Introduction
Early 1936, Belgium was on a crossroads in it history. Many paths could lead to glory, but which one should it take?
On the diplomatic level, Belgium was in a predicament, squeezed between france and an increasingly belligerent germany. And forced to maintain good relations with both. The belgian people still remembered the atrocities of the first world war too well, as indeed, belgium had been part of the battlefield. Also, people remembered the germans as oppressors, and especially the burning of the university library of Leuven was seen as an innecessary act of violence. So it was clear that an aggression by germany would surely drive belgium into the arms of the entente allies.
However as it is, belgium could not simply join the allies as that would be seen as an aggressive stance and would certainly trigger a strong German response. And as it was, Germany was the military-industrial leader of continental europe, so it would not be wise to antagonize them.
On the level of interior politics, belgium was deeply divided by what initially was a language conflict. From the founding of belgium on, French had been the language of government, justice and administration. For wallony, this posed no real problem, but in Flanders, this meant most of the population never understood government decisions and further aggravated the already precarious social structure. At the turn of the century, this conflict had lead to riots in all of the large cities in flanders, but especially in Aalst, where a local catholic priest, Daens, led the people in their rage against social inequality. By the time the first world war started, Flemish language was gaining acceptance. However, during the war, Germany initiated its Flamenpolitik, in an attempt to further drive a wedge between the crippled belgian political system and its people. This had no real effect on first sight, but with added maltreatment of Flemish soldiers by French officers, the idea started to get a hold in the trenches. Halfway the 1930's, Flanders saw the rise of extreme rightist political party VNV, led by Staf De Clercq. In Wallony, Rex, led by Leon Degrelle was another more fascist orientated party that rose even faster, as it tried to offer fascism as a socio-economic alternative for the declining Wallon Industry.
both of these extreme rightist parties had gained significant support in the 1936 elections, as VNV gained 16 seats in parliament, while Rex won a staggering 21 seats. For a country where people vote centrist parties, this was a crushing blow to the political establishment. As both of these parties had gained support from Hitler and had now gained some power, the belgian government could not openly contest Hitler's policies anymore.
It was in these difficult the Belgian government had to hold its country afloat, trying to increase it's power as a leading industrial country.
