in Brussels, by the Belgian government in exile in London, and by the Belgian minister plenipotentiary in New York. Among the subjects arising are: German attempts to plunder Belgium and Belgian resistance strategies; the peripeteia of the Belgian gold reserve; the role of the Belgian Congo; Belgium's participation in the discussions leading up to the Bretton Woods conference; and the negotiations for creating a Customs Union, blueprint for the 1958 Treaty of Rome. The final part of the book analyzes the famous monetary reform devised by Belgian Minister of Finance Camille Gutt at the liberation of the country in September 1944.

The Politics of Belgium

The Politics of Belgium PDF Author: Marleen Brans
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131799003X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
For too long Belgium remained an unexplored terrain by comparative political scientists. Belgium's politics were best known through the writings of Arend Lijphart, who considered it a model case of consociationalism. Over the past ten to fifteen years, the analysis of consociationalism has been complemented by a more detailed coverage of Belgium's spectacular transformation process from a unitary into a federal state, moving rapidly now to disintegration. Likewise, several peculiar aspects of Belgian politics, such as the record fragmentation of its party system, have been covered in edited volumes or international journals. However, given the complexity of the Belgian configuration of political institutions and actors, any inclusion of particular aspects of the Belgian case in comparative work calls for an in depth and integrated understanding of the broader political system. This is the first book which provides such an analysis. It brings together a team of 19 political scientists and sociologists who aim to explain the dynamics and incentives of institutional change and seek to analyze the intricate interplay between the main institutional components of the Belgian body politic. The sociological, political and institutional determinants and the consequences of the "federalisation" process of Belgium is the central theme that links each of the individual chapters. This book will be essential reading for students who want to understand the politics of Belgium and for anyone with a strong interest in West European Politics, comparative politics and comparative federalism. This book was published as a special issue of West European Politics.

For Rex and for Belgium

For Rex and for Belgium PDF Author: Eddy de Bruyne
Publisher: Helion & Company Limited
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
Nearly 60 years after the end of the Second World War, the name "Degrelle" remains controversial in Belgium and abroad. Was he a traitor to his nation, or a hero for anti-Communism? Until recently, the only information available on the man and his political movement came from Degrelle's own memoirs, or from works heavily slanted for or against him. Eddy De Bruyne, specialist in WWII Walloon Military Collaboration, has devoted over 20 years to intensively studying the available documentation, as well as interviewing the surviving collaborators of that era, including Degrelle himself. De Bruyne's findings, set down in several French language publications, represent the most detailed studies of Walloon political and military collaboration yet assembled. Now, with the aid of American Waffen-SS researcher Marc Rikmenspoel, De Bruyne has combined his works into a single English language book. The greatest portion of the book is devoted to the most comprehensive account of the campaigns of the Legion Wallonie and its successor SS-Sturmbrigade/Division Wallonien (28th SS Panzergrenadier Division) yet seen in English. The text is supported by approximately 400 period photos, complemented by many maps and illustrations of contemporary posters and other ephemera, completing a package that will be a must-have for military historians, afficianados of rare photos, and collectors of materials on the SS.

Belgian Exceptionalism

Belgian Exceptionalism PDF Author: Didier Caluwaerts
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000517292
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
This book takes stock of Belgium’s exceptional and – for some foreign observers –schizophrenic position in the political world and explains its idiosyncrasy to a non-Belgian audience. Offering a broad and comprehensive analysis of Belgian politics, the guiding questions throughout each of the chapters of this book are: Is Belgium a political enigma, and why? Along which axes is Belgium "exceptional" compared to other countries? And what insights does a comparative study of Belgian politics have to offer? The book therefore provides a critical assessment of how Belgian politics "stands out" internationally, both in good and bad ways – including consociationalism, federalism, democratic innovations, Euroscepticism, government formation, gender equality, among others – and which factors can explain Belgium’s exceptional position. Based on cutting-edge research findings, the book will be of wide interest to scholars and students of Belgian politics, European Politics and Comparative politics. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.