6.08b- The Belgian Revolution

In 1830, the Belgians said we don't want to be a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands anymore.

Direct Link: 6.08b- The Belgian Revolution 

Comments

[GoshGosh]

Unless I'm mistaken pronunciation of Metternich ends with neither "k" sound or a "sh", but H.

[Caroline Palmer]

You're a bit off on Leopold. According to Charlotte and Leopold by James Chambers, Napoleon refused to employ Leopold. Also, Leopold wasn't THE duke of Saxe-Coberg, he was A duke of Saxe-Coberg. THE duke of Saxe-Coberg was Leopold's older brother and the father of Prince Albert. Leopold's sister was the mother of Queen Victoria.

[Remco]

Loved the podcast, it's great to hear someone walk us through it!

You mention the capital was Amsterdam, but in fact it was both Amsterdam and Brussels for 6 months of each year.

Another thing you note is that the South's wealth was being exploited by the North without the South getting much in return. In fact, the King did quite a bit of investing with this money, opening multiple canals in the South, as well as (finally) opening up the port of Antwerp to trade, something it was shut off from ever since the Dutch revolt against Spain.

Finally, you didn't mention one of the biggest issues: Taxation (as always, haha). The merged state of the United Kingdom assumed debt of both the Batavian Republic as well as those of the former French/Austrian/Spanish states in the South. As the debt of the North was much much larger, in effect the South was (seen to be) taxed to work the North out of debt.

Sorry for nitpicking, but I've been listening since your Rome podcast and I'm very glad I can contribute!

[PrestoVivace]

Where did the name Belgium come from? Unless I missed it, this was not discussed.

[Habib Fanny]

Well, this is not fair!
How is it that you say Metternich's name properly but you still don't pronounce Talleyrand the way we French-speakers do it?
Huh?
What do you have to say about THAT?

[Habib Fanny]

Also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcP0KZ6cmEM
13:05, the podcast's theme song!
=)

[Ned]

As a professional opera singer, I was super-excited when you mentioned opera being pivotal to the Belgian Revolution (Finally, something I will really understand!!!) only to be crestfallen when I had never even heard of the opera in question! Unfortunately, La muette de Portici belongs to that genre of opera (French grand opera) that is essentially never performed in the US anymore.

Still, a trip to youtube proved fruitful and the duet in question "Amour sacré de la patrie" is actually pretty badass! Here's the great Alfredo Kraus rocking it with Jean-Philippe Lafont: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwN4Wx2kdco

And Mike, if anyone criticizes your pronunciation of the end of Metternich as being too much "k" and not enough "h", you can just say that you are pronouncing it with a Berlin dialect!

[Lukas]

Indeed, in several dialects in the North of Germany (Berlin/Brandenburg chief among them) that particular part of the Second Germanic consonant shift never happened and it's "icke" not "ich" and ch in general comes out a lot more like a k.

That said, the sound of German ch is pretty close to the sound of Spanish "j" in most dialects (though judging by your pronunciation of "Juan" close to "one") you pronounce i more towards the German (and English) h.

At any rate, a few butchered names won't bother me. I just dread the next six week hiatus...

[kwixote]

I have followed Mike ever since HoR. He has always been good, but I am deeply impressed with how much he has learned and grown along the way. This mini-series on the July Revolution is astoundingly good -- perhaps the best thing I have heard in the Revolutions series. Mike, you have really outdone yourself!

Revolutions has been a great roller-coaster ride -- always interesting and informative. I have been delighted to see Mike tackle those less well-known revolutions such as that of Haiti. For the past year or more, I have been silently rooting for him do to 1848 -- so I am thrilled that this is now on the agenda.

Mike, the fact that you are doing so by starting with the July Revolution is so great. Keep up the good work!

[Tim Baetens]

Thank you, Mike. I'm very fond of your podcasts. I've been listening to them for about a year now and you've amazed me yet again. As a belgian myself I've always known when my country was created and when the inaugaration of King Leopold I took place. But the reasons why were absent in my basic education and I never asked myself how my country was created. I'm already looking forward to the next episodes!

[D]

Revolutions listeners may be interested in a board game based on Belgium's industrialization immediately after the revolution. Here's a brief description:

"In The Foreign King, players take on the roles of influential Belgian bourgeoisie and who industrialize Belgian provinces, build metallurgical and textile factories in order to obtain greater economic power, vote in the National Congress seeking to increase their political influence, expand its social mass and send to the provinces under their dominion at the highest authority, King Leopold I of Belgium, to revise the provinces in the pursuit of their own interests".

Here's a link to the BoardGameGeek page:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/170951/foreign-king

I hope this doesn't sound like spam as I have no vested interest in the game.

[ErrolC]

This start of this series has been especially useful for me as I am reading an Alternative History where Nappy escapes to the USA from St Helena!

And you got a shout-out on the Bombshells podcast.
https://warontherocks.com/2017/05/mammas-dont-let-your-babies-grow-up-to-be-bombshells/