We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
EXERCISING NEUTRALITY.
- Authors
Dierckx, Bram; Hoegaerts, Josephine
- Abstract
Marie Henriette, princess consort (later Queen) of Belgium and the unhappy wife of Leopold II had a stallion in her Spa stables called " Beverloo". An odd name for a horse, perhaps, referring as it did to the national military training camp on the northern border. She had reportedly given Beverloo his name after witnessing an impressive cavalry attack during annual military manoeuvres in and around the camp. Like many civilians, but unlike her husband, Marie Henriette greatly enjoyed the 'virile' spectacle of the army's joint exercises. In 1862 she wrote to Felix Chazal, the Minister of War, to discuss the manoeuvres' capacity to cheer up her brother, who had been bored with the theatre. The manoeuvres were more than theatre, though. Throughout the nineteenth century, they were organized regularly and served as a reminder of national unity and military readiness to both the military itself and the population at large.
- Subjects
BELGIUM; MILITARY maneuvers; MILITARY readiness; HISTORY; ARMED Forces
- Publication
Journal of Belgian History / Revue Belge d'Histoire Contemporaine, 2016, Vol 46, Issue 2, p22
- ISSN
0035-0869
- Publication type
Article