Editing History of Belgium (section)

== Interwar period ==
[[File:1920 olympics poster.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Poster for the [[1920 Summer Olympics]], held at [[Antwerp]]]]
King [[Albert I of Belgium|Albert]] returned as a war hero. In contrast, the government and the exiles came back discreetly. Belgium had been devastated—not so much by combat, but rather by German seizure of valuable machinery. Only 81 operable locomotives remained, out of the 3,470 available in 1914. 46 of 51 steel mills were damaged, with 26 destroyed totally. More than 100,000 houses had been destroyed, as well as more than {{Convert|300000|acre|ha|order=flip}} of farmland.{{Sfn|Cook|2004|page=113}}

Waves of popular violence accompanied liberation in November and December 1918 and the government responded through the judicial punishment of collaboration with the enemy conducted between 1919 and 1921. Shop windows were broken and houses sacked, men were harassed, and women's heads were shaved. Journalists who had boycotted and stopped writing called for harsh treatment of the newspapers that submitted to German censorship. Many people stigmatized profiteers and demanded justice. Thus in 1918, Belgium was already confronted with the problems associated with occupation that most European countries only discovered at the end of World War II.<ref>Laurence VanYpersele, and Xavier Rousseaux, ''Leaving the War: Popular Violence and Judicial Repression of 'Unpatriotic' Behaviour in Belgium (1918–1921).'' ''European Review of History'' (2005) 12#1 pp. 3–22.</ref>

However, despite the status quo, Belgium recovered surprisingly quickly. The [[1920 Summer Olympics|first postwar Olympic Games]] were held in Antwerp in 1920. In 1921, [[Luxembourg]] formed a customs union with Belgium.

=== Reparations ===
German reparations to Belgium for damage incurred during the [[First World War]] was set at £12.5 billion [[pounds sterling]].
In 1919 under the [[Treaty of Versailles]] the area of [[Eupen-Malmedy]], along with [[Moresnet]] was transferred to Belgium. "[[Neutral Moresnet]]" was transferred to Belgium, as well as the [[Vennbahn]] railway. An opportunity was given to the population to "oppose" against the transfer by signing a petition, which gathered few signatures, in large part thanks to intimidation by local authorities, and all regions remain part of Belgium today.

Belgian requests to annex territory considered as historically theirs from the Dutch, who were perceived as collaborators, was denied.{{Sfn|Cook|2004|page=102}}

Between January 1923 and August 1925, Belgian and French soldiers were sent to the [[Ruhr]] in [[Weimar Republic|Germany]] to force the German government to agree to continue reparation payments. The [[Occupation of the Ruhr]] led to the [[Dawes Plan]] which allowed the German government more leniency in paying reparations.

The League of Nations in 1925 made Belgium the trustee for the former [[German East Africa]] which bordered the Belgian Congo to the east. It became [[Rwanda-Urundi]] (or "Ruanda-Urundi") (modern day [[Rwanda]] and [[Burundi]]).<ref>William Roger Louis, ''Ruanda-Urundi 1884–1919'' (Oxford University Press 1963).</ref> Although promising the League it would promote education, Belgium left the task to subsidised Catholic missions and unsubsidised Protestant missions. As late as 1962, fewer than 100 natives had gone beyond secondary school. The policy was one of low-cost paternalism, as explained by Belgium's special representative to the Trusteeship Council: "The real work is to change the African in his essence, to transform his soul, [and] to do that one must love him and enjoy having daily contact with him. He must be cured of his thoughtlessness, he must accustom himself to living in society, he must overcome his inertia."<ref>{{Cite journal |first=Mary T. |last=Duarte |title=Education in Ruanda-Urundi, 1946–61 |journal=Historian |date=1995 |volume=57 |issue=2 |pp=275–284}}</ref>

=== Art and culture ===
[[File:Godshuis Boeveriestraat.JPG|thumb|right|A historic street in Belgium]]
The [[Expressionism]] painting movement found a distinctive form in Flanders under artists like [[James Ensor]], [[Constant Permeke]] and [[Léon Spilliaert]]. Belgian [[Surrealism|Surrealist]] art grew during the inter-war period, including works by [[René Magritte]] and [[Paul Delvaux]].

[[Franco-Belgian comics|Comic strips]] became extremely popular in Belgium during the 1930s. One of the most popular comics of the 20th century, [[Hergé]]'s ''[[The Adventures of Tintin]]'' first appeared in 1929.

[[Belgian comics]] are a distinct subgroup in the comics history, and played a major role in the development of [[European comics]], alongside France with whom they share a long common history. While the comics in the two major language groups and regions of Belgium (Flanders with the Dutch language and Wallonia with French) each have clearly distinct characteristics, they are constantly influencing one another, and meeting each other in Brussels and in the bilingual publication tradition of the major editors. As one of the few arts where Belgium has had an international and enduring impact in the 20th century, comics are known to be "an integral part of Belgian culture". Major contributors include [[Hergé]] with [[The Adventures of Tintin]], [[Dupuis]] with [[Spirou (magazine)|Spirou]], [[Willy Vandersteen]] with [[Spike and Suzy|Suske en Wiske]], [[Bessy (comics)|Bessy]], [[De Rode Ridder]], [[Robert en Bertrand]] and many others, [[Marc Sleen]] with [[The Adventures of Nero]], [[Peyo]] with [[The Smurfs]], [[Jef Nys]] with [[Jommeke]], and so many more.

Sales of comic books make up 14% of all book sales in Belgium's northern region of Flanders.

Belgium has played a major role in the development of the 9th art. In fact, even the designation of comics as the 9th Art is due to a Belgian. Morris introduced the term in 1964 when he started a series about the history of comics in Spirou. Belgium's comic-strip culture has been called by Time magazine "Europe's richest", while the Calgary Sun calls Belgium "the home of the comic strip". Belgium has several museums dedicated to comic books, comic book heroes and their authors.

The growth of comic strips was also accompanied by a popular art movement, exemplified by [[Edgar P. Jacobs]], [[Jijé]], [[Willy Vandersteen]] and [[André Franquin]].