Flahaut partition plan for Belgium

Last updated
Map of the Flahaut plan, proposed by France in 1830 Partition-plan-Talleyrand-en.svg
Map of the Flahaut plan, proposed by France in 1830

The Flahaut partition plan for Belgium was a proposal developed in 1830 at the London Conference of 1830 by the French diplomat Charles de Flahaut, to partition Belgium. The proposal was immediately rejected by the French Foreign Ministry upon Charles Maurice de Talleyrand's insistence. [1] [2]

Contents

According to some sources, the French insistence on partitioning Belgium might have been invented by Talleyrand himself to show himself as a skilled statesman by maintaining Belgian independence. [3] [4]

Background

Despite increasing popular demands for independence, major European powers were divided over the future of Belgium; stalling the negotiations at the London Conference of 1830. [5] In early November 1830, the National Congress of Belgium voted to adopt a monarchy. Prince Louis, Duke of Nemours, the son of Louis Philippe I of France emerged as a popular candidate for the throne, however Louis Philippe rejected the candidacy after being urged to do so by Charles Maurice de Talleyrand. While placing the duke on the Belgian throne would have benefited France, Talleyrand argued that such a decision would offend the British and displace the balance of power in Europe. [6] [7]

Plan

The Belgians outright refused to consider a candidate from the Dutch House of Nassau. In lieu of the stalemate, French diplomat Charles de Flahaut (a son of Talleyrand) proposed partitioning Belgium. Belgium was to be split between the Netherlands, France and Prussia; with the largest part going to France. Britain on the other hand was to receive the city of Antwerp along with its port: [6] Britain was seen as likely to accept receiving this seemingly small possession as Antwerp was the largest port located close to the British isles in the continent which made it an ideal staging point for any power planning an invasion of Britain (Calais on France was even closer but it was smaller in size, although the British had already in the past sought the demilitarization of Calais by the French). [8]

Aftermath

Talleyrand was briefly tempted by the prospect of partitioning Belgium, [9] a proposal he had briefly toyed with before; [10] however, he quickly changed his mind and rejected the Flahaut plan as absurd, exclaiming that "he would rather cut off his arm than sign the document". Talleyrand argued that providing Britain with a base on the continent after France fought numerous wars to prevent such an event was unacceptable. The creation of a direct border with the Kingdom of Prussia was likewise seen as problematic. Talleyrand ordered Flahaut to carry a letter outlining his objections to the proposal to the French Foreign Minister Sébastiani. Sébastiani heeded Talleyrand's warnings and did not pursue the implementation of the plan. [11] It should be noted though, that it has been argued that Britain would have been likely to reject such a partition of Belgium mostly for the same reasons as having to defend a new land border of such a small size and so exposed sandwiched between two adversaries (France and Germany) would have been too expensive and problematic and it would have been much cheaper to just keep a powerful navy to prevent landings on the British isles. [8] [12]

The Belgian Congress set 28 January as the final date for the election of the new king. The popularity of Auguste, Duke of Leuchtenberg a Bonapartist candidate prompted Flahaut to resurrect his plan. Flahaut argued that in the case of the election of Leuchtenberg or any other candidate deemed unacceptable by France, partition would be the only available option. Talleyrand once again rebuffed Flahaut by repeating his previous arguments in a new letter to Sebastiani. On 3 February, the Belgians offered the crown to the Duke of Nemours. On 7 February, the powers issued an official statement refusing to recognize any election that would grant Leuchtenberg the throne. On 17 February, Louis Philippe formally renounced his dynasty's claim to the Belgian throne. Having secured the exclusion of the two leading candidates from the election process, Talleyrand continued to vigorously campaign behind the scenes for the election of Leopold of Saxe-Coburg. On 4 June, the Belgian Congress elected Leopold of Saxe-Coburg as the King of the Belgians with the support of the conference. [13] [1]

A minority on the Belgian political spectrum continue to support the partition of Belgium to this day, with the proportion of separatists in the country remaining stable throughout the years. [14] [15]

