London Conference of 1830

Lithograph on the London conference of 1830 by Honoré Daumier. One can see figures representing Prussia, Austria, Russia, Great Britain and France discussing on a text, while Holland and Belgium are hanging on the side.

The London Conference of 1830 brought together five major European powers, including Austria, Britain, France, Prussia and Russia. They recognized the success of the Belgian revolution from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and permanently guaranteed Belgian independence.

The powers rejected the Talleyrand partition plan for Belgium, a French plan to split Belgium along language lines, and instead approved a unified and Francophone Belgian state. The Talleyrand plan was one of several ideas exploring the concept of partitioning Belgium, which was considered by some as simply a "buffer state" between France and other European nations; modern variations of the proposal include the specific separation of the areas inhabited mainly by French-speakers (Walloons) from those inhabited mainly by (Flemish) Dutch-speakers.

The Dutch were strongly opposed to Belgian independence. Not until 1839 did the Dutch accept the decision of the London conference and recognize Belgian independence.

Fishman says that the London Conference was "an extraordinarily successful conference" because it "provided the institutional framework through which the leading powers of the time safeguarded the peace of Europe."^[1] However, historians of both Belgium and the Netherlands have largely ignored it. Dutch historians see it as their nadir in the 19th century, for the loss of the southern territories shook the nation's confidence. Belgian historians see the result not as a victory, says Fishman, but as a frustrating and humiliating experience in which the great powers allowed Belgium to come into existence.

In 1914 Germany rejected the promise of Belgian neutrality as a "scrap of paper,"^[2] and invaded Belgium. Britain responded by declaring war.^[3]

See also

• History of Belgium

Notes

1. Fishman, J. S. (1971). "The London Conference of 1830". Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis (Journal for History). 84 (3): 418–428.
2. Goschen, Sir Edward (4 August 1914), Primary Documents - Britain's Breaking Off of Diplomatic Relations with Germany, 4 August 1914
3. van der Essen, Léon (1920). A short history of Belgium. U. of Chicago Press. p. 158.

Further reading

• Fishman, J. S. (1971). "The London Conference of 1830". Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis. 84 (3): 418–428.
• Fishman, J. S. (1988). Diplomacy and Revolution: The London Conference of 1830 and the Belgian Revolt. Amsterdam: CHEV. ISBN 978-9050680035.
• Kossmann, E. H. (1978). The Low Countries 1780–1940. Oxford University Press. pp. 158–61.
• Omond, G. W. T. (1919). "The Question of the Netherlands in 1829-1830". Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. 2: 150–171. doi:10.2307/3678256. JSTOR http://www.jstor.org/stable/3678256.
• Schroeder, Paul W. (1994). The Transformation of European Politics 1763-1848. Oxford University Press. pp. 671–91. ISBN 978-0198221197.