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A Concise History of Belgium
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.
- GenresHistory
398 pages, Paperback
Published March 23, 2023
8 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
About the author
Guy Vanthemsche
22 books4 followersGuy Vanthemsche is Professor of Contemporary History at Free University Brussels (Vrije Universiteit Brussel).
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 25, 2024
Out of stock? Nothing missed!
In itself a book that you should read, but the kind of retired professors who refuse to properly acknowledge sources (because their own career would then be seen as 'failed') does not deserve any attention. Why are historians and linguists only now coming up with “Belgian nationality”? Do they also answer the question about the meaning of BELGICA (i.e. 'la belle chica' aka Mother Nature)? In the magazine Historiek (23-01-2024) ‘De oorsprong van de Belgische taalgrens’ (The origin of the Belgian language border) by Vanthemsche and De Peuter is discussed. It's about the language border, but what does FLEMISH mean? This book is about the UNIVERSAL SOUNDHELIX (klankhelix, Lauthelix), a revolutionary rediscovery in linguistics, which no professor - in any discipline - mentions for fear of being exposed as a hopeless failure. Not decades but even centuries, our academics had no idea about the history of Pas de Calais and West and East Flanders. The average Belgian is not yet aware that Belgian history is currently spread all over the world, which is why the authors mentioned also publish in English. Dutch-speaking citizens do not yet understand that the term 'professor' spirals into 'oeuvre robbers' alias plagiarists, because sound rules such as (1) adjectio (sounds, syllables and words become longer from the back), (2) detractio (wear out from the front), (3) metathesis (turning around its own axis) and (4) permutatio, which refers to (4a) repetition (koppiekoppie) and (4b) retrogarde (read from back to front), are only now being taught in schools (e.g. through corrupt publisher Van In with Traject or Coutinho with Handboek Linguistics). Take a look at KNIJPTANG in which you will find the synonyms KNIJP and ANGST, but since T > S becomes (eten > essen), you can read K(n)IJPS / SPIJKER (permutatio), but also ANG / NAG(el). Where does that N come from? Dutch SLAK helixes via SLANK into SLANG (dialect), so that the added N – just like in the helix VIJF > FÜNF – causes the English SNAKE. From Dutch (i.e. Flemish or Diets) English and German helix, which in itself is a surprise. It is sensational to note that FRENCH also evolved from FLEMISH, which has far-reaching consequences. Not just for Western Europe, but worldwide! But the authors gloss over this in their announcement, in which they write that French comes from Latin, but where did that come from? Please read my other reviews, because the FRA(n)K (cf. France) refers to Thermal Cracking from which via KRAAK > KRAK (cf. breaking) the KRIEK (cf. ROOM / MOOR) helixes on the spot, from which only much later the GREEK helix. From PLAT (dialect, English 'snake') helixes (p)LAT next to LAIT and LATTE, making it ROOM (i.c. cream) that helixes into (roo)MELK (i.e. Milky Way) next to ROOM / MOOR (permutatio). Look, these are fun facts that professors want to 'score' with, but without citing the source and that is a crime just like misconduct! From this PLA(a)T helix via VLAA(m)T > VLAAM(S) > VLAM > (v)LAM. This Flemish-French history is now becoming very precarious, because the LAMB of GOD spirals into ISLAM and later into DALAI LAMA. You now understand that tools or animals play an important role in the soundhelix, but that also applies to clothing, including BROEK (string > string theory) or a HAT (Ma zei: Ïk beHOED je” (Ma said: “I'll keep you safe”) that helix in “HOED je voor mij”, sprak pa (“Keep your guard up for me”, said the Father). All these types of symbols can be found in religions in paintings, sculptures or mosaics, but also in mushrooms or landscapes and even in polar lights. The phase of plagiarism about the relationship between these types of images on historical coins and the sound helix is still in the making among academics. The transition from LAM(b) to LAMA is related to GLASS WOOL and SPUUG (spit, salive) that helix into SPUWEN, so that a SPOUWMUUR (cavity wall (cf. the Wailing Wall) with GLASS WOOL in between refers to matter in a DOUBLE wall. Reason