why do you think many belgians did not want to remain a part of the Netherlands?

Question

I need other peoples point of view on this. Almost any answer would be helpful. :]

Answer 1

Two major reasons I believe. Firstly, the Belgians were sick of being treated like a political football being passed from country to country and were under-represented in the Netherlands government. Secondly, there was an element of Catholic resentment at being dominated by a Protestant Netherlands.

Belgium was occupied by the French during the French Revolutionary Wars and transferred from Austria to France by the Treaty of Campo Formio (1797). After the defeat (1815) of Napoleon at Waterloo, just S of Brussels, Belgium was given to the newly formed kingdom of the Netherlands (the decision was made at the Congress of Vienna; see Vienna, Congress of).

Under King William I of the Netherlands, the Belgians resented measures that discriminated against them in favor of the Dutch, especially in the areas of language and religion. A rebellion broke out in Brussels in 1830, and Belgian independence was declared. William I invaded Belgium but withdrew when France and England intervened in 1832.

Belgian independence was approved by the European powers at the London Conference of 1830–31 (see under London Conference). In 1831, Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was chosen king of the Belgians and became Leopold I

Answer 2

I do not know the answer to your question. I have a friend in Belgium and another in the Netherlands. At the end of all this, other persons more knowledgeable than I will weigh in. you must award 10 points to someone else.

At the end of the 19th Century, French-speaking Walloons had the upper hand,because The area was rich in coal and industrialized. The Flemings and Nederlanders (as we call them today) spoke a common language (slightly different accent LOL) called Nederlands or Flemish. There was a "civil war." The result was separation of the countries. So bitter was this war, that a Nederlander captain of a boat elected to blow up the boat and himself rather than let it be captured by the Belgians. Today, the situation is reversed. The Walloons suffer from the deterioration of heavy industry. The Flemings prosper from a knowledge-based economy. I have asked my Nederlander friend whether there is a natural affinity today between them and the Flemings of Belgium. He replies, "No way!" In 2006, a Belgian TV station put on a program in which they said that the Flemings had declared independence from the Walloons and Belgium. The TV program showed what they said were films of the King and Queen of Belgium boarding a Belgian military plane to flee the country. The TV station broadcast that this was a spoof. Somehow the message that this was a spoof, like Orson Welles War of the Worlds never got on the air.

Answer 3

Language, religion, economics and tradition.

Historically, until the 80 years war, both Belgium and the Netherlands were unified under French, Burgundia and finally the Austro-Spanish Empire of the Hapsburgs. They were in general were a jewel in the ever-debt-burdened Habsburg crown, but unlike others of the Habsburg dominions, they were led by a merchant class. It was the merchant economy which made them wealthy and the Spanish attempts at over-taxation, to pay for Habsburg wars (1), which was a major factor in their proud defence of ancient privileges. This together with resistance to the religious intolerance of the staunchly Catholic Spanish monarchy led to a general rebellion of the Netherlands against Spanish rule in the 1570s. Although the northern seven provinces, led by Holland and Zeeland (Dutch speaking), established their independence as the United Provinces after 1581, the southern Netherlands (speaking Flemish and French) were reconquered by the Spanish general Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma.

Following the reunification of the two after the Napoleonic wars, the Dutch imposed themselves upon the South and generally treated them as a suject people (somewhat like the Russians in Poland at the time). The Belgians, seeing that their reduced economic and social status revolted (2) and became a country where originally, French, which was the adopted language of the nobility and the bourgeoisie, was the official language and Roman Catholicism the region of state.

Answer 4

They knew a bunch of thirsty dutchmen would drink all their great belgian beer.

Answer 5

Because they did not want to have to learn a new and horrible sounding language.