Dear fellow Belgians with a historical bent. I come to you with some questions about the state of our country after the Revolution and before the signing of the Treaty of London in 1839 that settled the conflict between our newfound country and our former overlords in the Netherlands.

As I understand it, the chronology goes something like this:

* 1830: the Revolution breaks out and Belgium secedes from the United Netherlands of which it was a part since 1815.
* June 1831: the Conference of London results in the Treaty of the 18 articles, which favors Belgium. The Dutch king William refuses to sign.
* August 1831: The Ten Days Campaign where the Dutch defeat the Belgians but the French intervene. The Dutch retreated back, only keeping the citadel of Antwerp occupied.
* 1832: The French intervened again to besiege the citadel of Antwerp to dislodge the Dutch.
* 1839: The Treaty of London (the Treaty of the 24 articles this time) is signed, resulting in Dutch recognition of Belgian independence.

So, as I understand it, the first Treaty (18 articles) would’ve given Luxembourg and Limburg to Belgium. After the defeat of the Belgian troops during the Ten Days Campaign, it was clear how weak the new country was and the London Conference drafted new articles where Limburg would go to the Netherlands and a Luxembourg in personal union with the Dutch.

But what was the actual situation in those intervening years? Did the country hold on to those territories until they relinquished it with the Treaty of London in 1839 or did the Dutch already have de facto control over them? Was Luxembourg part of our country in those years or already an independent entity?

I did find [some](https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~252023~5517621:Belgium-?sort=pub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_date%2Cpub_list_no%2Cseries_no) [maps](https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~29854~1140589:Netherlands-?sort=pub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_date%2Cpub_list_no%2Cseries_no) [depicting](https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~266146~90040606:Holland-and-Belgium-?sort=pub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_date%2Cpub_list_no%2Cseries_no) a larger Belgium from those years, but I’m just as likely to find maps of that period depicting the later, post-1839 situation.

Can anyone shine some light on this or point me to some good sources on this?

6 comments

  2. One of my ancestors was born in Meerlo, Dutch Limburg, and had to choose his nationality as a consequence of the Treaty of London of 1839. Edit: if anybody’s curious, I’ve got the original document, and can post a scan.

  3. I know that the belgians never conquered luxembourgh city itself, during a previous crisis between prussia and the netherlands it was decided that both would garrison the duchy and the belgians beat the dutch garrison but were defeated by the prussian one (probably didn’t try very hard either, the prussians were very pro-dutch in the conflict so it had to be avoided to give them a solid basis for an intervention but that’s just my personal thoughts)

    edit: and maastricht also held out against the belgians, that was the justification for the split of limburg

  5. Check out the podcasts “waarom belgië” and “geschiedenis van belgië”. And contact the creator with your question. It would make for an interesting episode!

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