Chapter 41: Roi de Belgique
Scenes from the Belgian Revolution
The final fallout from the 1830 July Revolution in France would take place in the neighboring Kingdom of the Netherlands. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the lands constituting the defunct Austrian Netherlands were united with the Dutch Kingdom of the Netherlands at the behest of Britain. Officially this transfer of land was compensation for the loss of their colonial territories in South Africa and India to the British during the war, with Austria receiving sovereignty over the territory of Venice and Milan in turn. But in truth, this act was a means of bolstering the Netherlands against France who many still feared even after the downfall of Napoleon. This arrangement would unfortunately cause more problems than it would solve for everyone involved as the Austrians would experience perpetual unrest in their Italian territories for the remainder of the 19th Century, while the Flemish and Walloon peoples of the Southern Netherlands would prove themselves to be a restless and unruly people for the Government in Holland. This divide was made worse by King William I of the Netherlands who gradually came to enforce a policy of strict cultural assimilation of the Flems and Walloons in the South of his country.
In 1823, Dutch was imposed as the official language of government across the region of Flanders angering the French speaking upper and middle class in the Southern Provinces. The King’s strict adherence to Dutch Reformed Church also sparked fears of religious persecution and the intolerance of their Catholic faith by the government in Holland. In addition, despite comprising roughly two thirds of the country’s population, the peoples of Belgium only held 50% of the seats in the States General of the Netherlands. This disparity was also seen in the Army of the Netherlands which was staffed almost entirely with Dutch officers from the North despite recruiting many thousands of soldiers from the South. National institutions were also headquartered in the North of the country making it difficult for the peoples of the Southern Provinces to air their many grievances against them. It was no wonder then that protests became an almost daily occurrence in the city of Brussels, which soon became a hotbed of revolutionary and patriotic activity. Despite their innate differences, even the Liberals and Catholics of the Southern Provinces came together in their opposition to the Dutch forming a broad coalition of dissent. By the Summer of 1830, it was clear that the Southern Netherlands had become a tinderbox ready to go off at any moment.
The final spark would come from the most unlikely of sources, a simple play. As part of King William’s birthday festivities on the 25th of August, the new play
La Muette de Portici (The Mute Girl of Portici) was chosen for a performance in the
Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels before an agitated crowd
.[1] Though it started as any other play performed that day, the evening showing would quickly escalate in emotion and fervor. The crowd of theatergoers were so inspired by the patriotic and romantic tenor of the famous aria
Amor Sacre de la Patrie (Sacred Love of the Fatherland) that they rose from their seats to a man and stormed out into the streets shouting
“aux armes, aux armes”. Together with the regular protestors, the mob rapidly grew as the revolutionary spirit passed from person to person throughout all of Brussels. Within minutes the entire city was up in arms against their Dutch oppressors with Dutch soldiers and civilians being targeted for wanton destruction and persecution. Windows were smashed, stores were looted, buildings were burned to the ground, and men were shot dead in the streets. The Belgian Revolution had begun in earnest.
The Revolution could have been ended then and there had the Dutch garrison acted quickly and forcefully against the protestors. Instead, the Crown Prince William agreed to meet with the dissidents on the 1st of September and hear their demands rather than forcibly subdue them. As the Prince was generally popular with the people of Brussels and the Southern Provinces it was hoped that he could bring an amicable solution to the unfolding crisis. He quickly became convinced that only by granting autonomy to the southern provinces could the crisis be ended peacefully. Agreeing to work on their behalf, Prince William returned to Amsterdam along with his brother Frederick to relay the rioters’ requests to their father. Unfortunately, the King would not give his response for nearly two weeks as he awaited the gathering of the States General before making his decision. When King William finally did refuse the rebels’ terms on the 14th of September, it would be another 7 days before he ordered his sons back to Brussels this time at the head of an army 14,000 strong to subdue the burgeoning unrest in Brussels with force if necessary.
During the four and a half weeks that King William had hesitated, however, the people of Brussels had been joined by thousands of volunteers from across the countryside, bolstering the revolutionaries' numbers significantly. The level of resistance the Dutch army encountered upon their arrival on the 25th of September had also stiffened substantially, as they found a determined and deeply entrenched mob of Belgians eager to fight for their ideals with guns at the ready. Barricades of furniture, upturned paving stones, rubble, and random debris where strategically placed throughout Brussels to channel the Dutch soldiers into prepared kill zones along the main avenues of the city. Houses were filled to the brim with partisans and patriots who effortlessly picked off the Orangemen as they advanced down the open boulevards leaving a trail of dead and dying men in their wake. Still the Dutch pressed on under a relentless hail of projectiles and gunfire, but by nightfall, Prince William had had enough. Recognizing that the situation was rapidly deteriorating and progress was dreadfully slow, the Prince withdrew from the city with his men under the cover of darkness, ending the engagement in the early hours of the morning. Much to the surprise of the people of Brussels and the rest of Europe, the Belgians had won.
