The Lion of Brussels

a rude sketch for a belgowank I'm working on. Your thought are welcome as well as maps!!

From Napoleon 'till Napoleon

Minor POD; after the incorporation of the Austrian Netherlands the area of French Flanders was joined with de Westhoek area to create the departement Yser, with Ypres as its capital.

Mid July 1815 the punitive Treaty of Wavre was signed between all parties who were involved in Napoleon's Waterloo Campaign, as an extention of the Vienna Congress. The treaty was made and signed in the aftermath of the Battle of Wavre and out of a furious reaction of the Algo-Dutch-Prussian allies for the unnecessary destruction and loss of life. France was forced to ceded the city of Calais to Britain to house a British Force tasked with maintaining European peace and stability. They were also forced to cede French Flanders to the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Départements Bas- and Haut-Rhin to Prussia

Minor POD; The Nord department was split into the department Dêule, with its capital in Lille and the departement Escaut, with its capital in Valenciennes. With Calais now being British, the departement Pas de Calais was renamed departement Scarpe. In the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the departement Lys became the province of West-Vlaanderen while the departement Yser became the Province of Zuid-Vlaanderen.

The Belgian Revolution broke out on the 25th of August 1830 when crowds spilled out onto the streets singing patriotic songs. Violent street fighting soon broke out, as anarchy reigned in Brussels and Liége. The revolution broke out for numerous reasons. On a political level, the Belgians felt significantly under-represented in the Netherlands' elected Lower Assembly and disliked the unpopular Dutch prince, the future William II who was the representative of King William I in Brussels. The French-speaking Walloons also felt ostracised in a majority Dutch speaking country. There were also significant religious grievances felt by the majority Catholic Belgians in a nation controlled by the Dutch Protestants. Order was restored briefly after William committed troops to the Southern Provinces but rioting continued and leadership was taken up by radicals, who started talking of secession.Dutch units saw the mass desertion of recruits from the southern provinces, and pulled out. The States-General in Brussels voted in favour of secession and declared independence.

belgian_revolution_gustave_wappers.jpg

A romantic view of the Belgian Revolution

Saksen-Koburg_Leopold.jpg

King Leopold I of Saxe-Coburgh Gotha, King of the Belgians

The resulting 1830 London Conference of major European powers recognized independence to all Belgian provinces who had rebelled against the Dutch Crown... meaning they could keep the whole of Luxemburg and OTL Dutch Limburg but not Zeelandic Flanders, also the City of Maastricht was to become a Dutch exclave. Following the installation of Leopold I as "King of the Belgians" in 1831, King William made a belated military attempt to reconquer Belgium and restore his position through a military campaign. This "Ten Days' Campaign" failed because of Anglo-French military intervention, which ended with a British occupation of The Hague where he was forced to recognize Belgian Independence and punished by having to cede Zeelandic Flanders. William however refused to do so until 1835, when a British blockade finally persuaded him to do so.

holman_cape_st_vincent.jpg

The British Navy blockade off the Dutch coast

Minor POD; with Maastricht being a Dutch exclave, the capital of the (all Belgian) province of Limburg became Venlo, because of its historical context of being the capital of Spanish Guelders. Also for its historical context as a portcity for Bruges, the municipality of Sluis went from the Province of Oost-Vlaanderen to West-Vlaanderen.

Since both King Leopold I and his son Prince Leopold II considered Northern Brabant to be rightful belgian territory, King Leopold I tasked his son Leopold II with secret mission to prepare an invasion of The Netherlands. Leopold II's spy however was caught while passing through Maastricht with maps and drawing of the Dutch river fortification. Late 1855, King Willem III launched a precautionary attack on Belgium.

Chassé.jpg

Dutch gunships on the Scheldt bombarding Antwerp

Intially Belgium stood without allies as both the French and British were busy with the Crimean War. The Dutch had Naval superiority with Antwerp being bombarded by Dutch gunships on the Scheldt River and the coast being besieged by the Dutch Navy, Belgium had a better funded Army which gave them the force needed to conquer Maastricht and Eindhoven before the British joined their side in March 1856 when the Crimean war was over. The British Navy soon made quick work of the Dutch Navy and the Battle-hardened Crimean War veterans, together with the Belgian Army, soon had a great portion of the Netherlands conquered.

Ten_Days%27_Campaign_%28No_Belgium%29.jpg

Prince Leopold II leads his Belgian troops into Maastricht

The resulting Treaty of Cleves made the Netherlands sign that they had violated Belgian neutrality as the British believed the Belgian in denying that they had plans to invade the Netherlands first. The Treaty made them cede most of Northern Brabant to Belgium (the Netherlands were allowed to keep the Western Breda portion) ; Friesland was, while remaining at the same time a province of the Netherlands, made a member of the German Confederation and Maastricht was declared a Principality in Personal Union with the Netherlands.