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 Schmidt, Daniel Paul (1 August 1976). "IV. France's second intervention in Belgium: An intervention designed to resolve the Belgian problem" (PDF). The foreign policy of Louis Philippe 1830-32: A study in interventionist policy (PDF). Marquette University Faculty of the Graduate School (PhD (Doctor of Philosophy)). ProQuest Dissertations Publishing. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States of America: Marquette University. p. 93-130. Retrieved 23 September 2021 via ProQuest.
  2. Dard, Émile (15 July 1939). Chaumeix, André (ed.). "Trois générations: Tayllerand, Flahaut, Morny. I." Revue des Deux Mondes (in French). 46 (2). Paris, Ile de France, France: Société de la Revue des Deux Mondes: 341–365. ISSN   0035-1962. JSTOR   44850143. OCLC   476419311.
  3. Smit, C. (1949). "VIII. Franse annexatie- en verdelingsplannen België's neutraliteit". In Brill, E.J. (ed.). De conferentie van Londen: Het vredesverdrag tussen Nederland en Belgié van 19 April 1839 (in Dutch). Leiden, South Holland, Netherlands: Brill Archive. p. 83. Retrieved 23 September 2021 via Google Books.
  4. Sked, Alan (15 October 2006). McKercher, B.J.C.; Goldstein, Erik; Maurer, John; Otte, Thomas; Colman, Jonathan; Trenta, Luca (eds.). "Talleyrand and England, 1792–1838: A Reinterpretation". Diplomacy & Statecraft. 17 (4). Abingdon-on-Thames, England, United Kingdom of Great Britain: Routledge (Taylor & Francis): 647–664. doi:10.1080/09592290600942793. ISSN   0959-2296. OCLC   22548326. S2CID   159845695 . Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  5. Gavin, Catherine Irvine (31 May 1931). "V. The Entente Cordiale" (PDF). Louis philippe, king of the french, 1830-1848. Aberdeen Postgraduate Research School (PhD (Doctor of Philosophy)). ProQuest Dissertations Publishing. Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom of Great Britain: University of Aberdeen. OCLC   921229907 . Retrieved 23 September 2021 via ProQuest.
  6. 1 2 Bernard 1973, p. 550-551, Part Six: The London Embassy (1830-1834).
  7. Dhondt, Frederik (1 January 2018). Piret, Bérengère; Bousmar, Éric; de Broux, Pierre-Olivier; Desmette, Philippe; Ruelle, Annette; Tousignant, Nathalie; Ngongo, Enika (eds.). "La neutralité permanente de la Belgique et l'histoire du droit international: Quelques jalons pour la recherche" (PDF). Cahiers: Centre de Recherches en Histoire du Droit et des Institutions (in French). 41 (1). Brussels, Belgium: Centre de Recherches en Histoire du Droit, des Institutions et de la Société (Université Saint-Louis – Bruxelles). doi: 10.25518/1370-2262.614 . hdl: 1854/LU-8584501 . ISSN   1370-2262. S2CID   246604339 . Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  8. 1 2 Pine, Alan Stanley (1 June 1972). "IV. The Whigs, Palmerston, and the London Conference". The motivations and conduct of British foreign policy in the Belgian crisis, 1830-1839 (PDF). NYU Department of History of the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (PhD (Doctor of Philosophy)). ProQuest Dissertations Publishing. New York City, New York, United States of America: New York University (NYU). pp. 63–89. Retrieved 23 September 2021 via ProQuest.
  9. Kelly 2017, p. 63, 7. French Troops in Belgium!.
  10. Kelly 2017, p. 64, 7. French Troops in Belgium!.
  11. Bernard 1973, p. 551-552, Part Six: The London Embassy (1830-1834).
  12. Sked, Alan (13 September 2013) [2008]. "3. Talleyrand and England, 1792-1838: A Reinterpretation". In Stone, Glyn; Otte, Thomas G. (eds.). Anglo-French Relations since the Late Eighteenth Century (3rd ed.). Abingdon-on-Thames, England, United Kingdom of Great Britain: Routledge (Taylor & Francis). pp. 13–30. ISBN   978-0-415-39578-6 via Google Books.
  13. Bernard 1973, p. 562-565, Part Six: The London Embassy (1830-1834).
  14. Dy, B. (8 January 2020). Delvaux, Béatrice (ed.). "Seuls 16% des électeurs flamands veulent la scission du pays". Le Soir (in French). Brussels, Belgium: Rossel & Cie. S.A. Archived from the original on 9 January 2020.
  15. De Standaard editorial staff (9 November 2007). Verhoeven, Karel (ed.). "België moet blijven, maar niet zoals nu". De Standaard (in Dutch). Brussels, Belgium: Mediahuis. ISSN   0779-3847. OCLC   900938528. Archived from the original on 21 January 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2021.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord</span> French diplomat (1754–1838), Prime Minister of France in 1815

Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, 1st Prince of Benevento, then Prince of Talleyrand, was a French secularized clergyman, statesman, and leading diplomat. After studying theology, he became Agent-General of the Clergy in 1780. In 1789, just before the French Revolution, he became Bishop of Autun. He worked at the highest levels of successive French governments, most commonly as foreign minister or in some other diplomatic capacity. His career spanned the regimes of Louis XVI, the years of the French Revolution, Napoleon, Louis XVIII, and Louis Philippe I. Those Talleyrand served often distrusted him but, like Napoleon, found him extremely useful. The name "Talleyrand" has become a byword for crafty and cynical diplomacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leopold I of Belgium</span> King of the Belgians from 1831 to 1865

Leopold I was the first King of the Belgians, reigning from 21 July 1831 until his death in 1865.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monarchy of Belgium</span> Constitutional, hereditary and popular monarchy of Belgium

Belgium is a constitutional, hereditary and popular monarchy. The monarch is titled King of the Belgians and serves as the country's head of state and commander-in-chief of the Belgian Armed Forces. There have been seven Belgian monarchs since independence in 1830.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hortense de Beauharnais</span> Queen consort of Holland from 1806 to 1810

Hortense Eugénie Cécile Bonaparte was Queen consort of Holland. She was the stepdaughter of Emperor Napoléon I as the daughter of his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais. Hortense later married Napoléon I’s brother, Louis Bonaparte, who had been made King of Holland, making her her stepfather’s sister-in-law. She was the mother of Napoléon III, Emperor of the French; Louis II of Holland; and Napoléon Louis Charles Bonaparte who died at the age of four. She also had an illegitimate son, Charles, Duke of Morny, with her lover, the Comte de Flahaut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis Philippe I</span> King of the French from 1830 to 1848

Louis Philippe I, nicknamed the Citizen King, was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France. As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the French Revolutionary Wars and was promoted to lieutenant general by the age of nineteen, but he broke with the Republic over its decision to execute King Louis XVI. He fled to Switzerland in 1793 after being connected with a plot to restore France's monarchy. His father Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, fell under suspicion and was executed during the Reign of Terror.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans</span> French prince; eldest son of Louis Philippe I

Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans was the eldest son of King Louis Philippe I of France and Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily. He was born in exile in his mother's native Sicily while his parents were the Duke and Duchess of Orléans. Ferdinand Philippe was heir to the House of Orléans from birth. Following his father's succession as King of the French in 1830, he became the Prince Royal of France and Duke of Orléans. He died in 1842, never to succeed his father or see the collapse of the July Monarchy and subsequent exile of his family to the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henri, Count of Chambord</span> Pretender to the French throne as Henry V (1844–83)

Henri, Count of Chambord and Duke of Bordeaux was the Legitimist pretender to the throne of France as Henri V from 1844 until his death in 1883.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles, Duc de Morny</span> French statesman (1811–1865)

