History of Wallonia

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The History of Wallonia, from pre-history to the present day, is the history of a territory which, since 1970, has approximately coincided with the territory of the Walloon Region, a federated component which includes the smaller German-speaking Community of Belgium (73,000 inhabitants). Wallonia is the name colloquially given to the Walloon Region . The French word Wallonie comes from the term Wallon, itself coming from Walh. Walh is a very old Germanic word used to refer to a speaker of Celtic or Latin.^[1]

[edit] Prehistory

Iguanodon bernissartensis compared in size to a human.

Section of mines at Spiennes

The largest find of Iguanodon remains to date occurred in 1878 in a coal mine at Bernissart, at a depth of 322 m (1056 ft).^[2]I. bernissartensis, that lived from the Barremian to the early Aptian (Early Cretaceous) in Europe, between about 130 and 120 million years ago.

The Grotte de Spy (Spy Cave) is located near Spy in the Walloon municipality of Jemeppe-sur-Sambre, in the province of Namur^[3]. It has been classified as Wallonia's Major Heritage. It is one of the most important paleolithic sites in Europe. In 1886 a discovery was made that still represents a capital episode in the history of science. The excavation was conducted by inhabitants of Liège, Marcel de Puydt, Max Lohest and Julien Fraipont. They proved the existence of a more antiquated type of human, in other words, the Neandertal. Julien Fraipont published about Spy in an American Review ^[4]

Spiennes is another famous Walloon village in the municipality of Mons Province of Hainaut. Its well known neolithic flint mines^[5], are on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The entry on the list describes them as "the largest and earliest concentration of ancient mines in Europe" and cites the level of human technological development they demonstrate as justification for their inclusion.^[6]

[edit] Antiquity

Séquence de sainte Eulalie

'Julius Caesar conquered Gaul. Our ancestors became the Gallo-Romans and were called the "Walha" by their Germanic neighbours. Hence the name Wallonia. The "Walha" abandoned their Celtic dialects and started to speak Vulgar Latin. Already at that time, Wallonia was on the border between the Germanic world and the Latin world. ^[7] The historians are emphasizing the land of the Walloon people: Leopold Genicot^[8], Francis Dumont etc.^[9]. For Félix Rousseau, Wallonia has always been a romance land since Gallic Wars and constitutes a Latin avant-garde in the Germanic Europe. Félix Rousseau's book La Wallonie, Terre Romane [The Wallonia, Romance Land] begins like :

For centuries, the land of the Walloons has been and has never stopped to be a romance land. That's the capital fact of the history of the Walloons that explains their way to think, to feel, to believe.
Moreover, in the whole romance world, the land of Walloons, stuk between germanic territories, occupies a special position, a position of avant-garde. Indeed, the 300km long border separate those extremi Latini of the Flemish at the North, of the Germans at the East.^[10].

The most remarkable of the romance identity of Wallonia is the Sequence of Saint Eulalia (because its traits of Wallooon, Picard, Lorrain), which is possibly located in Wallonia or at least next to Wallonia. Ist origin muts be located in a region between Tournai and Liège and it was written around 880 ^[11]

[edit] The longue durée event of the language border

The moving of the Language Border is easy to read for the French part of this map (the dark blue blot at the left oft the yellow and the light blue). The moving of the Language border in Belgium is the principally the moving of the grey blot both in Flanders (yellow and the grey blot on the yellow blot) and in Wallonia (light blue, but becoming dark when this grey blot includes Wallonia). This area was a bilingual area following the map and was gradually erased.

Following Fernand Braudel himself, the most important event of the Walloon history (and of the Belgian history), is the so-called Barbarian invasions. For the great French historian, it is one interesting example of the longue durée event. He wrote that the result of the Germanic invasions - the language border in Belgium - is a contemporary and living trait (see, for instance, Belgium divided into two parts along a language border ^[12] . This border, separating the Germanic and Roman sprachraums, moved over the centuries which preceded the establishment of the Belgian state over an area between the Ardennes and the more or less straight line going from Aachen to Calais on the one hand and the much less populated frontier from Aachen to Arlon via Malmedy. However this frontier has not much changed since the 18th century.^[13]

Flanders is in the North of the red line and Wallonia in the South. The shape of the border between France and Wallonia is easy to recognize (in the light blue blot).

