In 1700 the Spanish Habsburgdynasty died out withCharles II, and a new conflict withFrance arose. By theTreaty of Utrecht (1713), ending theWar of the Spanish Succession, the territorycomprising present-day Belgium andLuxembourg (the independent principality ofLiège not included) passed under thesovereignty of theHoly Roman emperorCharles VI, head of the Austrian branch of thehouse of Habsburg.

Under the Austrians, as under the Spanish Habsburgs, the southern Netherlands enjoyed politicalautonomy. The Austrian government initially modernized the Spanish institutions internally by introducing a new working spirit and more efficient administrative methods. To a greater degree than under Spanish rule, appointments to public offices depended upon competence and dedication. Apart from attempting to subject the provinces and the class-ridden society to absolute imperial power, the Austrian government focused in particular on rationalizing public finances at all levels, on the formation of adynamic, well-documentedbureaucracy, and on the improvement of thecountry’sinfrastructure.

Emperor Charles VI attempted to relieve the economic distress in the southern Netherlands by founding theOstend Company (1722) to trade withAsia, but England and theUnited Provinces forced him after a few years to abandon the project. At the death of Charles VI in 1740, the southern Netherlands passed to his daughterMaria Theresa. TheWar of the Austrian Succession, however, resulted in a new French occupation in 1744. Austrian rule was restored by theTreaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748).

The regime of the empress Maria Theresa ofAustria enjoyed popularity as the economic situation began to improve again toward the middle of the 18th century. As incontemporary England, an increase in agricultural productivity stimulated a population increase, especially in rural areas. This, in turn, spurred the development of various industries. The agricultural transformation occurred mainly on the small farms of Flanders; one of its main features was the spread of potato cultivation, which added an important element to the diet of the rural population. In addition, in the French-speaking part of the country, a number of landed proprietors invested in mining enterprises, notably in the area between the Sambre and the Meuse rivers, which belonged to the principality of Liège. In the southern Netherlands, urban merchants and manufacturers had more in common with the rural landowning class than was usual in continental European countries in the 18th century. As in the case ofBritain, this created an atmosphere favourable to the development of industrial capitalism. During this periodGhent,Antwerp, andTournai had factories with more than 100 workers; wages, however, were poor.Verviers, in the principality of Liège, was an important centre for woolen manufactures, Ghent for cotton goods.

After 1750 the influence of the Enlightenment permeated government policy in the domains of demography, social relief, employment,public health, education, religion,culture, and art, mainly at the expense of theRoman Catholic Church. Religious suppression and administrative reforms, sponsored by Maria Theresa’s son and successor, the emperorJoseph II, caused great dissatisfaction among the upper classes. The Austrian government was no longer inclined to maintain the remnants of feudal privilege. Reforms deepened to include replacement of the traditional provinces and theiraristocracies by districts and newly appointed intendants. The proposal to suppress simultaneously the central councils and the provincial courts ofjusticeconstituted a clear threat to provincial autonomy. The governor-general of theAustrian Netherlands was reluctant to enforce theedicts involved, but other leading members of the administration, including the emperor’s minister plenipotentiary, insisted upon the abolishment of the traditional bodies.

In 1789, stirred by the outbreak of revolution in neighbouring France,conservatives led byHenri van der Noot and progressives led byJean-François Vonck united in opposition to the emperor and defeated an Austrian force at Turnhout. After their common victory, conservatives and progressives came into conflict. The conservatives, or Statists, in the end gained the upper hand and made a triumphant entry intoBrussels. This “Brabant Revolution” (so called because most of its leaders came fromBrabant) had widespread support in the towns. The peasants, on the other hand, had little in common with the middle-class revolutionaries and generally supported the Austrians. Thus, whenLeopold II, successor to Joseph II, decided to reestablishimperial authority in 1790, he encountered no opposition from the mass of the people. On December 2, 1790, imperial troops reoccupied Brussels. The discontented Statists now looked to revolutionary France for support, but enthusiasm waned when it became clear that aFrench military victory was the prelude to annexation. On October 1, 1795, the FrenchNational Convention voted to annex the southern Netherlands and the principality of Liège, where a revolution against the prince-bishop had prepared the country for assimilation into the French Republic. Thenceforth, the territory of Liège was amalgamated with the Belgian provinces.

French administration

Under French rule there was noautonomy as there had been under the Spanish and Austrian regimes. The administration was centralized, aristocratic privileges abolished, and the church persecuted. Military conscription measures provoked a peasants’ revolt (1798–99), but repression was extremely harsh. Under theNapoleonic consulate and empire (1799–1814), the position of the clergy was regulated by a concordat with the papacy. Further changes included introduction of the French civil code and the decimalmetric system and the reopening of theSchelde River to maritime traffic to and from the harbour of Antwerp.