why astrophysics are now writing articles about the CALCITE, because it has a DUBBLE BREAKING. The MAT > METSELAARS METSELEN MET METZE (mason bricks with mason) helixes both in CEME(n)T but also in MITER (head of a bishop), because the number five is doubled there HOND > HONDERD > HUN DRIETJES (their three) in French helixt in TAN > TEN > CIEN > CHIEN alias DOG / GOD. Look, linguists such as Veronique Hoste, Freek van den Velde or Geert Buelens are now going to trumpet this through their publications on BIO-LINGUISTICS, because with calcite, but also with samarium, it is all about the color spectrum that is made with colorsounds. The samarium refers to St. Mary and the 'broekie' (Jesus), because this molecule is shaped like a 'pants'. The phenomenon of 'language' has been 'demystified' by the rediscovery of the soundhelix, now that we know that this ENIGMA refers to the NICE MOM alias MOTHER NATURE. That is why the transitions from the Jewish faith via the Christian to the Muslim faith was taken place in Northern France, because the 'Musselmen' became the 'Mohamedans' as the HAM (cf. Hamburg) refers to HEEM > HEIM > HOME alias THUIS (at home), to the first Jerusalem alias TOURNEHEM-sur-le-HEM in Pas de Calais. When the authors talk about the Zoniënwoud (Sonian Forest), they do know since the publications about the soundhelix that this name helixes from AMAZONE alias à la maison! In sailing boats via Spain, Italy and Greece, the PALE(s)TINT alias PALE SKIN sailed directly to Egypt from where the exodus of this KIM (Kimbrians) > (k)INGWHEOODSE (i.e. JEWISH) > INGWHOONSE people sailed by CANOE to their SECOND country of origin : CANAAN. The Phari-sees are the sea-farers (metathesis). The birefringence (dubble breaking) caused COPIES, causing city names to repeat themselves on a larger scale (cf. Windhoek / Lübeck > Ecke), causing misunderstandings to pile up. The reference to the PALE SKIN (Dutch BLEEKSCHEET) helixes via (s)KAT > (s)CHAT > SCHEETJE (cute) alias DOTJE (cf. Baby > Babylonians) in SHI'ITEN! Words therefore appear to helix not from east to west, but from west to east, and not from south to north, but from north to south. Thanks to the merciless blunders of linguists, the historians missed the point with their interpretation of where Jesus was born, where the matriarchy reigned (cf. ma-dogs: mother and daughters) followed by the patriarchy (cf. dog-ma's) that ruled the women came to dominate, causing female knowledge of the soundhelix to be forgotten. Witches took their name from the hexagram, because they were MA-the-MA-tics, connoisseurs of geometry! The rediscovery of the soundhelix has once again been made by a woman, a lecturer, who dangles at the bottom of the hierarchy of universities, saddled with work, but fortunately still alert enough to note irregularities. Here are professors who - as we heard again on television on 24-01-2024 - harass almost half of the female population at universities. These kinds of sly professors accused the lecturer of sexual harassment with the aim of having her summarily dismissed in order to make off with her research data! Linguists, physicians and natural scientists did not hesitate to have her declared incompetent in collaboration with judges and internal psychiatrists who believed that she belonged in a closed institution with compulsory medication, with visits to parents prohibited. No rooster crows about it... That could indeed have been possible, but unfortunately for all those corrupt professors and their employees and for all those rogue lawyers, the soundhelix leaves no stone unturned in their 'judgments' documented on lies. The world is turned upside down, literally, because everything below goes up and everything above goes down. That is why many articles about COLLAPSE BEHAVIOR will soon be published. Natural scientists are still in the dark about what pre-Jewish women at the time of matriarchy had known for a long time. NOSTRA-DAMOS (our ladies) just got a piece of it. The Bible also knows what to do. VARKEN (pig) automatically helixes into VÈRREKE > (I) VERRÉKEN (me) > (we go to the) VERRÈKKENIS, but now VOLLE BOLLEKE(N)S KENNIS (full heads of knowledge) follows. The human deficiency (le condition humaine) takes its toll. It is time for a new species, a new PEUTER (toddler), because De Peuter (i.c. toddler) and Vantemsche are no ‘DOTJES’ (darling), but only BE-DOTTERS (cheaters) who are once again UNDERMINING the role of women in science.
