Description
Book SynopsisThe nation-state of Belgium, born in 1830, and the polities that preceded it, have played an important role in European and even global history. This introductory history offers an accessible and rigorous overview of this small but important West-European country, from ancient times to the present.
Trade Review'A remarkable feat of synthesis. This volume provides an excellent modern history of the territories in north-west Europe which, having experienced many different forms of rule - local and imperial, religious and secular - were brought together as the nation and state of Belgium after 1830.' Martin Conway, University of Oxford
'Ranging from the Roman Empire to the European Union, De Peuter and Vanthemsche's richly detailed history provides a panoramic view of the evolution of the country that Stefan Zweig called the 'crossroads of Europe.' Engaged with contemporary debates on European and national Belgian identity, this is a masterpiece of historical synthesis.' Carl J. Strikwerda, The College of William and Mary in Virginia
Table of Contents1. Earliest times – From prehistory to the end of the Roman Period; 2. The era of the Frankish kingdoms (fifth–tenth century); 3. The origins of the medieval principalities (tenth–fourteenth century); 4. Unifying the Netherlands: The Burgundy – Habsburg period (1384–1555); 5. The Spanish Netherlands (1555-ca. 1700); 6. The Austrian Netherlands (ca. 1700–1780); 7. The formation of a new nation-state (1780s–1830); 8. The consolidation of a Bourgeois regime (1831–1880s); 9. The Belgian nation-state at its height (1880s–1945); 10. The metamorphoses of a nation-state (from 1945 to the present day); Index.