With their effective resistance against the Dutch Army at Brussels, the Belgians had proven their mettle on the field of battle. Prince William and Prince Frederick would remain in the outskirts of the city for two more days, skirmishing with the locals and attempting other means of pushing into the city, before finally withdrawing north on the 27th towards the fortresses of Maastricht, Venlo, and Antwerp while they awaited further reinforcements from their father. During this lull in the fighting the leaders of the Belgian revolution convened to discuss their future. With their actions in Brussels, they had crossed the Rubicon and could not return to Dutch rule without dire consequences and so they pressed for full independence. On the 4th of October 1830, the state of Belgium declared its independence from the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
This development was met with mild curiosity but also fear and skepticism by the Powers who would soon gather in London to determine Belgium’s fate. Of the five, only France supported the independence of Belgium initially, while Austria, Britain, Prussia, and Russia were all opposed to the rebellion of the Belgians against the Dutch and wished for a return to the Dutch rule over Flanders and Wallonia. None were ready or willing to aid the Dutch, however. Russia was busy rounding up its own dissidents in Poland and was eyeing the events in the Ottoman Empire with great concern. Austria would similarly be locked in a bloody uprising of its own in Italy later that Fall diverting any attention it could spare towards the Low Countries. The Kingdom of Prussia, King William’s closest ally, was the most vocal in supporting Dutch territorial integrity, yet it too was unable to provide more aid to the Netherlands at the time, given its own financial troubles and fears of unrest among their own Polish population. With no one else willing to intervene, the British stayed their hands as they were unwilling to act alone in this matter, leaving the Netherlands to resolve the matter themselves.
With no support from his supposed allies’, King William was forced to stay on the defensive given the complete disintegration of his army after Brussels. Many of the soldiers sent against the revolutionaries had been from the Southern Provinces and had begun defecting in alarming numbers following the declaration of independence on the 4th of October. In some instances, Belgian soldiers would mutiny against their Dutch officers, imprisoned them, turn over their positions to the Belgian Revolutionaries, before siding with the Revolutionaries themselves. By the end of the month, only 6,000 men remained in the fortresses of Antwerp, Maastricht, and Venlo forcing the Netherlands to undergo a massive reorganization of their army over the Fall and Winter. Fortunately for the King, he found no shortage of volunteers who enlisted in great numbers to quell the uprising in the South, still it would take time to properly arm and train the new soldiers. As a result, a cease fire of sorts would go into effect the remainder of the year as the Dutch regrouped for a Spring offensive.
The Belgians were also incredibly active in the months following the battle of Brussels, establishing government institutions, organizing a proper army, and beginning the search for a King. Despite possessing a strong liberal following that supported the declaration of a republic, most of the Belgian leadership recognized that carving out a new democratic state in old Europe would be akin to a death sentence for the young state; the only chance for Belgium to exist in conservative Europe would be through a monarchy. The institution of the monarchy, however, would be heavily restricted by a constitution, limiting the powers of the king. In addition, the King would be chosen solely at the discretion of the Belgian National Congress, the only questions remained who to pick as King of Belgium.
The Provisional Government of Belgium-
(From Left to Right: Alexandre Gendebien, Andre Edouard Jolly, Charles Rogier, Louis de Potter, Sylvain Van de Veyer, Feuillien de Coppin de Falaen, Felix de Merode, Jospeh Van der Linden, Emmanuel Van der Linden d'Hoorghvoorst)
Initially, there was a strong interest in having a member of the House of Orange, particularly the Prince of Orange, serve as King of Belgium in order to maintain good diplomatic and economic relations with the Netherlands following the end of the Revolution.
[2] The selection of the Prince of Orange would also mitigate any worries that the Powers may have had concerning their new state. Sadly, this plan was scuttled before it ever came to fruition by the continued hostilities of King William and the Dutch. Under orders from King William and the Prussian General Charles Bernard, Duke of Saxe Weimar, the Dutch general David Henrik Chasse opened fire upon the city of Antwerp following a skirmish with an unruly band of Belgian revolutionaries. 92 civilians were killed in the ensuing bombardment and many hundreds were left homeless as a raging fire swept through the city in its aftermath.
