tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71249534255983781692024-02-07T21:48:50.815-08:00The Flat Land That Is MineA few notes on my way to learning more about Belgium and Europe.Alessa Ellefsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01587451250007222192noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124953425598378169.post-41804643696857594862022-07-06T03:36:00.008-07:002022-07-06T03:36:59.512-07:00John-Joseph Merlin - A Belgian Personality<p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnKtqMXtIukGXrTN0GsKeWCmdpcsiD4G6QGvIVZEwwbmU8aXAcLK9IcH-zLfjAQK-au30fJQeL1ZrJYtlvhSOzArP5y_KhIa5BSKs-HUIE1AUSTRopH7cEBfD0hJ-SS9ZOjF1yJF8L2ghIyICAi-rAWdsSR5weyJ6681NurtZcWhNrrLc8ZZec9VIEvQ/s851/Jean_Joseph_Merlin_(1735-1803)_Painting_by_Thomas_Gainsborough.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="851" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnKtqMXtIukGXrTN0GsKeWCmdpcsiD4G6QGvIVZEwwbmU8aXAcLK9IcH-zLfjAQK-au30fJQeL1ZrJYtlvhSOzArP5y_KhIa5BSKs-HUIE1AUSTRopH7cEBfD0hJ-SS9ZOjF1yJF8L2ghIyICAi-rAWdsSR5weyJ6681NurtZcWhNrrLc8ZZec9VIEvQ/s320/Jean_Joseph_Merlin_(1735-1803)_Painting_by_Thomas_Gainsborough.jpg" width="226" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Jean-Joseph Merlin<br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jean_Joseph_Merlin_(1735-1803)_Painting_by_Thomas_Gainsborough.jpg" target="_blank">Wikimedia Commons image</a></span></i></td></tr></tbody></table>I was watching a documentary on the history of clockwork, which spent a lot of time talking about the ingeniousness of automata.</p><p>It was fascinating to hear how something which had been the meant only for the entertainment of the super rich at one time became democratized through the growth of trade. It was at this point also that the engineers and artisans behind these automata were finally properly acclaimed for their hard and beautiful work.</p><p>One of these famous inventors of the time was belgian Jean-Joseph Merlin (although Belgium didn't exist as such back then).</p><p>He was born on September 6, 1732 in Huy (close to Liege), and his family moved to Paris when he was nineteen, where he attended the Paris Academy of Sciences. Besides his engineering studies, he also knew how to play several instruments, such as the harpsichord and the violin, and was friends with Johann Christian Bach (son of Johann Sebastian Bach).</p><p>After his studies, Merlin's career led him to London--a major city in terms of automata production--where he ended up working with the famous British jeweller and goldsmith James Cox, and where he also opened his own museum (which drew in all sorts of crowds, including a young Charles Babbage).</p><p>And it was then, over the span of around 30 years, that Merlin developed and invented his best works: roller skates (fka <i>skaites</i>), the silver swan automaton, the harpsichord-piano, a time-piece powered by changes in atmospheric pressure, and a self-propelled wheelchair, among many others.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AOXqCuqDOiI" width="320" youtube-src-id="AOXqCuqDOiI"></iframe></div><br /><p>Ever the consumate showman, as Merlin's name grew and he was invited to join ever more illustrious groups, so did, apparently, his eccentricities. On one such occasion, he is said to have played the violin while roller skating. But, unable to stop himself, he rolled right into a very expensive mirror, shattering it (along with his violin, and parts of his person). </p><p>According to reports, it seems that Merlin's last public appearance was in early 1803, when he drove through Hyde Park in a horseless carriage. He died on May 8, 1803, having lived a full life dedicated to creating beauty and spreading the immeasurable joy he felt for his work to others.</p><p><br /></p><p><u>Sources:</u></p><p>1. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Joseph_Merlin" target="_blank">John Joseph Merlin wiki page</a></p><p>2. The History of Clockwork Machine documentary:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GNDefuGPfsQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="GNDefuGPfsQ"></iframe></div><br /><p>3. <a href="https://www.uh.edu/engines/epi630.htm" target="_blank">Engines of Our Ingenuity No. 630</a> by John Lienhard, University of Houston</p>Alessa Ellefsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01587451250007222192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124953425598378169.post-54799561785404024662018-11-16T12:31:00.000-08:002018-11-16T12:43:38.498-08:00From False Accusations During WWI to Real Atrocities<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjkUH0z1h9N2D8Kh-cOn_LJF6GQoec7fkzwTPU7nhTZe1bkvWXzU1pUBK7zmy4ppdZ9ljo4TW9M7uLWWop3MQyfFuPlNBJ58sf2A_SrDHxiPUfYmwNuvR2zMP_gYZlad0COmgPpYghyphenhyphen5bD/s1600/German+Propaganda+during+WWI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="558" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjkUH0z1h9N2D8Kh-cOn_LJF6GQoec7fkzwTPU7nhTZe1bkvWXzU1pUBK7zmy4ppdZ9ljo4TW9M7uLWWop3MQyfFuPlNBJ58sf2A_SrDHxiPUfYmwNuvR2zMP_gYZlad0COmgPpYghyphenhyphen5bD/s400/German+Propaganda+during+WWI.jpg" width="278" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"This is how German lands will look like <br />
if France reaches the Rhine" - <a href="https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/11-incredible-german-first-world-war-posters">German WWI propaganda</a></td></tr>
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All's fair in love and war. Anything to win, right?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.histoire-image.org/fr/etudes/contre-propagande-allemande-theme-barbarie">German counter-propaganda showing <br />a German soldier sharing<br />his rations with French children.</a></td></tr>
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And what is needed to make one win in war, but to turn one's soldiers into killing machines, than to vilify the enemy and turn the others into despicable monsters? No one's innocent in this terrible game. Everyone's guilty.</div>
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And so, the German generals during World War I, wanting to move as swiftly as possible through Belgium, while worried about free shooters (kinda like guerrilla fighters), had given orders to execute any suspect, and to terrorize the local populations.</div>
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To that effect, the most atrocious lies were spread about the Belgian people, tales transcribed by the Kaiser in his journal:</div>
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"...the Belgian population has acted in a most diabolical fashion, if not bestial, not one iota differently from the Cossack. They have tortured injured men, beat them to death, killed doctors and medical staff, fired (...) upon defenseless people while staying hidden themselves [...].</div>
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Belgium's conditions shall therefore become immensely more difficult." (1)</div>
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The lies worked. Atrocious acts were perpetrated against Belgium. So bad were they that they became part of what is now known as the "Rape of Belgium."</div>
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The numbers reported in history (2) are quite telling:</div>
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<li>6,000 Belgians killed.</li>
<li>17,700 Belgians dead due to expulsion, deportation, imprisonment, or sentenced to death.</li>
<li>3,000 additional Belgians killed on the electric fences the Germans put up to prevent civilians from fleeing.</li>
<li>120,000 Belgians forced into labor for Germany, half of which were deported.</li>
<li>25,000 homes and other buildings destroyed just in 1914</li>
<li>1.5 million Belgians (20% of the population then) fled the country.</li>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB3oVeU2tKyp0hExVIhuhmFZguiJDp_ttwQw9ttQLZgoFMKgMJ7gfN9CzTrhzZWiwbaoRWqiy3PTr3lL0Sw2rjK5JwtgjMUYxssBQeOTX_k0FIJ1dXpJgdlDPimeqF0RCPIPGE5OfeMQJc/s1600/Propaganda+anti+Germany+world+war+1+child+killed.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="745" data-original-width="1153" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB3oVeU2tKyp0hExVIhuhmFZguiJDp_ttwQw9ttQLZgoFMKgMJ7gfN9CzTrhzZWiwbaoRWqiy3PTr3lL0Sw2rjK5JwtgjMUYxssBQeOTX_k0FIJ1dXpJgdlDPimeqF0RCPIPGE5OfeMQJc/s400/Propaganda+anti+Germany+world+war+1+child+killed.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Child of 7 gunned down [by German soldiers]<br />
<a href="http://centenaire.org/fr/tresors-darchives/fonds-publics/bibliotheques/archives/barbares-ogres-et-assassins-la-propagande">Anti-German propaganda</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhExtjnYTU5GCI1VeB7bOCwhrV8ACqNFkxiqHkSgmncCCUP1ouP4Q0A1a3zxGc4YAei0dHYTrfbxSsNNDTaQAFZZCqYziK-HXM3MW0sufxdOhUDGphGBd_ZTvcKhuHPh6Wbhe6RrYrV6Y6h/s1600/University+of+Leuven+Library+before+and+after+German+invasion+WWI.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="665" data-original-width="519" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhExtjnYTU5GCI1VeB7bOCwhrV8ACqNFkxiqHkSgmncCCUP1ouP4Q0A1a3zxGc4YAei0dHYTrfbxSsNNDTaQAFZZCqYziK-HXM3MW0sufxdOhUDGphGBd_ZTvcKhuHPh6Wbhe6RrYrV6Y6h/s320/University+of+Leuven+Library+before+and+after+German+invasion+WWI.png" width="249" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">University of Leuven Library before and<br />
after the German invasion, 1914</td></tr>
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It didn't matter who you were, or how old you were, any excuse was good to have you shot (although the vast majority of those killed were men of military age. Historians state (and probably rightly so) that, in addition to propaganda and their generals' directives, many other elements contributed to these atrocities, namely inexperience, lack of discipline, drunkenness, friendly fire incidents, collisions with Belgian and French troops, rage at the unexpected resistance the Belgians showed (indeed, Belgium was hardly considered a "real" country by the other nations at the time), hatred for the Catholic, looting, etc. (2)</div>
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To make matters worse, the Belgian civilians were forced to cheer the Kaiser and Germany (or be executed). While in the meantime the war was being portrayed in German penny papers as being semi-friendly, with violence being used only in emergencies. (3)</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDdxRDMiBS6cQ9CVxcaH6bAkUX-L9_CxIQo-0du7mmXbyrOQVxLyggxNuS4_JY6HW1JqoHvau8W0E2TVWCYXuzYnYKON1NkFL1KSjhu-qI1zM1X6V0z1imhs_Igb1zK5BGfZXN6WHMv33j/s1600/French+Propaganda+against+the+Germans+World+War+I.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="759" data-original-width="529" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDdxRDMiBS6cQ9CVxcaH6bAkUX-L9_CxIQo-0du7mmXbyrOQVxLyggxNuS4_JY6HW1JqoHvau8W0E2TVWCYXuzYnYKON1NkFL1KSjhu-qI1zM1X6V0z1imhs_Igb1zK5BGfZXN6WHMv33j/s320/French+Propaganda+against+the+Germans+World+War+I.png" width="223" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://centenaire.org/fr/tresors-darchives/fonds-publics/bibliotheques/archives/barbares-ogres-et-assassins-la-propagande">"Their way of doing war"</a> <br />
Drawing by Georges Scott</td></tr>
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But the lies were on all sides. In France, the newspapers keep praising their own troops (thanks to the censors), erasing defeats or retreats, while calling the Boches (aka Germans) all the foulest names, saying that even their cadavers "smell[ed] worse than those of the French." (4)</div>
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<u>Notes:</u></div>
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(1) Translated by yours truly from French, passage taken from <a href="https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/2374480976/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1642&creative=6746&creativeASIN=2374480976&linkCode=as2&tag=alessaellef0e-21&linkId=6a6620b3bfa1e97fcfac5c0610b7ea5f">Max Gallo's <i>1914-1918 Une histoire de la première guerre mondiale</i></a>.</div>
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(2) The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_of_Belgium">Rape of Belgium article</a> on Wikipedia.</div>
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(3) <a href="https://www.bl.uk/world-war-one/articles/civilian-atrocities-german-1914">The 'German Atrocities' of 1914</a> by Sophie de Schaepdrijver</div>
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(4) Fact translated from the French article <i><a href="https://accrobac.wordpress.com/2016/08/29/propagande-de-guerre-et-patriotique-et-censure-au-cours-de-la-premiere-guerre-mondiale/">Propagande de guerre et patriotique et censure au cours de la Première guerre mondiale</a> </i>by Léon Belhassen.</div>
Alessa Ellefsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01587451250007222192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124953425598378169.post-32220219668789862252016-12-28T01:30:00.000-08:002016-12-28T01:34:40.911-08:00Reasons Behind The EU's Unpopularity<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5bCTgm1UpJ-MwdhiK1dh2Il5Oe0mLBHpVdi-vd6SSldBxFMdtMjD48xgXQQNWfwpEJEAjoVmNAB49GhPJ7eib5NyJrux-NDnu5dKHRWs6V0NQ8uw8sf35alZRqgYHX3b9rVEwTfJAwmWW/s1600/propaganda-fight1436179507.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5bCTgm1UpJ-MwdhiK1dh2Il5Oe0mLBHpVdi-vd6SSldBxFMdtMjD48xgXQQNWfwpEJEAjoVmNAB49GhPJ7eib5NyJrux-NDnu5dKHRWs6V0NQ8uw8sf35alZRqgYHX3b9rVEwTfJAwmWW/s400/propaganda-fight1436179507.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Here is an essay I wrote a couple of years ago for the MOOC <em>Understanding Europe</em>[0]<em> </em> (before Brexit even happened) on some of the main reasons I believe the European project has such a bad rep, even among its own constituants. I chose to post this essay now as I still believe in the European project (if handled properly by people of vision who strive for the greater good of <em>all</em> its members), and I think that the points mentioned below are still relevant today (perhaps more so now than ever). <br />
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Like any human enterprise, no matter how noble the original intent behind it, the EU is an organization that has both flaws and strengths. Yet it’s on these flaws, whether real or invented, that people tend to focus, and the younger, more impressionable generations even more so.<br />
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It seems to me the chief reason the EU’s popularity has been on a downswing[1] stems from a lack of knowledge of what it is Europe does or the reasoning behind certain policies.<br />
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Below are three points that I believe contribute to the EU’s current status as the unpopular kid in school:<br />
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1. Culture: We currently live in the Golden Age of the Internet, where everyone must be connected at all times[2], whether though a smartphone[3] or at the very least at home through a modem or Wi-Fi[4]. Though the world is now, literally, at our fingertips, this doesn’t come without its share of cons, one of which is the rise of ADHD amongst its users[5]. This, in turn, has led to the proliferation of ever shorter articles and sensationalist journalism[6], and other derivatives such as reality TV, etc.—anything to get those people to click on your link or watch your show. The more outrageous, the better. In the midst of this mud-slinging industry[7], few are those who want to depict the EU (or anything else for that matter) under a positive light. Coupled with this is the fact that many people don’t even question the veracity of what they read online. A perfect example of this are chain emails people send each other by clicking the forwarding button faster than they can blink, thereby perpetuating the urban legend until it becomes dogma. But remember what Abraham Lincoln said,“[t]he problem with internet quotes is that you can’t always depend on their accuracy.”[8]<br />
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2. The EU’s own poor communication skills: As expressed in the point above, the Internet has revolutionized the way people receive and give out information. Not only that, but the IT world is a constantly growing and evolving one, and keeping up with it is a full-time job in and of itself. This is reflected in the EU’s poor performance of reaching out to the general population and informing it of its work. One has but to look at the EU Careers website[9] where people can register to take the admissions exams--it is cumbersome and so hard to use that even for people already working within the organization have a hard time navigating it. The EU’s own newsroom website[10] is foreboding. Its articles are mostly in the form of dry press releases that only the most stubborn are willing to sift through. But in our day and age, if news sites want to increase their readership, they need to have more pictures and write shorter articles[11] that are easy to skim through to get the gist. This is clearly something the EU has yet to develop, and quickly, for its opponents haven’t wasted their time and are dominating the blogosphere and every other i-sphere out there in the meantime. <br />
