London Conference of 1830

The London Conference of 1830 brought together representatives of the five major European powers Austria, Britain, France, Prussia and Russia.

[2] G. M. Trevelyan from a British standpoint called it "one of the most beneficent and difficult feats ever accomplished by our diplomacy";[3] while the French too saw their goal of an independent Belgium, which was peacefully accepted by the other Great Powers, as being achieved.

Dutch historians see it as their nadir in the 19th century, for the loss of the southern territories shook the nation's confidence.

Belgian historians see the result not as a victory, says Fishman, but as a frustrating and humiliating experience, involving the loss of territory in Luxemburg and Limburg under the settlement terms, in which the great powers allowed Belgium to come into existence.

[5][6] In 1914, Germany rejected the guarantee of Belgian neutrality as a "scrap of paper",[7] and invaded Belgium.

Lithograph on the London conference of 1830 by Honoré Daumier . Figures representing Prussia, Austria, Russia, Great Britain and France are shown discussing a text, while Holland and Belgium are hanging on the side and Poland is lying dead on the ground.
The Battle of Hasselt by Jan Willem Pieneman