OA

‘Vivat Belgie’

‘Vivat Belgie’. Rebellion and repression in the Northern Netherlands c. 1830

This article argues that the dominant narrative concerning the Belgian Revolt must be revised. Thanks to nationalist and Hollandocentric tendencies in Dutch historiography, the conflict of 1830 has traditionally been interpreted as a struggle between the Northern and Southern parts of the country. By examining social and political unrest in two peripheral regions in the Northern part of the Kingdom (Twente and Noord-Brabant), this article tries to relativise the supposed dichotomy. The nationalist narrative is contradicted by the fact that people in these regions expressed similar discontents and even sympathised with the so-called Southern struggle. Local sources show that internal unrest, upheaval, and protests were prevalent, and that the national government highly mistrusted and repressed these insurgent regions.