Why does Belgium exist?:how and why did it come about?

For once, a question I can answer!

So the actual name "Belgium" comes from the Belgae Tribe of Celtic settlers in what is now western Europe. Not a ton of information is available about this tribe but in Julius Caesar's accounts he regards them as some of most fearsome enemies the roman armies had ever fought with the few battles they shared being decided by a hair. Eventually the Belgae, like all other Celtic tribes was dominated by the Roman forces and adopted into the Empire as 'Gallia Belgica' until the empire collapsed and Belgica came under control of the Franks in the 9th century. Around the 11th century, Flanders developed into a semi-independent body and began trade relations with most of Europe. Fast forward a few hundred years as invasions from France, political marriages with Austria and you reach the Battle of Waterloo which saw the defeat of the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and the European powers met at the Vienna Congress to redraw the map of Europe and placed Belgium within the Netherlands/Holland's control.

This 'merger' of sorts was highly unsuccessful as there were serious differences among the populace ranging from faith to language. Tensions really grew when King William I attempted to establish Dutch as the national language. The king as already disliked by the southern Walloon people and this attempt to kill their native language (french) was the breaking point for many. On August 25th, 1830 the opera 'La Muette' was performed in Brussels and the performance sparked a revolutionary surge much like it did in France a few years prior. The crown attempted to send state troops to cull the revolution but barely a month later on September 27th they were pushed out of Belgium; as a result, in January of 1831, the other European recognized Belgium's call for independence from the Dutch crown. On February 7th, 1831 the Belgian national congress wrote up and adopted a constitution. Then, on July 21st the popular German, Leopold I swore allegiance to Belgium and became the first King of Belgium - to the revolutionaries approval. That same year on November 4th, Belgium's succession from the Netherlands was recognized by the European powers and became official!

Today, Belgium is still very divided as far as language barriers go, they officially speak French, Dutch, German and English. Many of the issues surrounding differences between Flanders and Wallonia were not solved by the revolution and I have even heard many Belgian citizens express their consideration of the country being split in two and absorbed by France/Holland once more.

I hope this helped! If you want to learn about modern Belgium it's a bit more complex, there are plenty of videos on YouTube that go in depth to the political and social climate of Belgium, very confusing but extremely interesting!

References: “Belgium's Independence (1830 - Present Time).” Belgium.be, 3 Oct. 2010, www.belgium.be/en/about_belgium/country/history/belgium_from_1830. Hristov, Bogdan. “Belgium: A Brief History Of How It All Began.” Culture Trip, The Culture Trip, 12 Dec. 2015, theculturetrip.com/europe/belgium/articles/belgium-a-brief-history-of-how-it-all-began/. Lambert, Tim. “A History of Belgium.” A History of Belgium, 2019, www.localhistories.org/belgium.html. Shaw, Toby. “Independence Day in Belgium in 2020.” Office Holidays, Office Holidays Ltd., 1 Jan. 2019, www.officeholidays.com/holidays/belgium/belgium-independence-day. “Who Were the Belgae?” The Atlantic Religion, 16 June 2014, atlanticreligion.com/2014/06/16/who-were-the-belgae/.