History UsefulNotes / Belgium

* UsefulNotes/FlemishTVStations

* In ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' Belgium is a CoolBigSis with a CatSmile and has two siblings, Netherlands and Luxembourg.

->''"Sire, ... you reign over two peoples. In Belgium there are Walloons and Flemings. [[MemeticMutation There are no Belgians.]]"''

Through a very savvy marital politic, the various local principalities, one by one (except the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, which, being governed by Catholic bishops, could make no marital alliances, for obvious reasons), became the possession of the Dukes of Burgundy. The King of Spain then inherited these "Low Countries" and modern Belgium and the Netherlands became the Spanish Netherlands, while the principality of Liège belonged to the German Confederation. Eventually, the mostly Calvinist Dutch attempted to break away, but succeeded only partially, with the northern Netherlands (mostly swampy and poor at the time) securing their independence from the Spanish (after an 80-year-long war). However, the Dutch proved incapable of defeating the Spanish on land, and so the southern Netherlands, today comprising all of Belgium, and some of France and Germany, remained under Spanish sovereignty, after which the remaining Flemish Calvinists (most had fled to the independent Dutch Republic, where they helped make the new state a world power) were ruthlessly recatholicized.

After recatholicization, Spanish rule continued until the UsefulNotes/WarOfTheSpanishSuccession, which came about because the Spanish Habsburg line had died out. When that war ended with the French Bourbons taking the throne of Spain, the other European powers decided it was too dangerous to allow the French dynasty to also take the Southern Netherlands on France's northern border as well as Spain to the south, and therefore insisted that the Southern Netherlands be handed over to the junior Habsburg branch in Austria. That being said, the Austrians really didn't care to rule the Southern Netherlands--which were discontinuous from the rest of their direct holdings in Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, and the Balkans--and so the Austrian Habsburgs spent most of the 18th century trying to pawn off their holdings in the Low Countries to other powers in exchange for something closer to home. They never got it, largely because the only power that might both interested and actually able to give the Habsburgs territory contiguous with or at least near their empire was Prussia, and Prussia was the one power Austria ''really'' did not want to take the territory.

* ''Anime/ADogOfFlanders'' is set in Belgium in a small town near Antwerp.

An outsider watching a Belgian political debate may be surprised by the garishly colored clothes worn by the politicians. This is because each major party is strongly attached to a color (red for the socialists, blue for the liberals, orange for the (ex-) Christian-democrats and green for the ecologists) and it has become a habit for the politicians to mark their allegiance by an article of clothing (most commonly a shirt, necktie or bow tie, but also eyeglasses frames or even a dress suit). The Belgian politician fears no ridicule (or are just that good in modern marketing).

After recatholicization, Spanish rule continued until the UsefulNotes/WarOfTheSpanishSuccession, which came about because the Spanish Habsburg line had died out. When that war ended with the French Bourbons taking the throne of Spain, the other European powers decided it was too dangerous to allow the French dynasty to also take the Southern Netherlands on France's northern border as well as Spain to the south, and therefore insisted that the Southern Netherlands be handed over to the junior Habsburg branch in Austria. That being said, the Austrians really didn't care to rule the Southern Netherlands--which were discontinuous from the rest of their direct holdings in Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, and the Balkans--and so the Austrian Habsburgs spent most of the 18th century trying to pawn off their holdings in the Low Countries to other powers in exchange for something closer to home. They never got it.

After recatholicization, Spanish rule continued until the UsefulNotes/WarOfTheSpanishSuccession, which came about because the Spanish Habsburg line had died out. When that war ended with the French Bourbons taking the throne of Spain, the other European powers decided it was too dangerous to allow the French dynasty to also take the Southern Netherlands on France's northern border as well as Spain to the south, and therefore insisted that the Southern Netherlands be handed over to the junior Habsburg branch in Austria. That being said, the Austrians really didn't care to rule the Southern Netherlands--which were discontinuous from the rest of their direct holdings in Austria, Italy, Hungary, Bohemia, and the Balkans--and so the Austrian Habsburgs spent most of the 18th century trying to pawn off their holdings in the Low Countries to other powers in exchange for something closer to home. They never got it.

* ''Film/AustinPowers'' uses Belgians as AcceptableTargets, making them, among other things, the ones who raised Dr. Evil to be so... evil.

** French comedy sketch show ''Vous-les Femmes'' has a sketch where the two female leads are unconcernedly smoking as they chat. It comes up with the idea that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iktQMAahRZY a public health warning on a cigarette packet that might work in France]] would take the form of ''Fumer donne l'accent belge'''[[note]]Smoking makes you speak with a Belgian accent[[/note]]. Sure enough, the accents of both women change from metropolitan Parisian French to variations of a theme of Belgian French. And both discard their cigarettes, and run out of the room screaming in terror.

