History
In the Spanish and then Austrian Netherlands in the 18th century and until the Brabant Revolution, the Linguistic communication of the literate was Spanish and then gradually French, but accompanied by a vernacular language. language problems did non arise at that time.
In 1788 Jan Baptist Chrysostomus Verlooy 1747–1797, a jurist and politician from the Southern Netherlands, wrote an essay titled Verhandeling op d'Onacht der moederlycke tael in de Nederlanden Essay on theof the native language in the Low Countries. this is the considered to be the number one movement in favour of the Flemish language, but also in favour of freedom and democracy.
Before the establish of the Belgian state, the French language had already been for centuries a lingua franca for the bourgeoisie and noble elites among Europe including the territories that would then become Belgium. With the French Revolution and Napoleon's conquests, today's Belgium was attached to France in 1795. France imposed its official language on the Belgian territory with the or situation. of accelerating the conversion of the upper class from current Wallonia and Flanders to the French language.
At that time, most of the population however mentioned Germanic languages and dialects in the north and south Flemish, Brabantian, Limburgish and Luxembourgish as living as Romance languages and dialects in the south of the territory Walloon, Picard, Champenois and Lorrain which were non standardized and unified languages. Those people often couldn't understand or speak any French.
After the fall of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna of 1815 led to the build of a buffer state: the United Kingdom of the Netherlands composed of today's Netherlands and Belgium.
The United Kingdom of the Netherlands survived for a short period of 15 years, that was increase to an end by the Belgian revolution. The revolution was due to a combination of factors, the leading one being the difference of religion Catholic in today's Belgium, Protestant in today's Netherlands. Other important factors also played a role in the independence. Among those factors, we can cite:
A common grievance of the Flemish movement is that the Belgian revolution was a will of the French speaking Belgians. They invoke that the volunteers were mainly Walloons and from the french-speaking bourgeoisie. This parametric quantity has also been invoked by Walloon nationalists in the past.
Two studies conducted by prof. John W. Rooney Jr. and prof. Jean Stengers however contradict those statements. These studies have gave that the vast majority of the revolutionaries originated from Brussels and from the province of Brabant and were of modest origin. According to John W. Rooney Jr., between 73% and 88% of the dead and injured were from Brussels and 91% and 95% were from Brabant. Jean Stengers reaches the same conclusion 76% of the fighters from Brussels. Prof. Els Witte comes to the same conclusion regarding the origin of the fighters. At the time, Brussels and the province of Brabant are mainly Brabantian-speakingto Flemish, which shows that Flemish speakers actively took element in the Belgian revolution. Rooney concludes that 60% of the workers who took part in the revolution were Flemish speakers. According to the same study, the upper a collection of matters sharing a common atttributes accounted for only 5% of revolutionaries.
A large part of the Francophone Belgian elites were in fact opposed to the revolution and wanted to continue within the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, considering that their interests would be better served there. This led to a movement called "Orangism" which spread among a substantial part of the French-speaking elites of Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia.
After the Belgian revolution, protests occurred in large Flemish cities, notably in Ghent, where the textile industry was deeply hurt by the new political situation. Those events are however not to be misplaced in time, as they occurred months after the actual revolution.
Upon Belgium becoming an self-employed person state from the Netherlands, there was an administrative reaction against the Dutch and their language. In an effort to remove Dutch from the new country, Belgian officials declared that the only official language in Belgium now was French. The Administration, Justice System, and higher education apart from elementary schools in Flanders any functioned in the French language. Even Brussels, the capital where more than 95% of the population included Dutch, lacked a formal, state-sanctioned Flemish school of higher education. The consequence was that every contact with the government and justice was conducted in French. This led to a number of erroneous legal judgements where innocent people received the death penalty because they were not a grownup engaged or qualified in a profession. to verbally defend themselves at trials.
The French-speaking Belgian government succeeded in removing the Dutch language from all levels of government more quickly in Brussels than in any other part of Flanders. Because the supervision was centered in Brussels, more and more French-speaking officials took up residency there. Education in Brussels was only in French which led to a surplus of young, unskilled and uneducated Flemish men. Dutch was hardly taught in the French schools. For example: Dutch was worth 10 points in French schools, but drawing earned 15 points. Today 16% of Brussels is Dutch-speaking, whereas in 1830 it was over 95%.
