To have a rich and breathtaking past, a country does not necessarily have to be territorially large. The small-size Kingdom of Belgium with an area of 30,520 sq. m. (comparable to an average region of Ukraine) is an illustrative example of this. Before gaining full independence in 1830, that country had followed a long and very difficult and dramatic historical path. The Belgians regarded the first King Leopold I of the still reigning Saxe-Coburg-Gotha dynasty, who was invited to ascend the throne, as a real embodiment of the finally won political sovereignty.
Let us briefly outline the main landmarks of this path: 1) Celtic tribes (above all, the Belgae who gave origin to the name “Belgium”) lived on these lands c. the 3rd century BC; 2) Roman domination (Julius Caesar’s legions conquered the Belgae “with sword and fire” in 54 BC); 3) the rule of the Franks after the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. Notably, one part of the country remained under the authority of France for a long time, while the other was part of the Holy Roman Empire (Germanized later) founded by Charlemagne (Charles the Great) in the 9th century. Incidentally, this division is still noticeable: the Germanized citizens in northern and western Belgium speak Flemish, a dialect of the Dutch language, whereas the French language (in a particular Walloon version) prevails in the south and east. Present-day Belgium has three official languages: Dutch, French, and German.
Cleary, in the conditions when relations between the main Belgian communities are far from cloudless, to put it mildly (even in this century some experts have raised the question of whether this state will manage to survive as a whole because of serious contradictions), the institution of constitutional monarchy (it “went constitutional” as recently as in the 20th century) remains the guarantee of the very existence of Belgium. For monarchs (no matter what they are – wise statesmen or narrow-minded profit seekers, brave organizers of resistance to the enemy or cowardly capitulators, sincere democrats or authoritarian rulers) were and still are the guarantee of national unity, stability, and order. Walloons, Flemings, and German speakers (36, 60, and about 4 percent of the population, respectively) hold the royal power in esteem, albeit to a different extent. Besides, all the Belgians remember very well that the road to Belgian independence, with the institution of monarchy as a culmination, was thorny indeed: before the crucial year 1830, this land was under the authority of Burgundy (15th century), the Spanish Habsburgs (16th-18th centuries; if you want to know what it meant, read Charles de Coster’s Thyl Ulenspiegel), the Austrian Habsburgs (until 1795), Napoleon (until 1815), and the Dutch monarch William (until 1830).
As we have noted above, Belgian kings were different by their qualities, features, and potentials. The first King Leopold, founder of the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha dynasty (1831-65; elected by the National Congress), spelled out the monarchy’s chief mission: “To advise, to encourage, to warn.” However, he and especially his son and successor Leopold II (on the throne in 1865-1909) went rather often outside these “narrow limits.” In general, it is worthwhile to say at least a few words about Leopold II, an uncommon personality known all over Europe at the time. This monarch earned so many epithets in his lifetime. As a “reformer king,” he introduced universal male suffrage (!) in 1893, granted workers the right to form trade unions, initiated the laws that banned children’s employment, etc. As a “builder king,” he had a lot of palaces, museums, and community facilities built. He was also a “businessman king” (the Left used, justly enough, a harsher term – “butcher of the Congo.” Following a number of “hybrid” commercial and military operations, Leopold II declared a colossal territory in the basin of the river Congo – now the Democratic Republic of the Congo – as his private property and began to exploit the enormous natural wealth of these lands, reaping a fantastic personal benefit. This left an estimated eight million Congolese killed, of which Arthur Conan Doyle and Joseph Conrad wrote with indignation. It was not until 1908 that the bogus “Free State of the Congo,” in fact a personal possession of Leopold II, was abolished and this territory officially became a colony of the Belgian state).
Albert I, who reigned in 1909-34, is remembered in the kingdom’s history as one who led the resistance movement against German occupiers in World War One (known as “Great War” in Belgium due to its exceptionally tragic consequences and the scale of bloodshed. It is here that the Germans first used lethal gases as a weapon). Conversely, King Leopold III (1934-51) left a shameful trace: he in fact surrendered to the Nazi invaders in 1940 and then fled the country. Baudouin I (1951-93) was a very interesting figure. The first constitutional monarch in the true sense of the word, he demonstratively called himself “King of the Belgians,” not “King of Belgium.” He is the first king who really ceded all power to the government, although he was formally the head of state and the supreme commander-in-chief and had the right to sign or reject any law. Once, in 1990, when Baudouin refused to sign the abortion law, the government… pronounced him incapable for a day and passed the law at its own level, and it came into force. Yet Baudouin commanded sincere respect from the public. His successor, King Albert II (1993-2013), abdicated the throne in July 2013 for health reasons. The incumbent monarch is Albert II’s son King Philippe (from July 21, 2013), and Crown Princess Elisabeth Therese Marie Helene, now 16, is the heir apparent to the throne.
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And, finally, let us not forget, reader, that Brussels, the capital of “little” Belgium, is home to the topmost bodies of the European Union and NATO. A “small kingdom” indeed…
