Editing History of the Netherlands (section)

==United Kingdom of the Netherlands (1815–1839)==
[[File:Nieuwe Kaart Koningrijk der Nederlanden en Hertogdom Luxemburg C van Baarsel 1815.jpg|thumb|Map of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and Luxembourg, 1815]]
{{Main|United Kingdom of the Netherlands|Dutch monarchy}}
[[William I of the Netherlands|William I]] became king and also became the hereditary [[Grand Duke of Luxembourg]], that was part of the Netherlands but at the same time part of the German Confederation. The newly created country had two capitals: [[Amsterdam]] and [[Brussels]]. The new nation had two equal parts. The north (Netherlands proper) had 2 million people. They spoke chiefly Dutch but were divided religiously between a Protestant majority and a large Catholic minority. The south (which would be known as "Belgium" after 1830) had a population of 3.4&nbsp;million people. Nearly all were Catholic, but it was divided between French-speaking Walloons and Dutch-speaking Flemings. The upper and middle classes in the south were mostly French-speaking. About 60,000 Belgians were eligible to vote, compared to about 80,000 Dutchmen. Officially Amsterdam was the capital, but in a compromise the government met alternately in Brussels and The Hague.{{Sfnp|Kossmann|1978|pages=112–133}}

[[Adolphe Quetelet]] (1796–1874), the great Belgian statistician, calculated that the new nation was significantly better off than other states. Mortality was low, the food supply was good, education was good, public awareness was high and the charity rate was the highest in the world. The best years were in the mid-1820s.{{Sfnp|Kossmann|1978|pages=115–116}}

The quality of schooling was dismal, however. According to Schama, about 1800 the local school teacher was the "humble auxiliary of the local priest. Despised by his co-villagers and forced to subsist on the gleanings of the peasants, he combined drumming the catechism into the heads of his unruly charges with the duties of winding the town clock, ringing the church bells or digging its graves. His principal use to the community was to keep its boys out of mischief when there was no labour for them in the fields, or setting the destitute orphans of the town to the 'useful arts' of picking tow or spinning crude flax. As one would expect, standards in such an occupation were dismal."<ref>{{Citation|first=Simon |last=Schama |author-link=Simon Schama | title=The Rights of Ignorance: Dutch Educational Policy in Belgium 1815–30 |journal=History of Education |date=1972 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=81–89 |doi=10.1080/0046760720010106}}</ref> But in 1806 the Dutch, led by Adriaan van den Ende, energetically set out to modernise education, focusing on a new system for advanced training of teachers with an elaborate system of inspectors, training courses, teacher examinations and teaching societies. By 1826, although much smaller than France, the Dutch national government was spending 12 times more than Paris on education.{{Sfnp|Schama|1972|pages=84–85}}

===Constitutional monarchy===
[[File:Verenigd Koninkrijk der Nederlanden (tot 1830).png|thumb|left|'''The [[Netherlands]], [[Belgium]], [[Luxembourg]] and [[Duchy of Limburg (1839–1867)|Limburg]] in 1839'''<br />'''1''', '''2''' and '''3''' United Kingdom of the Netherlands (until 1830)<br />'''1''' and '''2''' [[Netherlands|Kingdom of the Netherlands]] (after 1839)<br />'''2''' [[Duchy of Limburg (1839–1867)]] (in the German Confederacy after 1839 as compensation for Waals-Luxemburg)<br />'''3''' and '''4''' [[Belgium|Kingdom of Belgium]] (after 1839)<br />'''4''' and '''5''' [[Grand Duchy of Luxembourg]] (borders until 1839) <br />'''4''' [[Luxembourg (Belgium)|Province of Luxembourg]] (Waals-Luxemburg, to Belgium in 1839)<br />'''5''' [[Grand Duchy of Luxembourg]] (German Luxemburg; borders after 1839)<br />In blue, the borders of the [[German Confederation]].]]

William I, who reigned from 1815 to 1840, had great constitutional power. An [[enlightened despot]], he accepted the modernizing transformations of the previous 25 years, including equality of all before the law. However, he resurrected the [[Estates of the realm|estates]] as a political class and elevated a large number of people to the nobility. Voting rights were still limited, and only the nobility were eligible for seats in the upper house. The old provinces were reestablished in name only. The government was now fundamentally unitary, and all authority flowed from the center.