In 1865 the Virton Crisis took place. It started when French troops coming from back from a night patrol along the Franco-Prussian Border at the Mossele mistook the Belgian city of Virton for the French city of Longwy. At the Franco-Belgian border they killed Belgian Customs officers after they had fired a warning shot in the air. Thinking France had fallen to a revolution against Napoleon III, they rounded up the men of Virton (which they still thought was Longwy) and fusilladed them for rebelling before riding to Paris. When Leopold I heard this, he was furious: sending message to his diplomat in Paris to prepare for war and arresting and executing the French Ambassador in Brussels. Britain however stepped in and made the two countries discuss a diplomatic solution. Belgian initial demand to cede Thionville (thus partially undoing the First partition of Luxemburg) were denied and they were forced to settle with a recognition of Flemish in the departement Dêule and a stop to Francification of the departement.

varlin_eugene_execution_02_mini.jpg

The French patrol fusillading the men of Virton

The recognition of Flemish in the departement Dêule helped fuel the Anti-Prussian sentiment the French had more. In aftermath of the Virton Crisis revanchism reached boiling point and Napoleon III ordered a battle plan to be made up to reconquer the lost Alsace Region. The French battle plan suggested a secondary attack against the unsuspecting Rhine Province through Belgium would cripple Prussian economy and war waging ability. In case Belgium would resist a French demand to use their territory freely, they made up a plan that would return the Namur, Liége and Luxemburg provinces under French rule and make the rest of Belgium a French puppet state. in 1866 Napoleon III passed laws to make free funding for French army and navy in preparation of this conflict to come.

In July of 1870 declared war on Prussia and its allies. about a week into the Franco-Prussia war, Belgium was given an ultimatum to either grant French troops free entrance into its territory on the way to the Rhine Province or to face a French occupation. King Leopold II refused the ultimatum and ordered the Army to set up defensive positions. The might of the French Army however was to big and the Belgian army retreated to the Scheldt river.

800px-LJB9_-_Zimmer.jpg

The French advance throughout Belgium

Britain in honoring its agreement with Belgium to help retain their independence as stated in the 1835 agreement, sent their British Continental Forces stationed in Calais to help the Belgians. Napoleon III was aware that a war with Britain could not be won and ordered the army to hold positions on the Belgian Front and to not engage with British forces. The British Continental Force had quickly occupied the departements Scarpe, Dêule and Escaut and the Belgians were able to reconquer the Western half of Hainaut. London, eager to resolve this disputed diplomatically, also order their BCF as well as their Belgian allies to hold all military action; leading in a stalemate.

champigny.jpg

French troops take their position in Oudenaarde as a result of the stalemate

Meanwhile in Paris, Napoleon III acted his backup plan for the Prussia occupation and sent a ultimatum to Switzerland. Switzerland gave in to the ultimatum but not after warning Berlin about it and also opening their borders for the Germans. In a furious reaction Napoleon III ordered the French speaking portion of Switzerland to be „liberated for the pro-German Swiss government” and created the Romandie puppet state. However Prussia and its allies swept through Lorraine and Romandie al the way to Paris. Where they forced the French government, who had fallen without leadership since Napoleon III fled to Orléans, to engage in peace talks with the now German Empire and the British. in the following Congress of Barcelona Napoleon III was disposed of, the entire Opale Coast was ceded to British Calais, Belgian Territory was restored, the departements Dêule (added to Zuid-Vlaanderen) and Escaut (added to Hainaut) and the municipality of Thionville (added to Luxemburg) were ceded to Belgium and a plans were made for a partitioning of Switzerland with the German Empire.

41_00109294.jpg

The French clash with the Prussians near Solothurn, Switzerland

The treaty of Turin of 1874 sealed the Swiss partition. Romandy was annexed by the French; Basel, Aargau, Zurich, Schaffhausen and Thurgau were annexed by the Germans; Geneva, Ticino and Italian speaking municipalities in Graubunden were given to Italie. The rest remained Swiss.
 
Last edited:
Nice, but the you should have not broken up Switzerland, I think thats a little bit unrealistic.

I did this so that in World War I the German Empire will invade France through Belgium, whilst France has a counter attack through Switzerland. the Swiss however will see this as another French violation of their neutrality and join the Central Powers.
 
Last edited:
Notre terre dans l'Afrique; La Congo

After the the Franco-Prussian war, Leopold II pressed the issue of a construction of a chain of forts along the Franco-Belgian border, and let to a series of very modern fortifications, including the so-called "National redoubt" at Antwerp, Liège , Namur, Roermonde and Eindhoven many of them designed by the great Belgian fortress architect, Henri Alexis Brialmont.