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3. Scapegoating: Blaming others for bad things that have happened, whether due to some outside force or because of personal failure, is a widely-spread human trait. Worse, this tendency is contagious as well[12]. When everything is going well, everything’s OK. But the moment things come crashing down, it’s time to organize a new witch hunt. The latest large-scale wave of such criticism started after the economic crash of 2008, which saw a “brutal recession unfold”[13] and many large institutions falter, bringing many helpless people down along with them. People blamed everything and everyone, from the 1% in the US (Occupy Wall Street movement, for example[14]), to the EU in Europe. And so, in the midst of that chaos, those EU detractors’ voices that had barely been heard during times of prosperity suddenly “attract[ed] more and more supporters.”[15] And as history has proved over and over again, it’s hard to fight the herd-like mentality.<br />
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Drawing from these three related points, I believe the first step for the EU to change its image is to understand the human psyche. It cannot hope to regain its citizens’ confidence without making drastic changes to adapt to modern times. In short, it needs to improve its own propaganda.</div>
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<u>Footnotes</u>:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB0Hb4muI62XZX0rAZ5_Ome2g85QSiXlRH-uZwpopK_q88SUwvaI-TdLHNDu_HOhCceSMCTbX7kbD8L8CAt541b6XdQMe750B-UUEGg4DaXTd2Kg6V0gvSzvjtboIVTicdfDdBwVZ-Jt82/s1600/empire_propaganda_by_chaotic_harmony.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB0Hb4muI62XZX0rAZ5_Ome2g85QSiXlRH-uZwpopK_q88SUwvaI-TdLHNDu_HOhCceSMCTbX7kbD8L8CAt541b6XdQMe750B-UUEGg4DaXTd2Kg6V0gvSzvjtboIVTicdfDdBwVZ-Jt82/s400/empire_propaganda_by_chaotic_harmony.jpg" width="309" /></a>[0] Taught by Professor Alemanno of the HEC via Coursera.</div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"><span style="color: #222222;">[1]</span></a> As seen, for instance, in “the turnout at the EU elections [that has gone] from 63% in the first election<span class="il">European</span> Paradox?</div>
(1979) to 43% in 2009.” MOOC course, Video Lecture 1.8: What is the <br />
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"><span style="color: #222222;">[2]</span></a> “According to a new ICMPA study most college students are not just unwilling, but functionally unable to be without their media links to the world.” [<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://withoutmedia.wordpress.com/&source=gmail&ust=1483001988486000&usg=AFQjCNErnqjk4uHadt96SV4_GqM0U94fug" href="http://withoutmedia.wordpress.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc;">link</span></a>]</div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">
<div>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"><span style="color: #222222;">[3]</span></a> See article “Smartphones Reach Majority in all EU5 Countries” [<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.comscoredatamine.com/2013/03/smartphones-reach-majority-in-all-eu5-countries/&source=gmail&ust=1483001988486000&usg=AFQjCNGHNQ_SHl8YJ_7nnMG_Wuj7V4gijA" href="http://www.comscoredatamine.com/2013/03/smartphones-reach-majority-in-all-eu5-countries/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc;">link</span></a>]</div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"><span style="color: #222222;">[4]</span></a> See “Penetration rates of Electronic Communication Services in the <span class="il">European</span> Union,” p. 6 E-Communications Household Survey Report, Published June 2012 [<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_381_en.pdf&source=gmail&ust=1483001988486000&usg=AFQjCNH09y55U26e5PZCYUXjGK_stQ2DoQ" href="http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_381_en.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc;">link</span></a>]</div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"><span style="color: #222222;">[5]</span></a> Article “The screens culture: impact on ADHD”, US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, published online 2011 September 24 [<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3220824/&source=gmail&ust=1483001988486000&usg=AFQjCNF-Xd60OIe3nKzcf3ZbdhgItqZPLQ" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3220824/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc;">link</span></a>]</div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"><span style="color: #222222;">[6]</span></a> See article “Yellow Journalism of the 21st Century” by Justin Schuster, The Politic, published February 28, 2012.</div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"><span style="color: #222222;">[7]</span></a> Point mentioned in the MOOC course, Video Lecture 1.7: Debunking some of the <span class="il">European</span> myths.</div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"><span style="color: #222222;">[8]</span></a> Internet meme [<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://cheezburger.com/4777806080&source=gmail&ust=1483001988486000&usg=AFQjCNFo23J4S_apYyc_aVZpuEo3B8EFIg" href="http://cheezburger.com/4777806080" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc;">link</span></a>]</div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"><span style="color: #222222;">[9]</span></a> “eu careers – Careers with the <span class="il">European</span> Union” [<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://europa.eu/epso/index_en.htm&source=gmail&ust=1483001988486000&usg=AFQjCNHvCQOWNUp5355lvFq2gIuFtJjI4g" href="http://europa.eu/epso/index_en.htm" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc;">link</span></a>]</div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"><span style="color: #222222;">[10]</span></a> <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://europa.eu/newsroom/&source=gmail&ust=1483001988486000&usg=AFQjCNHPbmR85EN3d1MCSFqTI2T7IE0kHQ" href="http://europa.eu/newsroom/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc;">http://europa.eu/<wbr></wbr></span>newsroom/</a></div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"><span style="color: #222222;">[11]</span></a> See article “7 Powerful Facebook Statistics You Should Know About” [<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.fastcompany.com/3022301/work-smart/7-powerful-facebook-statistics-you-should-know-about&source=gmail&ust=1483001988486000&usg=AFQjCNFQP9qgU3Ud9TPGX6MVOlOjwKQ4wQ" href="http://www.fastcompany.com/3022301/work-smart/7-powerful-facebook-statistics-you-should-know-about" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc;">link</span></a>] – “Photo posts get 39% more interaction” and “Shorter posts get 23% more interaction.”</div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"><span style="color: #222222;">[12]</span></a> See article “Shifting Blame is Socially Contagious,” University of South California Press Room, published November 19, 2009 [<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://pressroom.usc.edu/shifting-blame-is-socially-contagious/&source=gmail&ust=1483001988486000&usg=AFQjCNH9tmyFyFTmNIjz835kS5ZpcMmM0Q" href="http://pressroom.usc.edu/shifting-blame-is-socially-contagious/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc;">link</span></a>]</div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"><span style="color: #222222;">[13]</span></a> “The Great Crash, 2008 – A Geopolitical Setback for the West” by Roger C. Altman published by the Council on Foreign Relations [<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/63714/roger-c-altman/the-great-crash-2008&source=gmail&ust=1483001988486000&usg=AFQjCNGWU3GuQP1kpypwcCG9fqSrfrmAuw" href="http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/63714/roger-c-altman/the-great-crash-2008" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc;">link</span></a>]</div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"><span style="color: #222222;">[14]</span></a> <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"><span style="color: #222222;">occupywallst.org</span></a></div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"><span style="color: #222222;">[15]</span></a> MOOC Video Lecture 1.8: What is the <span class="il">European</span> Paradox.</div>
</div>
Alessa Ellefsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01587451250007222192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124953425598378169.post-27359251654443554692016-07-10T09:36:00.002-07:002018-11-21T10:57:04.263-08:00The 10 Commandments Of A Belgian Employee At The End Of The 19th CenturyI've been reading this really interesting book, <i><a href="http://amzn.to/29HBNKw">La vie quotidienne en Belgique sous le règne de Léopold II</a> (1865-1909)</i> by Georges-H. Dumont, for research purposes, when I fell on this little tidbit I thought you guys might enjoy.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr5pk-xu2Tc6hcnoeFvmrEtCYSQYJb-ZEZmOxkFsrSvYZ4_aZIZjyUGJJ42cKn4YnQSEXpBW4Pqnzn7pZ60kGOhEDZuy1AboXeIj1bHIrvLqHbiET0juqpkfXz7AhsOXrKsSUm8enDWoid/s1600/belgian+miners+1900.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr5pk-xu2Tc6hcnoeFvmrEtCYSQYJb-ZEZmOxkFsrSvYZ4_aZIZjyUGJJ42cKn4YnQSEXpBW4Pqnzn7pZ60kGOhEDZuy1AboXeIj1bHIrvLqHbiET0juqpkfXz7AhsOXrKsSUm8enDWoid/s320/belgian+miners+1900.jpg" width="251" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Belgian miners circa 1900. They were considered<br />
inferior because they worked with their hands<br />
and in the bowels of the earth.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Particularly for those of you who want to spot the differences (where have we improved in over 100 years), and the similarities (I assure you, some things never seem to change).<br />
So, here goes:<br />
<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Respect of God, cleanliness and punctuality are the rules of a well-ordered house.</li>
<li>As of now, the personnel will have to be present from 6 am to 6 pm. Sunday is reserved for religious service. Every morning, everyone has to say prayers in the principal's office.</li>
<li>Everyone has to do overtime if management deems it useful.</li>
<li>The oldest employee is in charge of the premises' cleanliness. The youngest must show up at his place, 40 minutes before prayer time, and are also at his disposition at the end of the day.</li>
<li>The clothing has to be simple. The staff cannot wear light colors, and must ware appropriate stockings. It is forbidden to wear rubber boots and fur coats inside the offices, due to the presence of furnaces and kilns. Exceptions in case of bad weather: scarves and hats. We also recommend everyone bring, during wintertime, four pounds of coal.</li>
<li>It is forbidden to talk during office times. An employee who smokes cigars, takes alcoholic drinks, goes to billiards rooms or attends political meets will be considered suspect with respect to his honor, his honesty, and his propriety.</li>
<li>It is permitted to take some sustenance between 11h30 and noon. However, work cannot be interrupted.</li>
<li>Employees have to show modesty and respect before clients, management and representatives of the press.</li>
<li>Each staff member has the duty to keep good care of his own health. In case of illness, a salary will not be paid. We recommend everyone to save a good part of his pay so that, in case of inability to work, and in his old age, he will not be dependent on the community's goodwill.</li>
<li>And to finish this, we would like to draw your attention to the generosity of these new rules. We expect from it a considerable increase in work.</li>
</ol>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Lovely, isn't it? And one of the many reasons I do not wish to travel back in time... What are your thoughts?</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAYxE5zKkNlAmFjJs_6utkQbzlX7tCQ32JOQjv5xGw2gtphuofXjuLJDpLmmeRz9UIQfdNwhFcyyZicxltpGnPbYGA2qCKTDhhVaJ32GP06GAunj6DDlB57XqL91ncIMFlrtpnhByb-vck/s1600/Bruxelles+bourse+1900.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAYxE5zKkNlAmFjJs_6utkQbzlX7tCQ32JOQjv5xGw2gtphuofXjuLJDpLmmeRz9UIQfdNwhFcyyZicxltpGnPbYGA2qCKTDhhVaJ32GP06GAunj6DDlB57XqL91ncIMFlrtpnhByb-vck/s640/Bruxelles+bourse+1900.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The rules were translated from the <i>Règlement de bureaux et chancelleries </i>(private collection), or the rules the poorly-paid<br />
office and chancellery employees had to follow. As you can see, as stringent as the rules a "lower" miner had to follow, so<br />
no reason for them to feel superior. Yet superior they did feel.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Alessa Ellefsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01587451250007222192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124953425598378169.post-59592651229333252052015-09-01T08:04:00.000-07:002015-09-01T08:04:53.605-07:00Feminism<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfJJN3AtVCcKBvN_EaDMHAb1zd2ma9Ds0O8tJoI-EvL-v9EMZZBiWueofN7tdO0gGWGAOqMH7qttYeWj5vmVo3L64DOYNCVEm5Zkifwndw7YovsBNVFckm0Xbs-FcrC00qMxjYgLysX55n/s1600/Belgian+suffragettes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfJJN3AtVCcKBvN_EaDMHAb1zd2ma9Ds0O8tJoI-EvL-v9EMZZBiWueofN7tdO0gGWGAOqMH7qttYeWj5vmVo3L64DOYNCVEm5Zkifwndw7YovsBNVFckm0Xbs-FcrC00qMxjYgLysX55n/s320/Belgian+suffragettes.jpg" width="270" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Campaign for women's suffrage in Belgium, 1908.<br />
Source: <a href="http://www.gettyimages.be/detail/nieuwsfoto's/campaign-for-womens-suffrage-in-belgium-1908-belgian-nieuwsfotos/463894011">Getty Images</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Feminism (n.):</b><br />
<i>Belief in or advocacy of women's social, political, and economic rights, especially with regard to the equality of the sexes</i>.<br />
(<a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/feminism">source</a>)<br />
<br />
Ah, what a dangerous word to (rightly or wrongly) bandy about these days. Or has it always been so?<br />
<br />
In any case, the role of women in Belgian society, and particularly their rights and how hard they had to fight to get them, is the subject of this post.<br />
<br />
Before Belgium's independence, when its states were under the control of Napoleon I, women weren't considered for much else except for reproduction purposes (or for men's pleasure, depending on which strata of the society you happened to belong to). For though he was behind great changes for his country and revamped the French legislature, <a href="http://alessasadversaria.blogspot.be/2015/08/what-would-have-happened-if-napoleon.html#more">among other things,</a> Napoleon didn't believe those rights were meant for the "inferior sex."<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9hQCUEAouJJ9_hEFGm1I9ishs2kvXFj1wlRZvHe47gF7KH_672q1Bi24rfMJb0lE86cqMPA0Ez-N-dtUtxgpL2pWUMTad-btBGHK41GRhLzTIH22hqaIGLXATnR0C8ylwz_zflrPH1lxX/s1600/Corset+changes+since+1900.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9hQCUEAouJJ9_hEFGm1I9ishs2kvXFj1wlRZvHe47gF7KH_672q1Bi24rfMJb0lE86cqMPA0Ez-N-dtUtxgpL2pWUMTad-btBGHK41GRhLzTIH22hqaIGLXATnR0C8ylwz_zflrPH1lxX/s640/Corset+changes+since+1900.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's fun to see how the corset changed appearances at the beginning of the 20th c. until becoming mostly non-existent<br />
after WWI.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip6WnFGtBlNSvXV47kT6C1ZffK1CReV6ESbKPVhhy1aqhblGTDbxpxmg_9MIOt06tiajGFby0Ha2KrniuND-tWSQAVxFzD6gOVfkEefy0q-HLaBzbQqdQLPIRSdb1rTxuzynMhU_jh2zmx/s1600/Parti_g%25C3%25A9n%25C3%25A9ral_des_femmes_belges_-_-Appel_aux_femmes-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip6WnFGtBlNSvXV47kT6C1ZffK1CReV6ESbKPVhhy1aqhblGTDbxpxmg_9MIOt06tiajGFby0Ha2KrniuND-tWSQAVxFzD6gOVfkEefy0q-HLaBzbQqdQLPIRSdb1rTxuzynMhU_jh2zmx/s320/Parti_g%25C3%25A9n%25C3%25A9ral_des_femmes_belges_-_-Appel_aux_femmes-.jpg" width="234" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">General party for Belgian Women<br />
CALL TO WOMEN<br />
A social program to help women and children<br />
in fighting (1) alcoholism, (2) ignorance,<br />
(3) debauchery, (4) war, and to protect mothers<br />
and children.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It's actually thanks to the Great War (I know, isn't it crazy to think that good things can come from such terrible events?) that women started getting some form of recognition for their contribution to Belgian society. Namely, more and more young girls were allowed (though not necessarily encouraged) to pursue higher education, some voting rights were awarded to them though with some restrictions (only a few who had special roles in the war or had become widows and hadn't remarried since had full voting rights(1), and they had to wait until after WWII to get their full rights), and many more women got to enter the workforce (and not necessarily out of necessity).<br />
<br />
