Thus once again Belgium reappeared on the map of Europe, after repeated attempts to remove it from that map. If you look at the span of time this site concerns itself with, many powers tried to wipe it of the face of the earth, but every time it stubbornly reappeared. The remnant of the old Burgundian inheritance turned out to be one of the most stubborn features on the map of Europe. This in spite of the fact that Belgium was, and is, a set of very uncohesive provinces. There is a deep division between Flemings and Walloons, the Dutch and French speaking communities of Belgium. There is almost no national common ground to speak of. And still this feature keeps propping up again and again on the map after French, Dutch and German attempts to do away with it. Belgians themselves have also tried to explode their country many times. The Flemings became fiercely nationalistic during the Twentieth Century.
The Dutch did not recognise the Belgian state for another nine years, but had to accept a bitter "status quo", which can be seen on this map. The Belgians had also included the Grandduchy of Luxembourg in their new Kingdom, although they never occupied the City of Luxembourg in which a Prussian garrison was employed. Luxembourg was a Grandduchy of the German Confederation as well as a Dutch Province. This also caused conflict between Belgium and the German States. On this "status quo" map the red border of the German Confederation is left out were the unresolved status of Luxembourg is concerned.
