King Leopold II of Belgium

Leopold became king in 1865. In a speech at his swearing-in ceremony He explained the goal for his reign as follows:

"On this day, succeeding to a father so honored during his life and so regretted after his death, my first engagement before the representatives or the nation is to religiously follow the precepts and examples which his wisdom has left me, and never to forget the duties imposed on me by this precious inheritance. If I do not promise to Belgium either a great reign like that which founded her independence, or a great king like him whom we mourn, I at least promise her a king Belgian in heart and soul, whose whole life belongs to her."

(Leopold II did however not mention anything about colonies in his speech as been told by various Liberal and popular media outlets.)

When King Leopold II approached the Royal Palace of Brussels with dignitaries on December 17, 1865, the day of his coronation, the military band accompanying him began to play the famous entry of Agamemnon "Le roi barbu qui s'avance, bu qui s'avance, bu qui s'avance" from La belle Hélène. However, apparently, the conductor was not aware of the wordplay (Le roi bar) bu qui s'avance (The bearded king who advances) and Bouc qui s'avance (Goat that advances). The next day, a minister told a journalist, "Fortunately, this happened in as benign a country as Belgium; if it had occurred in our neighbors' land, the king would have been the target of general ridicule for a month.

Domestic Reign

Leopold's reign witnessed significant political developments in Belgium. The Liberal Party governed the country from 1857 to 1880. In the final year of their rule, they enacted the Frère-Orban Law of 1879, establishing free, secular, and compulsory primary schools supported by the state while withdrawing state support from Roman Catholic primary schools. However, the Catholic Party gained a parliamentary majority in 1880 and, four years later, reinstated state support for Catholic schools. In 1885, various socialist and social democratic groups united to form the Labour Party, a response to increasing social unrest. This led to the adoption of universal male suffrage in 1893.

Leopold's reign also witnessed other significant social changes becoming law. These included the right of workers to form labor unions, the abolition of the employment record book known as the livret d'ouvrier, and laws against child labor. Under these laws, children under 12 were prohibited from working in factories, those under 16 were not allowed to work at night, and women under 21 years of age were not permitted to work underground. Workers gained the right to compensation for workplace accidents and were granted Sundays off.

Leopold prioritized military defense as the cornerstone of Belgium's neutrality and worked diligently to enhance the country's military preparedness. He oversaw the construction of defensive fortifications in key locations such as Liège, Namur, and Antwerp. During the challenging and perilous period of the Franco-Prussian War, Leopold successfully safeguarded Belgium's neutrality.

Leopold also championed reforms in the military service system, although he only managed to achieve significant changes shortly before his death. Initially, the Belgian army relied on a mix of volunteers and a lottery system, allowing men to pay for substitutes to fulfill their military service obligations. Eventually, this system was replaced with a new approach, mandating that one son from each family must serve in the military, ensuring a more equitable distribution of service obligations among the population.

The first revision of the Belgian Constitution occurred in 1893, introducing universal male suffrage, although it was somewhat offset by plural voting. Eligibility requirements for the Senate were relaxed, and elections adopted a proportional representation system that remains in place today. Leopold advocated for a royal referendum, which would grant the king the power to consult the electorate directly and use his veto based on referendum results.

However, this proposal was rejected as it would have allowed the king to override the elected government. Leopold's disappointment was so profound that he contemplated abdication. Leopold writes:

"Dear Minister, I particularly regret that the government, as I had expressly requested, did not make the royal referendum a sine qua non, three points in the program concern the crown directly, the possibility of expanding the territory, the referendum and the princely marriages, I would have liked to see this matter implemented, we have been clear about this during our discussions, we have taken a very moderate attitude with this at a time when the most democratic constitution in Europe is being even more democratized, a constitution drawn up during a revolution, and at a time when there was no monarch, your devotee, etc. Leopold." and "To the presidents of the chambers, the institutions of the country are on the eve of profound changes, various indications and circumstances have convinced me that it is desirable in the new situation, a new administration should take office, I request you on my behalf to inform the chambers of my abdication, with the highest and most special esteem, your affectionate King, Leopold."

Oppression of Flemish People

During Leopold's reign, the Flemish people experienced systematic oppression, with the central issue being language and cultural identity. French was the dominant language at the Belgian court and in the highest echelons of Belgian society. Flemish individuals were often marginalized, and their language discriminated against. This gave rise to what is known as the "French-Flemish antagonism."

