Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the south, and the North Sea to the west. Belgium covers an area of 30,689 km2 (11,849 sq mi) and has a population of more than 11.8 million; its population density of 383/km2 (990/sq mi) ranks 22nd in the world and sixth in Europe. The capital and largest metropolitan region is Brussels; other major cities are Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi, Liège, Bruges, Namur, and Leuven.
Belgium is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a complex federal system structured on regional and linguistic grounds. The country is divided into three highly autonomous regions: the Flemish Region (Flanders) in the north, the Walloon Region (Wallonia) in the south, and the Brussels-Capital Region in the middle. Belgium is also home to two main linguistic communities: the Dutch-speaking Flemish Community, which constitutes about 60 percent of the population, and the French-speaking French Community, which constitutes about 40 percent of the population; a small German-speaking Community, comprising around one percent of the population, exists in the East Cantons. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Belgium is a developed country with an advanced high-income economy. It is one of the six founding members of the European Union, with its capital of Brussels serving as the de facto capital of the EU, hosting the official seats of the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, the European Council, and one of two seats of the European Parliament (the other being Strasbourg). Brussels also hosts the headquarters of many major international organizations, such as NATO.
In antiquity, present-day Belgium was dominated by the Belgae before being annexed into the Roman Empire in the mid first century BC. During the Middle Ages, Belgium's central location kept it relatively prosperous and connected both commercially and politically to its larger neighbours; it was part of the Carolingian Empire, the succeeding Holy Roman Empire, and subsequently the Burgundian Netherlands. Following rule by Habsburg Spain (1556–1714), the Austrian Habsburgs (1714–1794), and Revolutionary France (1794–1815), most of modern-day Belgium was incorporated into the United Kingdom of the Netherlands after the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Centuries of being contested and controlled by various European powers earned Belgium the moniker "the Battlefield of Europe", a reputation reinforced in the 20th century by both world wars. (Full article...)
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A composite depicting the morning after the First Battle of Passchendaele The First Battle of Passchendaele took place on 12 October 1917 during the First World War, in the Ypres Salient in Belgium on the Western Front. The attack was part of the Third Battle of Ypres and was fought west of Passchendaele village. The British had planned to capture the ridges south and east of the city of Ypres as part of a strategy decided by the Allies at conferences in November 1916 and May 1917. Passchendaele lay on the last ridge east of Ypres, 5 mi (8.0 km) from the railway junction at Roulers, which was an important part of the supply system of the German 4th Army.
After a dry spell in September, rains began on 3 October and by the Battle of Poelcappelle on 9 October much of the British field artillery opposite Passchendaele was out of action due to rain, mud and German artillery-fire. The remaining guns were either left in old positions and fired at the limit of their range or were operated from any flat ground near wooden roadways or from platforms, many of which were unstable, where it was found impossible to move them forward. General Herbert Plumer and Field Marshal Douglas Haig were left under the impression that a big advance had been made towards Passchendaele ridge but most of the ground had been lost to German counter-attacks in the afternoon. (Full article...)
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Featured pictures are displayed here, which represent the finest images on English Wikipedia.
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Image 1Photograph: Marc Ryckaert
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Image 6Photo credit: Jon Sullivan/Pharaoh Hound
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Image 7Sunrise, Inverness Copse, is a 1918 artwork by the British war artist Paul Nash. It shows a desolate Western Front landscape at Inverness Copse, near Ypres in Belgium; the sun is rising over the hills to reveal shattered trees standing among mounds of earth and an expanse of mud, pock-marked by shell-holes and devoid of vegetation. The pen-and-ink drawing, with watercolour and chalk, is held by the Imperial War Museum in London. After a period serving in the Artists Rifles following the outbreak of the First World War, Nash was commissioned as an officer in the Hampshire Regiment. He was sent to Flanders in February 1917, but was invalided back to London in May 1917, a few days before his unit was nearly obliterated at the Battle of Messines. Nash became an official war artist and returned to the Ypres Salient, where he was shocked by the devastation caused by war. In six weeks on the Western Front, he completed what he called "fifty drawings of muddy places". He later used this drawing as the basis for his 1918 oil painting We Are Making a New World.
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Image 8Poeke Castle is a castle near Poeke, Belgium. Standing on 56 hectares of park, the castle is surrounded by water and is accessible through bridges at the front and rear of the building.
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Image 10A self-portrait of Louis-Marie Autissier (1772–1830), a French-born Belgian portrait miniature painter. He is considered the founder of the Belgian school of miniature painting in the nineteenth century. Born at Vannes, in Brittany, he joined the French Revolutionary Army at Rennes in 1791. On leaving the army in 1795, Autissier went to Paris and trained his art by studying paintings at the Louvre. In 1796 he settled in Brussels, but continued to divide his time between Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. Although he enjoyed great success in his career, serving as court painter to Louis Napoleon, French King of the Netherlands, and later to Willem I, Autissier died penniless.