Gaul conquered by Julius Caesar was a part of the Roman Empire. The result of that is the French-speaking Europe: France, Wallonia, Brussels French-speaking Switzerland, with their regional languages ( the following map).	Languages of France. Wallonia is in the N-E: almost the whole Walloon language (dark green), little part of the Picard language (light green in the West), more little part of Lorrain language (light green in the South)	Regional languages of Wallonia: Walloon language (yellow), Picard language (green) and Lorrain language (brown), little area of the Champenois (and smaller germanic areas (blue or white))	Area of the Walloon language (the most important one): the white coloured areas are the one of Picard language, Lorrain language, Champenois. Some old smaller current Germanic areas
Regional languages of Wallonia and Wallonia in the south of the Benelux countries.	Wallonia into Belgium and the neighbouring countries: France, Germany etc.	Political Wallonia among the others Regions       Flemish Region     Brussels-Capital Region     Walloon Region	The five provinces of Wallonia : Walloon Brabant (number 1), Hainaut (2), province of Liège (3) province of Luxembourg (4), province of Namur (5).

[edit] Old Origin of the industry in Wallonia

L' Ardenne (Wallonian spelling), is an old mountain formed during the Hercynian orogeny as for instance in France the Armorican Massif, the Massif Central and the Vosges. At the bottom of these old mountains, coal, iron, zinc, and other metals are often found in the sub-soil. This geologic fact explains the greatest part of Wallonia's history. In the North and West of the Ardennes lie the valleys of the Sambre and Meuse rivers, forming an arc Sillon industriel going across the most industrial provinces of Wallonia, for example Hainaut, along the river Haine (the etymology of Hainaut) : the Borinage, the Centre and Charleroi along the river Sambre, Liège along the river Meuse. This geological region, this old mountain is at the origin of the economy, the history, and the geography of Wallonia. Wallonia presents a wide range of rocks of various ages. Some geological stages internationally recognized were defined from rock sites located in Wallonia : e.g. Frasnian (Frasnes), Famennian (Famenne), Tournaisian (Tournai), Visean (Visé), Dinantian (Dinant) and Namurian (Namur)^[14] The Tournaisian excepted, all these rocks are in the Ardennes viewed as a geological area.

The Ardennes includes the greatest part of the province of Luxembourg (number 4), the south of the province of Namur (number 5) and the province of Liège (number 3), and a very small part of Hainaut (number 2). There were the first furnaces in the four Walloon provinces, using, before the 18th century, charcoal which was made in the Ardennes forest. This industry was also in the extreme South of the Luxembourg, in the region called Gaume. After this century, the most important part of the Walloon steel industry, using then coal, was built around the coal-mines, principally in the region around the cities of Liège, Charleroi, La Louvière, the Borinage, and further in the Walloon Brabant (in Tubize). Wallonia became the second industrial power of the world in proportion to its territory and to its population (see further).

The industrial revolution in the Sillon industriel will include four industrial basins (Borinage, La Louvière - called Centre - Charleroi, Liège) and a semi-industrial basin in Namur ^[15]:

During ancient times these fourth basin was a major center of iron manufacture and one of the important industrial areas of the Roman Empire. With the fall of the Empire, however, iron was more or less displaced by various types of brass or bronze, and the local centers of medieval metalworking in Belgium moved to Huy and out of the iron regions, on up the Meuse river to the forested areas around Dinant and Chimay. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the iron masters of Liège evolved a method of refining iron ore by the use of a blast furnace. Called the Walloon Method, this development was instrumental in making possible the re-substitution of iron for brass after the fifteenth century. Apart from increasing the industrial importance of Liège, however, it apparently did not otherwise relocate the centers of metal production. There were a few coalmines around Liège, Charleroi, and the Borinage as early as the thirteenth century but their production was small. The main medieval use of coal was neither for household heating nor for metalworking. Rather, it was principally consumed as a fuel by various industries such as breweries, dyeworks, soap and brick factories, and by the important glassmaking industry that sprang up in the Charleroi basin during the fourteenth century. Coal was mined in those days as a kind of rural, part-time enterprise to supplement peasant incomes.^[16]

[edit] The Walloon Method in the Middle Ages

During the late Middle Ages, "within the context of the demand for iron for artillery, important technological developments in iron working occurred in Wallonia (...) of particular importance in the County of Namur, County of Hainaut (... and) Principality of Liège", called Walloon method.^[17] The Walloon method consisted of making pig iron in a blast furnace, followed by refining it in a finery forge. The process was devised in the Liège region spread^[18] into France and thence from the Pays de Bray to England before the end of the 15th century.^[19][20] Louis de Geer took it to Roslagen in Sweden in the early 17th century, where he employed Walloon ironmakers.^[21] Iron made there by this method was known in England as oregrounds iron.^[22] See also Robert Halleux, Anne-Catherine Bernès, Luc Étienne, 'L'évolution des sciences et des techniques en Wallonie', in Atouts et références d’une région, Institut Destrée, Charleroi, 1995 Atouts et références d’une région </ref>

[edit] The Beginning of the industrial Revolution

Peter N.Stearns wrote:

The improvement of the blast furnace and the development of the puddling process, both originating in England during the last half of the eighteenth century, accelerated the substitution of coke for charcoal. The first puddling furnace was not installed in Belgium until 1821, while the first coke-fed blast furnace didnot appear until two years later. By 1850, however, there were as many furnaces using coke as charcoal, and by 1870 the extensive use of charcoal in metalworking had been discontinued almost everywhere but in a few small establishments in Luxembourg and Namur provinces. Under the impact of these developments metalproduction moved out of the forested areas into the coal-producting vicinities of Charleroi and Liège. It was the perfection of the steam engine, however, which troggered the Industrial revolution in Belgium. In many ways the growth of steam power can serve as an index for the develoment of that revolution itself, since it was both a major cause and a major effect of its continuance. The earliest kind of steam-operated machine,a Newcomen-type steampump, was in use in mines near Liège as early as 1723 an dat Charleroi by 1725. THe first steam engines, based on Watt's modifications, appeared on the continent in a cannon foundry at Liège in 1803. The meager four horsepower produced by the two machines installed there grew to 1,400 by 1830, to 30,000 by 1840 and to 100,000 by 1860.^[23]

Font of Renier de Huy (Mosan art): The baptism of the catechumens. A kind of an old Walloon know-how in making the brass i (12th century).

The rich house of Curtius in Liège, one of the first capitalist (Weapons industry:17th century).

Statue of the Walloon Louis de Geer (1587-1652) in Norrköping Sweden (1945 : the sentence at the bottom of the statue speaks of him as the father of the industry in Sweden

View of the oval courtyyard and the statue of H. de Gorge who built this industrial mining complex of Grand Hornu in the Walloon municipality of Boussu (in the beginning of the 19th century). A unique example of functional town-planning. Walloon Major Heritage. An evidence of the importance of the Industrial revolution in Wallonia

[edit] Second Industrial Power of the World

Peter N. Stearns wrote:

The improvement of the blast furnace and the development of the puddling process, both originating in England during the last half of the eighteenth century, accelerated the substitution of coke for charcoal. The first puddling furnace was not installed in Belgium until 1821, while the first coke-fed blast furnace did not appear until two years later. By 1850, however, there were as many furnaces using coke as charcoal, and by 1870 the extensive use of charcoal in metalworking had been discontinued almost everywhere but in a few small establishments in Luxembourg and Namur provinces. Under the impact of these developments metal production moved out of the forested areas into the coal-producing vicinities of Charleroi and Liège. It was the perfection of the steam engine, however, which triggered the Industrial revolution in Belgium. In many ways the growth of steam power can serve as an index for the development of that revolution itself, since it was both a major cause and a major effect of its continuance. The earliest kind of steam-operated machine, a Newcomen-type steam pump, was in use in mines near Liège as early as 1723 an dat Charleroi by 1725. The first steam engines, based on Watt's modifications, appeared on the continent in a cannon foundry at Liège in 1803. The meager four horsepower produced by the two machines installed there grew to 1,400 by 1830, to 30,000 by 1840 and to 100,000 by 1860.^[24]

Jean-Pierre Rioux quoted the following table in his book La révolution industrielle (Industrial revolution). The table is based on several levels of development (i.e. consumption of cotton in the rough state, of cast-iron, cast-steel, coal, the development of the railway network^[25]). This table was firstly drawn by Paul Bairoch one of the most important economist after the World War II ^[26]

Thus, this table is not based on absolute figures (or is not pointing out the absolute ranks), but the hierarchy of the industrial powers is based on their levels of development. And if Wallonia is not pointed out on this table, Wallonia may be used instead of Belgium.

According to many authors, the word Belgium may be exchanged for Wallonia as for instance Herbert Lüthy, quoted by Maurice Besnard: Belgium and its Walloon part was the first country to become an industrial country after England. Herbert Lüthy did not agree with the theory of Max Weber on the link between capitalism and Protestantism and, on the contrary, underlined the fact that Wallonia was a catholic country^[28] Philippe Destatte wrote that Wallonia was the second industrial power of the world, in proportion to its population and its territory ^[29]. Hervé Hasquin thought that the development of the Walloon industrial regions contributed to make of Belgium one of the main industrial powers in Europa, if not in the world... ^[30] Philippe Raxhon wrote about the period after 1830,: It was not propaganda but reality that the Walloon regions were becoming the second industrial power all over the world after England ^[31] Marc Reynebau said the same thing ^[32] Michel De Coster, Professor at the University of Liège wrote also:The historians and the economists say that Belgium was the second industrial power of the world, in proportion to its population and its territory (...) But this rank is the one of Wallonia where were concentrated the coal-mines, the blast furnaces, the iron and zinc factories, the wool industry, the glass industry, the weapons industry... ^[33]. The Professor is pointing out this possible confusion (Belgium/Wallonia), as a good example of the difficulties of the Walloon identity. There are many other references about that: The Walloon iron and steel industry came to be regarded as an example of the radical evolution of industrial expansion. Thanks to coal (the French word “houille” was coined in Wallonia), the region geared up to become the second industrial power in the world after England. In fact, despite the protectionism of neighbouring states, in 1833 Belgian industry boasted 5 times more steam machines per inhabitant than a country such as France. It also exported them to over 25 countries. ^[34]The sole industrial centre outside the collieries and blast furnaces of Walloon was the old cloth making town of Ghent. ^[35]

Lift no. 3 among a series of four hydraulic boat lifts of Lifts on the old Canal du Centre near the town of La Louvière in the Walloon province of Hainaut a Walloon Major Heritage and a World Heritage Site (end of the 19th century).

