Will the Kingdom of Belgium celebrate its bicentenary in ten years? It’s no longer a safe bet.
A small State that was given its name by major powers, but was born out of revolutionary insurrection, then given a constitution that was highly progressive at the time, Belgium was an industrial champion in the middle of the 19th century; it acquired a colony in Africa, on contested grounds. Weakened by two world wars and then by the matter of the Royal family, it would take a very active part...