But even then, women weren't allowed to get just any job. Most professions, closely guarded by male syndicates, were closed off to them (2). Their salaries, except for those typical "female professions" that therefore didn't have any men performing them, were barely above that of children workers (because, hey, if you don't have any voting rights and the syndicates don't care about you, then who cares about what you have to say, right?). And even if women were allowed certain professions, such as factory work (the advent of machinery and automated processes certainly helped a lot in this regard), they could never join the executive ranks.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSYm5tDq23gDtugTpualsL0S8niHuPpuHtG1Ca_BX-0HvjPswRbTfi_3DABV8788yUFOw7K_NPM9M5q9wlDMwQAUNl4qFwdblNQRtq3RJXxgIM1Xt7f89AnkHOMlTDNmKfg8DHDMgSaWPU/s1600/Postzegel_Marie_Popelin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSYm5tDq23gDtugTpualsL0S8niHuPpuHtG1Ca_BX-0HvjPswRbTfi_3DABV8788yUFOw7K_NPM9M5q9wlDMwQAUNl4qFwdblNQRtq3RJXxgIM1Xt7f89AnkHOMlTDNmKfg8DHDMgSaWPU/s1600/Postzegel_Marie_Popelin.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stamp of Marie Popelin, doctor of law<br />
(died in 1913)<br />
She contributed largely to obtaining<br />
the first legal reforms in favor<br />
of women in Belgium</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It was even worse for housewives. They were expected to do all the work at home, every day of the year, yet were not allowed a single penny of their husband's hard-earned money. Worse, their husbands generally weren't willing to "descend" to their wives' level and help out with such menial tasks as household chores, those being inferior to men's condition (but not so for women).<br />
<br />
What is interesting to note here, however, is that already by then Scandinavia (and Sweden in particular) was much more developed in that regard, considering stay-at-home mothers' work to be just as important as that of their husbands, and thus awarding them a portion of their men's salaries.<br />
<br />
But, by the time Ms. De Craene-Vanduren wrote the above-mentioned observations in 1930, things were starting to move a little more, thanks to the feminist movements (the oldest one being the Belgian League for Women's Rights, established in 1892) and the help of the three major political parties themselves to some extent (in trying to give them full voting rights, no matter the social class, improve women's economic status, and help those in need).<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinQiktcx0DxrSGzZml177zw-1z2irxNR_E7K5i3n79oMf14MsEii8oN0iE7G3bgQ1vEFnsSJnJuCsx_k-GGMf30RxMr3PcT64_hB_cs47nsgZ_jpwxRlYKYOv0ZYSlOFCNEYzF3Q90WUdq/s1600/Hubertine+Auclair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinQiktcx0DxrSGzZml177zw-1z2irxNR_E7K5i3n79oMf14MsEii8oN0iE7G3bgQ1vEFnsSJnJuCsx_k-GGMf30RxMr3PcT64_hB_cs47nsgZ_jpwxRlYKYOv0ZYSlOFCNEYzF3Q90WUdq/s1600/Hubertine+Auclair.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hubertine Auclert (1848-1914)<br />
Belgian feminist who discovered the movement<br />
thanks to Léon Richer, a Parisian feminist.<br />
Proposed a divorce law that allowed the just<br />
distribution of property between both parties.<br />
<a href="http://www.rosadoc.be/site/rosa/francais/reperes/spot/auclert.htm">Source</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
De Craene-Vanduren also noted in her essay <i>Le Féminisme</i> that to truly get things to change for the better, all of society's prejudices against women needed to be dealt with starting with the educational system. For at school, back in those days, boys were separated from girls, the first to be taught the virile qualities of initiative, decision-making, reflection, judgement and to be encouraged to take an active part in social life, while the latter were taught to deal with all that was considered "sentimental" and forced to stay at home or within a restricted family circle.<br />
<br />
It took another 50+ years after the writing of that essay for Belgium to finally ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1985), giving equal rights to both men and women in education, employment, social and economic activities, and parenting, while also awarding women reproductive rights to prevent discrimination against mothers in their careers.<br />
<br />
Later, in 2002, Belgium also introduced quota laws in its government, where only 50% + 1 of the candidates could be of the same sex on the election lists, at all political levels. It's perhaps not surprising, therefore, that the unadjusted gender pay gap in the public sector in Belgium seemed a little discriminatory against men in 2013 (3):<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiwnkrjCPI9IlaYwnx-yZ29JU2hSX29bDP37LVN8i6z3U9SByNI6-YdFHBo9ZOswliHa_Zn1oqkjkyP1m3PL9YH6Eb35EFf3Er87n-oy7zR6JeYTLLBSRb9xV4XzjT56050d8t4cS2nvGX/s1600/The_unadjusted_Gender_Pay_Gap_by_economic_control.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiwnkrjCPI9IlaYwnx-yZ29JU2hSX29bDP37LVN8i6z3U9SByNI6-YdFHBo9ZOswliHa_Zn1oqkjkyP1m3PL9YH6Eb35EFf3Er87n-oy7zR6JeYTLLBSRb9xV4XzjT56050d8t4cS2nvGX/s400/The_unadjusted_Gender_Pay_Gap_by_economic_control.PNG" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/File:The_unadjusted_Gender_Pay_Gap_by_economic_control.PNG">EU Commission Stats</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Then, in 2008, Belgium was ranked #28 in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report.<br />
<br />
But progress still needs to be made (particularly in Wallonia, where discrimination is more prevalent than in Flanders, probably due to its lower educational level and the fact that Wallonia is still predominantly industrial/agricultural--didn't <a href="http://myflatland.blogspot.be/2015/08/the-boundary-between-flanders-and.html">I say those two regions sometimes have pretty significant differences</a>?).<br />
<br />
In 2013, the unadjusted gender pay gap was still 10% (<a href="http://igvm-iefh.belgium.be/sites/default/files/78_-_gender_pay_gap_report_2014_eng_0.pdf">22% if based on annual earnings</a>)--still, a vast improvement from the close to 45% gap in 1972:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjJYZTLNPdzeXU6pnz5h0DScfZ-tMeqm9gDDJ9kPimaNufIe-3XH2jZpJBYqOW4IGChyphenhyphenJTNGgwUZ6hV1ASQ7_fhqxgoE3sshQsbviUDlLwLKxtvo67E37bOLhFsq1_OX4wN2YUrL-gIkwn/s1600/The_unadjusted_gender_pay_gap%252C_2013_%25281%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjJYZTLNPdzeXU6pnz5h0DScfZ-tMeqm9gDDJ9kPimaNufIe-3XH2jZpJBYqOW4IGChyphenhyphenJTNGgwUZ6hV1ASQ7_fhqxgoE3sshQsbviUDlLwLKxtvo67E37bOLhFsq1_OX4wN2YUrL-gIkwn/s640/The_unadjusted_gender_pay_gap%252C_2013_%25281%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/File:The_unadjusted_gender_pay_gap,_2013_(1)_-_difference_between_average_gross_hourly_earnings_of_male_and_female_employees_as_%25_of_male_gross_earnings.png">EU Commission Stats</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The gap is smallest for highly-educated women, but the overall labor force participation of women is still pretty low. Part of the reason for the huge disparity between actual annual salaries is that a greater number of women work part-time, a fact due in large part to an inequality in the division of care, fiscal disincentives, and the lack of adequate childcare facilities.<br />
<br />
Women also receive fewer fringe benefits, though that could be because they don't negotiate on the same footing as men do (see as to reasons why <a href="https://hbr.org/2014/06/why-women-dont-negotiate-their-job-offers/">here</a>--as you will see, many of the prejudices rampant in our society back in the 1930s are still alive today):<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBCUuTFHl76E20cjzBna2VdJjTgrF5AR3yLk1-uerS1gHjaC4NudV0GXkK1ZiMQ5c5MuTau1gdN_GgWfYxBLn6G9vLMPCTT4iad-gO04UNRAR0xElaRVR0lx6jES3H6XABrmGe-aSvQLL3/s1600/fringe+benefits.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBCUuTFHl76E20cjzBna2VdJjTgrF5AR3yLk1-uerS1gHjaC4NudV0GXkK1ZiMQ5c5MuTau1gdN_GgWfYxBLn6G9vLMPCTT4iad-gO04UNRAR0xElaRVR0lx6jES3H6XABrmGe-aSvQLL3/s400/fringe+benefits.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
However, if one looks at the gender pay gap by age, it shows the gap being a lot smaller for those below 34 years of age (< 3.1%) vs. say those aged 55-64 (16.9%):<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipAceOTRVwCLYYoDOeiIP9P7M9DP9OADQWh-hNu8f42u7C3wH2Fw3kGUr9_SWDc4XyiMj8k14QxBypJHRXnfcdSPJVkWA5XtNHeP1S5CdRIqbUGaRB4rlZKszeVX8gv4bHKzey1cahOk5x/s1600/The_unadjusted_Gender_Pay_Gap_by_age_%2528%2525%2529%252C_2013_%25281%2529_new.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="353" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipAceOTRVwCLYYoDOeiIP9P7M9DP9OADQWh-hNu8f42u7C3wH2Fw3kGUr9_SWDc4XyiMj8k14QxBypJHRXnfcdSPJVkWA5XtNHeP1S5CdRIqbUGaRB4rlZKszeVX8gv4bHKzey1cahOk5x/s400/The_unadjusted_Gender_Pay_Gap_by_age_%2528%2525%2529%252C_2013_%25281%2529_new.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/File:The_unadjusted_Gender_Pay_Gap_by_age_(%25),_2013_(1)_new.png">EU Commissions Stats</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Hopefully, that is a sign of changing trends and not a statistic that will worsen once women get closer to the average marrying/reproducing age (29.6 in Belgium for women), and if women keep on having a higher graduation rate than men do (though not by much: 73% of girls graduated from high school against 71% boys in 2010), this positive trend in salaries may continue (assuming the reduction in government expenditure doesn't negatively affect it).<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSbo6IWySLQNHurMNJlX8Hl27SVcvLaf5VwHGW865hSROTtXNCt04YXcHeDt74GgHchRhQvcDjz82r1PbFkwf5C6eAFlvsXrAtNGqlCsaXUuFQ6VHJPtxFh1hp-YcV32dW3GeqFsY9d9ZG/s1600/Eu+gender+gap+2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSbo6IWySLQNHurMNJlX8Hl27SVcvLaf5VwHGW865hSROTtXNCt04YXcHeDt74GgHchRhQvcDjz82r1PbFkwf5C6eAFlvsXrAtNGqlCsaXUuFQ6VHJPtxFh1hp-YcV32dW3GeqFsY9d9ZG/s400/Eu+gender+gap+2013.jpg" width="245" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Employment discrimination in the EU<br />
2013<br />
Source: <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/fr/news-room/content/20130301STO06143/html/Femmes-on-vous-aime!-Mais-mieux-vaut-%C3%AAtre-un-homme-sur-le-march%C3%A9-du-travail">EU Parliament</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
In any case, were she still around, I believe Ms. De Craene-Vanduren would have been rather pleased to see how far Belgium's come in terms of gender equality since the 1930s, and would have encouraged the country to keep it up!<br />
<br />
For those of you who want to find out more about some of the great women in Belgian History, I recommend you check out <a href="https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/exhibit/women-in-belgian-history/QQ8AfJxE?hl=en-GB">this website</a>.<br />
<br />
(1) Here the words "not remarried" are very important, because if a woman were to marry in those days, she basically gave all of her rights away to her husband (whereas before marriage were were under the full jurisdiction of their father). That also meant she couldn't do what she wanted with her own assets, but had to let her husband do with it as he willed. Worse, women didn't even have any rights on their own progeny.<br />
<br />
(2) Such jobs include magistracy and diplomacy, for instance. But even though more women were entering other professions, such as becoming doctors, didn't mean the population necessarily trusted them all that much. It took a long time for those views to change as well.<br />
<br />
(3) The gender pay gap in private industries went as high as 25% in the white-collar sectors on an hourly-pay basis, and around 37% in the blue-collar sectors on an annual wage basis.<br />
<br />
<u>Sources:</u><br />
<i>Le Féminisme</i>, by Ms. De Craene-Vanduren for <i>1830-1930 La Patrie Belge, Editions Illustr</i><i>ées du "SOIR" Bruxelles</i><br />
<a href="http://diplomatie.belgium.be/en/policy/policy_areas/human_rights/specific_issues/gender_and_women_rights/"><i>Gender and Women's Rights, </i>Kingdom of Belgium Foreign Affairs</a><br />
<a href="http://www.wikigender.org/index.php/Gender_Equality_in_Belgium">Gender Equality in Belgium, WikiGender<i> </i></a><br />
<a href="http://www.genderindex.org/country/belgium">Gender Index Org. - Belgium</a><br />
<a href="http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/files/gender_pay_gap/140319_gpg_en.pdf">Tackling the Gender Pay Gap in the European Union, 2014</a><br />
<a href="http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/gender_pay_gap_statistics"><i>Gender Pay Gap Statistics</i> - Eurostat</a><br />
<i><a href="http://igvm-iefh.belgium.be/sites/default/files/78_-_gender_pay_gap_report_2014_eng_0.pdf">The Gender Pay Gap in Belgium - 2014</a></i>, Institute for the Equality of Women and Men<br />
<a href="http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/belgium/">OECD Better Life Index - Belgium</a><br />
<i><a href="http://www.oecd.org/edu/highlights.pdf">Education at a Glance, 2012</a></i> - OECDAlessa Ellefsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01587451250007222192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124953425598378169.post-72916769224517409102015-08-31T12:34:00.000-07:002015-09-01T06:03:31.222-07:00The Boundary Between Flanders And Wallonia<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHUZvV1K4jLehyphenhyphenYT-6cA80LGfeFwudSw6-UoocDRpNOmrmi-hV4ixax4w_Nmaf4SGgXUhSMV-hv3cds7MnB123pxGTxHUbg17-z0YekqSNRnh40NoaenEgQdU0cOCCXi33jOOtt919Ckmp/s1600/Belgium+split+in+two.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHUZvV1K4jLehyphenhyphenYT-6cA80LGfeFwudSw6-UoocDRpNOmrmi-hV4ixax4w_Nmaf4SGgXUhSMV-hv3cds7MnB123pxGTxHUbg17-z0YekqSNRnh40NoaenEgQdU0cOCCXi33jOOtt919Ckmp/s640/Belgium+split+in+two.gif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Belgium split in two (or three, depending on who and where you are)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Who's heard of Belgium is also aware of the the sometimes, and unfortunately, great differences between its two main regions (Brussels notwithstanding): Flanders (the Flemish-speaking, Northern side) and Wallonia (the French-speaking, Southern portion).<br />
<br />
What is really interesting, however, is that though this separation hasn't always existed (indeed, Belgium used to be a Celtic country before the "Germans" and Romans invaded them), this boundary between the two regions is perhaps much older than one might think, and takes us all the way back to...<br />
<br />
358 C.E.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPiSOVtz6wBfTKdyyKxrGN4ejItKWtWwwUMRTVH3lxl7XbvnHPfwkxkL-K4iCvkxaI5OEoAhGqE0K9aqm7qJPEEqJ7Gy7U9OJKNfdMWjC1YQUH1wgelhC_X00B2Vl9vAyK2UJ4CC1fvPOl/s1600/Belgic+tribes+vs+Romans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPiSOVtz6wBfTKdyyKxrGN4ejItKWtWwwUMRTVH3lxl7XbvnHPfwkxkL-K4iCvkxaI5OEoAhGqE0K9aqm7qJPEEqJ7Gy7U9OJKNfdMWjC1YQUH1wgelhC_X00B2Vl9vAyK2UJ4CC1fvPOl/s640/Belgic+tribes+vs+Romans.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Celtic Belgic tribe fighting a Roman legionnaire, long before the area was invaded by the Franks.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQXbqPgrUQ4sukN5PbHhFob1Bcpi-G4rf2t9Rc48IMUk1tk9MKZczRPtP43oyIhRjOPc_2CcdW7KtOkJi7AbLtyzk_EyrRPopA8AD61etzjEbQXYSDfQlqOfslvzA5utPosO78SR-DVkgP/s1600/Belgium%2527s+main+waterways.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQXbqPgrUQ4sukN5PbHhFob1Bcpi-G4rf2t9Rc48IMUk1tk9MKZczRPtP43oyIhRjOPc_2CcdW7KtOkJi7AbLtyzk_EyrRPopA8AD61etzjEbQXYSDfQlqOfslvzA5utPosO78SR-DVkgP/s320/Belgium%2527s+main+waterways.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Belgium's main waterways with the current boundary</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This was in great part due to a Roman road built somewhat along this current separation from the start of the Lys River in Belgium straight over to the Meuse near Visé, with a little detour south of present-Brussels.<br />
<br />
Those living north of the road, in what was then considered the poorer regions, were the Salian Franks (from where the Merovingians originated), who came in from the Rhine delta, and became the Flemish's ancestors.<br />
<br />
South of this road were the Gallo-Romans whose language is the ancestor of Wallonia's dialects.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2y_SVfrifP2nsReXC91-9F752crD9r5n3kekkaoDXHdVGpUlAdDsjSOmCqH7wavZjz3ecCUb-2tNHP_KdqnVp6nTcWMBJEv0Iu_1ZipVTI0U6KM9adpnH_Np8fyiK4K8eTycTq0Qtp807/s1600/2000px-Les_Francs_en_Belgique_romaine.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2y_SVfrifP2nsReXC91-9F752crD9r5n3kekkaoDXHdVGpUlAdDsjSOmCqH7wavZjz3ecCUb-2tNHP_KdqnVp6nTcWMBJEv0Iu_1ZipVTI0U6KM9adpnH_Np8fyiK4K8eTycTq0Qtp807/s320/2000px-Les_Francs_en_Belgique_romaine.svg.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Franks in Roman Belgium</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
For a very long time, people thought the reason for the Franks leaving the southern part of Belgium alone was due to the presence of a massive forested area, but researchers now believe that the latter not being truly impenetrable, it's more likely that the huge amount of Roman forts and even bigger Gallo-Roman population may have been enough of a deterrent for "those barbarians."<br />
<br />
Another interesting regional language tidbit is the fact that the southern part of Belgium (Arlon) along with Luxembourg both speak a third dialect which resembles German in many ways. This dialect descends from the Ripuarian Franks whose domain covered the area between the Meuse and Rhine rivers.Alessa Ellefsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01587451250007222192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124953425598378169.post-45591528349488861242015-08-25T11:23:00.000-07:002015-08-25T17:52:34.639-07:00A Century Of Freedom...And Political Changes<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyXr304hFCDxTVq9KJqE6zakbTEexpTAJCaYGyjK5miAYpW76si2391hTysHkNhO7niTIsZDEdy4-cLZbMOqD8T4ObhfMoeHm9yNusHUNNNtYwjzvVfGVJsYUlQSvYaTvK_2ju6oxWmKUw/s1600/Albert+Deveze.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyXr304hFCDxTVq9KJqE6zakbTEexpTAJCaYGyjK5miAYpW76si2391hTysHkNhO7niTIsZDEdy4-cLZbMOqD8T4ObhfMoeHm9yNusHUNNNtYwjzvVfGVJsYUlQSvYaTvK_2ju6oxWmKUw/s320/Albert+Deveze.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Albert Devèze</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