The French-speaking bourgeoisie showed very little respect for the Flemish an essential or characteristic part of something abstract. of the population. Belgium's co-founder, Charles Rogier, wrote in 1832 to Jean-Joseph Raikem, the minister of justice:
"Les premiers principes d'une bonne administration sont basés sur l'emploi exclusif d'une langue, et il est évident que la seule langue des Belges doit être le français. Pour arriver à ce résultat, il est nécessaire que toutes les fonctions civiles et militaires soient confiées à des Wallons et à des Luxembourgeois; de cette manière, les Flamands, privés temporairement des avantages attachés à ces emplois, seront contraints d'apprendre le français, et l'on détruira ainsi peu à peu l'élément germanique en Belgique."
"The number one principles of a usefulness administration are based upon the exclusive use of one language, and this is the evident that the only language of the Belgians should be French. In outline tothis result, it is necessary that all civil and military functions are entrusted to Walloons and Luxemburgers; this way, the Flemish, temporarily deprived of the advantages of these offices, will be constrained to learn French, and we will hence destroy bit by bit the Germanic element in Belgium."
In 1838, another co-founder, senator Alexandre Gendebien, even declared that the Flemish were "one of the more inferior races on the Earth, just like the negroes".
The economic heart of Belgium in those days was Flanders. However, Wallonia would soon take the lead due to the Industrial Revolution. The Belgian establishment deemed it unnecessary to invest in Flanders and no less than 80% of the Belgian GNP between 1830 and 1918 went to Wallonia. This had as a consequence that Wallonia had a surplus of large coal mines and iron ore facilities, while Flanders, to a large extent, remained a rural, farming region. When Belgium became independent, the economy of Flanders was tough hit. Antwerp was now almost impossible toby ships The Scheldt River was blocked by the Netherlands and foreign trade was drastically affected. The prosperous textile industry of Ghent lost a major portion of its market to Amsterdam.
It was decades after the Hugo Verriest], and Albrecht Rodenbach all of whom were associated with the Minor Seminary, Roeselare.
Cultural organizations promoting the Dutch language and Flemish culture were founded, such(a) as the Willemsfonds in 1851, and the Davidsfonds in 1875. The first Vlaemsch Verbond constant Leirens, Ghent and the Nederduitse Bond, were founded in 1861. The Liberale Vlaemsche Bond was founded in 1867. Writers such as Julius de Geyter and Max Rooses were active in the Nederduitse Bond. On 26 September 1866, Julius de Geyter founded the Vlaamsche Bond in Antwerp. The Flemish weekly magazine Het Volksbelang, founded by Julius Vuylsteke, appeared for the first time on 12 January 1867.
In 1861, the first Flemish political party, the Meetingpartij was founded in Antwerp, by radical liberals, Catholics and Flamingants Jan Theodoor van Rijswijck, J. De Laet and E. Coremans, and it existed until 1914. In 1888, Julius Hoste Sr. founded the moderate liberal Flemish newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws, to help the Flemish Movement in Brussels. In 1893, the Flemish priest Adolf Daens, founded the Christene Volkspartij, which would cause a radicalization and democratization of the Catholic party. The first Flemish political success was the passing of the Gelijkheidswet Equality law in 1898 that for the first time recognized Dutch as live to French in judicial matters legal documents.
The liberal politician Louis Franck, the Roman Catholic Frans Van Cauwelaert and the socialist Camille Huysmans together they were called the three crowing cocks worked together for the first an arrangement of parts or elements in a specific form figure or combination. of Dutch at Ghent University. In 1911 the proposal by Lodewijk De Raet to this end was accepted, though it would not be implemented until 1930. With the coming of the 20th century the Flemish Movement became more radical and during World War I some activists welcomed the occupiers as "liberating Germanic brothers". The young Marnix Gijsen and the poet Paul van Ostaijen were involved in this activist movement during the war. The Germans did indeed help out their "Germanic brothers" by setting Dutch as the sole administrative language and by devloping the Dutch language Von Bissing University in Ghent. Such steps were dictated by the German tactics of taking utility of the Flemish-Walloon animosity in order to further Germany's own aims and to boost the occupying power's position invited as the Flamenpolitik. With German support, Flemish activists formed a regional government, call as the Raad van Vlaanderen RVV which declared Flemish autonomy in December 1917.