Ronquières inclined plane in the second half of the 20th Century

Strépy-Thieu boat lift The modern boat lift, built in the beginning of the 21st century

The new Liège-Guillemins railway station

[edit] Depending on Brussels

Professor Michel Quévit wrote Wallonia has been a prosperous country depending on the financial powers in Brussels ^[36] . When arriving at the end of the first stage of the industrial revolution, Walloon captains of industry took huge risks because of the large increase of the production. The result was that the High Bank in Brussels took very important financial participation in the Walloon companies. In 1847, it is done. Brussels became the dominating structure of the Belgian space ^[37]

Mikulas Teich wrote and summarized all the last stages of the contemporary Wallonia as far as the 1970s:

[edit] The Belgian State: Wallonia depending politically on the North

The language of Belgium's elites, Government, Monarchy, Bourgeoisie was French in 1830. And if Wallonia is now defined as a French speaking country, the French choice of the elites in 1830 was not a Walloon choice, in favour of this southern part of Belgium and to the northern part. French speaking elites at the head of the companies, the industry, the politics were all coming from both Flanders and Wallonia. It was not an ethnic choice but a social choice.

Quickly, Wallonia found it to its cost:In the history of Belgium, the legislative elections held on 11 June 1884 represent a pivotal point for the total victory of the Catholic Party over Walthère Frère-Orban's liberals opened the way for thirty years of homogeneous governments, thirty years of domination by that party , whose main power was in Flanders. Above all, this 1884 victory had the effect - to quote Robert Demoulin - of shifting the country's political centre of gravity from the South to toward the North.^[39]

Jules Destrée, an important socialist leader of Charleroi reacted against this situation in writing the Lettre au roi sur la séparation de la Wallonie et de la Flandre ^[41]. Even the President of the POB, Emile Vandervelde said that 'The walloon populations are tired to be dominated by an artificial majority formed by the Flemish part of the country.' ^[42]

[edit] The Country of the General strike

Tony Cliff wrote:

Belgium has a long tradition of mass industrial strikes. In 1886 a great series of strikes broke out, first in the neighbourhood of Charleroi, then in Liege and over a large part of the Walloon provinces. The main demand was universal suffrage; but there were economic demands as well in some places. Then in May, 1891, a mass strike of some 125,000 workers put forward a demand for changes in the electoral system. In April, 1893, another strike, embracing about a quarter of a million workers, broke out for a similar demand. The outcome was universal, but unequal, franchise, the votes of the rich and “cultured” counting for two or three times those of workers and peasants. The workers, dissatisfied, carried out another mass strike nine years later, demanding a complete revision of the Constitution.An even bigger strike – in which 450,000 workers took part – was called by the Socialist Party and trade unions to achieve electoral reform in 1902, and again in 1913. Another general strike took place in 1936 which wrested from the capitalists a forty-hour week and paid holidays. In 1950 a general strike led to the abdication of King Leopold. In 1958-9 the coal-miners of the Borinage spontaneously began a general strike not merely for wage demands but for the nationalisation of the mining industry.^[43]

Major and general strikes took place along this sillon in 1885, 1893 (for universal suffrage), 1902, 1913, 1932, 1936, 1950 (against King Leopold III because of his relationship with the Germans during the World War II). Wallonia was never dominating Belgium. Belgium was dominated by a Francophone elite from Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia. The historian Philippe Destatte wrote: It is true that the Walloon movement, which has never stopped affirming that Wallonia is part of the French cultural area, has never made this cultural struggle a priority, being more concerned to struggle against its status as a political minority and the economic decline which was only a corollary to it. ^[44] Jules Destrée fought against this situation which it is not rather known : the Wallonian people were always a minority in Belgium, firstly dominated by the Frenchspeaking elite and afterward by the Dutchspeaking elite. André Renard fought against this economic decline when he became the leader of the strike of 1960-1961, a struggle for a self-governing Wallonia, a renardist strike.