"A [political] party does not have a reason for being unless it possesses its own ideal which it pursues with the conscious and tenacious effort to progressively achieve it, an ideal which is susceptible to arouse within its adherents enthusiastic impulses and fervors of faith.<br />
Does that mean the party must adhere to an immutable dogmatism, whose rigid rule will be the norm of its activity? Definitely not. It must, on the contrary, understand that when it comes to translating its idealism into positive laws, that these can only be the legislative raiment adapted to the measure of the social being who wears it; that this collective being, through internal and external transformations, suffers all the phenomena of growth and development, health and sickness, and that yesterday's impossibilities must consequently become today's possibilities and tomorrow's inevitable. If such is not that party's concept of politics, it would soon become a power of blind conservatism first, of reaction next. From then on, its decline would sanction its divorce from the people's material and moral necessities whose destinies it would have the pretension to hamper."<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
~Albert Devèze, <i>Un siècle de libéralisme</i></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
(transl. by A. Ellefson)<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
After the Catholic Party, it is the Libe<span style="text-align: right;">ral Party that is the oldest political party in Belgium, having been officially formed in 1846, followed by the third of the three major parties, the Socialist Party, which was founded in 1857 </span><span style="text-align: right;">(although, with time, these have split and reformed into </span><a href="http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/belgium.html" style="text-align: right;">many other</a> parties<span style="text-align: right;">)</span><span style="text-align: right;">.</span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="text-align: right;"><br /></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT-x97LXsprUBRlVB1pXTrAxB0p64Gr3qe0WDh9j4qu7DYYgrg3dApUZeGBASX9Sg-jOVCvpQvtlMJkpY1sL6DYrwmreiKeyi3b9NqmcJn3EEYXJgDmVuxScExsPFeOw5JfNe7j1WtEtj4/s1600/Belgium+Coat+of+Arms.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT-x97LXsprUBRlVB1pXTrAxB0p64Gr3qe0WDh9j4qu7DYYgrg3dApUZeGBASX9Sg-jOVCvpQvtlMJkpY1sL6DYrwmreiKeyi3b9NqmcJn3EEYXJgDmVuxScExsPFeOw5JfNe7j1WtEtj4/s320/Belgium+Coat+of+Arms.gif" width="262" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Belgium's coat of arms which reads:<br />
"Unity Creates Strength"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="text-align: right;">According to Mr. Dev</span><span style="text-align: right;">èze, Belgium's first regime was a "bourgeois oligarchy" based on an electoral principle of selective suffrage (where only select citizens whose taxes were above a preset level were allowed to vote). Later, this was temporarily changed to multiple voting rights (where one person can vote more than once--a system which was fraught with fraud and corruption), before universal suffrage was set up (and I'm not talking about <a href="http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/suffrage.htm">the right of women to vote</a> here, which only came to be in 1919, with some conditions, whereas the right for women to stand for election didn't come into existence until 1921) (1).</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: right;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="text-align: right;">Apart from universal suffrage, mandatory education was another major point highly debated in belgian politics during its first century of being, and it is interesting to note that, today, children in Belgium are still obliged to attend school until they are 18 years of age (one of the longest in the world). The Catholic Party of the time was adamant about allowing private schools to continue to exist, schools whose curricula wouldn't fall immediately under the State's jurisdiction (2). The government was also preoccupied with higher education, and in 1835 a few state universities were created (as opposed to, for instance, the <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CB4QFjAAahUKEwjLwJCH2cTHAhXB1BoKHfGyCIE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.uclouvain.be%2F&ei=aZ3cVYvoAsGpa_HloogI&usg=AFQjCNFCgi8IzOeVZzlwmmtEBdVNOsXGwg&sig2=GsKR4UvmgnONBKlY088RsA">Université catholique de Louvain</a> which was founded in 1425): the Universities of Li</span><span style="color: black;">ége, Ghent, and Brussels.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX5ftvsuUXfvGm9K4zciKhJImJUWDwSOoK-t9Tk-CJMDS7or63uDjoIjWxbaxwu5pihwhHM4SBhRt-av51RZDSquRtLmV5RiOQGyr1UEDFwLqQf3GEky3t7n9gUiOB33ave61_AR7LM60M/s1600/transformationsociale7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX5ftvsuUXfvGm9K4zciKhJImJUWDwSOoK-t9Tk-CJMDS7or63uDjoIjWxbaxwu5pihwhHM4SBhRt-av51RZDSquRtLmV5RiOQGyr1UEDFwLqQf3GEky3t7n9gUiOB33ave61_AR7LM60M/s400/transformationsociale7.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Children working in a belgian crystal factory, end of 19th c.<br />
<a href="http://www.cultivoo.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1101:mutations-sociales-au-xixeme&catid=179:contemporaine&Itemid=183&showall=1">Source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A third front of contention between the parties was that of socialism, particularly important since at first (as already mentioned), the government was held by the bourgeoisie, aka all the business owners who wanted to have their products be made as cheaply as possible, a sound economic principle but one which can lead to much misery if the well-being and safety of the workers isn't taken into consideration. Thus, in 1850 <a href="http://myflatland.blogspot.com/2015/04/leaders-of-belgian-revolutionaries.html">Rogier</a> helped create the first state retirement fund (aka social security), the first "mutuals" (saving funds to help workers with things such as, for example, healthcare, workers' comp, etc.), and syndicates, then, in 1859, he wrote the first drafts of a legislation for women and children's rights in the workforce (though, because of "tenacious prejudices" at the time, these failed at first).<br />
<br />
As <span style="text-align: right;">Devèze put it, "it was indispensable to give the worker class a higher standard of life, to bring it out of the oppressed and depressed situation in which it had lived thus far." A great belgian movie to watch which broaches the topic is the 1992 movie Daens:</span><br />
<span style="text-align: right;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/c4ht_cLdWVg/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c4ht_cLdWVg?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<span style="text-align: right;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black;">Of course, there are plenty more points which the three main political factions voted on (and heatedly debated), for they had a lot of work creating, getting rid of or altering laws, to truly unify and economically develop all those city-states and territories which, over the centuries, kept changing hands before becoming what is now known as Belgium. Work that is seemingly never-ending, even close to 200 years later! But is the original spirit that moved this country's "founding fathers" and mentioned in this post's introduction still alive and well in today's politics?</span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black;">***</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizef7XCSPc8_7Fb1GIkjd1w3t2oXeDRj9WWHaG39OdDW3MQezt6R4O9m8RP7zOXFDsXxuHn9skFBOMJ9PzH21LsdAR0a0M6pWyQYEg_4ejKY3zt14kKBfPsFuK27oBOLENcGGc6ooOHVKo/s1600/poing-eglise.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizef7XCSPc8_7Fb1GIkjd1w3t2oXeDRj9WWHaG39OdDW3MQezt6R4O9m8RP7zOXFDsXxuHn9skFBOMJ9PzH21LsdAR0a0M6pWyQYEg_4ejKY3zt14kKBfPsFuK27oBOLENcGGc6ooOHVKo/s320/poing-eglise.jpg" width="227" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Catholic poster against the Socialist<br />
Party for the 1929 legislative elections</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: black;">(1) </span><span style="text-align: right;">In 1929, voting age was 21 on the condition of having lived at least for six months in the country.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black;">(2) Yes, there was an actual "war between school systems." It is interesting to note here that the Catholic Party viewed the State as trying to take control of every single aspect of Belgians' lives (something which seems to still be the case nowadays) whereas the other parties believed the Catholic Party just wanted to retain its monopoly on education. The country being predominantly Catholic, a lot, if not most, of the schools back then were Catholic, and taught such classes as religion and ethics (two classes which some in the today's government are trying to remove definitely from its public educational program, something which I personally find to be a shame). It is also interesting to point out here is that the Catholic Party noted the emergence of a growing free mason movement underlying the other parties (<i>Le Parti Catholique (1830-1930), </i>Comte H. Carton de Wiart for Les Editions illustr</span>ées du "SOIR" Bruxelles).<br />
<span style="color: black;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
Alessa Ellefsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01587451250007222192noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124953425598378169.post-68233405443377466432015-08-09T10:23:00.000-07:002015-08-25T17:52:49.130-07:00Anecdotal Story From The 1830 Revolution<div class="MsoNormal">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg22iTpO_9HXUaAp0B-MTIPOKK9f5eB2q9NM2VxS_DrY_2qVh3nBDHBVoevfP7_0PC3eokXoliCSSA4iQOCBADF1CZfUsoaRg-7JkRnIOmayANMqUQkJOl-VtSDoX0rN7CszpSClf1ltgEb/s1600/begian+revolutionaries+1830.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg22iTpO_9HXUaAp0B-MTIPOKK9f5eB2q9NM2VxS_DrY_2qVh3nBDHBVoevfP7_0PC3eokXoliCSSA4iQOCBADF1CZfUsoaRg-7JkRnIOmayANMqUQkJOl-VtSDoX0rN7CszpSClf1ltgEb/s640/begian+revolutionaries+1830.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Belgian revolutionaries from Liege, 1830</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">I’m
still reading out of the </span><i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">1830-1930 La
Patrie Belge </i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">book of the </span><i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Editions
illustrées du “SOIR” Bruxelles</i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">, and just fell on a text by H. Liebrecht talking
about the 1830 Revolution, out of which I’m going to translate a number of
passages for you, for I find them to be quite interesting, even if I have
already spoken about the events <a href="http://myflatland.blogspot.com/2015/04/leaders-of-belgian-revolutionaries.html">before</a>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The
Allied Forces’ decision to place Belgium under the United Kingdom of the Netherlands’s
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibYG9zNiDcmpgVa3pYM4kmcC-n6ZVDFxdLkrV7TZeS8LzmHpAz_Awokg4l_I50dnis4pm3m-u07EHqZpbVuoZP5DiF2d6N-sNsANQ17WG9lS1fp2OCrmst0aCSOkEZ6VysqAykFECS0rqV/s1600/Louis+de+Potter+dans+sa+cellule.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibYG9zNiDcmpgVa3pYM4kmcC-n6ZVDFxdLkrV7TZeS8LzmHpAz_Awokg4l_I50dnis4pm3m-u07EHqZpbVuoZP5DiF2d6N-sNsANQ17WG9lS1fp2OCrmst0aCSOkEZ6VysqAykFECS0rqV/s320/Louis+de+Potter+dans+sa+cellule.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Louis De Potter in his cell at the Prison des Petits-Carmes<br />
(Dec. 2, 1829)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
dominion in 1815 did not please the Belgians of the time. And right they were
to feel that way for they suffered religious intolerance, extra financial charges
and taxes, and administrative partiality until poverty reigned throughout
Belgium’s provinces. In the meantime, the country found its freedom of press continuously
encroached upon, especially with regards to those journalists who dared to speak
up against the Dutch yoke. Thus, from 1816 to 1828, 23 newspapers and more than
80 journalists were taken to court.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">But it’s
not until the July 1830 revolution in Paris, where the French people managed to
force their then King Charles X and the Duc D’Angoulème to abdicate, that the
Belgians finally realized they could defeat their own government as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Thus,
when King William I had a huge celebration planned for his birthday, and that
despite the fact that the Belgian People were being overtaxed (particularly by
the <i>impôts de la mouture</i>, a tax
placed upon the grains that must be paid before they can be ground into flour
for bread-making), a number of revolutionaries stuck red posters up at street
corners that read: “Monday, fireworks; Tuesday, illuminations; Wednesday,
revolution.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Soon
thereafter, on the 25 of August 1830, the Théâtre de la Monnaie showed the play
</span><i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">La Muette de Portici,</i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> an operetta which
had long been forbidden for its tale of the Spaniards’ rise against the invader
Napoleon. Perhaps the authorities should have kept the ban up, for when the two
actors who played Mazaniello and Pietro sang the duet “Amour sacré de la
Patrie!” [transl: Sacred love for the Homeland!”], the whole room broke out
into feverish applause and a portion of the public left the theater, yelling
wild cries of freedom.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1aH7drfF3R2JZwhmiVpFEVDTAyy9sRM0ft6T337oP4uUfJj5HyYJ1Z-xBdgqg-vI0hQ9PwkIm8PRL5JiwCwMKs1KhSG11sfGY29qn3Ulq85IVHAZNZ1_l7B5zVQ2fxTG2wRG4h2k7srPi/s1600/La-Monnaie-In-a-nutshell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1aH7drfF3R2JZwhmiVpFEVDTAyy9sRM0ft6T337oP4uUfJj5HyYJ1Z-xBdgqg-vI0hQ9PwkIm8PRL5JiwCwMKs1KhSG11sfGY29qn3Ulq85IVHAZNZ1_l7B5zVQ2fxTG2wRG4h2k7srPi/s640/La-Monnaie-In-a-nutshell.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Théâtre de la Monnaie</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">This
group of young people first marched to the rue Fossé-aux-Loups to stand before the </span><i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">National</i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">’s offices, the latter being a
ministerial newspaper run by Libry-Bagnano. What’s interesting about the newspaper’s
director Georges de Libry, self-named Count of Bagnano, is that the man
(Italian by birth) was a con artist who had already been marked at the
shoulders with a red-hot iron for counterfeiting, and had been condemned twice to
forced prison labor, before finding refuge in the Netherlands where he
managed to curry the favor of the minister Van Maanen.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Our revolutionaries
laid Libry’s two domiciles to waste, while others pillaged armorers before
ransacking anything related to the Dutch crown, from signs bearing the royal
coat of arms to the baron de Knyff’s house, the latter being none other than
the chief of police who, out of spinelessness, let the ransacking people be.
Nobody was spared, not even the Dutch minister whose house was put to fire. The
most shocking part of this event, perhaps, was the fact that the armed military
troupes didn’t lift a single finger against these freedom fighters, for they
didn’t want to take the slightest initiative without first getting the
Government’s approval. Approval which never materialized as the province’s
governor never gave a sign of life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Anarchy
reigned in Brussels, and the Brabant flag was flown everywhere. Staedtler wrote
at the time: “The town has established itself as an independent power and if we
still lived in the Middle Ages, it would be the perfect occasion to obtain
great privileges from the King.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUpd0W3wGhIkWkdPRYvW1msl_bLvxwKIGhyphenhyphenrFyKjR75rFXpzPAcFJ3uNCf1h6C2q7eeXtBJXuFODtb0S4kEH7Zo1OCoDzxKcJ_mvqILW4UDyUcgs9AjxeoRCVn1sNbQxRhtYXM7Bpvs8S2/s1600/Brabanconne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUpd0W3wGhIkWkdPRYvW1msl_bLvxwKIGhyphenhyphenrFyKjR75rFXpzPAcFJ3uNCf1h6C2q7eeXtBJXuFODtb0S4kEH7Zo1OCoDzxKcJ_mvqILW4UDyUcgs9AjxeoRCVn1sNbQxRhtYXM7Bpvs8S2/s400/Brabanconne.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Van Campenhout singing <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: start;">La Brabançonne</i> at the Cantoni cafe,<br />among other revolutionaries such as Jenneval.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the
following weeks, reinforcements came in from Liège, Mons, Namur, and Flanders.