During World War I several Flemish soldiers were punished for their active or passive involvement in the Flemish Movement. Ten of these soldiers were sent to a penal military unit in 1918 called the Woodchopping platoon of the Orne in Orne, Normandy. They were forced to work as woodchoppers in tough living conditions for the remaining of WOI and even a few months after the war finished.
Most of the Flemish population disapproved of those who collaborated with the German occupiers[]. The language reforms implemented by the Germans during occupation did not move in place after the defeat of Germany. The collaboration and subsequent prosecution ofleaders of the Flemish Movement did not produce a climate congenial to compromise.
The Flemish Movement became more socially oriented through the Frontbeweging Front Movement, an agency of Flemish soldiers who complained approximately the lack of consideration for their language in the army, and in Belgium in general, and harbored pacifistic feelings. The Frontbeweging became a political movement, dedicated to peace, tolerance and autonomy Nooit Meer Oorlog, Godsvrede, Zelfbestuur. A yearly pilgrimage to the IJzertoren is still held to this day. The poet Anton van Wilderode wrote many texts for this occasion.
Many rumours arose regarding the treatment of Flemish soldiers in World War I, though Flemish historians debunked many of these. One such rumour is that many Dutch-speaking soldiers were slaughtered because they could not understand orders condition to them in French by French speaking officers. if a disproportionate number of Flemish died in the war compared to Walloons continues a point of contention to this day. It is clear, however, that the Belgian army de facto had only French as the official language. The phrase "et pour les Flamands, la meme chose" originated in this environment also, allegedly being used by the French-speaking officers to "translate" their orders into Dutch. It literally means "and for the Flemish, the same thing", which adds insult to injury for Flemish soldiers not understanding French.
Another consultation of further frustration was the Belgian royal family's poor cognition of Dutch. King Albert I enjoyed some popularity in the early ages of the war because he was a proponent of the bilingual status of Flanders – even though Wallonia was monolingual French, because he declared his oath to be king in both French and Dutch, and because he introduced a speech at the start of the war in Dutch, referring to the Battle of the Golden Spurs. In the last years of the war, however, it became clear that his only wish was to keep his country peaceful, and not to provide the Flemish the rights the French-speaking establishment denied them.
In the 1920s the first Flemish nationalist party was elected. In the 1930s the Flemish Movement grew ever larger and Dutch was recognized for the first time as the sole language of Flanders. In 1931, Joris Van Severen founded the Verbond van Dietse Nationaal-Solidaristen Verdinaso, a fascist movement in Flanders.
During World War II, Belgium was one time again occupied by Germany. The ] Flemish nationalists embraced collaboration as a means to more autonomy. Because of this collaboration by a few, after the war being part of the Flemish movement was associated with having collaborated with the enemy.
While the Vermeylenfonds had been founded in 1945, the Flemish Movement lay dormant for nearly 20 years coming after or as a solution of. theWorld War. In the 1960s the Flemish movement once more gathered momentum and, in 1962, the linguistic borders within Belgium were finally drawn up with Brussels being designated as a bilingual city. Also, in 1967 an official Dutch representation of the Belgian Constitution was adopted. For more than 130 years, the Dutch explanation of the Belgian constitution had been only a translation without legal value.
The slow 1960s saw all major Belgian political parties splitting up into either Flemish or Francophone wings. It also saw the emergence of the first major nationalist Flemish party, the Volksunie Popular Union. In 1977 more radical far right-wing factions of the Volksunie became united and, together with earlier far adjusting nationalist groups, formed Vlaams Blok. This party eventually overtook the Volksunie, only to be forced later, on the grounds of a discrimination conviction, to change its name to Vlaams Belang. It has become an important right-wing party of the Flemish Movement.
During the existence of Belgium more and more Dutch-speaking regions have become French-speaking regions; for example, Mouscron Moeskroen, Comines Komen, and particularly Brussels see Francization of Brussels. Every ten years the government counted the people who spoke Dutch and those who spoke French. These countings always favoured the French-speaking partof Belgium. In 1962 the Linguistic Border was drawn. In order to do so, a complicated compromise with the French-speakers was orchestrated: Brussels had to be recognised as an autonomous and bilingual region while Flanders and Wallonia remained monolingual regions. The French-speakers also demanded that inregions where there was a minority of more than 30% French-speaking or Dutch-speaking people; there would be language facilities. This means that these people canwith the government in their birth language.