Incensed at the maliciousness of the Dutch, the Belgian National Congress explicitly excluded the House of Orange-Nassau any claim to the new throne of Belgium in perpetuity. Their own choice for a native Belgian king was also foiled when Count Felix de Merode refused any consideration for the Crown as he considered himself unworthy of. Similarly, the Duke of Arenberg, Prosper Louis exhibited little interest in serving as King of Belgium despite the support he received from the Church. It was clear that a foreign noble would be required to resolve their King dilemma, and so the Congress was called to vote on the prospective candidates for the Belgian throne. For their first round of voting, there were three candidates; the Duc de Nemours, the Duke of Leuchtenberg, and the Duke of Teschen.
The first and most popular choice voted on by the delegates was the French Prince Louis de Orleans, Duc de Nemours who received a total of 97 votes out of a total of 190. Prince Louis was the second son of the new French King Louis-Philippe, which would provide Belgium with a strong connection to their closest and most obvious ally in France. However, as Prince Louis was still a minor at 16 years, the decision was left to his father the King. Unfortunately, due to the intense diplomatic pressure from Britain and Austria, Louis-Philippe was forced to decline the honor for his son despite his own interest in the Belgian monarchy. To the Governments of Britain and Austria, the assumption of Prince Louis to the throne of Belgium would be akin to the French annexation of Belgium in its entirety. For France to so blatantly expand its influence into the Netherlands while simultaneously working to expand its influence in Italy through the Carbonari would be simply unacceptable to them and tantamount to war. And so, the Duke of Nemours and his father were forced to decline the offer.
With the Duke of Nemours removed from consideration, the Congress was forced to approach their second choice Auguste de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg who had received 74 votes. Auguste Beauharnais was the oldest son of Eugene de Beauharnais, the former step son of Emperor Napoleon and Viceroy of the Kingdom of Italy. It was this very relationship that would ultimately cost the Duke of Leuchtenberg any possibility of having the Belgian throne. As part of King Louis-Philippe’s agreement with Britain and Austria, his son Prince Louis would renounce his candidacy for the Belgian throne provided they blocked Auguste de Beauharnais from assuming the Belgian throne in the event he was chosen. Ultimately, when the powers made known their opposition to the Duke of Leuchtenberg's candidacy, the Belgian Government was forced to rescind their offer.
Their third choice, Archduke Charles of Austria, Duke of Teschen was similarly blocked from ascending the Belgian throne, this time by Chancellor Metternich and the Austrian Government who did not want a Hapsburg to accept a crown from the gutter. Without a king, the Belgian National Congress selected the Belgian Baron Erasme-Louis Surlet de Chokier to serve as regent until a proper choice could be selected by the National Congress and approved by the powers. With their first three candidates unacceptable to the Powers that be, the National Congress was forced to look at a second batch of candidates; Prince Charles Ferdinand of the Two Sicilies, Prince Otto of Bavaria, and Prince John of Saxony. Almost immediately, Prince John of Saxony was forced to decline given his status as his brother’s, King Frederick Augustus’ heir and the preposition of a union between Saxony and Belgium proved to be unattractive to both parties. Prince Charles Ferdinand of the Two Sicilies would also prove unacceptable to the Belgians who were in opposition to his family’s history of reactionary rulers. King Louis-Philippe had also started to distance himself from him given his burgeoning support for the exiled Duchess of Berry and her son the Comte de Chambord.
By May 1831, the only candidate remaining was Prince Otto of Bavaria. Prince Otto was generally considered to be an acceptable choice for the Belgian Government as he came from a devoutly Catholic family and his father had exhibited liberal leanings in the past, which many hoped would carry over to his son. The only point of contention was his young age, at 15 years he would necessitate the establishment of a regency until his 20th birthday. King Louis-Philippe even gave his approval of the Bavarian Prince’s candidacy, even going so far as to offer one of his daughters in marriage to young Otto should he become King of Belgium. Austria was generally amenable as well given Prince Otto’s relation to his uncle, Emperor Francis I of Austria and his wife Princess Caroline of Bavaria, Otto’s Aunt. Prussia similarly shared a dynastic connection to Bavaria through the Crown Prince Frederick Wilhelm and his wife, Princess Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria, another one of Otto’s aunts. While they remained unhappy with the developments in Belgium, their opposition was based primarily on their alliance with the Netherlands, rather than any wrongdoing on Prince Otto’s part. Britain remained entirely unconvinced however leaving the Powers and the Belgians at a standstill.
