User:Withersoul 235/Sandbox: Short Scraps

Short ideas that I'll work out in far more detail later.


 * -|Belgian Civil War =

The Belgian Civil War was a disastrous crisis that evolved into a full-scale insurgency in Belgium at the end of the 20th century. Tensions between Flanders and Wallonia had always been high, but the casus belli was the rise of the extremist and Walloon-nationalist Parti Populaire des Libres Wallons (English People's Party of the Free Walloons), which sought to shift supreme power and representation in Belgium "back from Flanders into Wallonia", alleging that Belgium had "always been a 100% Francophone nation that has been corrupted by the evil Flemings" and that Flanders "had wrecked Wallonia out of spite for the power of the French language".

Promising a resurgance of Walloon economy, culture, education, power and representation, the PPLW rapidly rose to power over the course of years. The party's extreme territorial promises included:


 * The dissolution and Francophonization of the East Cantons
 * The expansion of Wallonia into southern Flemish Brabant
 * The expansion of Brussels into the Brusselse Rand
 * The removal of Dutch as an official language in Brussels
 * The removal of Dutch language facilities in Walloon municipalities
 * The return of Voeren/Fourons to Wallonia
 * The absorption of all Flemish municipalitoes with French language municipalities into Wallonia

The crisis reached its apex in 2001, when the PPLW became the largest party in Wallonia and made it to the federal government. The PPLW demanded that the Flemings comply with their demands. After this was refused, the crisis eventually escalated into a civil war.

Flanders declared itself an independent monarchy under the Count of Flanders, while Wallonia established a republic. The Walloons continued to demand Flemish territory and Brussels, and their policy towards Ostbelgien led to its secession a few months later.

Brussels declared itself a directorial republic and proposed a union with Wallonia, which included creating a corridor out of Flemish territory in order to bridge the gap. Without any Flemish input, the Walloon military crossed into Flemish Brabant on 13 October 2001, after which Flanders declared war on Wallonia. Wallonia immediately annexed Voeren after the token; it also rejected the independence of Ostbelgien, and after it refused a command to join Wallonia, the republic declared war on Ostbelgien.

The core of the fighting predominantly took place in Brussels, Flemish Brabant, Ostbelgien, Voeren, Comines-Warneton and border areas. The north of Flanders, including the whole of Antwerp, and the south of Wallonia, were far less affected.