Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/640

General History oj Europe Greeks, however, succeeded in arousing the sympathy of western Europe, and held out until England, Russia, and France inter- vened and forced the Sultan to recognize the independence of Greece in 1829. / 859. Belgium becomes an Independent Kingdom in 1831. Another little kingdom was added to the European states by the revolt of the former Austrian Netherlands from the king of Hol- land, to whom they had been assigned by the Congress of Vienna. The southern Netherlands were still as different from the northern as they had been in the time of William the Silent ( 561). Hol- land was Protestant and German, while the southern provinces, to whom the union had always been distasteful, were Catholic and akin to the French in their sympathies. Encouraged by the revo- lution at Paris in 1830, the people of Brussels rose in revolt against their Dutch king and forced his troops to leave the city. Through the influence of England and France the European powers agreed to recognize the independence of the Belgians, who established a kingdom and introduced an excellent constitu- tion providing for a limited monarchy modeled upon that of Eng- land. The neutrality of Belgium was solemnly guaranteed by the European powers, but this did not prevent Germany's violat- ing Belgian territory and making it a battle ground in 1914. 860. Revolution in Spain. In Spain Ferdinand VII, who was restored to power by the allies, abolished completely all the re- forms that Napoleon had introduced. He annulled the constitution which had been drawn up in 1812, and restored the Inquisition, feudal privileges, and religious orders. Books and newspapers were strictly censored, free speech was repressed, and great numbers of liberals were imprisoned or executed. 861. Spanish-American Colonies. A large part of the Spanish empire consisted of the colonies which she had established in America. These included Mexico (and the regions to the north- west, later acquired by the United States), Central America, and all of South America except Brazil, which belonged to Portugal. The mother country had from the first monopolized the trade of her colonies. This selfish policy, although later relaxed, caused