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Well excuse me for asking an honest question on a forum. I'll be sure not to do it anymore to avoid people like you. Belgium is clearly a unique case, nothing like Canada.
Thank you, even in our Soviet schools we were learning about the Belgium and Netherlands and their place in history as a separate entity throughout Middle Ages.
Even if today they don't mean much comparably to their bigger and more prominent neighbors such as France and Germany, it doesn't mean that they "showed up out of nowhere" and therefore "should join the bigger crowd"))))
Belgium, or at least Brussels, has developed into a special (con)federal district for the EU - not much different than the US and several other countries around the world - , whether they planned it that way or not, but its role since at least the post-Napoleon period has been to act as neutral territory and now it stands in sweet spot.
In other words, Belgium, or at least Brussels, has become an amalgam of Franco-German power.
I don't really understand the question or what kind of answer you're expecting? Countries don't exist for any particular reason. Their existence doesn't have to make sense to you or me. If that were the case a map of the world would look very different from what we know today.
This may provide some insights on Belgium: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Belgium
I don't really understand the question or what kind of answer you're expecting? Countries don't exist for any particular reason. Their existence doesn't have to make sense to you or me. If that were the case a map of the world would look very different from what we know today.
This may provide some insights on Belgium: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Belgium
Perhaps I should rephrase. Why does Belgium. A country in between France and the Netherlands, have a region that speaks French and a region that speaks Dutch. I can't think of any other country like this. My point is Belgium just seems like such an anomaly to me.
Perhaps I should rephrase. Why does Belgium. A country in between France and the Netherlands, have a region that speaks French and a region that speaks Dutch. I can't think of any other country like this. My point is Belgium just seems like such an anomaly to me.
As I said, Switzerland. A country between Germany, Italy and France, has a region that speaks German and a region that speaks Italian and a region that speaks French. So no, it’s really not anomalous.
The very short and crude answer is that Belgium was set up as a buffer between France and Germany.
That is not true. Belgium was once part of Holland, as was Luxembourg. After the defeat of Napoleon, Europe wanted strong neighbours around France to prevent another Napoleon. It was thought that it needed a strong northern neighbour and thus Holland was made bigger with the addition of Belgium and Luxembourg. But in later years, Belgium and also Luxembourg wanted to be independent and indepence was granted.
That is not true. Belgium was once part of Holland, as was Luxembourg. After the defeat of Napoleon, Europe wanted strong neighbours around France to prevent another Napoleon. It was thought that it needed a strong northern neighbour and thus Holland was made bigger with the addition of Belgium and Luxembourg. But in later years, Belgium and also Luxembourg wanted to be independent and indepence was granted.
strong neighbor to prevent wars？how wonderful that worked out.
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Belgium is clearly a unique case, nothing like Canada.
