Editing Belgium (section)

===Independent Belgium===
[[File:Gustave Wappers - Episode of the September Days 1830, on the Grand Place of Brussels - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|left|''Episode of the [[Belgian Revolution]] of 1830'', [[Egide Charles Gustave Wappers|Gustaf Wappers]], 1834]]

In 1830, the [[Belgian Revolution]] led to the re-separation of the Southern Provinces from the Netherlands and to the establishment of a Catholic and bourgeois, officially French-speaking and neutral, independent Belgium under a [[Provisional Government of Belgium|provisional government]] and a [[national Congress of Belgium|national congress]].<ref name="Dobbelaere-VoyE">{{cite journal|title = From Pillar to Postmodernity: The Changing Situation of Religion in Belgium|journal = Sociological Analysis|volume = 51|pages = S1–S13|year = 1990|author = Dobbelaere, Karel|author2 = Voyé, Liliane|doi = 10.2307/3711670|jstor = 3711670|df = dmy-all|author-link = Karel Dobbelaere}}</ref><ref name="Gooch"><!--Is this the best source? It describes the February 1848 Revolution. Admittedly, it does confirm the neutrality of Belgium--> {{cite book|url = https://www.questia.com/read/3461234|title = Belgium and the February Revolution|author = Gooch, Brison Dowling|publisher = [[Martinus Nijhoff Publishers]], [[The Hague]], Netherlands|year = 1963|page = 112|access-date = 18 October 2010|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110628222235/http://www.questia.com/read/3461234|archive-date = 28 June 2011|url-status=live|df = dmy-all|author-link = Brison D. Gooch}}</ref> Since the installation of [[Leopold I of Belgium|Leopold&nbsp;I]] as king on {{nowrap|21 July}} 1831, now celebrated as Belgium's [[National Day]], Belgium has been a [[constitutional monarchy]] and [[parliamentary democracy]], with a [[Secularism in Belgium|''laicist'']] constitution based on the [[Napoleonic code]].<ref name="UL18v">{{cite web|url=http://www.belgium.be/en/about_belgium/country/belgium_in_nutshell/symbols/national_holiday/|title=National Day and feast days of Communities and Regions|publisher=Belgian Federal Government|access-date=20 July 2011|archive-date=24 July 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724132628/http://www.belgium.be/en/about_belgium/country/belgium_in_nutshell/symbols/national_holiday/|date=3 October 2010}}</ref> Although the franchise was initially restricted, [[universal suffrage]] for men was introduced after the [[Belgian general strike of 1893|general strike of 1893]] (with [[plural voting]] until 1919) and for women in 1949.

[[File:MapBelg1832-1724.jpg|thumb|Map of Belgium, 1832, before the final settlement of borders in 1839]]

The main political parties of the 19th century were the [[Catholic Party (Belgium)|Catholic Party]] and the [[Liberal Party (Belgium)|Liberal Party]], with the [[Belgian Labour Party]] emerging towards the end of the 19th century. French was originally the official language used by the [[nobility]] and the [[bourgeoisie]], especially after the rejection of the Dutch monarchy. French progressively lost its dominance as Dutch began to recover its status. This recognition became official in 1898, and in 1967, the parliament accepted a Dutch version of the [[Belgian Constitution|Constitution]].<ref name="etpIA">{{cite web|title=Ethnic structure, inequality and governance of the public sector in Belgium|last=Deschouwer|first=Kris|publisher=United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD)|date=January 2004|url=http://www.unrisd.org/UNRISD/website/document.nsf/ab82a6805797760f80256b4f005da1ab/ec506a59176be044c1256e9e003077c3/$FILE/Deschou.pdf|access-date=22 May 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614025223/http://www.unrisd.org/UNRISD/website/document.nsf/ab82a6805797760f80256b4f005da1ab/ec506a59176be044c1256e9e003077c3/%24FILE/Deschou.pdf|archive-date=14 June 2007}}</ref>