Everywhere there arose the stanzas of Casimir Delavigne and Auber’s </span><i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">La Parisienne</i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">, precursor to Belgium’s
hymn </span><i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">La Brabançonne</i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span lang="FR-BE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR-BE;">En avant, marchons<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span lang="FR-BE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR-BE;">Contre les canons ;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span lang="FR-BE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR-BE;">A travers le fer, le feu des bataillons<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span lang="FR-BE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR-BE;">Courons à la victoire !<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Go
forth, let us march against the canons, through the iron and fires of the battalions,
let us run towards victory!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl_dbvgbHTLMWSORxaHOybYtsckozaLbL82bTnJrAScN0bbb75lsy4AcIY7YNSKl71SRXmqsKYPBZWEZ-zzqrCeU5p6ns1wea1JyStpqMT2dBpGBefiBkwr4jar14JTQmaIxXyZqYP5ABI/s1600/49.periode-hollandaise-revolution-belge2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl_dbvgbHTLMWSORxaHOybYtsckozaLbL82bTnJrAScN0bbb75lsy4AcIY7YNSKl71SRXmqsKYPBZWEZ-zzqrCeU5p6ns1wea1JyStpqMT2dBpGBefiBkwr4jar14JTQmaIxXyZqYP5ABI/s400/49.periode-hollandaise-revolution-belge2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Revolutionaries fighting against the Dutch who are occupying the Royal Park</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Despite everyone
realizing that only <a href="http://myflatland.blogspot.com/2015/01/when-holland-had-two-capitals.html">the separation of the Southern states from the Kingdom ofthe Netherlands</a> could restore peace, King William clearly did not see matters
in the same light. So the town of Brussels raised barricades against his oncoming
wrath. At first, the king’s son, the Prince of Orange, sought to talk through
this issue with the people of Brussels and entered the city alone, expecting
the people there to cheer for him. But when instead he received hostile silence, he took fright and ran away before he could even parlay.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">It was
his brother, Prince Frédéric, who marched against Brussels on September 22,
1830. Though the Dutch army was initially crowned with success, they soon found
themselves on the losing end of the battle as more and more volunteers answered
the church of Sainte-Gudule’s bells, coming from all neighboring communes: Hal,
Nivelles, Wavre, Seneffe, Fleurus, Leuze, Lierre, and even from as far as
Charleroi. While in the throes of this bloody
battle, a group of men came together to form a provisional government, and
their first act was to proclaim the rupture of all ties between Belgium and
Holland.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">After four
long days, the Prince’s army finally retreated, and Brussels’s victory became
the sign of hope needed for the remainder of the country to rise up against
King William. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">On
October 4, 1830, the Central Committee for the Provisional Government—formed by
the Comte de Merode, Van de Weyer, Rogier, Gendebien, and De Potter who’d come
back from his exile—proclaimed Belgium’s independence. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDomovEdVqwr8DqUyM-CcAmQvYXg487yni705bhXiPWuGb1IvlQQF2Np-kJ0JEYsN8-jgY4eg-DPNgIBGKOWc9wTo5J7RPhKM_FXArhSDEh6kBgu-zwIiddy-hnTvz1RVfuDZee2A_qBGl/s1600/place-des-martyrs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDomovEdVqwr8DqUyM-CcAmQvYXg487yni705bhXiPWuGb1IvlQQF2Np-kJ0JEYsN8-jgY4eg-DPNgIBGKOWc9wTo5J7RPhKM_FXArhSDEh6kBgu-zwIiddy-hnTvz1RVfuDZee2A_qBGl/s640/place-des-martyrs.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Burial of revolutionaries (according to Gemelli, 450 Belgians lost their lives during those 4 days) at the<br />
Place des Martyrs de la Libert<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">é</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /></span></div>
Alessa Ellefsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01587451250007222192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124953425598378169.post-68761939716507881152015-07-31T07:01:00.001-07:002015-08-25T17:53:08.435-07:001887: King Leopold II Worries About The Future Of Belgium And Europe<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif87LrjRkOq6sQSQqQ81QTjrH60aJTGWVW64aHcJA0U-ro5bMSxPekgl3BhNCQCQ_DRrWYFNIgjBCuaUwfqbPDgTqQLxSUCNS49NqhgJJozPNcU4pZHWIOVPxTzg72xNhtenfE5z4iEtPQ/s1600/The+world%2527s+sovereigns+1889.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif87LrjRkOq6sQSQqQ81QTjrH60aJTGWVW64aHcJA0U-ro5bMSxPekgl3BhNCQCQ_DRrWYFNIgjBCuaUwfqbPDgTqQLxSUCNS49NqhgJJozPNcU4pZHWIOVPxTzg72xNhtenfE5z4iEtPQ/s640/The+world%2527s+sovereigns+1889.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:World_heads_of_state_in_1889.jpg">The World's Sovereigns 1889</a> (photomontage)<br />
The one in the center is Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany, seated to his left on a chair is Queen Victoria.<br />
King Leopold II of Belgium is the second man on his right (long dark beard), while the two men standing right next to him are; Left: Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria; Right: Tsar Aleksandr III</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While in London in 1887 to attend the celebrations for his
cousin Queen Victoria’s 50 years of reign, Belgium’s second King, Leopold II (who later became infamous for his role in the Congo massacre), wrote
the following to his chief of state:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyrHOHa9K3qciltbvbKlb4zjft17vDzBgRF-zgJ9G6lSn3PKqzOey2sZ70L5cjGFtlXhhH0vHeeA6w1fyVL_cIqu_p8TWrCmUHhzSRuvzgR1HGWWCFtqaaKqKsNwV8SMIoiMwJhe6oIv0K/s1600/King+Leopold+II.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyrHOHa9K3qciltbvbKlb4zjft17vDzBgRF-zgJ9G6lSn3PKqzOey2sZ70L5cjGFtlXhhH0vHeeA6w1fyVL_cIqu_p8TWrCmUHhzSRuvzgR1HGWWCFtqaaKqKsNwV8SMIoiMwJhe6oIv0K/s320/King+Leopold+II.jpeg" width="285" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">King Leopold II</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Europe’s political
future remains rather uncertain […]. If we wish to remain independent, we need
to strengthen ourselves and prove ourselves worthy of our independence.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As you can tell, he was already quite worried about what was
fomenting behind the curtains within Europe’s highest political spheres.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Upon his return, King Leopold II desired to have a true
Belgian army raised instead of their current conscription system which mainly
allowed richer folks to pay poorer ones to take their spot in this army.
Unfortunately, these changes were voted down by the Chamber of Ministers in
July. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So the King decides to play a little game: pretend that he
doesn’t want to uphold his obligations (such as attending an important party in
Bruges in August) to show his displeasure with his government, then finally
accede to their entreaties upon the condition that they let him hold a speech
(WARNING: it is quite a long read). The maneuver works, and on August 15, 1887,
King Leopold II says the following to a large crowd:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzN1h7ioJs9ksVaxn3oyBWFis0iOHayQuUN4sDG7Cwd0WCrC9q7beeNlqi8OnS89gpypIB4O4n-M0za6aYTsj5ALADP0sp4MiQ6AM-zYheHcrhwEuumU3AzQNJBYUF6NnPx6pvkThQQmSn/s1600/Flemish+heroes+-+statue+of+Jan+Breydel+and+Pieter+de+Coninck.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzN1h7ioJs9ksVaxn3oyBWFis0iOHayQuUN4sDG7Cwd0WCrC9q7beeNlqi8OnS89gpypIB4O4n-M0za6aYTsj5ALADP0sp4MiQ6AM-zYheHcrhwEuumU3AzQNJBYUF6NnPx6pvkThQQmSn/s320/Flemish+heroes+-+statue+of+Jan+Breydel+and+Pieter+de+Coninck.gif" width="184" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flemish heroes<br />
statue of Jan Breydel and Pieter de Coninck</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<i>Gentlemen, I have
readily answered your request for me to join you to inaugurate these statues
that remind us of such great memories. Nearly six hundred years ago, Flanders
was going through one of the greatest hardships ever mentioned in its annals.
Invaded by foreigners, torn by factions, abandoned by all, separated from its
Princes held in captivity, and prevented from attempting anything to assist
itself, [Flanders] seemed doomed to ruin and servitude.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>That is when Pierre de
Coninck and Jean Breidel appeared like a live protestation against angering
discords, against failures, which are suicide. In the darkest hours, they never
doubted neither their country’s rights nor its strength. Bolstered by their
courage and their faith, they transferred the heroic breath that animated them
into their fellow citizens. Under their leadership, laborers, bourgeois and
nobles of Bruges and Ypres, Gand and Courtrai, proudly went, one against three,
to face the shock of one of the greatest feudal armies and win against it the
famous victory of the Golden Spurs, which not only saved Flanders’ freedom and
independence, but was recounted throughout Europe as a sign of its liberation.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Let us bow with
respect before the image of these great citizens. Let us pay tribute to the
civic and warlike virtues of our valiant ancestors. By erecting this expressive
bronze [statue], by glorifying the feelings and actions it symbolizes, the
Flemish are assuredly proclaiming that the same feelings animate them today,
that they would be capable of the same acts, that neither today, nor ever, will
they cease to be the noble sons of the Flemish of 1302.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglP66xxsopINcA00DEGfpbI5RFnBbQ2yfecLmreAY0mUGpQEqg7sAYgtpW3KVhWHXJU7KvoAk8RpZ1NjDmWTYEWE_E1ys0AX0wo79slKxNpNb7dbgzieGl8-jWVV-glPkWAc14mAhLqI7-/s1600/The+battle+of+the+Eperons+d%2527Or.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglP66xxsopINcA00DEGfpbI5RFnBbQ2yfecLmreAY0mUGpQEqg7sAYgtpW3KVhWHXJU7KvoAk8RpZ1NjDmWTYEWE_E1ys0AX0wo79slKxNpNb7dbgzieGl8-jWVV-glPkWAc14mAhLqI7-/s320/The+battle+of+the+Eperons+d%2527Or.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Battle of the Eperons d'Or</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>What thoughts, gentlemen,
invade the mind, what contrasts hit it from all sides! Would the tough and energetic
fighters of the 14<sup>th</sup> century have ever envisioned the fate in store
for their distant posterity on these grounds still full of their memory?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>To the ardent but fecund
turmoil of those tormented times, to the persistent wars upon earth and sea, from
within as well as without, has succeeded the most complete Independence, one
which has lasted for more than fifty years. Our cities have reconciled, our
provinces unified. After the Middle Ages’ fragmentations and divisions, after
long centuries of foreign domination, the Belgian People have regained their
historical individuality. In the full enjoyment of their sovereignty, they
chose in 1830 the institutions they wanted, and since then there hasn’t been a
day when they haven’t ceased being the master of their own destinies. Never has
Belgium known such a state as the one it now possesses. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwtnXZb7EvnqBQPBo2Pm7ZHzQYwmryAe98Uw1oVZy7yDEMPiHuK7thmGRrh1Ws2zFiMwhV8BYdQnNoAjNLZtrHd_7CFcbORxXn-kggSLlrdqKARivT6fWxgjMLXdWmxqF4KijG9AaLzvlY/s1600/Lion+of+Flanders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwtnXZb7EvnqBQPBo2Pm7ZHzQYwmryAe98Uw1oVZy7yDEMPiHuK7thmGRrh1Ws2zFiMwhV8BYdQnNoAjNLZtrHd_7CFcbORxXn-kggSLlrdqKARivT6fWxgjMLXdWmxqF4KijG9AaLzvlY/s1600/Lion+of+Flanders.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flemish Lion</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>But bliss entails
grave responsibilities. Prosperity has its hurdles. The prolonged enjoyment of peace
has its perils. The excess of feelings of security, which it engenders, has
often cost dearly to those who have abandoned themselves to them. The dangers
that once threatened your communes, which so often compromised their existence
or their greatness, haven’t all gone away. Civilization in general has taken a
substantial step forward, altering the course of things, but its agents have
remained the same. The political oscillations of the modern world, distributed
upon vaster surfaces, slower yet more regular, are all the more unstoppable in
their impact and fearsome in their consequences. Wars have become devastating:
those it surprises are lost. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>But, Gentlemen, let me
repeat before this monument the pressing call of the chronicler who sang our
ancestors’ exploits: “The Flemish Lion should not sleep.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>The glorious heritage
that you are so rightly proud of will subsist, will not cease to expand, if you
always cultivate virile sentiments, if you nurture the sacred fire of
patriotism for which I have before me such noble models.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Any freedom is born and
dies with Independence. It is the lesson written on every page of our history.
The great causes are interdependent. On the historic day upon which your
intrepid militias fought beneath Courtrai’s walls, nobles, bourgeois, laborers
were one within the same ranks, joining hands, shedding their blood in a
sublime momentum, and priests were beside them to encourage the living and
bless the dead.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Let us raise our
souls, gentlemen, to be equal to these great examples. Like these heroes, let
us all make here the solemn vow to not back away from any sacrifice needed to
maintain the integrity of our homeland’s rights at all times. Only then will
this celebration be truly worthy of them!<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihx4HYdElfnW4WC7k2PaJJ8yXssSEc-D8m6dhbDN0kWBIzZ4QT2WRE9mlWpNjxvxui2mKRz-caN115dOADLtr2dENKuw016z-1VaogtcqwgJv9gCPoTeGboa3YMjco3k6U9m5UbimptoT_/s1600/Extrait+du+livret+de+mobilisation+-+belgian+army+1887.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihx4HYdElfnW4WC7k2PaJJ8yXssSEc-D8m6dhbDN0kWBIzZ4QT2WRE9mlWpNjxvxui2mKRz-caN115dOADLtr2dENKuw016z-1VaogtcqwgJv9gCPoTeGboa3YMjco3k6U9m5UbimptoT_/s400/Extrait+du+livret+de+mobilisation+-+belgian+army+1887.jpg" width="251" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Belgian army mobilization booklet - 1887<br />
<a href="http://ryan1974.skyrock.com/19.html">Source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Note: Belgium was highly Catholic at the time, so it’s no
wonder the priesthood held great sway in politics.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In any case, as this speech shows, along with a few others
he gave later on, and until he died, King Leopold II was adamant about
reinforcing Belgium’s defenses. Yet it’s not until 1913 (a whole year after
even King Carol of Romania suggested Belgium seriously prepare its own defense),
thanks in part to its own indolence, that B<span style="font-family: inherit;">elgiu</span>m’s Parliament finally voted in
favor of general service and increased both the military’s recruits and budget.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Too little, too late, as we all now know…<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Still, what really intrigues me is how all these different
nations knew a great war was brewing, which, of course, makes the field fertile
for numerous conspiracy theories, or stories in general.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>Sources:</u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Speech translated from <a href="http://www.journalbelgianhistory.be/nl/system/files/article_pdf/BTNG-RBHC%2C%2013%2C%201982%2C%202-3%2C%20pp%20391-417.pdf">Journal of Belgian History</a> article <span style="color: #222222; line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><i>Une manoeuvre royale. Le "discours de Bruges" de Leopold II - 15 août 1887 </i>by L. Schepens</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anecdote from <i>1830-1930 La Patrie Belge, </i>Editions Illustrees du "SOIR" Bruxelles</div>
Alessa Ellefsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01587451250007222192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124953425598378169.post-58610771921148167702015-07-20T05:41:00.000-07:002015-07-20T05:41:23.795-07:00Happy Birthday Belgium!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSUUF1nRR5JiJt4Kh1MGRb6R0wXFUS4ieyUxhjLtS1dQVKsf4dFhaz7gR6xA0DTYk5PV3Fv5JGQXVwZ1hT7JG5KeMLQNO576IjmACerdeqcWNAzEBr2d3v0-Yv2I1M5D-DzgmfQ7B1t0Fu/s1600/Genealogy+Belgian+Royal+Family+as+of+1930+-+Soir.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSUUF1nRR5JiJt4Kh1MGRb6R0wXFUS4ieyUxhjLtS1dQVKsf4dFhaz7gR6xA0DTYk5PV3Fv5JGQXVwZ1hT7JG5KeMLQNO576IjmACerdeqcWNAzEBr2d3v0-Yv2I1M5D-DzgmfQ7B1t0Fu/s640/Genealogy+Belgian+Royal+Family+as+of+1930+-+Soir.jpg" width="452" /></a>Tomorrow, July 21, will be the celebration of Belgium's first step towards independence, aka the beginning of its revolution (which started with a Broadway-like play, if you will).<br />
<br />
185 years of independence (discounting the years of occupation, of course). It's rather young for an "Old World" country, but that's one of the things that makes Belgium so interesting, isn't it?<br />
<br />
In any case, I'm reading this great book that was published in 1930 by the <i>Editions illustr</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>é</i></span><i>es du "SOIR" Bruxelles</i> published in celebration of Belgium's 100 year anniversary (ah, how I love history!). And in its first pages, I found this great genealogical tree of the Royal Family which I thought I'd share with you here (notice how beautiful Princess Astrid was, so beautiful and such a tragic fate after the publication of this book).<br />
<br />
PS: Apologies for the crookedness of the picture...<br />
