Guy Vanthemsche is Professor Emeritus at the Free University Brussels, where he taught contemporary history for over three decades. He is the secretary of the Belgian Royal Historical Commission and a member of the Belgian Royal Academy of Overseas Sciences. He is the author of several books on nineteenth- and twentieth-century social, economic and political Belgian history, including Belgium and the Congo, 1885–1980 (Cambridge University Press, 2012). Roger De Peuter was a lecturer in economic and social history at Utrecht University and taught late medieval and early modern history of the Low Countries at the Free University Brussels until his retirement in 2011. His publications include articles and a book on early modern Belgian history.

'A remarkable feat of synthesis. This volume provides an excellent modern history of the territories in north-west Europe which, having experienced many different forms of rule - local and imperial, religious and secular - were brought together as the nation and state of Belgium after 1830.' Martin Conway, University of Oxford

• 1. Earliest times – From prehistory to the end of the Roman Period; 2. The era of the Frankish kingdoms (fifth–tenth century); 3. The origins of the medieval principalities (tenth–fourteenth century); 4. Unifying the Netherlands: The Burgundy – Habsburg period (1384–1555); 5. The Spanish Netherlands (1555-ca. 1700); 6. The Austrian Netherlands (ca. 1700–1780); 7. The formation of a new nation-state (1780s–1830); 8. The consolidation of a Bourgeois regime (1831–1880s); 9. The Belgian nation-state at its height (1880s–1945); 10. The metamorphoses of a nation-state (from 1945 to the present day); Index.

Guy Vanthemsche is Professor Emeritus at the Free University Brussels, where he taught contemporary history for over three decades. He is the secretary of the Belgian Royal Historical Commission and a member of the Belgian Royal Academy of Overseas Sciences. He is the author of several books on nineteenth- and twentieth-century social, economic and political Belgian history, including Belgium and the Congo, 1885–1980 (Cambridge University Press, 2012). Roger De Peuter was a lecturer in economic and social history at Utrecht University and taught late medieval and early modern history of the Low Countries at the Free University Brussels until his retirement in 2011. His publications include articles and a book on early modern Belgian history.

'A remarkable feat of synthesis. This volume provides an excellent modern history of the territories in north-west Europe which, having experienced many different forms of rule - local and imperial, religious and secular - were brought together as the nation and state of Belgium after 1830.' Martin Conway, University of Oxford

• 1. Earliest times – From prehistory to the end of the Roman Period; 2. The era of the Frankish kingdoms (fifth–tenth century); 3. The origins of the medieval principalities (tenth–fourteenth century); 4. Unifying the Netherlands: The Burgundy – Habsburg period (1384–1555); 5. The Spanish Netherlands (1555-ca. 1700); 6. The Austrian Netherlands (ca. 1700–1780); 7. The formation of a new nation-state (1780s–1830); 8. The consolidation of a Bourgeois regime (1831–1880s); 9. The Belgian nation-state at its height (1880s–1945); 10. The metamorphoses of a nation-state (from 1945 to the present day); Index.

Guy Vanthemsche is Professor Emeritus at the Free University Brussels, where he taught contemporary history for over three decades. He is the secretary of the Belgian Royal Historical Commission and a member of the Belgian Royal Academy of Overseas Sciences. He is the author of several books on nineteenth- and twentieth-century social, economic and political Belgian history, including Belgium and the Congo, 1885–1980 (Cambridge University Press, 2012). Roger De Peuter was a lecturer in economic and social history at Utrecht University and taught late medieval and early modern history of the Low Countries at the Free University Brussels until his retirement in 2011. His publications include articles and a book on early modern Belgian history.

'A remarkable feat of synthesis. This volume provides an excellent modern history of the territories in north-west Europe which, having experienced many different forms of rule - local and imperial, religious and secular - were brought together as the nation and state of Belgium after 1830.' Martin Conway, University of Oxford

• 1. Earliest times – From prehistory to the end of the Roman Period; 2. The era of the Frankish kingdoms (fifth–tenth century); 3. The origins of the medieval principalities (tenth–fourteenth century); 4. Unifying the Netherlands: The Burgundy – Habsburg period (1384–1555); 5. The Spanish Netherlands (1555-ca. 1700); 6. The Austrian Netherlands (ca. 1700–1780); 7. The formation of a new nation-state (1780s–1830); 8. The consolidation of a Bourgeois regime (1831–1880s); 9. The Belgian nation-state at its height (1880s–1945); 10. The metamorphoses of a nation-state (from 1945 to the present day); Index.