In itself a book that you should read, but the kind of retired professors who refuse to properly acknowledge sources (because their own career would then be seen as 'failed') does not deserve any attention. Why are historians and linguists only now coming up with “Belgian nationality”? Do they also answer the question about the meaning of BELGICA (i.e. 'la belle chica' aka Mother Nature)? In the magazine Historiek (23-01-2024) ‘De oorsprong van de Belgische taalgrens’ (The origin of the Belgian language border) by Vanthemsche and De Peuter is discussed. It's about the language border, but what does FLEMISH mean? This book is about the UNIVERSAL SOUNDHELIX (klankhelix, Lauthelix), a revolutionary rediscovery in linguistics, which no professor - in any discipline - mentions for fear of being exposed as a hopeless failure. Not decades but even centuries, our academics had no idea about the history of Pas de Calais and West and East Flanders. The average Belgian is not yet aware that Belgian history is currently spread all over the world, which is why the authors mentioned also publish in English. Dutch-speaking citizens do not yet understand that the term 'professor' spirals into 'oeuvre robbers' alias plagiarists, because sound rules such as (1) adjectio (sounds, syllables and words become longer from the back), (2) detractio (wear out from the front), (3) metathesis (turning around its own axis) and (4) permutatio, which refers to (4a) repetition (koppiekoppie) and (4b) retrogarde (read from back to front), are only now being taught in schools (e.g. through corrupt publisher Van In with Traject or Coutinho with Handboek Linguistics). Take a look at KNIJPTANG in which you will find the synonyms KNIJP and ANGST, but since T > S becomes (eten > essen), you can read K(n)IJPS / SPIJKER (permutatio), but also ANG / NAG(el). Where does that N come from? Dutch SLAK helixes via SLANK into SLANG (dialect), so that the added N – just like in the helix VIJF > FÜNF – causes the English SNAKE. From Dutch (i.e. Flemish or Diets) English and German helix, which in itself is a surprise. It is sensational to note that FRENCH also evolved from FLEMISH, which has far-reaching consequences. Not just for Western Europe, but worldwide! But the authors gloss over this in their announcement, in which they write that French comes from Latin, but where did that come from? Please read my other reviews, because the FRA(n)K (cf. France) refers to Thermal Cracking from which via KRAAK > KRAK (cf. breaking) the KRIEK (cf. ROOM / MOOR) helixes on the spot, from which only much later the GREEK helix. From PLAT (dialect, English 'snake') helixes (p)LAT next to LAIT and LATTE, making it ROOM (i.c. cream) that helixes into (roo)MELK (i.e. Milky Way) next to ROOM / MOOR (permutatio). Look, these are fun facts that professors want to 'score' with, but without citing the source and that is a crime just like misconduct! From this PLA(a)T helix via VLAA(m)T > VLAAM(S) > VLAM > (v)LAM. This Flemish-French history is now becoming very precarious, because the LAMB of GOD spirals into ISLAM and later into DALAI LAMA. You now understand that tools or animals play an important role in the soundhelix, but that also applies to clothing, including BROEK (string > string theory) or a HAT (Ma zei: Ïk beHOED je” (Ma said: “I'll keep you safe”) that helix in “HOED je voor mij”, sprak pa (“Keep your guard up for me”, said the Father). All these types of symbols can be found in religions in paintings, sculptures or mosaics, but also in mushrooms or landscapes and even in polar lights. The phase of plagiarism about the relationship between these types of images on historical coins and the sound helix is still in the making among academics. The transition from LAM(b) to LAMA is related to GLASS WOOL and SPUUG (spit, salive) that helix into SPUWEN, so that a SPOUWMUUR (cavity wall (cf. the Wailing Wall) with GLASS WOOL in between refers to matter in a DOUBLE wall. Reason why astrophysics are now writing articles about the CALCITE, because it has a DUBBLE BREAKING. The MAT > METSELAARS METSELEN MET METZE (mason bricks with mason) helixes both in CEME(n)T but also in MITER (head of a bishop), because the number five is doubled there HOND > HONDERD > HUN DRIETJES (their three) in French helixt in TAN > TEN > CIEN > CHIEN alias DOG / GOD. Look, linguists such as Veronique Hoste, Freek van den Velde or Geert Buelens are now going