Education was a significant point of contention. French was the language of instruction in schools, often causing Flemish children to neglect their own language and culture, resulting in a generation of Flemish people who were excluded in their own country. Furthermore, there were economic consequences of this oppression. Much of the economic and political power was concentrated in Brussels and Wallonia, while Flanders, despite its economic contributions, was frequently sidelined. 

Attempted assassination

On November 15, 1902, a chilling incident unfolded when Italian anarchist Gennaro Rubino made an assassination attempt on Leopold. The king was traveling in a royal procession from a memorial ceremony at the Church of St. Michael and St. Gudula, dedicated to his late wife, Marie Henriette. As Leopold's carriage passed by, Rubino fired three shots at the procession. Fortunately, the shots missed Leopold but came perilously close to killing the king's grand marshal, Count Charles John d'Oultremont. Rubino was swiftly apprehended and subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment, ultimately passing away in prison in 1918.

In the aftermath of the assassination attempt, when asked about his safety, Leopold responded to a senator, saying, "My dear senator, if fate wants me shot, too bad!" The security measures were called into question, given that the carriages had glass windows that were 2 cm thick. Across Europe, news of this shocking incident spread like wildfire, and heads of state and even the Pope sent telegrams to King Leopold, congratulating him on surviving the assassination attempt.

Builder King

Leopold was a prolific patron of architecture, urban development, and public projects, earning him the nickname "Builder King." His initiatives covered various Belgian cities, including Brussels, Ostend, Leuven, and Antwerp. Some notable projects included the Hippodrome Wellington racetrack (1883), the Royal Galleries and Maria Hendrikapark in Ostend (1902), the Royal Museum for Central Africa and its surrounding park in Tervuren (1898), the Parc du Cinquantenaire and its triumphal arch complex (1852-1880), Duden Park in Brussels (1881), the Reconstruction of the Royal Palace in Brussels (1904), the Palace of Justice of Brussels (1866-1883), the Antwerp ZOO (1843), the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Brussels (1905-1969), the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp (1884), the Royal Greenhouses of Laken (1874-1895), and Antwerp-Centraal railway station (1895–1905).

It's important to clarify that the funding for these projects did not primarily come from the profits of his rule over the Independent State of the Congo, as some have suggested. Many of these building initiatives were initiated by his father, King Leopold I, and a significant portion of them were completed before the Congo state even existed.

Leopold's commitment to beautifying Belgium is evident in his statement upon ascending the throne in 1865: "I am generous and about to make a multi-million dollar sacrifice to beautify my capital. It will cost me three to four years of wages, but I wish my life here on earth to leave many traces."

Leopold also considered the future and didn't want his extensive collection of estates, lands, and heritage buildings to be dispersed among his daughters, each of whom was married to a foreign prince. In 1900, he established the Royal Trust, through which he donated the majority of his properties to the Belgian nation in perpetuity. This ensured that his legacy would continue to contribute to the beauty of Belgium while allowing future generations of the Belgian royal family to use these properties. Additionally, Leopold invested in various private properties, expanding the Royal Castle of Laeken, constructing the Royal Greenhouses, and acquiring estates such as those in the Ardennes and on the French Riviera, including the Villa des Cèdres and the Villa Leopolda.

Belgian Colonial Empire

Leopold, much like his father, held a strong conviction that overseas colonies were integral to a nation's grandeur. He tirelessly pursued the acquisition of colonial territories for Belgium, envisioning "little Belgium" as the heart of a significant overseas empire. In his own words, Leopold expressed this aspiration:

"Trading posts and colonies, gentlemen, have not only strengthened the commercial positions of the peoples concerned; these nations owe their greatness to these institutions."

Throughout his reign, Leopold observed the decline of empires such as the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain, and he explored the possibility of acquiring their territories. In 1866, he directed the Belgian ambassador in Madrid to discuss the potential cession of the Philippines to Belgium with Queen Isabella II of Spain. However, the ambassador took no action, fully aware of the complexities involved. Leopold subsequently replaced the ambassador with someone more sympathetic to his cause.

In 1868, when Isabella II was deposed as the queen of Spain, Leopold made renewed efforts to pursue his original plan to acquire the Philippines. Unfortunately, due to a lack of funds, this endeavor was unsuccessful. Consequently, Leopold devised another plan, aiming to establish the Philippines as an independent state that could then be ruled by a Belgian. However, both of these plans ultimately failed to come to fruition.