The [[Berlin Conference]] of 1885 ceded control of the [[Congo Free State]] to [[Leopold II of Belgium|King Leopold&nbsp;II]] as his private possession. From around 1900 there was growing international concern for the [[Atrocities in the Congo Free State|extreme and savage treatment of the Congolese population under Leopold&nbsp;II]], for whom the Congo was primarily a source of revenue from ivory and rubber production.<ref name="Forbath">{{cite book|title=The River Congo: The Discovery, Exploration and Exploitation of the World's Most Dramatic Rivers|publisher=Harper & Row|year=1977|isbn=978-0-06-122490-4|last=Forbath|first=Peter|page=278|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UtgwAQAAIAAJ&q=The%2BRiver%2BCongo%3A%2BThe%2BDiscovery%2C%2BExploration%2Band%2BExploitation%2Bof%2Bthe%2BWorld%27s%2BMost%2BDramatic%2BRivers|url-access=subscription|access-date=18 May 2024|archive-date=23 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240123070716/https://books.google.com/books?id=UtgwAQAAIAAJ&q=The+River+Congo%3A+The+Discovery%2C+Exploration+and+Exploitation+of+the+World%27s+Most+Dramatic+Rivers|url-status=live}}</ref> Many Congolese were killed by Leopold's agents for failing to meet production quotas for ivory and rubber.<ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/21/arts/belgium-confronts-its-heart-darkness-unsavory-colonial-behavior-congo-will-be.html|newspaper=nytimes.com|title=Belgium Confronts Its Heart of Darkness; Unsavory Colonial Behavior in the Congo Will Be Tackled by a New Study – The New York Times|date=21 September 2002 |access-date=6 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161224172454/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/21/arts/belgium-confronts-its-heart-darkness-unsavory-colonial-behavior-congo-will-be.html|archive-date=24 December 2016|url-status=live|last1=Riding |first1=Alan }}</ref> In 1908, this outcry led the Belgian state to assume responsibility for the government of the colony, henceforth called the [[Belgian Congo]].<ref name="iwqD0">{{cite book|last=Meredith|first=Martin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jNZ6srograIC&q=congo%2Bfree%2Bstate|title=The State of Africa|publisher=Jonathan Ball|year=2005|isbn=978-1-86842-220-3|pages=95–96(?)|url-access=subscription|access-date=18 May 2024|archive-date=25 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230925082012/https://books.google.com/books?id=jNZ6srograIC&q=congo%2Bfree%2Bstate|url-status=live}}<!--Original 2007-06-21 entry here as publisher=Simon & Schuster, year=2006, pages=95–96, isbn=978-0-7432-3222-7: ref not found on that date--></ref> A Belgian commission in 1919 estimated that Congo's population was half what it was in 1879.<ref name="nytimes.com" />
[[File:Cheering crowds greet British troops entering Brussels, 4 September 1944. BU483.jpg|thumb|Cheering crowds greet British troops entering [[Brussels]], 4 September 1944.]]
[[German invasion of Belgium (1914)|Germany invaded Belgium in August 1914]] as part of the [[Schlieffen Plan]] to attack [[France]], and much of the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] fighting of [[World War I]] occurred in western parts of the country. The opening months of the war were known as the [[Rape of Belgium]] due to German excesses. Belgium assumed control of the [[German colonies]] of [[Ruanda-Urundi]] (modern-day [[Rwanda]] and [[Burundi]]) during the war, and in 1924 the [[League of Nations]] mandated them to Belgium. In the aftermath of the First World War, Belgium annexed the [[districts of Prussia|Prussian districts]] of [[Eupen-Malmedy|Eupen and Malmedy]] in 1925, thereby causing the presence of a German-speaking minority.

[[Battle of Belgium|German forces again invaded the country in May 1940]], and 40,690 Belgians, over half of them Jews, were killed during the subsequent [[German occupation of Belgium during World War II|occupation]] and [[The Holocaust in Belgium|the Holocaust]]. From September 1944 to February 1945 [[Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine|the Allies liberated]] Belgium. After [[World War II|World War&nbsp;II]], [[General strike against Leopold III of Belgium|a general strike]] forced King [[Leopold III of Belgium|Leopold&nbsp;III]] to abdicate in 1951 in favour of his son, [[King Baudouin|Prince Baudouin]], since [[Royal Question|many Belgians thought he had collaborated with Germany]] during the war.<ref name="Arango">{{cite book|first=Ramon|last=Arango|title=Leopold III and the Belgian Royal Question|publisher=The Johns Hopkins Press|location=Baltimore|year=1961|url-access=subscription|page=108|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yLzkugAACAAJ|isbn=978-0-8018-0040-5|access-date=18 May 2024|archive-date=15 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230215075435/https://books.google.com/books?id=yLzkugAACAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> The Belgian Congo gained independence in 1960 during the [[Congo Crisis]];<ref name="7TmlQ">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1304803|title=The Congolese Civil War 1960–1964|work=[[BBC News]]|date=14 October 2003 |access-date=29 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100524174128/http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1304803|archive-date=24 May 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> Ruanda-Urundi followed with its independence two years later. Belgium joined [[NATO]] as a founding member and formed the Benelux group of nations with the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Belgium became one of the six founding members of the [[European Coal and Steel Community]] in 1951 and of the [[European Atomic Energy Community]] and [[European Economic Community]], established in 1957. The latter has now become the European Union, for which Belgium hosts major administrations and institutions, including the [[European Commission]], the [[Council of the European Union]] and the extraordinary and committee sessions of the [[European Parliament]].

In the early 1990s, Belgium saw several large corruption scandals notably surrounding [[Marc Dutroux]], [[André Cools|Andre Cools]], the [[Dioxin affair|Dioxin Affair]], [[Agusta scandal|Agusta Scandal]] and the murder of [[Murder of Karel Van Noppen|Karel van Noppen]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Policy Failure and Corruption in Belgium: Is Federalism to Blame? |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228177797 |website=researchgate.net}}</ref>