A short introduction to Belgium
What you might not know about Belgium

                                              Enjoy

B E L G I U M


A fantastic country. A different country. A complicated country. They say about Belgian politics, if you think you understand it, it's because you've got it badly explained!


It all began in 1830 when the country became independent. It was done by the citizens in an afternoon’s revolution against the Dutch rulers.


No, it began much earlier. Namely, under Caesar before Christ's birth. He writes in his diary that "of all the Celtic tribes, I have fought against the Belgians were the bravest." He had to give up conquering much of the country. Actually he came to a line which is only 1 ½ km from our house in Rixensart. This is precisely where the border between French and Flemish speaking Belgium remains to this day.

Now a bit about the country’s  size and that kind of thing:


Belgium today is exactly the same size as the Danish peninsula Jutland, 30,000 sq.km. And more than 11 million people live here. In Jutland live approx. 1 ½ million. Belgians are divided by 6 million Flemish and almost 5 million French-speaking. Additionally, you have a small German-speaking minority in the east. More on this later.


All Belgians (almost) are Catholics. So it's not religion that divides. But they are not very active practitioners in their religion. Just like most of the Danes in their church.


There are 3 official languages: French, Flemish (which is almost the same as the Dutch - but pronounced much softer) and German.


The country has always been in the middle of almost all European conflicts. It is located midway between the major European powers. And as these countries sometimes have been on horribly bad terms, it was very often the Belgians who got badly hurt. Historians have counted over 1000 known wars on Belgian soil.


The area has been under many different rulers: Spaniards, Austrians, French and Dutch. Yes, even the Danish Vikings were here. Hence come the many geographical names that are currently ending with  -beek ( old viking language for brook). Spanish influence you see in many ways, not least in the many Belgian carnevals, often with a Spanish - Latin American “flavour”.  And a modern word for a Belgian cafe-restaurant, Estaminet, also dates from Spanish times.


Independence came on July 21, 1830. Of course, it is a holiday today. The French were totally dominant in the country until after World War II. One reason was that the southern parts of the country – where the French speaking population lived and still lives - was the strong industrial areas with coal, steel and other heavy industries. The French language was dominant everywhere. In the army for example only French was spoken by the officers. This provided a natural resistance from the Flemings against French speakers. This is part of the explanation for why some Flemish people went into German service during World War II. Not so much because they were Nazis. But because they saw it as a way to fight the French-speaking Walloons.


After the second World War it has gone horribly wrong for many of the French-speaking areas, especially in the province of Hainaut around Mons. It is one of Europe's poorest regions. There are families where people have been unemployed through three generations.


But before all that Napoleon had made a serious visit. Once again, Belgium was pinned. It was in 1815. The famous battle of Waterloo about 20 km south of Brussels, was in reality the end of Napoleon and his dominance in Europe. A total of 72,000 soldiers fell in just three days. Actually, Napoleon was very close to win over Wellington and his Anglo-Dutch army. Only when the Prussian General Blücher arrived with his forces in the last minute the French lost.  Blücher actually came through our garden to the great surprise of Napoleon. And then it was over. Napoleon had to go to St. Helena in the south Atlantic. But he continued to be quite popular in Belgium. Major streets and squares in Brussels are today named after some of his generals - like Belliard, Froissart and Jourdan.


About a hundred years later it went completely mad again. The first World War started in 1914 with very large and powerful German troops invading Belgium on their way into France. The resistance of the Belgians and their allied  troops from France and England was so determined that things went quite differently than the Germans had expected. The key was that the Belgians managed to open all the locks at the North Sea coast. Thus, large parts of West Flanders - where the heavy German forces tried to get through – were flooded. And all the German hardware ran hopelessly stuck in mud and sludge. Thus arose the front throughout the four-year war in the western part of Belgium. The Germans kept most of Belgium violently occupied ( shooting thousands of politicians and other civilian Belgians as a warning). But the front in the west held, and the Belgian Government was throughout the war based in the small town of Veurne in West Flanders. The fighting along the front was terrible. There was at one time also used poison gas on both sides. There are currently 175 war cemeteries in Western Flanders from the time - Belgian, British, French, German. On the German one can also find fallen Danish soldiers. They came from Southern Jutland, which after 1864 was German and the young men were therefore forced to be German soldiers. Approximately 6,000 Danes from that area fell during the war, including some here in Belgium.


In the town of Ypres you can today visit a modern and very interesting museum. Everyone walks away from there with some idea of ​​how terrible it was. Life gets another perspective when you see these atrocities. Incidentally, the town of Ypres was totally destroyed during the war. It was nicely rebuilt again after the war.


I mentioned earlier that the population of a small portion of Eastern Belgium speaks German. This is due to the fact that Belgium after World War I  was given this German area compensation for the suffering and the enormous devastation. And although the Germans during the second World War, the area (called Haute Fagnes / Hohes Venn), became German again, it has been Belgian again since 1945. It is said that the German-speaking population there (about 70,000 in total) in today's political debate in Belgium are the strongest supporters of the country staying together.

A few words specifically about Brussels - Brussel as it is called in Flemish. It is the nation's capital with all what belongs to a capital. At the same time it is one of the country’s three regions. The two others are Flanders and Wallonia. All three have a very large degree of autonomy. It is very few things that central government is responsible for. An odd angle to this division into regions is that Flanders also considers Bruxelles / Brussel as its capital. So their regional parliament and all its ministries are in Brussels. I think it's the only "country" in the world where its capital is located outside the the “country” itself. The reason is that the Flemish people think that Brussels is a part of Flanders. They show this attitude once a year by making a giant bike race of Flemish people all around the city. Brussels is surrounded by Flanders on all sides.
Moreover, they say that Brussels is Flemish during the day and French in the evening. That's because so many Flemings comes to town every day to work and go home to Flanders in the evening, because that is where they live.


Brussels has about 1 ½ million inhabitants. It’s the size of Copenhagen. It is for historical reasons, divided into 19 municipalities. The international flavor is unmistakable. About a third of all residents are not born in Belgium. The EU institutions are placed in the city. NATO is too.  Lots of embassies from around the world are here, too. Many countries, including Denmark, each have three embassies: one for the EU, another for NATO, and a third for Belgium as such. And lots of American and other international companies have their European headquarters in Brussels. In addition lots of imimigrants from Morocco, Turkey and the former Belgian Congo live in Brussels. All this gives an incredibly exciting atmosphere with an unprecedented quantity of cultural activities, restaurants and different people from around the world.

Finally, I want to give the Belgians my very best personal recommendations. . They are easy-going and friendly - sometimes a little reserved at first, though. And very helpful, even in the traffic. It is a pleasure to live here among them. We have not once in our 24 years in this country felt anything but comfortable. In a way Belgium is also our country now. Yes, there are things they do differently. In a different way than we're used to. That's it. That makes it only more interesting and motivating to be here.

We once heard a totally uninformed and populistic Danish female TV reporter say on the screen that "Belgium is as interesting as an empty banana peel!"   If the rest of her journalistic work is equally uninformed and xenophobic she should definately look for a different job.

 

Good luck with Belgium!


And I have even not told you about the more than 450 different beers in this country! One more exciting than the other. Or about their wonderful food. People say that when the French really want to eat well, they go to Belgium!

Go out and do likewise!


Niels Jørgen Thøgersen

E-mail: kimbrer@gmail.com
www.simplesite.com/kimbrer