Plans for an Attack on the Netherlands

Leopold, prior to ascending the throne, developed advanced plans for an attack on the Netherlands. These plans were driven by his desire to gain access to Dutch colonies and his belief that certain territories, including Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, North Brabant, Dutch Limburg, and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, should rightfully belong to Belgium.

In 1854, a comprehensive Belgian espionage mission was dispatched to the Netherlands. The mission returned with sketches of key Dutch fortresses and reported that the Dutch military was significantly weaker and smaller than the Belgian army. The attack plan involved inciting unrest in the Catholic region of the Netherlands as a pretext for invasion. The objective was to depose Dutch King Willem III, after which the fate of the Catholics would be decided by the population. The ultimate goal was to unify all Catholic territories up to the major rivers under a single crown. The outcome of the attack would determine which provinces would willingly join Belgium.

However, these plans were never executed because King Leopold I, who was still reigning at the time, deemed them too risky. Additionally, support from France did not materialize, as it was hoped for.

Independent Congo State

Following a series of unsuccessful attempts to acquire colonies in America and Asia, Leopold II established the International African Society in 1878. This philanthropic association aimed to explore opportunities for colonial expansion. The society had an international reach, with branches in industrialized nations worldwide and its headquarters in Brussels. Under the society's mandate, Leopold hired the renowned explorer and American Civil War hero, Henry Morton Stanley, in 1878 to investigate the possibilities of establishing a state in the Congo region.

Six months before the Berlin Conference in 1884, the United States recognized the Independent Congo State, with American diplomats expressing a moral duty toward the African population. Diplomatic negotiations among European nations, aided significantly by the United States, led to the formal recognition of the independent state of the Congo in 1884–1885. During this process, Leopold II was acknowledged as the sovereign ruler of a substantial portion of the claimed territory. On February 5, 1885, the independent state of the Congo was established, covering an area 80 times larger than Belgium. Importantly, it was not Leopold's private property or colony, as some critics have asserted; he merely served as the head of state. Proffesor Bruce Gilley describes it as follows:

"The deal was simple: Léopold was to open the area to trade and eliminate endemic Arab slave empires and African tribal wars. In return, he hoped to bring glory to the Belgian people for having done what no other European ruler dared".

(one in three Europeans who traveled to the Congo died, usually of illness).

Recognition by the United States

It's noteworthy that the United States played a significant role in the early recognition of the independent state of the Congo in 1884. This recognition was influenced by the recent U.S. Civil War, which centered on the abolition of slavery. American diplomats believed that the United States had a unique responsibility toward the African-American community. They had previously established the Liberia colony in West Africa as a haven for emancipated black slaves and those rescued from illegal slavers by American military vessels patrolling the Gold Coast of Africa and the Congo River's mouth after 1861. Returning these individuals to their places of enslavement was deemed impractical and inhumane. The initial concept behind the independent state of the Congo was similar, aiming to provide a refuge for freed individuals.

Criticism and Condemnation

In the early 20th century, Leopold II's governance of the Independent State of the Congo faced widespread criticism and drew international condemnation. The scrutiny on Leopold's administration intensified with the emergence of the Congo Reform Association, a political and humanitarian activist group committed to advocating for reform within the Independent State of the Congo. This mounting pressure led to the appointment of Roger Casement, a liberal gay activist, who was also a member of the Congo Reform Association, by the British Crown to investigate the conditions in the region. Casement's meticulous investigations culminated in the Casement Report, a comprehensive document that painstakingly detailed the alleged abuses perpetrated under Leopold's regime.

In response to mounting allegations, Leopold, initially unaware of the extent of the atrocities, promptly established a commission to investigate the matter. However, addressing the issues proved to be an uphill battle. The vast expanse of the Congo, the difficulty in finding suitable replacements, and the considerable financial commitments that large-scale infrastructure projects entailed presented formidable obstacles.

Scholars stress that this condemnation often fails to take into account the broader global context of the time. They note that much of the documentation fueling the accusations comes from British sources, introducing a biased perspective. They highlight the rivalry between European colonial powers at the time and suggest that hidden agendas and rivalries may have played a role in shaping the narrative against Leopold II.

Within the independent state, rubber workers were subjected to forced labor as a form of taxation to pay for anti-slavery campaigns, resulting in a litany of abuses. Leopold showed willingness to address these outrages, sending a commission of inquiry and calling for the punishment of any cruelty to the natives. Yet the misdeeds within the concession companies' territories remained largely unchecked.

