Other Liberal Assaults on the Old Order 599

Map 15.2 The Birth of Belgium, 1831-1839 The boundaries of the Dutch

Republic and Belgium, including within Belgium the areas that were Protestant and

Catholic, as well as Flemish and Walloon areas. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

was created in 1831 and united with the Netherlands in the person of the grand duke,

King William I of the Netherlands.

Following the arrival of news from France of the July Revolution, the

Brussels opera presented a production about an insurrection in Naples in

1648 against Spanish rule. So inspired, the audience left the theater to

demonstrate against a government newspaper and other symbols of Dutch

authority. Workers, suffering unemployment and high prices, put up barri­

cades, and were soon joined by units of bourgeois militia from outside Brus­

sels. A halfhearted military attack floundered when inexperienced Dutch

troops panicked as the ranks of the defenders swelled. After three more

days of fighting, the Dutch troops withdrew to the north. The Dutch bom­

bardment of Antwerp convinced more Flemish to support the rebels.