The period of the Napoleonic empire may be considered the beginning of theIndustrial Revolution in Belgium. Only at the very end of the 18th century, with the prospects of a wider market and underNapoleon’s encouragement, did mechanization (i.e., the Industrial Revolution in its strictest sense) begin in the textile sector. Mechanization quickly made Ghent, with its cotton mills, and Verviers, with its woolen industry, the leading textile centres of the country. The coal and metal industries of Hainaut (under French rule, thedépartement of Jemappes) and Liège alsoflourished. From the beginning of the 18th century, the coal industry had expanded production with the help of the Newcomen pump and systematically extended its export markets to France (seeThomas Newcomen). Annexation of the Belgian provinces by France opened the market still further, hastening the modernization process in which Belgium already led the continent.

TheKingdom of the Netherlands

After the defeat of Napoleon, theAllied powers were determined not to leave the Belgian territories in the hands of France. Under the influence of Great Britain, it was decided that the territories would be united in a single state with the old republic of the United Provinces, thus toconstitute a better barrier against French expansion than that of 1715. The Kingdom of the Netherlands, the existence of which was confirmed by theCongress of Vienna (June 1815), was thus established for the convenience ofEurope, regardless of the wishes of the Belgians and the Dutch. PrinceWilliam of Orange ascended the throne on March 16, 1815, under the titleWilliam I; he was crowned September 27.

The two parts of the Netherlands, which had been one country until the 16th century and were now reunited, had developed in markedly different ways during the two intervening centuries. The north was commercial and the south increasingly industrial; the north was Protestant and Flemish- (Dutch-) speaking and the south Roman Catholic and partly French-speaking (the elite was entirely French-speaking). Under the Dutchhouse of Orange, the north was to be predominant.Dutch, sometimes called Netherlandic, became the official language of the new kingdom; moreover, the fundamental law gave Belgium and Holland the same number of representatives in theStates General, in spite of the fact that the population of Belgium was nearly twice that of the former United Provinces. Belgian representatives, members of the nobility, rejected the constitution, but it waspromulgated by the king over their objections.

William I encouraged the industrialization of the south, commissioning the construction of new roads and canals and the establishment of new commercial and financial companies; he also extended subsidies to promising industrial enterprises, frequently from his own private fortune. In the beginning, the favourable economic situation reinforced the king’s popularity among the middle class. The mechanized textile industries of Ghent and Verviers continued their progress, while the modern coal mines and forges of Liège and Hainaut prospered. Antwerp’s role as an international port was expanding rapidly.

King William I also created three state universities: Ghent and Liège, which were new, andLouvain, which he put under state control to remove it from Catholic influence.Secular academies (athénées) were established at the secondary level, and state inspection wasmandated for church-controlled schools. An attempt to interfere with the curriculum of the training schools for priests (1825) brought clerical dissatisfaction with the government to its height. In an effort to disengage the Protestant monarch from the religious affairs of the south, the clergy and traditional Catholic elite began clamouring for freedom of religion, education, and association. This remarkable shift in mentality within the ranks of the southern conservatives was welcomed by the more progressive merchants, who in their turn had grown more critical toward the north and the king’s policy.

After 1821 the conflicting interests of north and south also created an economic split. The commercial north, having little industry, desired more free trade; the industrial south sought greater tariff protection in order to compete against falling British export prices. The king’s unwillingness to increase protection gave the industrialists a grievance against the government. Progressives and clericals now joined forces. Both groups wanted to curtail the personal power of the king in favour of a trueparliamentary system, based on an expanded range of civil and political rights. In this new climate, Unionism came into being in 1827, merging young Catholics and liberals in the south into a strong antigovernment coalition. The king agreed to makeconcessions regarding matters of religion and language but refused to relinquish his ultimate authority. This refusal generated the “Belgian Revolution” of August–September1830, in the tracks of theJuly Revolution in Paris the same year.

The revolutionaries at first demanded separate administrations for the northern and southern Netherlands. The actions of the radical patriots in Liège, however, soon aggravated the situation. The unyielding attitude of the king now led to a complete break. On September 25 a provisional Belgian government was established, and on October 4 it proclaimed the country’s independence, a move reaffirmed by the newly elected NationalCongress on November 10. William I prepared for war, but on December 20 the great powers intervened, imposing an armistice on both sides. On January 20, 1831, an international conference inLondon (under the influence of the new liberal governments in France and Britain) recognized Belgium as an independent, neutral state, its neutrality to be guaranteed by the European powers.