The second Dutch revolt
King Louis II of Holland was far from popular in his own country. Many Dutch speaking citizens resented him, because he was mainly focussed on the southern, more French part of Holland. This lead to a lot of unrest in the northern and larger part of the country. It was a surprise for many, and certainly the king himself, that the revolt that would topple him did not start in the Dutch speaking north, but in the south.
The southern part of Holland had profited from the attention it got from the king, of the peace since 1814 and the large coal deposits. This lead to a strong industrial growth, which combined with the ports in the western parts of Holland and the Dutch colonial market lead to an economic growth of Wallonia. This increased the number of wealthy and middleclass people living there and they were unhappy too. King Louis II might not have been an absolute monarch in the traditional sense, but according to most people it was close enough. A parliament (the Estate-General) existed, but the king appointed all members and it barely had any power. Next to the king usually only his friends had any influence. Most people who got rich in the industrial revolution barely got any influence at all. The middle and lower classes had none.
In 1850 the people in Liege were unhappy about their major, a corrupt friend of the king. He had squandered a lot of city funds on a lot senseless projects which had made him and his friends richer, but had accomplished little. Because the treasury was almost empty he decided to raise taxes, which for a lot citizens had been the last drop. They deposed the major and arrested him for fraud. The king did not want to let that happen to his friend and sent the army to Liege to restore order. One thing the king forgot was that, because of fear for a northern rebellion and because of nepotism, most critical positions in the army were occupied by Walloons, many from Liege. When they entered Liege and the Liegeois weren’t intimidated by the army, the army refused to fire upon the citizens.
Quickly the revolt spread. In Verviers, Mons, Charleroi and even Brussels, the residence of the king, many liberals protested the lack of freedom and the corruption of the regime. But nowhere the revolt spread as fast as in the northern Netherlands. From Maastricht to Amsterdam, from Antwerp to Groningen, within weeks the entire country was on fire. The king had no authority anymore in the Dutch speaking parts and many Walloon cities, especially the more industrialised ones had joined the north. As had been clear in Liege, the king could no longer trust his own army and even in his own city the people revolted. So he fled Brussels to Dinant, a city still under control of his supporters.
The moment the Louis left Brussels everything fell apart from him. Seeing the king flee a large majority of the army switch sides to the rebels. Most cities that had remained loyal to the king (or where the revolt had been crushed) switched sides and quickly all of Holland renounced the king. All colonies, who where for the most part run by Dutch speaking Dutch renounced him. Especially in the Cape colony this was celebrated as a liberation and the governor of the colony was lynched by an angry mob. Seeing his hopeless situation the king left Dinant and fled to France, hoping to find supporters here and convince Louis XIX, the king of France, to intervene in the Netherlands and restore him to the throne of Holland. Louis XIX refused. He had heard various rumours that Louis II was planning on gaining the throne of France for himself and he would be more harmless as a failed king than as a king of the rich country of Holland.
[FONT="]From all over the country the leaders of the Dutch revolt gathered in Brussels to create an provisional government. Many things were discussed. Should Holland remain a kingdom? The ruler of Nassau-Alsace, the grandson of the last stadholder had already travelled to Brussels to convince the government to appoint him king. But the Dutch liberals decided that they did want to trade in one monarch for another, Holland would become a republic again. But Holland would not remain Holland. Many people not from the old province of Holland were bothered by the name, in search for a new name various other names were suggested: The Batavian republic, The Belgian republic, but in the end the Republic of the Netherlands was chosen, the old name of both the northern and the southern part of the country. Elections were planned, both for a new president and for a new Estate-General. Everybody who paid enough taxes was allowed to vote. International recognition of the new regime came relatively quickly. Prussia and its League of German nations were the first to recognise them, which came together with an invitation to join the League (which was declined). They figured that even a republic was better than a kingdom ruled by a Bonaparte. Soon Austria followed, including (a quickly declined) offer to join the German confederation. Next was the USA and soon most countries recognised the new situation in the Netherlands.
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