Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1795
France, battling Europe's monarchs to keep their
Revolution alive, invades and occupies Holland
(establishing the “Batavian Republic,” 1795-1806)
and Belgium.
1806
Napoleon Bonaparte, who turned France's
Revolution into a dictatorship, proclaims his
brother, Louis Napoleon, to be King of Holland
(1806-1810).
1815
After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo (near
Brussels), Europe's nobles decide that the Low
Countries should be a monarchy, ruled jointly by
a Dutch prince, who becomes King William I.
(Today's Queen Beatrix is descended from him.)
1830
Belgium rebels against the Dutch-born king,
becoming an independent country under King
Leopold I.
1860
The novel
Max Havelaar,
by the Dutch writer
Multatuli, exposes the dark side of Holland's
repressive colonial rule in Indonesia.
1876
The North Sea Canal opens after 52 years of
building, revitalizing Amsterdam's port. In the
next decade, the city builds the Central Station,
Rijksmuseum, and Concertgebouw, and hosts
a World Exhibition (1883) that attracts three
million visitors.
1881
King Leopold II of Belgium acquires Africa's
Congo region, tapping its wealth to rebuild
Brussels with broad boulevards and big marble
buildings (Neoclassical style).
1914
In World War I, Holland remains neutral, while
Belgium becomes the horrific battleground
where Germany dukes it out with England and
France—for example, at Ieper (Ypres in French).
1932
The Dutch Zuiderzee dike is completed, making
the former arm of the North Sea into a freshwater
lake (the IJsselmeer) and creating many square
miles of reclaimed land.
1940-1945
Nazi Germany bombs Holland's Rotterdam and
easily occupies the Netherlands and Belgium
(1940). Belgium's king officially surrenders, while
Holland's Queen Wilhelmina (1880-1962) flees
to England. In Amsterdam, Anne Frank and her
Jewish family go into hiding in an attempt to
avoid arrest by the Nazis (1942-1944). Late in the
war, Belgium is the site of Germany's last-gasp
offensive, the Battle of the Bulge (1944-1945).
