A concise history of Belgium / Guy Vanthemsche, Roger De Peuter.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Vanthemsche, Guy, author.

Peuter, Roger de, 1949- author.

Series:

Cambridge concise histories.

Cambridge concise histories

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Belgium--History.

Belgium.

Belgium--Politics and government.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xviii, 378 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2023.

Summary:

The small and densely populated nation of Belgium has played an important role in the history of Europe and other continents, especially Africa. It was a pioneering force in industry, trade, and finance during the Middle Ages, through early modern times and into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It introduced innovative political regimes and played a leading role in the creative arts. Yet this rich past is not widely known. This introductory history offers an accessible and rigorous overview of this small but important West-European country, synthesizing Belgium's main economic, social, political, and cultural developments from pre-Roman times until today. Today, this nation-state, born in 1830, is well-known for the rivalries between its two main language communities, and as a result is often considered a fragile or even an artificial political construct. This systematic chronological analysis of both present-day Belgium and the polities that preceded it throws fresh light on this controversial issue and demonstrates Belgium's enduring importance and influence.

Contents:

Earliest Times : From Prehistory to the End of the Roman Period

The Era of the Frankish Kingdoms (Fifth-Tenth Century)

The Origins of the Medieval Principalities (Tenth-Fourteenth Century)

Unifying the Netherlands : the Burgundy-Habsburg Period (1384-1555)

The Spanish Netherlands (1555-ca. 1700)

The Austrian Netherlands (ca. 1700-1780)

The Formation of a New Nation-State (1780s-1830)

The Consolidation of a Bourgeois Regime (1831-1880s)

The Belgian Nation-State at its Height (1880s-1945)

The Metamorphoses of a Nation-State (From 1945 to the Present Day).

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 16 Mar 2023).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1009327275

1139018000

9781139018005

9780521192415

9780521127370

OCLC:

1374427800

Publisher Number:

https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139018005