Belgian Republicans

Why didn’t Belgium become a republic in 1830? After the revolution, the country quickly became the monarchy it remains to this day. Liberals and Catholics divided power among themselves. The Radicals, a political minority movement, played a decisive role in the uprising against William I. But after years of fierce resistance, they were sidelined. Radicals opposed the monarchy and advocated for a republic based on democracy and universal human rights. In their words and deeds, they proved themselves to be the direct heirs of the radical Enlightenment thought that shook the Western world in the late eighteenth century. For the first time, the story of the radicals is described in detail. Drawing on years of research, Els Witte reveals the often tragic fate of these activists, whether they liked it or not. After the failed revolutionary year of 1848, in which the radicals once again took up the struggle for a republic, their role had come to an end. Their ideas continued to influence subsequent developments and later helped form the basis of social democracy, progressive liberalism, and social Catholicism. Historian Els Witte (1941) is honorary rector and professor emerita at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. She is the author of several successful standard works, such as the repeatedly updated *Political History of Belgium* and the bestseller *The Lost Kingdom*. The fierce resistance of the Belgian Orangists against the revolution.