With none of the prospective Princes amenable to the Powers, Belgium would continue without a King leaving many to fear the eventual reconquest of the country by the Dutch. In response, France changed tactics and put forward a plan calling for the partition of the Belgian territory among its three neighbors, France, Prussia, and the Netherlands. The southern half of the country, including much of East Flanders, all of Brabant, Hainaut, and Namur west of the Meuse would be ceded to France. Prussia would receive Liege, parts of Limburg East of the Meuse, and parts of Namur East of the Meuse. The Netherlands would receive the province of Antwerp, barring Antwerp itself, parts of Limburg West of the Meuse, and parts of Brabant in the North of the Province. Lastly, an autonomous protectorate comprising the remaining territory of Antwerp and Flanders under the protection of Britain would be created as well. This plan was rejected out of hand by the other Powers as a blatant land grab by France, yet strangely enough the partition plan worked to bring the Powers into agreement on Belgium’s independence.
Fearing French expansion as the alternative to the independence of Belgium, the ailing British Prime Minister George Canning and his government finally abandoned their opposition to Prince Otto as a means of mitigating French gains in the region. Though they remained unhappy with the outcome, the only other option was war, which remained equally unpopular in Parliament. Prussia also gave up its intentions of preserving the territorial integrity of the Netherlands and joined with the rest in supporting Belgian independence, albeit begrudgingly. Signing the Treaty of London, Austria, Britain, France, Prussia, and Russia called for the declaration of an independent Belgium with Prince Otto of Bavaria as its first king. With the Powers reconciled to their decision, the Belgian National Congress dispatched their offer to Prince Otto and after little debate, he accepted on the 10th of July.
[3] Four weeks later, on the 7th of August, Prince Otto entered the country at Verviers in an open top carriage and a company of Bavarian cavalrymen at his back.
The King elect and his escort proceeded quickly to Brussels where he was met by the Count de Sauvage, Baron d’Hooghvorst, and a contingent of the Belgian Civic Guard who directed the Prince’s carriage through the city towards the Place Royale (Royal Square) and the entrance of the church Saint Jacques-sur-Coundenberg. All along the road were throngs of people cheering and cajoling as the Bavarian Prince’s carriage passed through. The Belgian soldiers lining the road were adorned with their finest uniforms and their impressive black cockades making them a sight to behold to the common man, but they paled in comparison to the elaborately adorned soldiers Otto had brought with him. The black, red, and yellow flags of Belgium flew high and mightily over the city of Brussels, trumpets blared in triumph, the people sang and danced with great passion and vigor. Finally reaching the steps of the church, Prince Otto of Bavaria was crowned King of Belgium before an adoring crowd.
Not all were impressed by the boy King, as not a moment sooner than the end of Otto’s coronation did a Dutch army 45,000 strong invade Belgium on the 10th of August. Crossing the border near Poppel, the Dutch quickly overwhelmed what little defenses existed along the border capturing the city of Turnhout, before advancing on Antwerp which would similarly fall two days later on the 12th. The invasion by the Dutch was in direct defiance of the Treaty of London establishing Belgium as an independent state, it was also a move meant to disrupt King Otto’s acclimation to his new country as well. By throwing the nascent kingdom into chaos immediately, King William hoped to destabilize it and reassert his control over the whole of the Southern Netherlands.
As he was still a minor at only 16 years, King Otto was forced to rely extensively on his advisors Baron d’Hooghvorst, Amedee de Felly, and the Bavarian general William von Le Suire who proposed marching the Belgian army North to confront the Dutch, rather than calling on the British and French for aid. Morale for the Belgian soldiers remained high following their victories against the Dutch the previous September and volunteers assembled at Brussels in droves ready to confront their oppressors as it was strongly believed they would win their independence by their own hands. Two armies were prepared for the Belgian counterattack, the Army of the Meuse, stationed near Tongeren would advance on Maastricht, while another army, the Army of the Scheldt assembled outside Brussels, would move to counter the Dutch coming from Antwerp. It was a risky plan as it effectively allowed the Dutch to cut them off from one another, but they could not allow the Dutch to roam freely in both the North and East of the country. As predicted this is precisely what happened.
Over confident of their own success, the Belgian Army of the Meuse quickly outpaced their meager artillery train during their march on Maastricht on the 14th of August. Reaching the outskirts of the city around noon, they soon encountered 2 Divisions of the Dutch army who had sortied from Maastricht’s citadel to meet the approaching Belgians. The Belgians surprisingly managed to match the Dutch soldiers blow for blow initially despite being outnumbered 20,000 to 12,000, lacking both artillery and cavalry, and fielding poorly trained militia against professionally trained soldiers. However, the arrival of a third Dutch Division, coming from the Southeast quickly changed that as this division's advance threatened to surround the already overly stretched Belgians.