Modern Belgium ('''Dutch:''' ''België'', '''French:''' ''Belgique'', '''German:''' ''Belgien''), officially known as the '''Kingdom of Belgium''' ('''Dutch:''' ''Koninkrijk België'', '''French:''' ''Royaume de Belgique'', '''German:''' ''Königreich Belgien''), is a Western European country and something of a historical anomaly. Historically it was divided into two regions: in the north is Flanders, home of the Dutch-speaking Flemish, and in the south is Wallonia, with its French-speaking Walloons. Throughout TheMiddleAges, the wool trade in Flanders made towns like Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp among the most prosperous in the world. It's worth noting that in 1302 the French lost the '[[CurbStompBattle Battle of the Golden Spurs]]'. It's one of first times in the Middle Ages where [[UsefulNotes/MountedCombat heavy cavalry]] was [[AntiCavalry annihilated by infantry]], coming a few years after the battle of Stirling. It was especially painful for the French because the Flemish soldiers were mostly non-noble (or, as in the parlance of the time, lowborn) and not that interested in taking prisoners for ransom, which resulted in a very large number of [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized French nobles dying in battle, rather than being captured and paroled, the usual treatment for defeated noblemen]]. Hence the name, the golden spurs were worn by rich nobility and it is said that after the battle over 500 of them were taken from the battlefield. Among the dead were the French commander and the chief advisor to the [[UsefulNotes/LetatCestMoi king of France]]. The date of the battle is the [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters national holiday of Flanders]], the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium.

* The 24th ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' album, ''Recap/AsterixInBelgium'', which foreshadows the Flemish-Walloon divide in the antipathies between the different Belgian tribes of Julius Caesar's day. The tenth, ''Recap/AsterixTheLegionary'', features a Belgian legionary whose hairstyle resembles Tintin's and whose name ''Septantesix'' (which means "seventy-six") plays on the best-known area of vocabulary difference between Walloon French and the French spoken in France, the words for the numbers between 70 and 99 (the franco-french term translates to "sixty-and-sixteen").

* ''Franchise/TheSmurfs'' were created by the Belgian Pierre Culliford, a.k.a. Creator/{{Peyo}}, and became a world hit thanks to the mostly faithful Hanna-Barbera cartoon in the 80's. One episode even had the village tear itself apart over language differences (the North uses "smurf" instead of adjectives, the South uses "smurf" instead of nouns), mirroring the French/Flemish debate.

The famous and long-running comic book ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' comes from Belgium, as do several other BelgianComics (in the 1990s it was said that only three things hold Belgium together - the royal family, the Red Devils (the national football/soccer team), and comics!). In the English-speaking world the best-known Belgian comics characters apart from Franchise/{{Tintin}} and co. are probably ComicBook/LuckyLuke, ''Franchise/TheSmurfs'' and ''Franchise/{{Marsupilami}}''. In the world of music, Belgium is probably best known for 20th-century songwriter Music/JacquesBrel, and its techno music, particularly on Maurice Engelen aka Praga Khan, and his most famous project, porno-house group Music/LordsOfAcid. Other well known Belgian bands and musicians are Music/Front242, Music/{{Hooverphonic}}, Technotronic, Soulwax, K's Choice, Music/{{Stromae}}, and Music/{{dEUS}}. Even the infamous advert ''Advertising/{{Stressmannetje}}'' ("Hier Nen Euro") is Belgian.

The entire family of saxophones were invented by Adolphe Sax, born in Dinant, Belgium. Patent taken for France in 1848. There are ten kinds of saxophones (on an interesting note, the saxophone was later banned in Cuba under Fidel Castro due to being of Belgian invention, as a means of protesting their hold over the Congo).

The current king is Philippe, whose official title is "King of the Belgians" rather than "King of Belgium", to distinguish him as a monarch who rules by popular will, rather than by legal or divine right.

Belgium had a weird influence on both World Wars. A Belgian weapon (manufactured by FN) was used by Gavrilo Princip to kill Franz Ferdinand, thus starting World War I. World War II was ended by the bomb on Hiroshima, which used uranium mined in Congo, at that time a Belgian colony.

In 1940, Germany invaded again, and was even less civil than the first time. Belgium was overrun very quickly - as with France, its leaders had prepared for a retread of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI and relied on stationary forts for defense. [[ItsRainingMen Paratroopers]], gliders and [[TankGoodness tanks]] rendered them harmless in a matter of hours. This wasn't helped by the Belgian government desperately clinging to the hope that the Germans might leave them alone this time and not co-operating with the French and British defense plans until they were actually under attack. Belgian pilots in the Battle of Britain contributed to LaResistance.

