Belgian uprising William I of the Netherlands

portrait of william (1833)

in august 1830 daniel auber s opera la muette de portici, repression of neapolitans, staged in brussels. performances of show seemed crystallize sense of nationalism , hollandophobia in brussels, , spread rest of south. rioting ensued, chiefly aimed @ kingdom s unpopular justice minister, cornelis felix van maanen, lived in brussels. infuriated william responded sending troops repress riots. however, riots had spread other southern cities. riots became popular uprisings. independent state of belgium proclaimed.

the next year, william sent sons william, prince of orange, , prince frederick invade new state. although victorious in ten days campaign, dutch army forced retreat after threat of french intervention. support orange dynasty (chiefly among flemings) persisted years dutch never regained control on belgium. william nevertheless continued war 8 years. economic successes became overshadowed perceived mismanagement of war effort. high costs of war came burden dutch economy, fueling public resentment. in 1839, william forced end war. united kingdom of netherlands dissolved treaty of london (1839) , northern part continued kingdom of netherlands. not renamed, however, united -prefix had never been part of official name, rather retrospectively added historians descriptive purposes (cf. weimar republic).

cite error: there <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on page, references not show without {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see page).