<br />Alessa Ellefsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01587451250007222192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124953425598378169.post-25403975887372318052015-06-18T00:00:00.000-07:002015-08-25T17:53:45.434-07:00Three Fun Facts About The Battle Of Waterloo<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN8R00EDYfuy2gSVES0qLNzjp-pEN0a49mWegXsD26IrjbK2xbp60aEAE2FVdZr2iGdmcylBmLzDqQ-FMLBnbfalMeyVZCrGBUm3VFUyspcDHSqr-pOKmuvQznIU2bPLJHCY5TEfxT7Rum/s1600/Battle_of_Waterloo_1815.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN8R00EDYfuy2gSVES0qLNzjp-pEN0a49mWegXsD26IrjbK2xbp60aEAE2FVdZr2iGdmcylBmLzDqQ-FMLBnbfalMeyVZCrGBUm3VFUyspcDHSqr-pOKmuvQznIU2bPLJHCY5TEfxT7Rum/s1600/Battle_of_Waterloo_1815.PNG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Battle of Waterloo</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Two hundred years ago, this day, the Emperor Napoleon suffered a devastating loss against the Anglo-Prussio-Dutch-Hanoverian-Nassau-Brunswick armies (quite a mouthful, eh? But Napoleon wasn't a favorite among non-French people...not that he was always a favorite amongst the French themselves either). The battle took place in Waterloo, a town just south of Brussels, in the then United Kingdom of the Netherlands.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm-dB_O0Eqr2aVQXWHXF0HfOnNPHPWethhiJKblWnNGWfDNvLH6HRM_GFXe1OkdWL7-4DjmtbpTG5_myD864Z-UceIgdoDb0tQfp8S5LOABfAKAuSajBpBTbjdon6PdVwHovzbJNPPrtmf/s1600/Musee+Wellington.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm-dB_O0Eqr2aVQXWHXF0HfOnNPHPWethhiJKblWnNGWfDNvLH6HRM_GFXe1OkdWL7-4DjmtbpTG5_myD864Z-UceIgdoDb0tQfp8S5LOABfAKAuSajBpBTbjdon6PdVwHovzbJNPPrtmf/s1600/Musee+Wellington.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
In any case, I have a friend who's worked for a number of years at the Wellington Museum in Waterloo who knows quite a few interesting tidbits about the battle itself, and related facts. So, without further ado, here they are:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCNE613ASVFDjOjaMNJWgerCELyUSZ53hAdcxS_sx_qExfl97jLguPGCjq2JYJUV_0YmOzQ9NLjeS_SEOX6ad6UicloWXyNbKshS5uw7WUOmjHVMnX6enmZfMyMMFMl41TFJnOmczHYbZp/s1600/David_-_Napoleon_crossing_the_Alps_-_Malmaison1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCNE613ASVFDjOjaMNJWgerCELyUSZ53hAdcxS_sx_qExfl97jLguPGCjq2JYJUV_0YmOzQ9NLjeS_SEOX6ad6UicloWXyNbKshS5uw7WUOmjHVMnX6enmZfMyMMFMl41TFJnOmczHYbZp/s1600/David_-_Napoleon_crossing_the_Alps_-_Malmaison1.jpg" width="272" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Napoleon on his white horse<br />
(crossing the Alps, technically)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
1. Napoleon wasn't actually present at the battle, but in the reenactments of the battle (which take place every five years), they have a Napoleon stand-in (played in the last several years by an American) overlooking the battle on his white horse in the middle of a field.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjABUMZUk01JZVWlKQWKvdbyIjjIj5tI66_U4GVRKFvvCr6tewCeP4pWtshE_UeCvtLLzUkpyB4ox-hbM1gPEJA8okK7potlpBb2F31x09kE57gEm9VkUiPiCmtEmy6DU9nddAHnwcjYbje/s1600/english-wellington-s-army-soldier-of-the-69th-foot-loading-his-brown-bess-musket-in-1815-colour-litho.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjABUMZUk01JZVWlKQWKvdbyIjjIj5tI66_U4GVRKFvvCr6tewCeP4pWtshE_UeCvtLLzUkpyB4ox-hbM1gPEJA8okK7potlpBb2F31x09kE57gEm9VkUiPiCmtEmy6DU9nddAHnwcjYbje/s1600/english-wellington-s-army-soldier-of-the-69th-foot-loading-his-brown-bess-musket-in-1815-colour-litho.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">English soldier in Wellington's army<br />
reloading his musket</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
2. Part of the reason why the British were able to withstand the French long enough for the Prussian army to arrive was that it took the British only 1 minute to reload their weapons, whereas it took the French 2. (As a side note, I think it's interesting to know that these muskets' range was about 20 meters--so being able to reload your weapon was extra crucial!)<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0N5cXSxsP_m7KuDvI4CNCIxZrAcsUW-y69QfHN5tNuFVJeQdJiyLcqvJrP4hpVw3KtNjpD12F0fl0nZM8h481rks370nfPOsiTOtNYf6KFTvflmKbuiPEIUv0zlM8hAKQLBhdOqVv484-/s1600/Enfield+Rifle+and+cartridges.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0N5cXSxsP_m7KuDvI4CNCIxZrAcsUW-y69QfHN5tNuFVJeQdJiyLcqvJrP4hpVw3KtNjpD12F0fl0nZM8h481rks370nfPOsiTOtNYf6KFTvflmKbuiPEIUv0zlM8hAKQLBhdOqVv484-/s1600/Enfield+Rifle+and+cartridges.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wrong period, but you get the gist.<br />
All you needed were two serviceable teeth, one on top, the other right below.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
3. Many people sought to avoid entering the army by pulling out their teeth. That's correct, ladies and gents, for without their teeth, they couldn't rip their paper cartridges open, rendering them rather useless.<br />
<br />
See? Pretty interesting, don't you think? And now you can sound extra interesting at your next happy hour :)<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOCbvB6vi8a9RM51_r5SeEWQ5yEs9eLxBoDvcIhwGjkR73mMx9JqSHQv8e4vks9CLQAaCW3MTew6RWIkW_4Rl4hm3xnPIdYsgqPj94I9wRMvJ9CN_09ydQWECsXN9dDkGiFAxb0H_DrKe-/s1600/Leeuw-Van-Waterloo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOCbvB6vi8a9RM51_r5SeEWQ5yEs9eLxBoDvcIhwGjkR73mMx9JqSHQv8e4vks9CLQAaCW3MTew6RWIkW_4Rl4hm3xnPIdYsgqPj94I9wRMvJ9CN_09ydQWECsXN9dDkGiFAxb0H_DrKe-/s1600/Leeuw-Van-Waterloo.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Waterloo Lion</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Alessa Ellefsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01587451250007222192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124953425598378169.post-65984369424955354312015-05-25T05:30:00.001-07:002015-05-30T02:33:39.856-07:00Once Upon A Time... 14-18 Belgium At War<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglxVbrsI-8UBuEQhE8BZmUJ6U8bpqvnxfJyW0iInbNN-dMHXyBAPcmFfKeqH6zpsRvWthFg3PKHZCxkgfkK1p97PoiFNZgLJlZju6hCBxdeXPHT2pfjGqtdlILmQPiaI5a8B7g6RpQ9HqN/s1600/cover+14-18+la+belgique+en+guerre.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglxVbrsI-8UBuEQhE8BZmUJ6U8bpqvnxfJyW0iInbNN-dMHXyBAPcmFfKeqH6zpsRvWthFg3PKHZCxkgfkK1p97PoiFNZgLJlZju6hCBxdeXPHT2pfjGqtdlILmQPiaI5a8B7g6RpQ9HqN/s320/cover+14-18+la+belgique+en+guerre.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
<br />
Someone just lent me this amazing little book--half comic-strip, half history book--that I definitely recommend anyone read (it's only in French though):<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><i>Il était une fois 14-18 La Belgique en guerre.</i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><br /></span>
It's the loving work of artist and author David P.who spent countless hours combing through the Army Museum of Brussels and flea markets to find all the amazing pictures strewn throughout the pages. Not only that, but the booklet contains also many testimonials left in books and journals, quotes, notes of reference, and other little tidbits, all while also giving information on the war itself, what lead to it and its consequences, in palatable yet juicy morsels.<br />
<br />
Belgium, of course, was supposed to remain neutral during what turned out to be a terrible war that marred everyone's psyche. But even so, Belgium was such a small country, known for being a "friendly nation unlikely to harbor great sentimental impulses, inhabited by patient and obstinate workers, skilled artisans, robust farmers, and enterprising bourgeois all comfortably asleep on their pillow of obligatory and guaranteed neutrality while finding any warlike fracas repugnant," that no one, not even its own citizens, expected it to rise so heroically and determinedly against the invaders.<br />
<br />
Again, this is a must-read for anyone interested in history, and that of the First World War in particular! (And, of course, for those willing to read it in French...) The book can be found on the editor's website <a href="http://www.meletout.net/soliane/?page_id=21">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzah73ivn-72a-r4R3lCNCast18ytDoIeR219MKKLHbyKSdcxWkRMOAaxb_5eyz6CDR83qol3uxtuMnEoLMhdyAjV-iyaNeGajMfMSoF73HD2yxH4GutcHbvewSnc9LoIwWFAjAqUex4q7/s1600/BELGIQUE_14-18_pg20-21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzah73ivn-72a-r4R3lCNCast18ytDoIeR219MKKLHbyKSdcxWkRMOAaxb_5eyz6CDR83qol3uxtuMnEoLMhdyAjV-iyaNeGajMfMSoF73HD2yxH4GutcHbvewSnc9LoIwWFAjAqUex4q7/s640/BELGIQUE_14-18_pg20-21.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Quote taken (and translated from French) from the Preface of the book written by Professor Francis Balace, University of Li<span style="font-family: inherit;">è</span>ge.</span>Alessa Ellefsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01587451250007222192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124953425598378169.post-67423664450504793482015-04-29T00:00:00.000-07:002015-08-25T17:54:05.029-07:00The Belgian Popes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw5sb1cCLmwUP1YATzSLnCTkMVG4qgY0lCHjtZTfzjs2t_IYoPW06SQ0s-lducJDC2wc5IFmxomRm_uD02zQJL9lP_g68KOYhIanL11FeTWirzmAr1Q9_y4AlvWgja8shSHp_7x5UK_VLA/s1600/revolutionchurch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="468" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw5sb1cCLmwUP1YATzSLnCTkMVG4qgY0lCHjtZTfzjs2t_IYoPW06SQ0s-lducJDC2wc5IFmxomRm_uD02zQJL9lP_g68KOYhIanL11FeTWirzmAr1Q9_y4AlvWgja8shSHp_7x5UK_VLA/s1600/revolutionchurch.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
From 1789 to 1929, the hamlet of Lodomez, near Luxembourg, has had its own pope.<br />
<br />
It all happened because of the French revolution (1789-1799), which on top of having a number of noble heads rolling had also taken upon itself to <a href="http://www.historytoday.com/gemma-betros/french-revolution-and-catholic-church">de-Christianize the country</a>. But despite the reign of terror imposed by the revolutionaries, many kept their faith. And in Lodomez, it is the farmer Antoine Hurdebise who took over for the exiled ecclesiastics, assembling everyone for prayer, baptizing newborns and giving the last sacraments, and that despite the new edicts forbidding it. It is therefore no surprise that the abandoned parishioners started calling Hurdebise "le pape."<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
A habit that didn't stop once churches officially reopened their doors in 1794. In fact, the villagers went even further, nominating their own bishops as well, and creating rules that stipulated that any new pope had to be of Hurdebise's family, and that the chosen one had to be celibate himself. The pope's role was to preside over All-Saints Week, Christmas, the Passion of Christ, as well as to conduct the annual procession to the tomb of Saint Remacle and, most importantly, regale everyone with special cakes during the day of Saint-Sebastien, Lodomez's patron.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQiUs4lw8RSEE0lKFzEXua-UbtMa3EX4UTLum4LDw1ySqO2k1haYSzaW0DBC_f0cvr6LRrxQhqRcOwI7uzOz0S4OTZYMW9vKvZPwtwnxAOFrw31zuqezB5IXlzxPntnKiElZadkvqpVsZ8/s1600/Lodomez.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQiUs4lw8RSEE0lKFzEXua-UbtMa3EX4UTLum4LDw1ySqO2k1haYSzaW0DBC_f0cvr6LRrxQhqRcOwI7uzOz0S4OTZYMW9vKvZPwtwnxAOFrw31zuqezB5IXlzxPntnKiElZadkvqpVsZ8/s1600/Lodomez.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXUxlTHOrP1Ge4isQF9kkG9evn7FNX0ap1AfvQuxjkVmYA_TxeAlIbXXHyMfWR-3YHK0-1Gv04SN_Urq7hvjORbJueuWiD8NFXfleCToP7oicC_iiEWQ7zINwG047EM4Eb7YJRP6Om3peU/s1600/official-and-historic-papal-tiara.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXUxlTHOrP1Ge4isQF9kkG9evn7FNX0ap1AfvQuxjkVmYA_TxeAlIbXXHyMfWR-3YHK0-1Gv04SN_Urq7hvjORbJueuWiD8NFXfleCToP7oicC_iiEWQ7zINwG047EM4Eb7YJRP6Om3peU/s1600/official-and-historic-papal-tiara.jpg" width="170" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Papal Tiara<br />
I doubt the Lodomez popes<br />
had one of these...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The first signs of trouble appeared in 1851, when the newly-elected pope, Antoine II, acquired land in Beaumont [Burteaumont?], a neighboring village. Something the people of Lodomez did <i>not</i> approve of! So the villagers gathered again to elect a new pope, Antoine's twin Jacques.<br />
<br />
And thus Lodomez ended up with two popes, the hamlet divided. The only solution was to depose both popes and elect a third one, Louis (the twins' younger brother). Except the latter decided to get married (ah, l'amour!) and so it was his cousin, Joseph who ended up taking up the helm of the papacy.<br />
<br />
In 1929, after his only two "papal heirs" were lost (one to death, the other to a pretty farm girl), the last of the Lodomez popes retired in a small farm called "The Vatican" (the estate was unfortunately destroyed during the Battle of the Ardennes). And that was the end of the Belgian popes.<br />
<br />
<u>Sources:</u><br />
<i>Curieuses Histoires de l'Histoire en Belgique</i>, D-C. Luytens<br />
<a href="http://archives.lesoir.be/l-extraordinaire-et-curieuse-dynastie-des-papes-de-lodo_t-19960523-Z0C496.html">L'extraordinaire et curieuse dynastie des papes de Lodomez - Schisme et saga familiale; Le Soir</a>Alessa Ellefsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01587451250007222192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124953425598378169.post-40124347025045204262015-04-24T03:07:00.001-07:002015-08-25T17:55:03.008-07:00The Palace Of Justice<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipsfy8DkXUlKfG9kzmMABH51YxKnVDd19IinNXWHObd5IrCh02vTUcr_fOurZxQfQskLXO14nEZ7cozGEUV4rt7e6qERe0y7TnPbpip85-VVyqiiAkYeg2UcwNUIUvxxpUYaXEu3IAPIjc/s1600/Le+Palais+de+Justice+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipsfy8DkXUlKfG9kzmMABH51YxKnVDd19IinNXWHObd5IrCh02vTUcr_fOurZxQfQskLXO14nEZ7cozGEUV4rt7e6qERe0y7TnPbpip85-VVyqiiAkYeg2UcwNUIUvxxpUYaXEu3IAPIjc/s1600/Le+Palais+de+Justice+1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<i><br /></i>
<i>May the expenditures be as large as possible, so that the palace will be worthy of its purpose and its city.</i> ~Jule Anspach.<br />
<br />
Sitting upon its hill overlooking a wide span of Brussels, including the basilica of Koekelberg and the Atomium (more on those later), is the Palais de Justice which was started in 1866 and inaugurated in 1883. A propitious hill for its purpose, I suppose, considering the Galgenberg hill was where convicted criminals were hanged back during the Middle Ages.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5oB0EkhoupNHTx6whfJOc8OUzLDzaZlDGxA71skFVhC9Flu6YDVUViW4zxfSBlRHAskj6dONDAqlN6WmWqJhAGzjECLs4iIdChm9vbN7XSaO3JckoojDnUk689NL1POXvjV6LCQwsi4MX/s1600/Le+Palais+de+Justice+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="488" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5oB0EkhoupNHTx6whfJOc8OUzLDzaZlDGxA71skFVhC9Flu6YDVUViW4zxfSBlRHAskj6dONDAqlN6WmWqJhAGzjECLs4iIdChm9vbN7XSaO3JckoojDnUk689NL1POXvjV6LCQwsi4MX/s1600/Le+Palais+de+Justice+2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Greco-Roman style is evident everywhere you go.<br />
<a href="http://www.bxlblog.be/2008/04/11/les-amis-de-lunesco-vous-guident/">Source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh061fJAv_Egh7Y6YHVg0ohZhfQ05XP-YCtSNJWinoyEZHQdNglHa6FKkWBVTDQpE-24gxGqxGoMQfOk_naZkQpzx2TdShEI4VPQL3Egs6xIPdu7CAnSGvGSbiAn9mhyphenhyphenahoxUlAps9CA-cZ/s1600/poelaert-020.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh061fJAv_Egh7Y6YHVg0ohZhfQ05XP-YCtSNJWinoyEZHQdNglHa6FKkWBVTDQpE-24gxGqxGoMQfOk_naZkQpzx2TdShEI4VPQL3Egs6xIPdu7CAnSGvGSbiAn9mhyphenhyphenahoxUlAps9CA-cZ/s1600/poelaert-020.jpg" width="175" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The architect Poelaert</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The Palace of Justice is the Greco-Roman style creation of one free-mason Joseph Poelaert, and cost an astounding 46.45 million Belgian francs to build (about 5 times its initial budget), which is only normal when you're talking about the biggest building constructed in the 19th century! The building of this behemoth required the relocation of over a hundred inhabitants of the Quartier des Marolles, and despite the compensation received, people weren't happy with it. Which is why the word "architect" became one of the worst insults possible one could bandy about Brussels at the time.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnc7093JeSXss6Fwi7z4smixU8sE0j-i_vZs_V7-XZZy2svaL7LptX-Oap7FDqAufJdzeBUEfILU9li7a-A_pgSRFcamPcDLL_FlJtxcGRuDhTV5IWp5QDvTAWFgodRyG6yG4WDUkRRHkG/s1600/Coupole_du_Palais_de_Justice_de_Bruxelles_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnc7093JeSXss6Fwi7z4smixU8sE0j-i_vZs_V7-XZZy2svaL7LptX-Oap7FDqAufJdzeBUEfILU9li7a-A_pgSRFcamPcDLL_FlJtxcGRuDhTV5IWp5QDvTAWFgodRyG6yG4WDUkRRHkG/s1600/Coupole_du_Palais_de_Justice_de_Bruxelles_01.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cupola seen from the foyer below<br />
<a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Law_Courts_of_Brussels">Source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It is therefore not that surprising that the inside of the Palace may seem like a town in and of itself, with several levels and what seems to be hundreds of obscure passageways. To get a better idea of the maze that awaits one inside, know that the Palace boasts 94 stone staircases comprised of a total of 4,320 steps, another 41 wooden staircases made of a total of 630 steps, and 29 iron staircases with 991 steps total, all contained within a building of 360,000 m<sup style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 0.9;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">3</span></sup> which also houses 650 rooms, 25,000 m<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">²</span> of glass for 1,513 windows, 65,000 m<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">²</span> of flooring, parquets and pavement, and 1,530 doors. It is even said to have at least one secret underground passageway! In any case, the maze-like structure has made it easier for certain individuals to successfully flee justice despite being within the Palace's confines.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQWDCR5r13DgFzm_yhA1uKVEyV3-Lz8IWOjRV7B1sWyLxUiTd-_ccUyttuJ9NT0jVpos0qudHFYkpm9RwL3MBknZnLik9pFmiJ1yENn4vo4XN42yQS7II0ZVUZgrlTpM3Qjb0mfVJ1nT-X/s1600/Le+Palais+de+Justice+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQWDCR5r13DgFzm_yhA1uKVEyV3-Lz8IWOjRV7B1sWyLxUiTd-_ccUyttuJ9NT0jVpos0qudHFYkpm9RwL3MBknZnLik9pFmiJ1yENn4vo4XN42yQS7II0ZVUZgrlTpM3Qjb0mfVJ1nT-X/s1600/Le+Palais+de+Justice+3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cupola seen from outside (with some scaffolding)<br />
