Is it true that Belgium owes its independence to Russia?

In early March 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Belgium appeared on the map as a sovereign state largely thanks to Russia. We decided to check if this is so.

March 6 Putin Meet With participants in the World Youth Festival in Sochi. Answering the question of the representative of Belgium, Putin said: “Belgium <...> appeared on the map of the world as an independent state to a large extent thanks to Russia and the position of Russia. This does not matter today, but it matters that with many countries of the world we have our own background of relations, and, as a rule, it is positive. ” The Russian president did not develop his statement, and without specifying what exactly he means.

Belgium gained independence in 1830. Prior to this, the territory of the modern Belgian kingdom was part of the Netherlands based on the results Vienna Congress 1815. In September 1830, in the southern part of this state, it broke out insurrection: Franco -speaking (Walloon) and southern Dutch (Flemish) provinces proclaimed independence.

All the same Vienna Congress found that state borders in Europe can change only with the general consent of the leading powers: Great Britain, France, Austria, Prussia and Russia. The discussion of the Belgian issue began on November 4, 1830 on London conference, convened at the request of the King of the Netherlands of Wilhelm I. But by that time the five powers managed to speak out. France, where in July of the same year there was a revolution, laid the end of the Bourbons dynasty, not only supported The Belgian desire for sovereignty, but also promised to prevent any attempts to suppress the uprising. Great Britain took the same position, Austria hesitated, and Prussia and Russia resolutely opposed the Belgian revolution.

Russian Emperor Nicholas I was ready to send expeditionary power to Belgium, led by his brother Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich. At the report of the Vice-Chancellor Nesselrode of October 8, the emperor He left the next resolution: “I don’t want to overcome Belgium there, but the general revolution, which gradually and rather than they think, threatens us ourselves, if we see that we are trembling before it.” And at the end of October, Nicholas I wrote Nesselrode that it was necessary to make a note to the governments of Great Britain and France about the determination of Russia to suppress the Belgian uprising by a military way.

Military Minister Count Chernyshev Emperor reported On October 17, that the campaign should begin immediately: “The dispatches that I have just received are such that it is necessary to take urgent measures for our performance on a campaign. The King of Netherlands writes to me, asking on the basis of existing treatises on armed assistance. ” In the same letter, Nicholas I complains that the request for help came so late, and orders to bring the army corps to a state of combat readiness. In November, he is still full of desire to suppress the revolution. “Now, more than ever, I am convinced that the only way to prevent the war is to show the Jacobins of all countries that we are completely not afraid of them,”- wrote Emperor to his messenger Count Dibich November 13.

By this time, Russia, in its desire to suppress the revolution at the other end of Europe, was left almost alone. Prussia, fearing the war with Great Britain, was ready to send no more than 25,000 soldiers to Belgium, and Nicholas I would not have time to support the ally. In addition, in Russia itself the situation left much to be desired. Nesselrode Reported Dibich that it was impossible to wage war: cholera raged in the empire, taxes were not going badly. Along with this, the situation in Poland, which was then part of the Russian Empire, was heated: since October Warsaw was preparing for rebellion, and the leaflets called to expel the royal governor of the Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, who, as mentioned above, was supposed to entrust the suppression of the Belgian revolution. Russia was convinced to the London Conference that he could not help the Dutch king and agreed Together with the rest of the powers to recognize the independence of Belgium on December 20, 1830.

Thus, we can conclude that Belgium was independent not thanks to, but contrary to the official position of Russia. Nicholas I was going to introduce troops and suppress the Belgian revolution; The emperor agreed to recognize the country's independence under the pressure of other powers and because of adverse internal circumstances.

Photo on the cover: Charles subr. Rosier at the head of the Liege volunteers (1878) (Via Wikipedia Commons)

Not true

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