Erik Martens - De Boerenkrijg in Brabant (1798-1799) (De Krijger, 2005) **½

 At the end of the 18th century, the "Belgian" population organised the resistance against the French occupation, and farmers took up the few arms they had to fight the famous and all-powerful French army. 

This insurrection is called "de Boerenkrijg" - the revolt of the farmers. This revolt has become part of Belgian historical mythology, with its legends and heroes, and hard to assess what was actually true or what became a convenient patriotic narrative in the last two centuries. This was even more accentuated by the catholic church who supported the insurrection against the pagan French revolution. 

This book gives an inventory of reports at national or municipal level of events that took place during that period. Court documents, policy documents, political documents. It offers material by date and by place in the province of Brabant, where Brussels was originally located (not that Brussels was moved, but Brussels eventually became a separate political jurisdiction). 

The fight started because of the French war against the Austrians who were then ruling the "Netherlands", which included Belgium. The Austrians did not really put up a fight and were no match for the French. Both armies did not have the logistics we have today, so they survived by looting the local inhabitants. When these used weapons to respond, entire villages were killed and burned. 

Because the book is just an inventory, it does not make for easy reading. It's a case of "you can't see the wood for the trees", because chronology and geographical events do not follow a single narrative. It's a shocking moment in our history, and it possibly deserves a more powerful narrative. At least Martens managed to get all the ingredients together to write that story.