HISTORY
Belgium
derives its name from the Belgae, a Celtic tribe. The Belgae were
forced to yield to Roman legions during the first century B.C.
For some 300 years thereafter, what is now Belgium flourished
as a province of Rome. But Rome's power gradually lessened. In
about A.D. 300, Attila the Hun invaded what is now Germany and
pushed Germanic tribes into northern Belgium. About 100 years
later, the Germanic tribe of the Franks invaded and took possession
of Belgium. The northern part of present-day Belgium became an
overwhelmingly Germanized and Germanic-Frankish-speaking area,
whereas in the southern part people continued to be Roman and
spoke derivatives of Latin. After coming under the rule of the
Dukes of Burgundy and, through marriage, passing into the possession
of the Hapsburgs, Belgium was occupied by the Spanish (1519-1713)
and the Austrians (1713-1794).
Under
these various rulers, and especially during the 500 years from
the 12th to the 17th century, the great cities of Ghent, Bruges,
Brussels, and Antwerp took turns at being major European centers
for commerce, industry (especially textiles), and art. Flemish
painting--from Van Eyck and Breugel to Rubens and Van Dyck--became
the most prized in Europe. Flemish tapestries hung on castle walls
throughout Europe.
Following the French Revolution, Belgium was invaded and annexed
by Napoleonic France in 1795. Yet with the defeat of Napoleon's
army at the Battle of Waterloo, fought just a few miles south
of Brussels, Belgium was separated from France and made part of
the Netherlands by the Congress of Vienna in 1815.
In 1830, Belgium won its independence from the Dutch as a result
of an uprising of the Belgian people. A constitutional monarchy
was established in 1831, with a monarch invited in from the House
of Saxe-Coburg Gotha in Germany.
Belgium
was invaded by the Germans in 1914 and again in 1940. Those invasions,
plus disillusionment over postwar Soviet behavior, made Belgium
one of the foremost advocates of collective security within the
framework of European integration and the Atlantic partnership.
Since
1944, when British, Canadian, and American armies liberated Belgium,
the country has lived in security and at a level of increased
well-being.
Language,
economic, and political differences between Dutch-speaking Flanders
and Francophone Wallonia have produced increased cleavages in
Belgian society. The Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and
the 19th century accentuated the linguistic North-South division.
Francophone Wallonia became an early industrial boom area, affluent
and politically dominant. Dutch-speaking Flanders remained agricultural
and was economically and politically outdistanced by Brussels
and Wallonia. The last 50 years have marked the rapid economic
development of Flanders, resulting in a corresponding shift of
political and economic power to the Flemish, who now constitute
an absolute majority (58%) of the population.
Demonstrations
in the early 1960s led to the establishment of a formal linguistic
border in 1962, and elaborate rules made to protect minorities
in linguistically mixed border areas. In 1970, Flemish and Francophone
cultural councils were established with authority in matters of
language and culture for the two-language groups. Each of the
three economic regions--Flanders, Wallonia, and Brussels--were
granted a significant measure of political autonomy.
Since
1984, the German language community of Belgium (in the eastern
part of Liège Province) has had its own legislative assembly
and executive, which have authority in cultural, language, and
subsequently educational affairs.
In 1988-89,
the Constitution was again amended to give additional responsibilities
to the regions and communities. The most sweeping change was the
devolution of educational responsibilities to the community level.
As a result, the regions and communities were provided additional
revenue, and Brussels was given its own legislative assembly and
executive.
Another
important constitutional reform occurred in the summer of 1993,
changing Belgium from a unitary to a federal state. It also reformed
the bicameral parliamentary system and provided for the direct
election of the members of community and regional legislative
councils. The bilingual Brabant province, which contained the
Brussels region, was split into separate Flemish and Walloon Brabant
provinces. The revised Constitution came into force in 1994.
A parliamentary democracy, Belgium has been governed by successive coalitions of two or more political parties. The centrist Christian Democratic Party often provided the Prime Minister. In the 1999 general election, Belgian voters rejected Jean Luc Dehaene's longstanding coalition government of Christian Democrats and Socialists and voted into power a coalition led by Flemish Liberal Leader Guy Verhofstadt. The first Verhofstadt government (1999-2003) was a six-party coalition between the Flemish and Francophone Liberals, Socialists, and Greens. It was the first Liberal-led coalition in generations and the first six-party coalition in 20 years. It also was the first time the Greens had participated in Belgium's federal government. In the general election of 2003, the Greens suffered significant losses, while the Socialists posted strong gains and the Liberals also had modest growth in electoral support. Liberal Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt reconstituted the coalition as a four-party government in July 2003, with only the Liberals and Socialists in power. In the 2007 general elections, the Flemish Christian Democratic CD&V recouped the lost ground, becoming the country's largest party. The two Socialist parties and Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt's Open VLD lost support. The Francophone Liberal MR became the largest party of Wallonia and Brussels. Following the election, the King tasked CD&V leader Yves Leterme with forming a new government.