By the time Belgium had consolidated power and considered an overseas empire, major imperial powers such as the United Kingdom and France, and to some degree, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands already had staked out the most economically promising territories for colonization within their spheres of influence. In 1876 Leopold II, King of the Belgians hosted a geographic conference in Brussels, inviting famous explorers, philanthropists, and members of geographic societies to stir up interest in a "humanitarian" endeavor for Europeans to take in central Africa so as to improve and civilize the lives of the indigenous peoples. Leopold used the Association for the promotion of plans to seize independent Central Africa under this philanthropic guise.

Leopold%2BII%2Ben%2BStanley.jpg

newspaperillustration of Leopold II meeting Stanley after he returns from africa

Henry Morton Stanley, famous for making contact with British missionary David Livingstone in Africa in 1871, had later explored the region during a journey that ended in 1877 described in Stanley's novel Through the Dark Continent (1878). Failing to enlist British interests in the development of the Congo region, Stanley took service with the Leopold II, who hired him to help the king to gain a foothold in the region and secretly wished to annex the region for himself.

From August 1879 to June 1884 Stanley was in the Congo basin, where he built a road from the lower Congo up to Stanley Pool and launched steamers on the upper river. While exploring the Congo for Leopold, Stanley set up treaties with the local chiefs and with native leaders.[4] Few to none of these tribal leaders had a realistic idea of what they were signing, and, in essence, the documents gave over all rights of their respective pieces of land to King Leopold II. With Stanley's help, Leopold was able to claim a great area along the Congo, and military posts were established.

millhill42.jpg

Explorer Stanley in the Congo

Leopold began to carefully create a plan to convince other European powers of the legitimacy of his claim to the region, all while maintaining the guise that his work was for the benefit of the native peoples under the name of a philanthropic "Association".

The king launched a publicity campaign in Britain, drawing attention to Portugal's slavery record to distract critics and offering to drive slave traders from the Congo basin. He also secretly told British merchant houses that if he was given formal control of the Congo for this and other humanitarian purposes, he would then give them the same most favored nation (MFN) status Portugal offered. At the same time, Leopold promised Bismarck he would not give any one nation special status, and that German traders would be as welcome as any other. Leopold was able to attract scientific and humanitarian backing for the International African Association, which he formed during a Brussels Geographic Conference of geographic societies, explorers, and dignitaries he hosted in 1876.

In November 1884, Otto von Bismarck convened a 14-nation conference to submit the Congo question to international control. Most major powers attended the Berlin Conference, and drafted an international code governing the way that European countries should behave as they acquired African territory. The conference officially recognized the International Congo Association, and specified that it should have no connection with Belgium or any other country, but would be under the personal control of King Leopold. It drew specific boundaries and specified that all nations should have access to do business in the Congo with no tariffs. The slave trade would be suppressed. In 1885, Leopold emerged triumphant.

Afrikakonferenz.jpg


the 1884 Berlin Conference

Leopold no longer needed the façade of the Association, and replaced it with an appointed cabinet of Belgians who would do his bidding. To the temporary new capital of Boma, he sent a Governor-General and a chief of police. The vast Congo basin was split up into 14 administrative districts, each district into zones, each zone into sectors, and each sector into posts.

Boma01.jpg

a view of the capital of the Congo Free state, Boma

Leopold II exploited the Congo for its natural rubber, which was becoming a valuable commodity. The Anglo-Belgian India Rubber Company employed the Force Publique brutally to extract profits from the territory. His regime in the Congo operated the territory as a forced labor colony, using murder and mutilation as punishments for villagers who did not fulfill the quota for and distribute the appropriate amount of rubber. Although the Congo Free State was not officially a Belgian colony, the country Belgium was its chief beneficiary, in terms of its trade and the employment of its citizens. Leopold II personally becoming monstrously rich from the rubber and ivory exports of the colony acquired at gunpoint.

In 1908, to defuse an international outcry against the brutality of the Congo Free State, the Belgian government agreed to annex it as a colony, which forthwith was named the Belgian Congo. The Belgian parliament had long resisted taking responsibility for the Congo Free State as a colony of Belgium.It also annexed Katanga, a territory held under the Congo Free State, which Leopold had gained in 1891 and which was forthwith called Belgian Katanga.

220px-Proclamation_on_the_founding_of_the_Belgian_Congo.JPG

Proclamation to the population fo the Congo, announcing the annexation of the territory by Belgium

The conditions in the Congo improved following the Belgian government's takeover from the Congo Free State. Select Bantu languages were taught in primary schools, a rare occurrence in colonial education. The colonial administration implemented a variety of economic reforms that focused on the improvement of infrastructure: railways, ports, roads, mines, plantations and industrial areas. The Congolese people, however, lacked political power and faced legal discrimination. All colonial policies were decided in Brussels the Belgian Colony-secretary and Governor-general, neither of whom was elected by the Congolese people, wielded absolute power.
 