They were only spared from complete annihilation by the sacrifice of the Civic Guard which acted as a rearguard while the main army attempted to escape back the way it came. Despite their valor and ferocity, the militiamen of the Civic Guard were completely outmatched and quickly eviscerated by the Dutch soldiers forcing their surrender after all of twenty minutes. The ensuing chase of the reduced Army of the Meuse was just as bad for the Belgians with many men and boys falling on the road as the Dutch cavalrymen cut them down as they fled. The slaughter was only curtailed by the coming of nightfall and the protection of Tongeren’s guns. Out of a starting strength of 12,000 men for the Army of the Meuse nearly 3,000 men were lost, most of whom were captured, and another 3,000 were wounded. The Dutch for their part lost all of 600 men, with an unknown number of wounded although it was presumably low.
The Dutch Rout the Belgians at Maastricht
The Belgian army of the Scheldt met with similar results as they were defeated along the banks of the Nete river where the Dutch had encamped themselves. Rather than wait for the Orangemen to make the attack themselves, the overeager Belgians rushed across the narrow bridge North of Mechelen. While the Dutch were initially caught off guard by the brash tactics of the Belgian fighters, they were quickly rallied by Prince William and eventually managed to push them back across the river. Like the army of the Meuse, the Army of the Scheldt also lacked any measurable artillery beyond a handful of old 12 pounders. Their cavalry contingent also paled in comparison to that of the Dutch army, and in the ensuing chase back to Brussels, hundreds of Belgian men and boys were cut down while fleeing.
Faced with the collapse of both his armies, King Otto and the Belgian government were forced to call upon the Powers to intervene. Two days later on the 18th of August, Marshal Etienne Maurice Gerard and 60,000 French soldiers crossed the border into Belgium and promptly forced the Dutch army to retreat to their original lines eight days earlier. By the end of the 20th of August, a tentative peace had settled across Belgium. King Otto’s problems did not end there however. While he had succeeded in saving his country, albeit through the military aid of the French, the previous ten days had been a complete humiliation for him and Belgium, one they would not soon forget.
The French intervention in Belgium had also reignited the fears of French dominance of the continent and in the ensuing peace talks, the terms given to Holland were much more favorable than the previous terms issued in the London Conference several months before. Parts of Limburg on the Eastern bank of the Meuse were to be returned to the Netherlands under the new treaty. In addition, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was to be divided with the Western half remaining under Belgian control, and the Eastern half being returned to the Netherlands. The southern bank of the Western Scheldt which was presently occupied by the Belgium as well was also to be returned to Holland. This represented a significant reduction in the territorial extent of Belgium as both the Eastern halves of Limburg and Luxembourg had been assigned to an independent Belgium under the earlier Treaty of London. These revisions did not sit well with King Otto or the Belgian Government, but as they still required the Powers support against the Netherlands, there was very little they could do to change it without upsetting their benefactors.
While Otto and Belgium would reluctantly acquiesce to the terms established in the New Treaty of London, William and the Netherlands would not, as he pointedly refused to withdraw from the Belgian territory still under his control, namely Antwerp, Brecht, and Turnhout. After several months of continued resistance to the Power’s demands to vacate from Belgian territory, French soldiers were ordered to dislodge him beginning the siege of Antwerp in February 1832. The siege would last for little over two months and result in the destruction of several dikes in the area by both sides intentionally and unintentionally. Nevertheless, the outcome of the endeavor was never in any serious doubt as the French ultimately secured all of Antwerp by early April, even still King William refused to abide by the Treaty of London’s terms. Tired of the whole endeavor, the French and the British allowed the Belgian government to administer the territories of Limburg, Luxembourg, and Zeeland under its control until the Netherlands agreed to evacuate the cities and fortresses still under its control in Belgium.
Next Time: Ruination
[1] La Muette de Portici was a play about the failed 1647 Neapolitan insurrection against the Spanish king. The play had been written by the playwright Daniel Auber and debuted in 1828, making it quite popular in the time before the Belgian Revolution. Due to the unrest in Belgium before the Revolution, the play had been temporarily banned until the King’s birthday on the 24th of August. Surprisingly, King William really liked the play which is ironic given its role in sparking the Belgian Revolution against him.
[2] The Belgian Provisional Government were afraid of having their merchants and their goods barred from the lucrative Dutch and Indonesian markets. That said, they quickly got over their fears when the Dutch continued to bombard Antwerp killing several civilians and leaving hundreds more homeless and destitute.
[3] Leopold as he was known to do, took his time considering the offer from the Belgian National Congress. It took nearly two before he finally accepted the Belgian offer to become their King and it would be another four weeks before he actually arrived in the country and had his coronation.
