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.

Excerpt from A Short History of Belgium The "New York Times Review of Books" of June 20, 1915, called attention to the comparative scarcity of books on Belgium among the literary productions resulting from the war, and continued: "Why Belgium finds so scant a space in the war bibliographies is a question difficult to answer. Certainly, no country has aroused the popular sympathy and enthusiasm of the world to a like degree with this little kingdom, occupying a geographical area of about one-fourth the state of Pennsylvania, yet performing deeds of valour and enduring martyrdoms that place it beyond all comparison in greatness. If the war has a hero it is Belgium: hence, one argues, that country should fill a prominent instead of a slight section in the literature of the great conflict." This idea, doubtless, it was that induced the University of Chicago Press to propose that I write and publish under its auspices a Short History of Belgium, with material drawn from the course of lectures I gave on the history of Belgium at the University of Chicago during the Winter Quarter of 1915. This Short History of Belgium, of course, is not a "war book" and cannot be placed among those books classed as war literature. The circumstances of its being written have some connection, of course, with the great war, but it hardly needs to be said that this history is objective and tries simply to give an account of the past history of the Belgian people, leaving entirely out of consideration their present deeds and sufferings. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from A Short History of Belgium The national culture Of Belgium is a synthesis, if I may so call it, where one finds the genius of two races - the Romance and the Germanic - mingled, yet modified by the imprint of the distinctively Belgian. It is in that very receptivity - the fact that it has absorbed and unified the best elements of Latin and Teutonic civilization - that the originality of the Belgian national culture resides. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

"The nation-state Belgium, born in 1830, and the polities that preceded it since ancient times, have played an important role in European and even global history. This introductory history offers a synthetical and non-specialist yet academically based view on the social, economic, political, and cultural aspects of its evolution"--