Why Isn't Belgium Part of the Netherlands? | History of the Low Countries 100 AD - 1815

Belgium and the Netherlands are two of the three countries in Western Europe that make up the Low Countries. In many ways the two are very similar, and historically at different periods in history large parts of both were ruled by the same political entities including the Roman Empire, the Frankish Empire, the Burgundian Netherlands, the Habsburg Netherlands, The Spanish Empire, and finally the Kingdom of the United Netherlands. But today the two are independent of one another despite the many cultural similarities and shared history. In this three part series I will be looking at how Belgium became independent from the Netherlands starting with this episode on the historical context of the two countries.

I'm not alone today as this video is brought to you in collaboration with Mr Beat, a fellow Youtuber who makes all sorts of videos explaining history, politics and generally interesting things. He has a video up on his channel all about comparing the Netherlands and Belgium today - check it out:

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0:00 - Intro
1:26 - Leve De Koning!
1:42 - Belgium & The Netherlands' Ancient History
3:28 - Belgium & The Netherlands' Middle Ages
5:09 - The Eighty Years War
6:07 - The Netherlands Divided
6:54 - The Brabantine Revolution
7:53 - Patriots and Orangists in the Dutch Republic
9:29 - France Invades Belgium
10:26 - The Batavian Republic
11:04 - The Kingdom of Holland
11:57 - Liberation
12:28 - The Return of the Stadthouder
13:49 - The Kingdom of the United Netherlands
15:44 - A House Divided?
18:42 - Outro

Music Used:
Expeditionary - Kevin MacLeod
Angevin B - Kevin MacLeod
Inspired - Kevin MacLeod
Lost Frontier - Kevin MacLeod
Hungarian Rhapsody - Franz Liszt
Egmond Ooverture - Beethoven
Eine Kleine Nachtsmusik - Mozart

Sunday Dub - Kevin MacLeod

#Belgium #Nederland #Belgique

[historywithhilbert]

Hi everyone thank you very much for watching! Do check out Mr Beat's video on comparing the Netherlands and Belgium here:

[dennisengelen]

''While most northern Netherlands were able to speak French, most French weren't able to speak Dutch' '

Some things never change

[jensschroder]

The fact is that the Netherlands and France share a common border.
On the Saint Martin island in the Caribbean.

[iammrbeat]

Wait, you think Belgium has bad infrastructure? Laughs in American.

Great to finally collaborate with you!

[yamamotohiromori]

If I had nikel for every French speaking region wanting for independence I'd have two nikel which isn't a lot but it's weird that there's two of them

[alansmithee]

Hello Hilbert. I enjoyed this as it is not often covered.
My interest in history was started by a childhood fascination with Napoleonic Wars and Battle of Waterloo. I soon noticed about the union of what is now Belgium into the Netherlands in 1815, especially as at Waterloo the Belgian and Dutch units differed in the Belgians had the Belgic shako, as had the British. Noticeably the riflemen like Sharpe wore an older style. I used to buy Waterloo Airfix figures from a shop near my grandmas when visiting the family home town of Keighley. Funny how on TV Sharpe was from there later. His shooting the Prince of Orange seemed so like a typical Keighley response, though I know he is not from there in the books.
I am also fascinated by languages.
I think this is from speaking dialect. I really like how you bring language and history together in your videos.

[ILCMango]

"how do the governments work?" Wow, i didn't know the Belgian government works.

[Olonne]

One big thing that you missed in your conclusion about the causes of Belgian independance is that, apart for language and religion differencies, there was also a big divide on social matters, as liberals allied themselves with catholics to proclaim independance, on basis such as freedom of speech, which was not granted by the Dutch king. The importance of the liberals are really important considering belgian independance.

