European Kingdoms

United Kingdom of the Netherlands (House of Orange-Nassau) (Low Countries)
AD 1813 - 1831

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The modern kingdom within the Low Countries includes territory that in the first century AD was occupied by various Celtic and Germanic tribes including the Batavi and Canninefates. They were eventually subsumed either by the Franks to the south or the Frisii to the north.

The Netherlands also includes parts of former Lower Lorraine which was made up of Breda, Antwerp, Brabant, and Aix-la-Chapelle. This had passed to the dukes of Brabant in 1100 and the title of Lower Lorraine had fallen out of use in 1190.

France annexed the Austrian Netherlands in 1795, ending the Habsburg presence in the region. The United Provinces in the north were renamed the 'Batavian Republic' while, administratively, the Southern Netherlands (modern Belgium) were drawn directly under republican French rule. The Congress of Vienna in June 1815 agreed on the creation of a unified state out of the various territories of the Netherlands, immediately following which Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated at Waterloo (see feature link). Much of the grand duchy of Luxembourg and even the prince-bishopric of Liège would also be included in the new kingdom.

The Belgian territories which formed much of the southern half of the kingdom were not to be left in the hands of France but instead would create a single strong buffer state against any further potential French aggression. The kingdom was to be ruled by the protestant King William I of the Netherlands, prince of Orange-Nassau. It was largely created for the convenience of Europe, regardless of the wishes of the Belgian and Dutch people. Divided since the sixteenth century, the northern and southern Netherlands were now reunited.

However, they had developed in markedly different ways during the two intervening centuries. The north was commercialised while the south had increasingly become industrialised. William I did much to foster the flourishing Belgian industry, commissioning the construction of new roads and canals, and the establishment of new commercial and financial companies, sometimes at his own expense. Belgium became a leader in the Industrial Revolution on the continent.

William also created the new state universities of Ghent and Liège, and the university of Leuven was placed under state control to remove it from Catholic influence. Secondary schools were also established. The favourable economic situation initially reinforced the king's popularity amongst the middle class. The union made economic sense, and for a while it seemed that the enforced alliance of the two countries might work. But neither the Dutch nor the Belgians were very keen on this union.

The Dutch rather despised the subservient attitude of their southern neighbours, while Catholic Belgium was unhappy at being joined to the Calvinist Netherlands. With Dutch the official language, the Belgian French regional elite felt sidelined, despite the Belgian population outnumbering the Dutch.

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(Information by Peter Kessler, Drs Dirk van Duijvenbode, and William Willems, with additional information from BBC News, from Foreign Policy and the French Revolution: Charles-François Dumouriez, Pierre LeBrun, and the Belgian Plan, 1789-1793, Patricia Howe (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), from The First World War, John Keegan (Vintage Books, 2000), and from External Links: A Short History of Holland, Belgium & Luxembourg (available for download as a PDF from Stanford University), and Encyclopaedia Britannica, and Belgium from Revolution to the War of the Sixth Coalition 1789-1814, Dale Pappas (The Napoleon Series Archive), and The Belgian Dynasty (Royal Family of Belgium), and Belgium.be (Official Information & Services website), and Kemmelberg (a History Files microsite).)

1813 - 1831

Son of Prince William V. Sovereign of Holland 1813-1815. King 1831-1840.

1815

The duke of Wellington's Anglo-Dutch-German army defeats Napoleon's French army at the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June in conjunction with the Prussian army, ending twenty-five years of war in Europe. By the power of the subsequent Congress of Vienna, William is elevated to the status of king to rule the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, incorporating Holland and Belgium. He is also made grand duke of Luxembourg.

King William I of the 'United Kingdom of the Netherlands' struggled to please both halves of his state despite fostering industry and trade in both of them, with the result that the two halves split in 1831

1821 - 1827

Conflicting interests between the north Netherlands and the south create an economic split after 1821. King William I is not willing to protect the south to the detriment of the north, which leads to grievances against the government. Unionism arises in 1827, merging forces from both young progressive Belgian liberals and Catholic clerics who want to restrict the king's power. The king agrees to make concessions but refuses to release his ultimate authority.

1830 - 1831

Belgium splits from Dutch rule and the following year proclaims its own kingdom. The country shortens its name to 'Kingdom of the Netherlands', although the king remains monarch of Luxembourg. In 1839 he also becomes duke of Limberg.