A concise history of Belgium
- ISBN: 9780521127370
- Editorial: Cambridge University Press
- Fecha de la edición: 2023
- Lugar de la edición: Cambridge. Reino Unido
- Colección: Cambridge Concise Histories
- Encuadernación: Rústica
- Medidas: 22 cm
- Nº Pág.: 396
- Idiomas: Inglés
The small and densely populated nation of Belgium has played an important role in the history of Europe and other continents, especially Africa. It was a pioneering force in industry, trade, and finance during the Middle Ages, through early modern times and into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It introduced innovative political regimes and played a leading role in the creative arts. Yet this rich past is not widely known. This introductory history offers an accessible and rigorous overview of this small but important West-European country, synthesizing Belgium's main economic, social, political, and cultural developments from pre-Roman times until today. Today, this nation-state, born in 1830, is well-known for the rivalries between its two main language communities, and as a result is often considered a fragile or even an artificial political construct. This systematic chronological analysis of both present-day Belgium and the polities that preceded it throws fresh light on this controversial issue and demonstrates Belgium's enduring importance and influence.
Earliest Times : From Prehistory to the End of the Roman Period
The Era of the Frankish Kingdoms (Fifth-Tenth Century)
The Origins of the Medieval Principalities (Tenth-Fourteenth Century)
Unifying the Netherlands : the Burgundy-Habsburg Period (1384-1555)
The Spanish Netherlands (1555-ca. 1700)
The Austrian Netherlands (ca. 1700-1780)
The Formation of a New Nation-State (1780s-1830)
The Consolidation of a Bourgeois Regime (1831-1880s)
The Belgian Nation-State at its Height (1880s-1945)
The Metamorphoses of a Nation-State (From 1945 to the Present Day)