Discover the real Belgium with our historical columns

Welcome to What About Belgium. Belgium came into being in 1830 almost by accident, from a revolt that nobody saw coming. It survived wars, a colony and a language struggle, built by people who rarely agreed on anything. In 2030, that unlikely country turns two hundred.

Read the columns of 'The Unlikely Nation'

Discover Contemporary Belgian Art 1950-2030 (coming soon)

The Unlikely Nation (1830-2030)

The Unlikely Nation is a series of 200 columns about 200 years of Belgian history, from 1830 to 2030. In 2030, Belgium turns two hundred. Between now and then, it tells this country’s history the way it deserves to be told: as a story, with real people at its centre.

The columns do not follow a strict timeline. One week you may read about the revolution of 1830, and the next about a strike in 1966 or a surrealist in the 1920s. Each column stands on its own, so you can start anywhere.

The Unlikely Nation is built around five themes that often overlap. They are politics, thinkers and philosophers, liberalism, Belgian art, and the events that shaped the country.

Politics

Belgium has often been difficult to govern, yet its politics kept an improbable state together. Expect Charles Rogier improvising a nation in 1830, Albert I refusing Germany free passage in 1914, Paul-Henri Spaak helping to draft Europe, and King Baudouin’s 36 hours without a crown in 1990.

Thinkers & Philosophers

Belgium produced more original minds than its size suggests. Meet Adolphe Quetelet and his “average man”, Paul Otlet and his Mundaneum, Henri Pirenne, who gave Belgium a national story, Chaïm Perelman and his new rhetoric, and the free thinkers Leopold Flam and Leo Apostel.

Liberalism

Belgium’s 1831 Constitution was one of Europe’s most liberal, yet few could vote. That tension drives these columns. Expect Théodore Verhaegen founding a free university in 1834, Walthère Frère-Orban and the School War, Paul Janson fighting for universal suffrage, and Marie Popelin demanding her place at the bar.

Belgian Art

From Ensor’s masks to Magritte’s pipe, Belgian art has often been strange, sharp and free. Expect Victor Horta’s Art Nouveau lines, Constantin Meunier’s workers as heroes, Félicien Rops mocking hypocrisy, Paul Delvaux’s silent stations, Marcel Broodthaers’ poems in plaster and Panamarenko’s flying machines.

Events that shaped the country

Some days change a country. Expect the revolution of August 1830, the German invasion of 1914, the flooding of the Yser plain, the liberation of Brussels in 1944, the referendum of 1950, the general strike of 1960–61 and the attacks of 22 March 2016.

The lens: Secular Humanism

The Unlikely Nation is not a neutral encyclopaedia, and it does not pretend to be one. Every column reads history through a secular humanist lens. Secular humanism (vrijzinnig humanisme in Dutch, laïcité in French) is a life stance without dogma or a higher power. It puts free inquiry, self-determination, equality, responsibility and the separation of church and state at its centre.

That lens shapes the interpretation, never the facts. Names, dates, figures and quotes are checked against reliable sources. When historians disagree, the column says so. When something is a reading rather than a fact, that is made clear.

One more rule matters to me: a clear perspective is no excuse for caricature. A bishop, a king or a Catholic politician in these columns remains a human being, with their own logic and sincere convictions. Institutions can be sharply criticised, but individuals are always portrayed as people.

Why is Belgium an “Unlikely” Nation?

Belgium is often described as a country that should not really work. It has three official languages and a deep divide between north and south. Since 1970, six state reforms have turned a unitary state into a federal one. It survived two world wars, two occupations and repeated political crises that seemed to threaten its very existence.

And yet it is still here, close to its two hundredth birthday. That is not self-evident, and it is precisely what makes telling Belgian history so rewarding. The questions this country has wrestled with for two centuries remain our questions today. They include freedom and authority, language and identity, power and conscience, and living together despite deep differences.

That is why every column ends with a bridge to today. The point is not that history repeats itself. Looking back sharply helps us see the present more clearly.

Why What About Belgium

What About Belgium grew from a love of Belgian heritage and a simple desire to share its stories with the world. We look at Belgium through two pairs of eyes: the familiar gaze of those who know it from the inside and the curious gaze of an outsider seeing it for the first time. From that double perspective, we are delighted to guide you through everything that makes this small country so distinctive, charming and, time and again, surprising.

Let us be clear from the outset: these columns are not a neutral encyclopaedia, nor do they pretend to be one. Every column reads history through a secular humanist lens. That lens shapes how we interpret the past, but never the facts themselves.

As Belgium approaches its 200th anniversary in 2030, there has never been a better moment to ask the question that gives this site its name: What About Belgium?

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