The Second Franco-Prussian War

455px-Charles_Poron_Le_prince_imperial.jpg

Napoléon IV Eugène Bonapart at the Turin Treaty negotiations as delegate of France

377px-Prince_Impérial%2C_1878%2C_Londres%2C_BNF_Gallica.jpg

The official photograph of Napoléon IV, Emperor of France

After the french defeat during the initial Franco-Prussian War, The French people held a huge grudge against the victors. Public opinion with The German Kaiserreich rose however after the partition of the Swiss. the Acquisition of Romandie helped Napoleon IV , who had led the French side in the Turin Treaty negotiations after the death of his father, to gain support. In a 1876 referendum he was reinstated as French Emperor, after President Adolphe Thiers wanted to release the newly acquired Romandie Region as its own sovereign nation. Relations with Belgium however turned sour when Leopold II acquired the Congo Free State.

Louise_Princess_Royal.jpg
Dame Louise de Galles, Princess Royale and Empress consort of the French​

Minor POD; In 1886 Napoleon IV married Princess Louise, daughter of King Edward VII

365px-Napoleon_Eugene_Louis_Bonaparte_2.jpg

Napoléon IV in his Colonial uniform somewhere before the Congoleze war

Napoleon IV, now self declared Emperor of France and L'Afrique Noire was publicly disgusted with a large Belgian control of the Congo Bassin, claiming at least southern Leopoldsville (Kinshasa) side of the Congo river. He dreamed of uniting Brazzaville and Leopoldsville under French rule, renaming it Napoléonville and making it the greatest city in all of Afrique Noire. In 1899 he traveled to Lisbon to persuading the Portuguese in helping him in a Congolese War, promising them a piece of the Congolese pie. The Portuguese responded negative in fear of a British support for the Belgians. He managed however to find a ally in the Dutch, as they yearned to take their revenge on the Belgians and kicking Friesland out of the German Confederation.

fr_duchayla_smoak.jpg

The French Navy newest addition La Bonaparté, who was present at the Congo embargo

In March 1900 the French Navy blockaded the Congo River estuary, capturing or forcing Belgian ships to return to Dunkirk, Ostende or Antwerp. When this news reached London, Queen Victoria demanded an explanation from the French ambassador in London. He stated they embargoed the Congo Free State because of the inhumane treatment of the natives. Because she knew that there was popular displease with the situation in the Congo Free State she gave her support for the embargo, whilst giving the Belgian ships access to Nigerian port where they could transfer their cargo onto British ships heading for Congo.

598px-Congo_belge_campagne_1918.jpg

Belgian Troops retreating from the French advance

Napoleon IV did gain the support from Prince Edward, and when he became king Edward VII stopped allowing Belgian ships in Nigeria. Napoleon IV saw this as a sign he could finally strike. In early February the French Navy sailed up the Congo River and started bombing Boma. The British did not back Belgium this time, seeing a legitimate French casus belli, the German Empire however did back Belgium. The Congo Free state was poorly defended and it did not long before the French flag hung over Leopoldsville.

800px-4th_Bn_Royal_Fusiliers_22_August_1914.jpg

British Soldiers of the British Continental Forces in Lille, where they formed the Anglo-Belgian Legion

Meanwhile in Europe, British Continental Forces stationed in Calais refused orders from London and deserted in masses towards Lille, where they formed the Anglo-Belgian Legion. They along with the Belgian Army and their German Allies positioned their armies along the Franco-Belgian and Franco-German borders.

Willy_Stöwer_-_Antwerpen_1914.JPG

artist impression of the destruction of Antwerp by the Dutch

After a stalemate of about 3 weeks, the Dutch Army poured into Northern Belgian and North- East Germany, without a formal declaration of war. Caught completely off guard both the Belgian and German Armies were in disarray. It was not long before Antwerp was under Dutch Control as well as German Eastern Friesland. The Congoleze War, In Britain known as the Second Franco-Prussia War, ended when King Leopold II declared Brussels as an open city. Napoléon IV rode into Brussels to discuss Belgian terms of surrender.

Victor_Napoleon.jpg

King Napoléon I Victor Bonapart, King of Liége

They settled on a complete annexation of the Southern Congo River Bank, an French puppet state composed out of the Province of Luxemburg, Ardennes (OTL Belgian Luxemburg), Namur and Liege to be named the Kingdom of Liége and governed by Victor Napoléon Bonapart, cousin of Napoléon IV; Further, the city of Antwerp and surrounding areas were ceded to the Dutch, became the new capital of the Scheldeland province (OTL Zeeland). Germany only lost East Friesland to the Dutch.
 
Top