Charles Auguste Louis Joseph de Morny, 1st Duc de Morny was a French statesman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles, Comte de Flahaut</span> French general and statesman (1785–1870)

Auguste Charles Joseph de Flahaut de La Billarderie, Comte de Flahaut was a French general during the Napoleonic Wars, a senator, and later in his life, a French ambassador to the Court of St James's. He had a son with Napoleon's stepdaughter, Hortense de Beauharnais.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">July Revolution</span> 1830 overthrow of the Bourbons by the July Monarchy in France

The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution, Second French Revolution, or Trois Glorieuses, was a second French Revolution after the first in 1789. It led to the overthrow of King Charles X, the French Bourbon monarch, and the ascent of his cousin Louis Philippe, Duke of Orléans. After 18 precarious years on the throne, Louis-Philippe was overthrown in the French Revolution of 1848.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">July Monarchy</span> Kingdom governing France, 1830–1848

The July Monarchy, officially the Kingdom of France, was a liberal constitutional monarchy in France under Louis Philippe I, starting on 26 July 1830, with the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 23 February 1848, with the Revolution of 1848. It marks the end of the Bourbon Restoration (1814–1830). It began with the overthrow of the conservative government of Charles X, the last king of the main line House of Bourbon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belgian Revolution</span> 1830 revolution in Belgium against Dutch rule

The Belgian Revolution was the conflict which led to the secession of the southern provinces from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the establishment of an independent Kingdom of Belgium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horace François Bastien Sébastiani de La Porta</span> French soldier, diplomat, and politician (1771–1851)

Horace François Bastien Sébastiani de La Porta was a French general, diplomat, and politician, who served as Naval Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Minister of State under the July Monarchy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prince Gabriel of Belgium</span> Belgian prince (born 2003)

Prince Gabriel of Belgium is the elder son and second child of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium. He is currently second in line to the throne of Belgium after his elder sister, Elisabeth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adelaide Filleul, Marquise de Souza-Botelho</span>

Adélaïde-ÉmilieFilleul, Marquise de Souza-Botelho was a French writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revolutions of 1830</span> 1830 revolutions throughout Europe

The Revolutions of 1830 were a revolutionary wave in Europe which took place in 1830. It included two "romantic nationalist" revolutions, the Belgian Revolution in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the July Revolution in France along with rebellions in Congress Poland, Italian states, Portugal and Switzerland. It was followed eighteen years later, by another and much stronger wave of revolutions known as the Revolutions of 1848.

The partition of Belgium is a hypothetical situation, which has been discussed by both Belgian and international media, envisioning a split of Belgium along linguistic divisions, with the Flemish Community (Flanders) and the French-speaking Community (Wallonia) becoming independent states. Alternatively, it is hypothesized that Flanders could join the Netherlands and Wallonia could join France or Luxembourg.

Freemasonry in Belgium comprises several Masonic obediences, a federation and a confederation. These include Grand Orient of Belgium, the Grand Lodge of Belgium, the Regular Grand Lodge of Belgium, the Women's Grand Lodge of Belgium, the Belgian Federation of Le Droit Humain and Lithos Confederation of Lodges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Joseph, comte Bresson</span> French diplomat

Charles-Joseph, comte Bresson was a French diplomat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greater Belgium</span>

Greater Belgium is a Belgian irredentist concept which lays claim on territory nationalists deem as rightfully Belgian. It usually laid claim to: German territory historically belonging to the former Duchy of Limburg (Eupen-Malmedy), Dutch Limburg, Zeelandic Flanders, and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. To a lesser degree, they also claimed the Dutch province of North Brabant and the French Netherlands (Nord-Pas-de-Calais). Shortly after the Belgian Revolution, some groups even proposed a Belgo-Rhine federation. Nowadays, belief in Belgian irredentism is very uncommon and overshadowed by talk of partitioning Belgium or the incorporation of Flanders into the Netherlands.

References

Further reading