It was only in 1903-1904 that significant changes began to take place. By then, however, the international, mainly Anglo-Saxon, campaign against Leopold had reached an unstoppable momentum. Figures like Edmund Morel, who received financial compensation from the Manchester Chamber of Commerce for writing critical articles about Leopold's rule, and Roger Casement played a central role in spreading anti-Leopold sentiment through their writings.

Genocide Claim

In "King Leopold's Ghost," Adam Hochschild's claim of a staggering 10 million deaths during the Leopold Holocaust has ignited fervent discussion. Hochschild, an American journalist, reveals in the book's introduction that he learned about the estimated population of Congo in 1880 during a plane journey. Later, he discovered in a library that this figure had decreased after the red rubber episode. However, he then proceeded to calculate the intangible toll of 10 million disappeared people through a simple subtraction between two uncertain and changing censuses.

However, this method has some problems. It assumes that the population changed in a straightforward, predictable way over time, which might not be true. Also, there weren't any official counts of the population during that time. Additionally, Hochschild referenced the research of Jan Vansina, a Belgian ethnographer, who studied population declines in specific regions of central Africa during the 19th century. However, it's important to note that Vansina's work primarily covered the northern areas of the Congo, leaving a substantial gap in data for the entirety of the region.

Furthermore, Hochschild made use of a 1928 Harvard study that cited a 1919 Belgian claim stating that population had fallen by half in some areas. However, this study, quoted by Vansina, actually argued that this claim was likely false. Critics also argue that Hochschild's methodology and selective use of sources warrant scrutiny. They point out that Hochschild did not consult essential documents, such as the 10,000 pages of the Official Bulletin or the reports of the 1905 Commission of Inquiry and the Brazza Report. This omission raises questions about the comprehensiveness and accuracy of Hochschild's research.

In addition other studies and historical data suggest a more nuanced picture of population trends during King Leopold II's rule in the Congo. Some of the more sophisticated modeling by French and Belgian demographers propose that the general population of the Congo may have actually experienced a slight rise during this period.

For instance, Jean-Paul Sanderson, a Belgian researcher, utilized a method that involved looking at different age groups to estimate population changes. According to his findings, there might have been a minor decline, from 10.5 million in 1885 to 10 million in 1910. This implies a negligible net decrease in population over a 25-year period.

Hochschild's portrayal of Leopold II as the Machiavellian villain and the American missionaries, Morel, Casement, and even novelist Joseph Conrad as the heroes of the story adds a dramatic narrative element to his account. His assertion implies that Leopold's reign could be compared to the genocidal actions of figures like Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot. Painting a vivid picture of the atrocities and the individuals who sought to expose them. But, while his book tells a powerful story, it's important to remember that the actual numbers are different.

Belgian Congo

Following the legislation of October 18, 1908, which formalized the transfer of the Independent Congo State into Belgian control, the newly established Belgian colony embarked on a path fraught with challenges. Not only did King Leopold II face opposition, but a coalition of voices from socialist, Christian Democrat, and progressive liberal parties also stood in dissent against this transformative move. Between the years 1906 and 1908, concerted efforts were undertaken to orchestrate the handover of control from the Independent Congo State. While some politicians remained steadfast in their initial opposition, a notable number eventually yielded to the inevitability of the transition.

The enactment of the Colonial Charter of 1908 introduced a seismic shift in governance. No longer would the king wield unbridled sovereignty. Instead, a Minister of the Colonies was appointed to oversee the Colony's day-to-day affairs. This shift, with the King retaining executive authority, mirrored the governance structure of Belgium itself.

June 1909 heralded an era of grand celebration in Belgium, orchestrated by the Chamber of Commerce. These festivities were an exuberant tribute to the integration of Congo into Belgium. The zenith of these celebrations was a resplendent procession, which unfolded with grandeur on the 5th and 6th of June. The atmosphere was laden with a palpable ambivalence towards King Leopold II, who graced the occasion with his formal presence.

Death

On 17 December 1909, Leopold II died at Laeken, and the Belgian crown passed to King Albert I, the son of Leopold's brother, Philippe, Count of Flanders. Leopold's reign of exactly 44 years remains the longest in Belgian history. He was interred in the royal vault at the Church of Our Lady of Laeken.

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