<a href="http://imagesdebelgique.skynetblogs.be/bruxelles-le-palais-de-justice/">Source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Poelaert, as it turns out, was quite the eccentric man himself, refusing to show his blueprints and threatening to cease his work should anyone try to critique his work (a normal thing to do considering all he'd ever done before was to build half a church). The Palace became his obsession, and it wasn't rare for the architect to wake up in the middle of the night to redo his previous plans. Sickness and insanity finally brought him down and he did not live to see his project finished. This, in turn, allowed people to finally see what the final building was supposed to look like and make some necessary adjustments (such as replacing the pyramid at the top of the building by a cupola). Still, one cannot deny Poelaert's genius, and may, for instance, observe within the building (though parts of it were destroyed during WWII and subsequently rebuilt) the continuous application of the Golden Ratio.<br />
<br />
Nowadays, the Palace is heavily guarded and will remain so at least until the Justice system is fully moved into its new, more modern (and sounder) quarters, leaving the future of the Palace itself uncertain. Plans have gone from turning the imposing structure into a shopping mall to an art museum, but all depends on the Palace's never-ending (and costly) renovations, which is why visitors now are bound to see the building surrounded by scaffolding.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS565Ho_9r_1MpFKw0QKolqqK4AC3H1x61RjeU9prAE14e1Uhk5Imk4XsGfVlGbmoKajr-RuZ00IC3zRmJQyCYaPjbZe3z4va4Ppgk-iQ7dNTw5-wVwj09wz6bVRDxCtZGsAuJFB5USSSS/s1600/Le+Palais+de+Justice+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="377" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS565Ho_9r_1MpFKw0QKolqqK4AC3H1x61RjeU9prAE14e1Uhk5Imk4XsGfVlGbmoKajr-RuZ00IC3zRmJQyCYaPjbZe3z4va4Ppgk-iQ7dNTw5-wVwj09wz6bVRDxCtZGsAuJFB5USSSS/s1600/Le+Palais+de+Justice+4.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The inside of the Palais de Justice<br />
<a href="http://foreignkiss.blogspot.be/2011/08/top-10-touristic-attractions-of.html">Source</a></td></tr>
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<u>Sources:</u><br />
<i>Curieuses histoires de l'Histoire en Belgique</i>, D-C. Luytens, 2009<br />
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<a href="http://www.buildingsagency.be/realisatieberichten_fr.cfm?key=39">La régie des Bâtiments</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5357/">Unesco</a></div>
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Justice_%28Brussels%29">Wiki - Palais de Justice</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.lalibre.be/actu/belgique/triple-evasion-au-palais-de-justice-de-bruxelles-51b8ae1ae4b0de6db9b7a2b2">Triple evasion at the Justice Palace article from Lalibre.be</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.justice-en-ligne.be/article600.html">Status of the Palais de Justice's future projects (FR, 2013)</a></div>
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<br />Alessa Ellefsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01587451250007222192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124953425598378169.post-90764100992327360792015-04-16T03:36:00.000-07:002015-04-16T03:36:02.100-07:00Leopold I In AnimationJust found out that this cool Belgian animation team at <a href="http://madcatstudio.be/">Mad Cat Studio</a> is putting together a 26-minute long humorous (yet historical) cartoon based on Belgium's creation and its first king!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/123637490" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe>
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True facts, you say? That is right. Like the fact that the Belgian "army" had no true weapons to fight the Dutch army seeking to regain its lost territory (see <a href="http://myflatland.blogspot.be/2015/01/when-holland-had-two-capitals.html">here</a> for a little more on Holland's previous role)--a minor detail the ministers had forgotten to take into account, apparently!<br />
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For those of you interested in giving this awesome project a hand, here's their crowdfunding site:<br />
<a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/leopold-roi-des-belges--2">Leopold roi des belges</a>Alessa Ellefsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01587451250007222192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124953425598378169.post-24447349141476534792015-04-07T06:54:00.000-07:002015-08-25T17:55:28.025-07:00Leaders Of The Belgian Revolution<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPq7H5U783L2AVIhOJNydsoUK8E6b5cyOhqDl-7nTn-RU4PYhJWlZqBfbxEOO1axqEQdiaPYJxKwnSjFyKQXXM_Ydg9hSRjFv55mYZBGX7GsPxsTki7KmJh7ZoPqfpM5s2VmYpLQ3mix0S/s1600/gouvernement_provisoire_belge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="408" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPq7H5U783L2AVIhOJNydsoUK8E6b5cyOhqDl-7nTn-RU4PYhJWlZqBfbxEOO1axqEQdiaPYJxKwnSjFyKQXXM_Ydg9hSRjFv55mYZBGX7GsPxsTki7KmJh7ZoPqfpM5s2VmYpLQ3mix0S/s1600/gouvernement_provisoire_belge.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Provisionary Belgian government after the 1830 revolution.<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">From left to right, seated, Alexandre Gendebien, Charles Rogier, Louis-Joseph de Potter,<br />Baron Feuillen de Coppin de Falaën, Comte Philippe de Mérode, standing André-Edouard Jolly, Jean-Sylvain van de Weyer, Joseph Van der Linden, Emmanuel Vanderlinden Baron d'Hoogvorst.</span></td></tr>
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The territory that now encompasses Belgium saw itself pass between different hands quite a lot before its fight for independence started in mid-1830, mostly those of the French, Spanish (Hapsburgs) and Dutch. In fact, between 1794 and 1814, it had been part of the French Empire, before Napoleon lost his war and Belgium became part of the <a href="http://myflatland.blogspot.be/2015/01/when-holland-had-two-capitals.html">Southern Netherlands</a>.<br />
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One of the reasons why so many people speak French in Belgium nowadays is due to this fact, as Napoleon's government installed many of its citizens in key civic positions around Dutch-speaking Flanders, Brabant and Limburg (it's also a reason why so many of the upper and middle classes at the time were also French-speaking).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFJfqEkW6xyDKymekdELwZdFoi2GHrbIXPjou5po7myOyQeFis6XTm2bfCV6Da2-AxZyqOSMNcX7NlbBQd6vx92JyDA8m_YCWTvBBUclDcjXu-bC1ZKPGAbwM3W7b50lnVhJM1Jwu0dLqQ/s1600/06_Locos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFJfqEkW6xyDKymekdELwZdFoi2GHrbIXPjou5po7myOyQeFis6XTm2bfCV6Da2-AxZyqOSMNcX7NlbBQd6vx92JyDA8m_YCWTvBBUclDcjXu-bC1ZKPGAbwM3W7b50lnVhJM1Jwu0dLqQ/s1600/06_Locos.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Once Belgium was integrated into the French Empire, the industrial revolution reached Belgium, and the first steam-powered engines were clandestinely introduced into the country.<br />
Other important changes introduced by Napoleon's reign: new judicial framework on civil rights (foundation for the future Belgian civil code); Wallonia became the most industrialized region of Europe; the port of Antwerp becomes extra-profitable; obligatory military service; zero political freedom; the use of Dutch is repressed in Flanders and nothing can be printed in that language either. (<a href="http://www.belgium.be/fr/la_belgique/connaitre_le_pays/histoire/avant_1830/periode_francaise/">Source</a>)</td></tr>
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Needless to say, when Belgium became part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, it was suddenly left with little to no voice in the key areas as economic, political, and social policy. Compounding that problem was the fact that the majority of Belgium was Catholic, while the ruler in the Netherlands was Protestant.<br />
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In any case, some French immigrants ended up at the head of the Belgian revolution, namely Charles Rogier, the Comte <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Félix de Mérode</span>, and Alexandre Gendebien. So who were these men?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rogier leading the volunteers of Liege (Soubre, 1878)</td></tr>
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<b>Charles Rogier</b> was the son of an officer in Napoleon's army. After the latter's death on the Russian front, the family settled in Liège where Rogier, unable to follow his dreams of becoming a lawyer from lack of financial resources, ended up becoming a professor. Later, he became a journalist who, as such, led assiduous campaigns against the Dutch rule and the Belgians' political apathy that allowed such rule to continue, while at the same time being an avid proponent of a constitutional regime. It is interesting to note here a passage Rogier underlined while reading the book <i>The Historical Considerations of De Pradt on Belgium</i>:<br />
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<i>The Belgian is neither a Frenchmen, nor a German, nor a Dutchman. A Dutchman is a sophisticated Belgian. = If you want a people that is good, franc, hospitable, laborious, economical, loving of order and steadiness, you will find it in the Belgian: it is a people that is naturally moral. </i></div>
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<i>Belgium is a corner of the earth where work and industry have gathered together to make it one of the destinations the most suitable for man's happiness here on earth; it is </i>un-ruinable<i>. </i></div>
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<i>Revolutions don't happen there, they go there; it is a fixed-term birth. </i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(1)</span></div>
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And when the sh*t hit the fan, so to speak, Rogier found himself leading a militia 300-men strong during the Belgian revolution. He was later rewarded by the future King Leopold I with the governorship of Antwerp.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Félix de Mérode</span></span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Félix de Mérode</b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> was the son of the mayor of Brussels while Belgium was under French rule, while he himself lived in Paris where he married none other than the niece of the Marquis de Lafayette (who, according to some, "helped work out plans to set up a revolution in Brussels"), Rosalie de Grammont. He first spent his time in French politics, fighting for the rights of orphans, farmers, town laborers, and public education. He had just been in Belgium for a few days when the Belgian revolution hit in 1830. But that didn't stop him from being part of the revolutionary movement first, nor of working and financing the resistance against the Dutch who kept trying to regain its lost territory afterwards. In fact, the count himself was considered as a potential candidate for the newly-minted Belgian throne (his friends used to call him "the indigenous prince"), but he refused the position as he was but a count, and instead became a Minister of State.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alexandre Gendebien</td></tr>
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<span lang="FR-BE" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Alexandre Gendebien</b> had actually worked as a lawyer in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, but felt more loyal to his French roots (though he himself was born in Mons, a Belgian town) and wished for Belgium to become once more a part of France. He was a member of the higher strata of the bourgeoisie, and his whole family had, for dozens of years, enjoyed numerous important governmental posts, including on the French National Congress. Though Gendebien had been disappointed in seeing the French flags (placed on windows by French secret agents) replaced the next day by Belgian ones during the revolution, he nevertheless vehemently opposed himself against the dismembering of Belgium proposed in 1831 (whereby </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Liège would have gone to Prussia, Flanders and Antwerp to Great Britain, and Brussels and Wallonia to France), and instead helped found the Belgian government.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First Belgian flag which replaced the French ones<br />
during the first days of the Belgian revolution.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(1)</span> <span style="font-size: x-small;">(Transl. from French:) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Le belge n’est ni un français, ni un allemand, ni un
hollandais. Un Hollandais est un belge perfectionné. = Voulez-vous un peuple
bon, franc, hospitalier, laborieux, économe, ami de l’ordre et de la
régularité, vous le trouverez dans le Belge : c’est un peuple
naturellement moral. = La Belgique est un coin de terre dont le travail et l’industrie
réunis ont fait un des séjours les mieux appropriés au bonheur de l’homme, qui
existe sur terre : il est </span><i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">inruinable.</i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">
= Les révolutions ne se font pas : elles arrivent ; c’est un
enfantement à terme fixe.</span></span></div>
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<u>Sources:</u><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/184540033X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=184540033X&linkCode=as2&tag=alessadve-20&linkId=JQWD4A6RSNEV4UII">A Throne in Brussels</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=alessadve-20&l=as2&o=1&a=184540033X" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
<a href="http://books.google.be/books?id=DKbvAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA8&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">Charles Rogier (1800-1885),<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">d'après des documents inédits, Volumes 1-2</span></span></a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Rogier">Charles Rogier Wiki</a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_de_M%C3%A9rode">Felix de Merode Wiki</a><br />
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<span lang="FR-BE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR-BE;"><a href="http://books.google.be/books?id=1HWvSDwBHpUC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false">Biographie générale des belges morts ou vivants</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Gendebien">Alexandre Gendebien Wiki (FR)</a></div>
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Revolution">Belgian Revolution Wiki</a></div>
Alessa Ellefsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01587451250007222192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124953425598378169.post-69119546414212113972015-01-29T08:10:00.000-08:002015-08-25T17:56:02.959-07:00When Holland Had Two Capitals<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I know, this is a blog about Belgium (and Europe, by extension), so why devote a post to Holland? Well, it turns out that Belgium used to be part of the Netherlands, before Belgium became its own country.<br />
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The first king of the Netherlands, King Willem Frederick I, after the northern and southern parts of that country were united. The new king had wanted to have only one capital at the time, Brussels, as he had a predilection for the Southern part of his country (as evidenced by his serious investments in that area--see below). But the Powers that Be (previously mentioned in <i><a href="http://myflatland.blogspot.be/2015/01/the-birth-and-evolution-of-artificial.html">The Birth And Evolution Of An Artificial State</a></i>) decided otherwise, and so the Netherlands had two heads of state for a while: Brussels and The Hague.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9a7Tgt44N-nt-0l58pLGn7x2EL4__nJKzFjP1mc7FjHuRUAGCEpFJIj-q-C30pgQZNckzAf8-0N_Jb14UaxdsXIXXiNijl7aKe19hHJdaQY1kEI8jAK48wT1k1nMZmvNwagjPTGbCCnM5/s1600/1815-VerenigdKoninkrijkNederlanden.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9a7Tgt44N-nt-0l58pLGn7x2EL4__nJKzFjP1mc7FjHuRUAGCEpFJIj-q-C30pgQZNckzAf8-0N_Jb14UaxdsXIXXiNijl7aKe19hHJdaQY1kEI8jAK48wT1k1nMZmvNwagjPTGbCCnM5/s1600/1815-VerenigdKoninkrijkNederlanden.png" width="283" /></a>As a result, the Dutch Parliament had to travel "from one capital to the other, as did 600 families o functionaries and the diplomatic corp. Moving back and forth cost a lot of money, and much energy and time was lost transporting archives."<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
This reminds me of the European Parliament's similar trips between Brussels (for the committee meetings) and Strasbourg (for the plenary sessions). According to the European Court of Auditors' assessment in 2014, just those trips (excluding those made to Luxembourg) costs about<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.5px;">€113.8 million per year. It's quite a hefty sum, eh? But it's what it takes to send "[b]etween 3,000 to 4,000 people, among them roughly 800 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), their assistants, employees and interpreters [across] 400 kilometers," to use offices in Strasbourg which then remain empty for the other 317 days of the year.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.5px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.5px;">As mentioned above, King Willem invested quite heavily in the south (most particularly in what is now Belgium), subsidizing new industries such as the textile (in Ghent), coal, and metal (in </span></span>Liège) <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.5px;">industries, and diverting most of the colonial trade through Antwerp which became the Netherlands' main port. Not only that, but King Willem also had more than 1,500 new schools and three universities built in the South, causing the ire of its people from the Northern part of the country,</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTT0vA6w0PylyO71nBw_DkabYH70j5Ah6dpnP6T4ckDc4w5U1JGxcp_HRNMuUBksbs8xUO_mZ1vzAddcnKP8pgQwz02ohpuPflAE5Q65PtSqPDGCobM5Nzi3Qf-E15PS8klhS5WKCXDCzy/s1600/The+Kingdom+of+the+Netherlands+with+Belgium's%2Bcurrent%2Bborder.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTT0vA6w0PylyO71nBw_DkabYH70j5Ah6dpnP6T4ckDc4w5U1JGxcp_HRNMuUBksbs8xUO_mZ1vzAddcnKP8pgQwz02ohpuPflAE5Q65PtSqPDGCobM5Nzi3Qf-E15PS8klhS5WKCXDCzy/s1600/The+Kingdom+of+the+Netherlands+with+Belgium's%2Bcurrent%2Bborder.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The North all spoke the same language, but had <br />