In 1940, Germany invaded again, and was even less civil than the first time. Belgium was overrun very quickly - as with France, its leaders had prepared for a retread of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI and relied on stationary forts for defense. Paratroopers, gliders and tanks rendered them harmless in a matter of hours. This wasn't helped by the Belgian government desperately clinging to the hope that the Germans might leave them alone this time and not co-operating with the French and British defense plans until they were actually under attack. Belgian pilots in the Battle of Britain contributed to LaResistance.

In 1914, Germany violated Belgium's neutrality, as they were using it as a back-door to invade France, activating the United Kingdom's responsibilities as the guarantor of Belgian neutrality. When the Belgians refused to co-operate, Germany invaded, and although the stories have been wildly exaggerated since, certainly didn't conduct themselves enormously well: it has been dubbed "The Rape of Belgium", which at the time was a much less emotive term and meant "sacking and plundering". This invasion caused Britain's entry into the war. Technically, Belgium was never completely occupied, as the Belgian army put up a fight massive enough to delay the German battleplan and prevent them from capturing Paris. As World War I slowed down into long, slow trench warfare, a small part of Belgian soil remained unconquered. Belgium as a nation was completely crushed by German economic exploitation and ceaseless warfare. Ypres and Passchendale, sites of several of World War I's bloodiest and most pointless battles, are in Belgium. The poem 'In Flanders fields' is one of the best-known World War I poems and UsefulNotes/ThePoppy, which normally doesn't grow in numbers in Flanders, became a symbol.

Thanks to a few Belgian entrepreneurs that made plans to steal machines from British industries, Belgium underwent a major industrial revolution (the whole place was bursting with coal, iron, and sulphur), after which Belgium become one of the most [[IndustrialWorld industrialized states]] in Europe. Further down the line, the Belgians acquired colonies during the Scramble for Africa in what is today the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi. The Belgian Congo, or the Congo Free State, became infamous for its horrific treatment of the native Africans (''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'' is set there). And by horrible, we mean that in Belgian Congo a single bullet was literally worth more than the life of a native man (soldiers stationed in Congo had to produce the severed right hand of a native to justify every fired bullet, which meant that soldiers had to go out and slaughter a few natives every once in a while to explain missed shots). Torture of native workers, destruction of other villages and rape were common, and the natives were so dehumanized by both Stanley's private army, the Force Publique, and the Congo administration that one official used severed human heads as a makeshift fence for his garden. Originally the Congo was owned by King Leopold personally, but after exposure by Christian missionaries and a growing international outcry, the Belgian government took over to stop the atrocities. [[EveryoneHasStandards Which should tell you how bad the situation was when even the other colonial powers think you're going too far]].

Thanks to a few Belgian entrepreneurs that made plans to steal machines from British industries, Belgium underwent a major industrial revolution (the whole place was bursting with coal, iron, and sulphur), after which Belgium become one of the most [[IndustrialWorld industrialized states]] in Europe. Further down the line, the Belgians acquired colonies during the Scramble for Africa in what is today the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi. The Belgian Congo, or the Congo Free State, became infamous for its horrific treatment of the native Africans (''Heart of Darkness'' is set there). And by horrible, we mean that in Belgian Congo a single bullet was literally worth more than the life of a native man (soldiers stationed in Congo had to produce the severed right hand of a native to justify every fired bullet, which meant that soldiers had to go out and slaughter a few natives every once in a while to explain missed shots). Torture of native workers, destruction of other villages and rape were common, and the natives were so dehumanized by both Stanley's private army, the Force Publique, and the Congo administration that one official used severed human heads as a makeshift fence for his garden. Originally the Congo was owned by King Leopold personally, but after exposure by Christian missionaries and a growing international outcry, the Belgian government took over to stop the atrocities. [[EveryoneHasStandards Which should tell you how bad the situation was when even the other colonial powers think you're going too far]].

Thanks to a few Belgian entrepreneurs that made plans to steal machines from British industries, Belgium underwent a major industrial revolution (the whole place was bursting with coal, iron, and sulphur), after which Belgium become one of the most industrialized states in Europe. Further down the line, the Belgians acquired colonies during the Scramble for Africa in what is today the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi. The Belgian Congo, or the Congo Free State, became infamous for its horrific treatment of the native Africans (''Heart of Darkness'' is set there). And by horrible, we mean that in Belgian Congo a single bullet was literally worth more than the life of a native man (soldiers stationed in Congo had to produce the severed right hand of a native to justify every fired bullet, which meant that soldiers had to go out and slaughter a few natives every once in a while to explain missed shots). Torture of native workers, destruction of other villages and rape were common, and the natives were so dehumanized by both Stanley's private army, the Force Publique, and the Congo administration that one official used severed human heads as a makeshift fence for his garden. Originally the Congo was owned by King Leopold personally, but after exposure by Christian missionaries and a growing international outcry, the Belgian government took over to stop the atrocities. [[EveryoneHasStandards Which should tell you how bad the situation was when even the other colonial powers think you're going too far]].