[coconutcore]

Belgian here. It’s funny how the Romans laid roads in Belgium, but not in the Netherlands, but somehow we still managed to get behind on keeping them up to speed.
(No pun intended btw)

[gunterke]

I understand it's a very complicated history with a lot of nuances. But I still would like to add a more Belgian perspective (often overlooked when it comes to the 80 years war eventhough that's a major influence on our history). Most of the biggest cities, the richest merchants, the only university (Leuven) were all ... in the south. The north prospered partly due to an exodus of protestants from the south. As to the idea to reunite the region... It's not that straightforward as it might seem. Holland, Brabant and Flanders were economical competitors and each had important cities that profited largely from the decline (Antwerp from the decline of Bruges, Amsterdam from the sack of Antwerp). Many of the leading figures including William of Orange or the man who wrote the Wilhelmus (national anthem), Marnix of St-Allegonde, were all from the south and only fled north due to the revolt establishing a foothoold there. Once the contrareformation had reestablished catholicism in the major southern cities, a reunion of the two regions would have had an overwhelming catholic majority... Having to give up the power, the protestant leaders of the United Provinces were reluctant, even fearful at times. An additional reason the Dutch had to leave the situation like it was, was to prevent a direct border with the largest European land power, France. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries there were numerous wars where the southern Netherlands were pillaged, adding to the general feeling of decline after the Dutch revolt.

The name of both countries means exactly the same, the Low Countries. Belgium just refers to the French adaptation of the latin name, Belgica). This is why you see the Leo Belgica map of the 17 provinces or New Netherlands being called Nova Belgica. Somewhere in the 18th century people in current Belgium began referring to themselves as Belgians (you did it in the video to). This is why the translation of Netherlands was translated as Belgiques in French. This was not a mistake, it's just that most people don't realize the meaning of both names.

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

"And there was a period in time when the BeNeLux was only the Ne"
*based and Wilhelmus-pilled*

Everyone watching this: Wait, it's all Netherlands...
Hilbert: *Always has been*

[ecurewitz]

"Bene, which I think looks pretty good." I see what you did there
Thank you Hilbert for today's dose of awesomeness

[rvfabrice]

Nice to have a Dutch perspective on the Belgian revolution. I also learned a lot about the history of the Netherlands too. One detail though: I've never heard of the term 'le royaume des Belgiques' before but if such translation exists it shoudn't be seen as a reference to nowadays belgium as basically back then through latin, Belgium (Belgique in french) was sometimes the French translation of the Netherlands. For instance, the briefly mentioned United Belgian States, a confederation that was formed after the Brabant revolution, was called Verenigde Nederlandse Staten in Dutch annd Etats Belgiques Unis in French

[silliestsususagest]

Belgium is rightful Dutch clay
- refuses to elaborate
- leaves

[matissenimmegeers]

As a Belgian it still blows my mind how my country (or at least the lands where it is located now) has always been the playing ground for the wars of larger nations and how much of our history we have been occupied by foreign powers. Spanning from the Roman Empire all the way up to the Second World War.

[nairbvel]

Having lived in both Belgium and the Netherlands, I'm absolutely loving this video!

[richardcarlson]

PLEASE! Increase the volume of the narration or decrease it for the music. It is difficult to hear the narration over the music in much of the video.

[duneydan]

Thanks a lot for looking into the complicated history of my complicated, proud and small country!
Cheers from Namur!

[joannehanna]

I'm so happy I found this video!! My Grandparents on my Mother's side came to the United States from Luxembourg in or around the 1920's ..I grew up hearing about Belgium & " zee old country"!!❤😍 I adored to hear their stories...they spoke french, german & I think the Luxembourgers (?) Had their own language?? I'm not sure..I am sure that I used to translate their broken english to my friends or on the phone ( if my parents weren't around) So I subscribed in hopes I can find out even more about that lovely & beautiful part of our world!! Thank you so much for this!!❤❤❤

[SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

The Germans wanted to take a grand ol' holiday to Paris in 1940, and not even they could avoid the speed bump
Not gonna lie, Orangists sound like a nickname for Floridian politicians