Dutch/Belgian reunification movement?

I've always wondered-after the Belgians gained official independence in 1839, was there ever any sentiment in the Netherlands to regain their southern territories? Was there ever any desire in the Dutch-speakers of northern Belgium to reunite with the Netherlands?
 

HJ Tulp

Donor
In the North not really. The sources I've recently read seem to indicate that the 10-Day Campaign of 1831 was more about honour then about taking back Belgium. In the South a Orangist movement sprang up after Belgium independence which led to acts of Orangism being banned in 1834. I have read sources saying Orangism was a lot stronger then previously assumed because the Flemish movement has kept the issue of the Belgian Revolution political.
 
In the North not really. The sources I've recently read seem to indicate that the 10-Day Campaign of 1831 was more about honour then about taking back Belgium. In the South a Orangist movement sprang up after Belgium independence which led to acts of Orangism being banned in 1834. I have read sources saying Orangism was a lot stronger then previously assumed because the Flemish movement has kept the issue of the Belgian Revolution political.

King Willem I did refuse to accept Belgium independence till the day he stepped down. Kept the Netherlands on war footing too (harming the economy).
 

HJ Tulp

Donor
King Willem I did refuse to accept Belgium independence till the day he stepped down. Kept the Netherlands on war footing too (harming the economy).


Sure the King wanted to keep his lands but the Northerners weren't that keen on their new countrymen. It was mostly a dynastic conflict but the Northerners saw it as a insult to their honour. Especially after Van Speyck.
 
The Dutch speakers in Belgium were too busy with improving their own lot directly than trying to reunite up with the Netherlands. Any pro-Greater Netherlands movement in Belgium only came up in the very latest parts of the 19th century when the Dutch speakers starting gaining more influence and their region became less of a backwater, and even at that time fighting the French-speakers for more rights had more priority. Really, sentiment for reunification is more of an early 20th-century thing, sadly beyond the scope of this topic.
 

HJ Tulp

Donor
The Dutch speakers in Belgium were too busy with improving their own lot directly than trying to reunite up with the Netherlands. Any pro-Greater Netherlands movement in Belgium only came up in the very latest parts of the 19th century when the Dutch speakers starting gaining more influence and their region became less of a backwater, and even at that time fighting the French-speakers for more rights had more priority. Really, sentiment for reunification is more of an early 20th-century thing, sadly beyond the scope of this topic.

Actually in the decade after the Belgian Revolution there was quite some Orangism in Belgium. If you look at it that's quite logical: revolutions rarely have the full support of the population and that's doubly so in confused cases such as Belgium. Apparently it was even strong in places such as Luik which suffered from the seperation. The idea that all Belgians were supporting the Revolution is a bit naive and mostly an effect of Belgicists wanting to create a myth to keep the country together.
 
Top