Risquons-Tout

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Coordinates: 50°45′10″N 3°11′16″E / 50.75278°N 3.18778°E / 50.75278; 3.18778

Saint-Paul church in Risquons-Tout.

Risquons-Tout is a hamlet in the municipality of Mouscron, Hainaut province in Wallonia, Belgium. It is on a national border, immediately adjacent to Neuville-en-Ferrain and Tourcoing in France, and on a regional border, adjacent to Rekkem in Flanders. Risquons-Tout owes its name (French: Let's risk it all) to a sign for a cabaret which is no longer around.[1] Risquons-Tout was once part of the municipality of Rekkem. In 1963, when the Belgian language border was fixed, it was transferred to the city of Mouscron.

Risquons-Tout is primarily known for the Risquons-Tout incident, where a group of Belgian émigrés entered Belgium under arms in an attempt to overthrow the Belgian government as part of the Revolutions of 1848.

Risquons-Tout incident

An 1865 illustration of the battle

Shortly after the French Revolution of 1848, Belgian migrant workers living in Paris were encouraged to return to Belgium to overthrow the monarchy and establish a republic.[2] Around 6,000 émigrés, coming from Paris, formed the "Belgian Legion". The legion was armed by some of the administrative authorities of Lille, and intended to penetrate into Belgium to "raise the people" and overthrow the Belgian monarchy. It is likely that the revolutionaries had the support of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the French Second Republic, which had only recently been installed and was still very militant. The first group of revolutionaries attempted travelling into Belgium by train, and was stopped and quickly disarmed at Quiévrain on March 26, 1848.[3]

The 2000 man strong second group entered Belgium at dawn on March 29 at Risquons-Tout. The revolutionaries were greeted by around 250 infantrymen of the Belgian Army under the command of General Joseph Fleury-Duray. A heavy cannonade caused the revolutionaries to rout. The skirmish lasted only two hours. 7 revolutionaries were killed, 26 wounded and 60 captured. Some of the captured democrats were imprisoned in the citadelle of Huy and 17 of them condemned to death and executed at Antwerp.[4]

Several smaller groups managed to infiltrate Belgium, but the reinforced Belgian border troops were successful in keeping order and the defeat at Risquons-Tout effectively ended the revolutionary threat to Belgium. Two street names and a monument in the local cemetery are a reminder of this incident, and of the occasionally tense Franco-Belgian relations in the 19th century.

See also

References

  1. ↑ (French) Jean-Jacques Jespers, Dictionnaire des noms de lieux en Wallonie et à Bruxelles, Lannoo, 2005, p. 510.
  2. ↑ Chastain, James. "Belgium in 1848". Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions. Ohio University. Retrieved 16 December 2013. 
  3. ↑ Ascherson, Neal (1999). The King Incorporated: Leopold the Second and the Congo (New ed.). London: Granta. pp. 20–1. ISBN 1862072906. 
  4. ↑ (French) Louis-Antoine Garnier-Pagès, Histoire de la Révolution de 1848, 2e éd., t. 4, vol. II, Paris, Pagnerre, 1866, chap. 6, XVI-XXV, pp. 263-273.
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