[edit] Walloon Decline versus Reconversion

The two world wars curbed the continuous expansion that Wallonia had enjoyed up till that time. Then everything changed dramatically in 1958. The factories of Wallonia were by then antiquated, the coal was running out and the cost of extracting coal was constantly rising. It was the end of an era, and Wallonia had to redefine itself as a dynamic industrial heartland. The key to the region's future was state-of-the-art technology. ^[45] In December 1960, a strike gripped the country, but it succeeded only in Wallonia. The movement became a renardist strike. Renée C.Fox explained all the affair in a few words:

At the beginning of the 1960s (...), a major reversal in the relationship between Flanders and Wallony was taking place. Flanders had entered a vigorous, post-World War II period of industialization, and a significant percentage of the foreign capital (particularly from the United States), coming into Belgium to support new industries was being invested in Flanders. In contrast, Wallony's coal mines and time-worn steel plants and factories were in crisis. The region had lost thousands of jobs and much investment capital. A new Dutch-speaking, upwardly mobile "populist bourgeoisie" was not only becoming visible and vocal in Flemish movements but also in both the local and national policy [The strike of December 1960 against the austerity law of Gaston Eyskens ] was replaced by a collective expression of the frustrations, anxieties, and grievances that Wallony was experiencing in response to its altered situation, and by the demands of the newly formed Mouvement populaire wallon for (...) regional autonomy for Wallony...^[46].

Now, Wallonia is managing interregional cooperation with its neighbours ^[47], centres of excellence and-state-of-the-art technologies ^[48] and business parks ^[49]. The Region is not yet at the level of Flanders and is suffering many difficulties.

Nevertheless forty Walloon companies are number one in Wallonia and worldwide following the Union Wallonne des Entreprises ^[50], for instance: in glass production ^[51] lime and limestone production ^[52] Cyclotrons ^[53] aviation industry ^[54] etc.

[edit] Culture

The Manifesto for Walloon culture published in 1983 is also an important event of the Walloon History.

[edit] Bibliography

• Leopold Genicot (editor), Histoire de la Wallonie, Privat, Toulouse, 1973.

• Hervé Hasquin (directeur), La Wallonie, le pays et les hommes. Histoire. Écomonie; Sociétés, Tome I et Tome II, La Renaissance du Livre, Bruxelles, 1975 et 1980.

• Rita Lejeune et Jacques Stiennon (directeurs), La Wallonie, le Pays et les Hommes. Lettres. Arts. Culture., Tome I, II, III, IV, La Renaissance du Livre, Bruxelles, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981.

• Philippe Destatte, L'identité wallonne, Institut Destrée, Charleroi, 1997.

• Louis Vos, Nationalism in Belgium, MACMILAN Press, London, 1998, ISBN 0-333-65737-3, ST.MARTIN'S PRESS, New York, 1998, ISBN 0-312-21249-6.

• Paul Delforge (directeur) Encyclopédie du Mouvement wallon, Tome I, II et III, Institut Destrée, Charleroi, 2000 et 2001.

• Robert Halleux, Cockerill, Deux siècles de technologie, éditions du Perron, Liège 2002.

• Luc Courtois et Jean Pirottte, De fer et de feu, l'émigration walllonne vers la Suède, Fondation Humblet, Louvain-la-neuve, 2003.

• Bruno Demoulin et Jean-Louis Kupper (directeurs), Histoire de la Wallonie de la préhistoire au XXIe siècle, Privat, Toulouse, 2004.

• Pierre Tilly, André Renard, Far et Le Cri, Bruxelles, Liège, 2005.

• Yves Quairiaux, L'image du Flamand en Wallonie, Labor, Bruxelles, 2006.

• Michel De Coster, Les enjeux des conflits linguistiques, L'Harmattan, Paris, 2007, ISBN 978-2-296-0339-8.

• Luc Courtois, Jean-Pierre Delville, Françoise Rosart & Guy Zélis (directeurs), Images et paysages mentaux des xixe siècle et xxe siècle siècles de la Wallonie à l'Outre-Mer - Hommage au professeur Jean Pirotte à l'occasion de son éméritat, Academia Bruylant, Presses Universitaires de l'UCL, Louvain-la-Neuve, 2007.

• Paul Delforge, La Wallonie et la première guerre mondiale. Pour une histoire de la séparation administrative, Institut Jules Destrée, Namur, 2009.

[edit] See also

History of the Walloon Movement

[edit] Notes