'Ranging from the Roman Empire to the European Union, De Peuter and Vanthemsche's richly detailed history provides a panoramic view of the evolution of the country that Stefan Zweig called the 'crossroads of Europe.' Engaged with contemporary debates on European and national Belgian identity, this is a masterpiece of historical synthesis.' Carl J. Strikwerda, The College of William and Mary in Virginia
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.