William I was a Calvinist and unsympathetic to the religious culture and practices of the Catholic majority. He promulgated the "Fundamental Law of Holland", with some modifications. This entirely overthrew the old order of things in the southern Netherlands: it abolished the privileges of the Catholic Church, and guaranteed equal protection to every religious creed and the enjoyment of the same civil and political rights to every subject of the king. It reflected the spirit of the French Revolution and in so doing did not please the Catholic bishops in the south, who had detested the Revolution.<ref>Godefroid Kurth, "Belgium" in [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02395a.htm ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (1907) online]</ref>

William I actively promoted economic modernization. The first 15 years of the Kingdom showed progress and prosperity, as industrialization proceeded rapidly in the south, where the [[Industrial Revolution]] allowed entrepreneurs and labor to combine in a new textile industry, powered by local coal mines. There was little industry in the northern provinces, but most overseas colonies were restored, and highly profitable trade resumed after a 25-year hiatus. Economic liberalism combined with moderate monarchical authoritarianism accelerated the adaptation of the Netherlands to the new conditions of the 19th century. The country prospered until a crisis arose in relations with the southern provinces.

===Belgium breaks away===
{{Main|Belgian Revolution}}
William was determined to create a united people, even though the north and south had drifted far apart in the past three centuries. Protestants were the largest denomination in the North (population 2 million), but formed a quarter of the population in the overwhelmingly Catholic South (population 3.5&nbsp;million). Nevertheless, Protestants dominated William's government and army. The Catholics did not consider themselves an integral part of the United Netherlands, preferring instead to identify with mediaeval Dutch culture. Other factors that contributed to this feeling were economic (the South was industrialising, the North had always been a merchants' nation) and linguistic (French was spoken in [[Wallonia]] and a large part of the bourgeoisie in Flemish cities).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Times |first=The Brussels |title=How economics explains Belgium's rifts |url=https://www.brusselstimes.com/45009/how-economics-explains-belgium-s-rifts |access-date=2024-06-28 |website=www.brusselstimes.com |language=en}}</ref>

After having been dominant for centuries, the French-speaking elite in the Southern Netherlands now felt like second-class citizens.
In the Catholic South,<ref>see [http://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/lowcountries/neth18151830.html online maps 1830, 1839]</ref> William's policies were unpopular. The French-speaking Walloons strenuously rejected his attempt to make Dutch the universal language of government, while the population of [[Flanders]] was divided. Flemings in the south spoke a Dutch dialect ("Flemish") and welcomed the encouragement of Dutch with a revival of literature and popular culture. Other Flemings, notably the educated bourgeoisie, preferred to speak French. Although Catholics possessed legal equality, they resented their subordination to a government that was fundamentally Protestant in spirit and membership after having been the state church for centuries in the north. Few Catholics held high office in state or army. Furthermore, political liberals in the south complained about the king's authoritarian methods. All southerners complained of underrepresentation in the national legislature. Although the south was industrializing and was more prosperous than the north the accumulated grievances allowed the multiple opposition forces to coalesce.
[[File:Révolution belge de 1830 - La rue de Flandre le jeudi 23 septembre 1830.jpg|thumb|Fighting between Belgian rebels and the Dutch military expedition in [[Brussels]] in September 1830]]
The outbreak of [[July Revolution|revolution in France]] in 1830 was a signal for action, at first on behalf of autonomy for Belgium, as the southern provinces were now called, and later on behalf of total independence. William dithered and his half-hearted efforts to reconquer Belgium were thwarted both by the efforts of the Belgians themselves and by the diplomatic opposition of the great powers.

At the [[London Conference of 1830]], the chief powers of Europe ordered (in November 1830) an armistice between the Dutch and the Belgians. The first draft for a treaty of separation of Belgium and the Netherlands was rejected by the Belgians. A second draft (June 1831) was rejected by William I, who resumed hostilities. Franco-British intervention forced William to withdraw Dutch forces from Belgium late in 1831, and in 1833 an armistice of indefinite duration was concluded. Belgium was effectively independent but William's attempts to recover Luxembourg and Limburg led to renewed tension. The London Conference of 1838–1839 prepared the final Dutch-Belgian [[Treaty of London (1839)|separation treaty of 1839]]. It divided Luxembourg and Limburg between the Dutch and Belgian crowns. The Kingdom of the Netherlands thereafter was made up of the 11 northern provinces.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Blom |first=J. C. H. |title=History of the Low Countries |date=1999 |pages=297–312}}</ref>