different religions; the South all had the same religion<br />
(Catholicism), but spoke different languages--and still do.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.5px;">This antagonism between North and South meant that, when "pro-French rioters rebelled in the South in 1830 (Belgium's independence), many in the North grasped this opportunity to get rid of the South...and the country f[ell] apart, although a vast majority of the Southern population did not want the independence of the South - or [what is now known as] 'Belgium'...after the Latin word for the Netherlands.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.5px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">And that was the last time the Netherlands had two capitals.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.5px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.5px;"><u>Sources:</u></span></span><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J8P2QGY/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00J8P2QGY&linkCode=as2&tag=alessadve-20&linkId=RCGFM347XH7XS3X3">A Throne in Brussels</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=alessadve-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00J8P2QGY" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.5px;"><u><br /></u></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.5px;"><a href="http://www.euractiv.com/sections/future-eu/auditors-put-price-tag-eu-parliament-travelling-circus-303846">Euractiv - Auditors Put Price Tag On EU Parliament 'Traveling Circus'</a></span></span>Alessa Ellefsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01587451250007222192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124953425598378169.post-28757700427439738532015-01-19T00:00:00.000-08:002015-08-25T17:56:22.546-07:00King Leopold, The Lady-Killer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcEAiCLhhD0ZGyai9V4xLvBtVh_Y86MxBCHTLuYQuJcag3V1Ldq6HmsNBFbpyxffb4QVrWxPnVg-G9OqanDyUB-kL7HQL9kJ-QGy7iBeIEo4IuL20o-IC9NgXsrgMKYz9hDtPX_3sacFCn/s1600/Handsome+Young+Prince+Leopold.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcEAiCLhhD0ZGyai9V4xLvBtVh_Y86MxBCHTLuYQuJcag3V1Ldq6HmsNBFbpyxffb4QVrWxPnVg-G9OqanDyUB-kL7HQL9kJ-QGy7iBeIEo4IuL20o-IC9NgXsrgMKYz9hDtPX_3sacFCn/s1600/Handsome+Young+Prince+Leopold.jpg" width="255" /></a></div>
Before becoming Belgium's first king, Prince Leopold spent some time at Napoleon's court, where his good looks made him a favorite with none other than the Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais, and her sister Hortense (married to Napoleon's brother Louis), among many others.<br />
<br />
Not only that, but Leopold was later remember by Napoleon, during the latter's exile at Saint Helena, as "the most beautiful man [he] ever saw at the Tuileries palace."<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwVIwKZHK6NBvsTU1KRud7orYd59ENgBOfyAtOLgg-4u_3QDScIDr6h4PsMufXcQMn1kyiho85ageUy4fns77lDaEG4MjUFwZEF-BBpEdUXkm1_F2O0uPY80qLEX5ASDzF9Q0Xm8xTII9D/s1600/Josephine+and+Hortense.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwVIwKZHK6NBvsTU1KRud7orYd59ENgBOfyAtOLgg-4u_3QDScIDr6h4PsMufXcQMn1kyiho85ageUy4fns77lDaEG4MjUFwZEF-BBpEdUXkm1_F2O0uPY80qLEX5ASDzF9Q0Xm8xTII9D/s1600/Josephine+and+Hortense.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Josephine and Hortense de Beauharnais</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And that was before he turned 20!<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFySYb2k1ki_k88jphbWGwUU1jeoaFJLSTtb_pdSu_zlsyS6jJZYZNfqa9LlcJtythRApgMGvI6RMHKr6t2vkVvyfOb1JoF7_IbljaoltUMgqD3F_Qge9iiutmNDc7LTMv4RO_6vdaoQ_7/s1600/Katharina_Bagration.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFySYb2k1ki_k88jphbWGwUU1jeoaFJLSTtb_pdSu_zlsyS6jJZYZNfqa9LlcJtythRApgMGvI6RMHKr6t2vkVvyfOb1JoF7_IbljaoltUMgqD3F_Qge9iiutmNDc7LTMv4RO_6vdaoQ_7/s1600/Katharina_Bagration.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Catherine Bagration</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And it was thanks to his good looks that the Powers That Be decided to use him to get the future Queen of England, Princess Charlotte of Hanover, to ch<span style="font-family: inherit;">ange her f<span style="font-size: 12pt;">iancé from Prince Willem of Orange to Leopold. As Tsar Alexander told Leopold: "you are so beautiful, no woman can resist you." Unfortunately for him, his good looks weren't enough for Charlotte's affections had been given to Friedrich Augustus of Prussia (who was himself already married, though he apparently forgot to mention this fact to the Princess). But apart from being very good looking, Leopold was ambitious and didn't quit his courting, becoming known as <i>le Marquis peu-à-peu, </i>or the Marquis little-by-little (although this long courtship didn't prevent Leopold from conquering more hearts, such as that of Catherine Bagration, aka the naked angel).</span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9cfB5Sp60KKSlf8-5r1TInugQbxzd9jszNRbB01hkRPjGATKkNATsEMTENQQgkAEqLoz3DV74IRPnJnNJlxsQx0KTbUXkwMoBA5tsMnnt7zOpEe6u93hlo9jV5NUvA1Gv5KSWIEn4pN6O/s1600/Princess+Charlotte+Augusta+of+Wales.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9cfB5Sp60KKSlf8-5r1TInugQbxzd9jszNRbB01hkRPjGATKkNATsEMTENQQgkAEqLoz3DV74IRPnJnNJlxsQx0KTbUXkwMoBA5tsMnnt7zOpEe6u93hlo9jV5NUvA1Gv5KSWIEn4pN6O/s1600/Princess+Charlotte+Augusta+of+Wales.jpg" width="271" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales<br />
of the House of Hanover</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
On 2 May, 1816, Leopold and Charlotte were married, and that's how Leopold went from being the poorest prince in Germany to a very wealthy man with a yearly stipend of £50,000 (equivalent to $6.25 million as of 2005, and twice what the Duke of York received) for life, even if his wife should die first. And though at first ambition then the Princess's beauty were what had conquered Leopold at first, he later "came to appreciate more every day...her noble heart." So it was with a broken heart that Leopold had to say goodbye to Charlotte a year later, when she died in childbirth.<br />
<br />
But, as we all know, that was not the end of his royal career, nor that of his love life...<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<u>Source:</u><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J8P2QGY/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00J8P2QGY&linkCode=as2&tag=alessadve-20&linkId=D4OTPZ5ON56XRRRX">A Throne in Brussels</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=alessadve-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00J8P2QGY" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
Alessa Ellefsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01587451250007222192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124953425598378169.post-74953551134487578682015-01-13T09:31:00.000-08:002015-08-25T17:56:46.761-07:00The Birth And Evolution Of An Artificial State<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjzOKAj0p9F5wvqEPPN9y8j_GUihjbcOUZnn9c6S5qI1yzSgLR-U1CUBW2dkMh7eWu-UPpDk_e65YLofKwDQOHM2uhpwnDKFuqm6W5j_fDDFMDHT1zTIU3aKE6c10jwLJ51HRk1VHPw9rA/s1600/Belgium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjzOKAj0p9F5wvqEPPN9y8j_GUihjbcOUZnn9c6S5qI1yzSgLR-U1CUBW2dkMh7eWu-UPpDk_e65YLofKwDQOHM2uhpwnDKFuqm6W5j_fDDFMDHT1zTIU3aKE6c10jwLJ51HRk1VHPw9rA/s1600/Belgium.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Belgium: n. from the Latin word <i>Belgica</i>, which means the Netherlands. In reference to the Celtic tribe that lived over that area, the Belgae, and were the bravest and strongest according to Caesar.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIPL9AYZdJ9pYNVKiNH8grTBqbHouThjG7fyJucnCM-dx3gXTnpCzglMhy_UZN6N0-gNbp5ZPOCE-u-dM_GtbE5kIYjrvumqcf3htp14CRpPdUkrFP5C9M2kBGAvL6cyGwhbpJfvOZozOO/s1600/Map_Gallia_Tribes_Towns.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIPL9AYZdJ9pYNVKiNH8grTBqbHouThjG7fyJucnCM-dx3gXTnpCzglMhy_UZN6N0-gNbp5ZPOCE-u-dM_GtbE5kIYjrvumqcf3htp14CRpPdUkrFP5C9M2kBGAvL6cyGwhbpJfvOZozOO/s1600/Map_Gallia_Tribes_Towns.png" width="314" /></a></div>
<br />
Belgium was officially created and recognized by the Western Powers in 1831 (almost a year after the Belgians asserted their independence from the Netherlands), when Prince Leopold Georg Christian Friedrich of Saxe-Coburg was made first King of the Belgians, a claim backed mainly by the Brits.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRPGBMFwaKvqOqlVS-umLy_mRMk-nz-7JOh20UVgDxYQglN-b8bR0inXjT7dzk7IoWEOErh2lc-OCKIKujx0yYeej9gB4mYLQ27hDbX1YQvVEl_pHVY6HfQ97M0biF2S1gEmEyfIHUtEp6/s1600/King+Leopold+I+of+Belgium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRPGBMFwaKvqOqlVS-umLy_mRMk-nz-7JOh20UVgDxYQglN-b8bR0inXjT7dzk7IoWEOErh2lc-OCKIKujx0yYeej9gB4mYLQ27hDbX1YQvVEl_pHVY6HfQ97M0biF2S1gEmEyfIHUtEp6/s1600/King+Leopold+I+of+Belgium.jpg" width="237" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leopold I</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It is said that "Lord Palmerston, the Foreign [British] Secretary, liked the prospect of a weak and divided bogus state on his doorstep." Divided, because Belgium was made up of two very distinct, and very different regions: Catholic Dutchmen in the North (the Flemings), and French-speaking Walloons in the South. (The third, and smallest region, was taken from Germany as tribute after WWI but is generally considered to be part of Wallonia).<br />
<br />
Not only was it considered a "bogus state," but none of the men in power at the time, including Napoleon III and Lord Bismarck, believed that Belgium would last for more than a couple of generations, especially since so many of its own citizens didn't even like the made-up country either. Indeed, it is really difficult to keep an artificial state together: "Until the late 1980s, Europe had four of these artificial states: Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union. Today, only Belgium remains." (Although I would argue that those in Ulster and Scotland feel Great Britain is another such artificial state, but I know many would not agree with me. Also, it's been stated that Switzerland doesn't count because the country grew organically--it helps to be surrounded by mountains like that, and the Swiss do have a strong sense of nationalism.)<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJe3fMQjAcMaKVcgnMQsteoVZ0YfGrzZT-7Mrdft7JTgmWTP9pDPjBqRkogRTZETG2PL18zxBe2V0KxYrlncraMpfJoOg5auyMZdLSP_yfbZ0xGJHwNAVf4X5UMyAjTAwypMd8-5foykWH/s1600/1.+Brave-little-Belgium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJe3fMQjAcMaKVcgnMQsteoVZ0YfGrzZT-7Mrdft7JTgmWTP9pDPjBqRkogRTZETG2PL18zxBe2V0KxYrlncraMpfJoOg5auyMZdLSP_yfbZ0xGJHwNAVf4X5UMyAjTAwypMd8-5foykWH/s1600/1.+Brave-little-Belgium.jpg" width="288" /></a>Fortunately, after Leopold's nephew, Albert, married Queen Victoria, the British Empire became Belgium's number one supporter. Ever since then, the royal family has "been constantly in search of unifying elements to compensate for the lack of nationhood and the absence of genuine and generous patriotic feelings in their country." In fact, to this day, some Flemings and Walloons still have a hard time getting along.<br />
<br />
Some posit that, about a hundred years ago, "the Belgian establishment realized that Belgium could only survive if it were to become the nucleus of a European state." In fact, many believe that Belgium acts as a model for the European Union itself, as both need to deal with the same problems that stem from unifying different cultures and peoples under one roof.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioUR6egKfsfVib6b4HkZZc6JRaYAQot4gvWHAupQTEIQCLu_fGzaxQAyrFRl2ZPhiSKZdrBEvIGgnA1aQ54GGd69nSOu7kq1v19q_UUyb-HxanAMMmTr-9O2HC7LChNcR-ZP0h0OjqmRDp/s1600/Walloons+and+Flemings+march+together+for+country.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioUR6egKfsfVib6b4HkZZc6JRaYAQot4gvWHAupQTEIQCLu_fGzaxQAyrFRl2ZPhiSKZdrBEvIGgnA1aQ54GGd69nSOu7kq1v19q_UUyb-HxanAMMmTr-9O2HC7LChNcR-ZP0h0OjqmRDp/s1600/Walloons+and+Flemings+march+together+for+country.jpg" width="197" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Walloons and Flemings<br />
Let's march together<br />
for the Country and Freedom</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As Leon Hennebicq once wrote in 1904, "Have we [Belgians] not been called the laboratory of Europe? Indeed, we are a nation under construction. The problem of economic expansion is duplicated perfectly here by the problem of constructing a nationality. Two different languages, different classes without cohesion, a parochial mentality, and adherence to local communities that borders on the most harmful egotism, these are all elements of disunion. Luckily they can be reconciled. The solution is economic expansion, which can only make us stronger by uniting us."<br />
<br />
I would like to note here that it isn't until Belgium held fast--or at least as much as it could given its size and age--against Germany in WWI that the other countries finally admitted that the then-new Belgium might live longer than anticipated, and that a sense of nationality finally developed (even if not necessarily by the whole population). Therefore, the presence of a common enemy can also help in said unification. Well, that and a really good national soccer/football team!<br />
<br />
On that note, I would like to say: VIVA BELGICA!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_nh5NTOT8mSI8-7dIsQIo1rsV-z7EQiCoa3qLfxFQ_sFw9RQHN9SmQrIMZZtx5v-vLyEqT4eKiOyPENf2BOlly63oJQKVSpv-ApMV6wfoCcQsNrROPQEMSVxRoWRVsY5caHTf-krMBe_K/s1600/carte-postale-drapeau-belge+coeur.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_nh5NTOT8mSI8-7dIsQIo1rsV-z7EQiCoa3qLfxFQ_sFw9RQHN9SmQrIMZZtx5v-vLyEqT4eKiOyPENf2BOlly63oJQKVSpv-ApMV6wfoCcQsNrROPQEMSVxRoWRVsY5caHTf-krMBe_K/s1600/carte-postale-drapeau-belge+coeur.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">L'Union fait la force.<br />
Eendracht maakt macht.<br />
Einigkeit macht stark.<br />
Strength in unity.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<u>Sources:</u><br />
Quotes are taken out of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/184540033X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=184540033X&linkCode=as2&tag=alessadve-20&linkId=26K2SUK7CE65LBHS">A Throne in Brussels</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=alessadve-20&l=as2&o=1&a=184540033X" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
<i>Horum omnium fortissimi sunt Belgae</i>, <a href="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Julius_Caesar">Julius Ceasar</a> (<i>De Bello Gallico</i>, Book I, Ch. 1)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_I_of_Belgium">King Leopold I Wiki</a>Alessa Ellefsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01587451250007222192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124953425598378169.post-8328575039496940122015-01-12T01:27:00.001-08:002015-08-25T17:57:04.716-07:00A Few Basic Facts On Belgium<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkBLE1XVa8xS8HQyhP73J113z_mTNK9xdUH9zLBf2pzAI-eHUrJQ3a7vsUFTHokP68WdUif6M7DQQq__maMZryZzXZNZLFBiXAoMvQhfOgw4H3CXL4IPIKfESoxZ8StCQfzOyEuotS9mzp/s1600/Belgium_Location.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkBLE1XVa8xS8HQyhP73J113z_mTNK9xdUH9zLBf2pzAI-eHUrJQ3a7vsUFTHokP68WdUif6M7DQQq__maMZryZzXZNZLFBiXAoMvQhfOgw4H3CXL4IPIKfESoxZ8StCQfzOyEuotS9mzp/s1600/Belgium_Location.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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The purpose of this blog is for me to:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Learn more about Belgium - having gone to a European school for my elementary and secondary education, then to an American school for my university studies, I'm afraid I really don't know much about it and how it's run.</li>
<li>Learn more about Europe - Belgium being one of its original founders, I think it would be hard to address one without addressing the other.</li>
<li>Try to make sense of the politics, laws, and other intricacies that inevitably come with a country, and Belgium is quite the Gordian Knot in that sector (it is well known, for example, for its strikes and misfiling papers, tactics which worked quite well during the German occupation in WWII).</li>
</ol>
So before I delve into anything more complicated, I figured I'd give a few quick facts about Belgium...<br />
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Belgium and its regions:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaZaHwfJ4CHiAL7kIoU2PkoRzaw-GIjyuFzNUbDCZ4weQ0UEetisQ2dq4m31toMKvDRnbJr4T1YoE0bT7SEy6pGfO_ZVWj4IVBKQKE6Ja7ufTp4EX1omV1rv_mdiFT9p4Au1lQZdmrFOgi/s1600/Belgium_Regions.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaZaHwfJ4CHiAL7kIoU2PkoRzaw-GIjyuFzNUbDCZ4weQ0UEetisQ2dq4m31toMKvDRnbJr4T1YoE0bT7SEy6pGfO_ZVWj4IVBKQKE6Ja7ufTp4EX1omV1rv_mdiFT9p4Au1lQZdmrFOgi/s1600/Belgium_Regions.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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I think that's about it for now. We'll dive into more details in another post!<br />
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<u>Sources:</u><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_area">List of countries and dependencies by area</a><br />
<a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/be.html">The World Factbook - CIA</a>Alessa Ellefsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01587451250007222192noreply@blogger.com6