to trumpet this through their publications on BIO-LINGUISTICS, because with calcite, but also with samarium, it is all about the color spectrum that is made with colorsounds. The samarium refers to St. Mary and the 'broekie' (Jesus), because this molecule is shaped like a 'pants'. The phenomenon of 'language' has been 'demystified' by the rediscovery of the soundhelix, now that we know that this ENIGMA refers to the NICE MOM alias MOTHER NATURE. That is why the transitions from the Jewish faith via the Christian to the Muslim faith was taken place in Northern France, because the 'Musselmen' became the 'Mohamedans' as the HAM (cf. Hamburg) refers to HEEM > HEIM > HOME alias THUIS (at home), to the first Jerusalem alias TOURNEHEM-sur-le-HEM in Pas de Calais. When the authors talk about the Zoniënwoud (Sonian Forest), they do know since the publications about the soundhelix that this name helixes from AMAZONE alias à la maison! In sailing boats via Spain, Italy and Greece, the PALE(s)TINT alias PALE SKIN sailed directly to Egypt from where the exodus of this KIM (Kimbrians) > (k)INGWHEOODSE (i.e. JEWISH) > INGWHOONSE people sailed by CANOE to their SECOND country of origin : CANAAN. The Phari-sees are the sea-farers (metathesis). The birefringence (dubble breaking) caused COPIES, causing city names to repeat themselves on a larger scale (cf. Windhoek / Lübeck > Ecke), causing misunderstandings to pile up. The reference to the PALE SKIN (Dutch BLEEKSCHEET) helixes via (s)KAT > (s)CHAT > SCHEETJE (cute) alias DOTJE (cf. Baby > Babylonians) in SHI'ITEN! Words therefore appear to helix not from east to west, but from west to east, and not from south to north, but from north to south. Thanks to the merciless blunders of linguists, the historians missed the point with their interpretation of where Jesus was born, where the matriarchy reigned (cf. ma-dogs: mother and daughters) followed by the patriarchy (cf. dog-ma's) that ruled the women came to dominate, causing female knowledge of the soundhelix to be forgotten. Witches took their name from the hexagram, because they were MA-the-MA-tics, connoisseurs of geometry! The rediscovery of the soundhelix has once again been made by a woman, a lecturer, who dangles at the bottom of the hierarchy of universities, saddled with work, but fortunately still alert enough to note irregularities. Here are professors who - as we heard again on television on 24-01-2024 - harass almost half of the female population at universities. These kinds of sly professors accused the lecturer of sexual harassment with the aim of having her summarily dismissed in order to make off with her research data! Linguists, physicians and natural scientists did not hesitate to have her declared incompetent in collaboration with judges and internal psychiatrists who believed that she belonged in a closed institution with compulsory medication, with visits to parents prohibited. No rooster crows about it... That could indeed have been possible, but unfortunately for all those corrupt professors and their employees and for all those rogue lawyers, the soundhelix leaves no stone unturned in their 'judgments' documented on lies. The world is turned upside down, literally, because everything below goes up and everything above goes down. That is why many articles about COLLAPSE BEHAVIOR will soon be published. Natural scientists are still in the dark about what pre-Jewish women at the time of matriarchy had known for a long time. NOSTRA-DAMOS (our ladies) just got a piece of it. The Bible also knows what to do. VARKEN (pig) automatically helixes into VÈRREKE > (I) VERRÉKEN (me) > (we go to the) VERRÈKKENIS, but now VOLLE BOLLEKE(N)S KENNIS (full heads of knowledge) follows. The human deficiency (le condition humaine) takes its toll. It is time for a new species, a new PEUTER (toddler), because De Peuter (i.c. toddler) and Vantemsche are no ‘DOTJES’ (darling), but only BE-DOTTERS (cheaters) who are once again UNDERMINING the role of women in science.
November 4, 2023
Succinct but very complete essay to understand the history of Belgium, quite equidistant and appropriate for us coming to live to Brussels
July 22, 2025
Dense but thorough
July 29, 2025
A good solid overview of Belgian history. Seemed to try and give an overview of the historiography too. I guess this is a jumping off point for those who want more detail.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews