United Kingdom of the Netherlands

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Koninkrijk der Nederlanden Royaume des Pays-Bas Kingdom of the Netherlands ← 1815 – 1839 →   → Flag Coat of arms Map of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815 Capital Amsterdam and Brussels Language(s) Dutch, French Government Constitutional monarchy King William I Legislature Staten-Generaal  - Upper house Eerste Kamer  - Lower house Tweede Kamer Historical era Congress of Vienna  - Congress of Vienna 16 March, 1815  - Treaty of London 19 April, 1839 Currency Dutch guilder

History of the Low Countries v • d • e
Bishopric of Liège 985–1790	Burgundian Netherlands		Duchy of Luxembourg integrated 1441
	1384/1473–1482
	Habsburg Netherlands 1482–1556
	Spanish Netherlands	Dutch Republic 1581–1795	1581–1713
	Image:Flag of the Austrian Netherlands.jpg Austrian Netherlands		1713–1790
United States of Belgium			1790
Bishopric of Liège 1790–1795	Austrian Netherlands		1790–1794
French Republic		Batavian Republic 1795–1806	1795–1804
French Empire			1804–1815
		Kingdom of Holland 1806–1810
United Kingdom of the Netherlands 1815–1830			Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (in personal union with the Netherlands until 1890)
Kingdom of Belgium since 1830		Kingdom of the Netherlands since 1830

The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Limburg in 1839
1, 2 and 3 United Kingdom of the Netherlands (until 1830)
1 and 2 Kingdom of the Netherlands (after 1830)
2 Duchy of Limburg (In the German Confederacy after 1839 as compensation for Waals-Luxemburg)
3 and 4 Kingdom of Belgium (after 1830)
4 and 5 Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (borders until 1830)
4 Province of Luxembourg (Waals-Luxemburg, to Belgium in 1839)
5 Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (German Luxemburg; borders after 1839)
In blue, the borders of the German Confederacy.

United Kingdom of the Netherlands (or Kingdom of the United Netherlands) (1815 - 1830) (1839) (Dutch: Verenigd Koninkrijk der Nederlanden, French: Royaume-Uni des Pays-Bas) was the unofficial name used to refer to a new unified European state created from part of the First French Empire during the Congress of Vienna in 1815. This state, officially called the "Kingdom of the Netherlands", was made up of the former Dutch republic (Republic of the Seven United Netherlands) to the north, the former Austrian Netherlands to the south, and the former Prince-Bishopric of Liège. The House of Orange-Nassau came to be the monarchs of this new state.

[edit] Prince William of Orange-Nassau, the new sovereign of the Netherlands

After the liberation of the Netherlands in 1813 by Prussian and Russian troops, William Frederik of Orange-Nassau, (better known as William I of the Netherlands) the son of the last stadtholder William V of Orange-Nassau and Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia, returned to The Hague to be granted the title Sovereign of The Netherlands on 2 December 1813.

[edit] Unification under King William I

During the Congress of Vienna in 1815 France had to give up its rule of the Southern Netherlands. These negotiations were not made easy, because William tried to get as much out of it as he could. His ideas of a United Netherlands were based upon the actions of Hendrik van der Noot, a lawyer and politician and one of the main players in the Revolution of the Southern Netherlands against the Austrian Emperor (1789-1790). In 1789, after the Southern Netherlands declared themselves independent, Hendrik knew this was a fragile state and he tried to be reunited with the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. Since then William had never forgotten this and after the fall of Napoleon he saw a chance.

Three different scenarios were made:

1. The Northern Netherlands restored within its old borders and the Southern Netherlands would become a barrier state under the rule of Great Power, like Austria.
2. If the Southern Netherlands would stay (partially) French, the Northern Netherlands should be extended to the Nete River or probably the whole of Flanders. In this scenario also portions of Germany would become Dutch. Then the border would be the line Mechelen-Maastricht-Jülich-Cologne-Düsseldorf where it ends at the river Rhine.
3. France within its old borders, the Northern Netherlands unified with the Southern Netherlands and all of German territories on the left bank of the Rhine and north of the Moselle and the old Duchy of Berg and the old Lands of Nassau on the right bank of the Rhine.

The first two scenarios came from "Memorandum of Holland" made in 1813 after the Battle of Leipzig. The last scenario came from William himself. The first scenario never made it because the Great Powers (Great Britain, Prussia, Austria and Russia) thought an independent Southern Netherlands/Belgium under an Austrian Prince was too weak and Austria was not interested in getting it back.

The Dutch question became a problem. The Great Powers of Europe chose the last scenario, but didn't want to go as far in enlarging the Netherlands as William.

In the end William was granted the following lands:

The Republic of the Seven United Netherlands

The Austrian Netherlands within its borders of 1789 (so without French Flanders)

The Prince-Bishopric of Liège, but on Prussia's behalf small changes were made to its borders

The Duchy of Luxembourg was not fully granted to William, because it was a member of the German Confederation. William however demanded that Luxembourg became a part of the Netherlands, as a unified Netherlands was stronger as a buffer for France. Historically it had been a part of the Netherlands (Seventeen Provinces or Burgundian Netherlands), up to 1648, but Luxembourg was still a part of the discussions.

On 1 March 1815, while the Congress of Vienna was still going on, Napoleon escaped from Elba and he created a large army against the Great Powers of Europe. He was defeated at Waterloo by Prussian, British, Belgian, Dutch and Nassau (under the prince of Orange) troops.

William no longer hesitated and with permission of the Great Powers of Europe on 16 March 1815 he made himself King William I of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. Luxembourg became a Grand-Duchy in personal union with the Netherlands and stayed a member of the German Confederation.

With the unification William completed the dream of his ancestor William of Orange (also known as William the Silent), who started it in 1579.

[edit] Power of the King

The newly formed kingdom was not like the Netherlands or Belgium today. By the constitution, King William was granted much more power than a King or Queen in a modern constitutional monarchy.

The second chamber (House of Commons, or Lower House) of the States-General of the Netherlands had 110 members, of which 55 were chosen by the north and 55 were chosen by the south. The first chamber (House of Lords) consisted of noblemen, old and new nobles, who were granted the position by King William.

The Netherlands had eight ministers who did not have to answer to the second chamber, but only to the King himself. In fact they were following his demands. The King also could rule by "Royal Order".

This box: view • talk • edit History of the Netherlands
Ancient times
Germanic tribes
Roman Era
Migration Period
The Medieval Low Countries
Frankish Realm / The Franks
Holy Roman Empire
Burgundian Netherlands
Seventeen Provinces
Spanish Netherlands
Rise and Fall of the Dutch Republic
Eighty Years' War
United Provinces
The Golden Age
The Batavian revolution
From Republic to Monarchy
Batavian Republic
Kingdom of Holland
First French Empire
United Kingdom of the Netherlands
The Netherlands in Modern Times
Modern History of the Netherlands
Netherlands in World War II
Luctor et Emergo
The Dutch Fight against Water
The Miscellaneous Netherlands
Military history of the Netherlands
History of the Dutch language
Dutch literature
Dutch influence on naval terms
Dutch inventions and discoveries

[edit] Economic and social development

Economically the new state prospered, although many people in the north were unemployed and lived in poverty because a lot of English goods had destabilised the Dutch trade market.

Although financially stable, the south also had the burden of the nations' debt, but gained via the new trade markets of the Dutch colonies. Still, many of people in the south lived in poverty also, because the profits of trade were being used for big projects.

William tried to divide the nations wealth more equal by the following:

• Instating the Metric System
• New import and export taxes were made
• Digging new canals or existing canals were widened or deepened

(North-Holland canal, Canal from Gent to Terneuzen, Brussels-Charleroi Canal, Moselle canal, canal of Liege)

• Constructing new roads
• Opening the harbour of Antwerp
• Extending the steel industry to the south

By these actions the export of cotton, sheets, weapons and steel products increased. The fleet of Antwerp grew to 117 ships. Many of these projects were funded by King William himself. Also the educational system was extended. Under Williams' rule the number of school-going children was doubled from 150,000 to 300,000, by opening 1,500 new public schools. The south especially needed schools because many people could not read or write.

In 1825 William founded the Dutch Trading Company (Dutch: Nederlandse Handels Maatschappij), to boost trade with the colonies.

[edit] The way to separation

Social differences

Socially the unification created many problems. The Burgundian and Calvinistic mentalities did not tolerate each other very well. The French-speaking elite acted in their personal interest by using the differences in religion, mentality, life style and communication. Both the north and the south had a different historical background and the Dutch and French speaking people both were afraid of being overruled by each other. France played a role in this by the "Legion belge et parisienne", financed with private funds but with permission of the French government, to make a unification with France possible.

Religious and political differences

[edit] See also

• Low Countries