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Image 11Photo credit: Luc Viatour
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Image 12Photograph credit: Marc Ryckaert
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Image 13The Belgian franc was the currency of the Kingdom of Belgium from 1832 until 2002, when the euro was introduced. The Belgian mint was innovative, and in 1860, the country became the first to introduce coins made of cupronickel. A few years later, in 1865, Belgium formed the Latin Monetary Union with France, Switzerland and Italy (Greece joined the system later), which facilitated trade between the countries by setting standards by which gold and silver currency could be minted and exchanged. This 40-franc gold coin was minted in 1835, and depicts Leopold I, the first king of the Belgians following the country's independence in 1830, on the obverse. The coin is now part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.
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Image 14Photograph: Joaquim Alves Gaspar The Graslei harbour is a popular destination in the Belgian city of Ghent. It is found in the city centre.
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Holiday of the Flemish Community (Dutch: Feest van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap)
The following are images from various Belgium-related articles on Wikipedia.
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Image 1Equestrian Statue of Leopold II, Place du Trône/ Troonplein, Brussels (from History of Belgium)
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Image 2Paul-Henri Spaak, three-times Prime Minister and author of the Spaak Report, was a staunch believer in international bodies, including the ECSC and EEC (from History of Belgium)
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Image 3The Sack of Antwerp in 1576, in which 17,000 people died. (from History of Belgium)
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Image 4The flag of the francophone pro-Nazi Rexist party (from History of Belgium)
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Image 5Map of Belgian regions and provinces. (from Geography of Belgium)
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Image 7The "Fusilade of Mons" during the 1893 strike as the Borains are fired on by the Garde Civique during the protests for universal suffrage. (from History of Belgium)
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Image 8The Siege of Maastricht (1579) by an anonymous painter (from History of Belgium)
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Image 9Belgian-Congolese Force Publique soldiers, 1943 (from History of Belgium)
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Image 10Surviving Roman city walls in Tongeren, the former city of Atuatuca Tongrorum (from History of Belgium)
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Image 11Saint Servatius, bishop of Tongeren and one of the first known Christian figures in the region. 16th century reliquary. (from History of Belgium)
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Image 14The natural regions of Belgium. (from Geography of Belgium)
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Image 15The Seventeen Provinces, and the Prince-Bishopric of Liège in green (from History of Belgium)
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Image 16A historic street in Belgium (from History of Belgium)
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Image 17The flag of Flanders incorporating the Flemish lion, also used by the Flemish Movement. (from History of Belgium)
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Image 1814th-century illustration of the Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302 where forces from the County of Flanders defeated their nominal overlords of the Kingdom of France. (from History of Belgium)
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Image 20Extreme points of Belgium (from Geography of Belgium)
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Image 21Site of the massacre of Belgian UN personnel in Kigali, Rwanda. (from History of Belgium)
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Image 22Episode of the Belgian Revolution of 1830, Egide Charles Gustave Wappers (1834), in the Musée d'Art Ancien, Brussels (from History of Belgium)
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Image 23The first Belgian-produced steam locomotive, "The Belgian" ( "Le Belge") built in 1835 (from History of Belgium)
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Image 24French soldiers fight at Fleurus in Belgium during the Revolutionary Wars, 1794 (from History of Belgium)
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Image 25A 1906 British Punch cartoon depicting Leopold II as a rubber vine entangling a Congolese man (from History of Belgium)
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Image 26Southern part of the Low Countries with bishopry towns and abbeys c. 7th century. Abbeys were the onset to larger villages and even some towns to reshape the landscape. (from History of Belgium)
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Image 27Painting of steel production in Ougrée by Constantin Meunier (1885) (from History of Belgium)
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Image 28Belgian soldier taking cover by the corpses of dead hostages, November 1964 in Stanleyville during Operation Dragon Rouge (from History of Belgium)
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Image 29German soldiers examine an abandoned Belgian T13 Tank, 1940 (from History of Belgium)
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Image 30Charles Michel, the Prime Minister of Belgium from 2014 until 2019 (from History of Belgium)
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Image 31Map showing the area of West Germany occupied by Belgian forces after the Second World War, known as FBA-BSD (from History of Belgium)
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Image 32Cartoon of "The Rape of Belgium" showing giant hairy fist with Prussian eagle grasping maiden in flowing robes. (from History of Belgium)
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Image 33Flint knives discovered in Belgian caves (from History of Belgium)
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Image 34A Belgian machine gunner at the front lines in 1918, firing a Chauchat machine gun. (from History of Belgium)
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Image 35Walloon workers demonstration in Brussels in the winter of 1960 (from History of Belgium)
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Image 37Map showing the division of Brabant into Flemish Brabant (yellow), Walloon Brabant (red) and the Brussels-Capital Region (orange) in 1995 (from History of Belgium)
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Image 38Belgian F-16 conducts a combat patrol over Afghanistan, 2008 (from History of Belgium)
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Image 39Commemorative Medal awarded to Belgian soldiers who had served during the Franco-Prussian War. (from History of Belgium)
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Image 40Elio Di Rupo, the Prime Minister of Belgium from 2011 until 2014 (from History of Belgium)
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