Charles de Broqueville

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Charles, 1st Count de Broqueville
File:Comte de Broqueville.jpg
Prime Minister of Belgium
In office
22 October 1932 – 20 November 1934
Monarch Albert I
Leopold III
Preceded by Jules Renkin
Succeeded by Georges Theunis
In office
17 June 1911 – 1 June 1918
Monarch Albert I
Preceded by Frans Schollaert
Succeeded by Gérard Cooreman
Personal details
Born Charles Marie Pierre Albert de Broqueville
(1860-12-04)4 December 1860
Postel, Belgium
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
Brussels, Belgium
Political party Catholic Party

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Charles, 1st Count de Broqueville (4 December 1860 – 5 September 1940) was the prime minister of Belgium, serving during World War I.

Before 1914

Charles de Broqueville was born into an old noble family with its roots in French Gascony. He was the son of Count Stanislas de Broqueville (1830-1919) and Claire de Briey (1832-1876). He received private education from Catholic priest Charles Simon, from which he also learned Dutch. He married Berthe d'Huart (1864-1937), a granddaughter of Catholic statesman Jules Malou, through whom he gained further connections to politics.

First elected to the Chamber of Representatives in the 1892 election, he represented the arrondissement of Turnhout until June 1919. He was seen as part of de jonge rechterzijde (the young right-wing), and was politically a midway between Christian democracy and more traditional forms of conservatism.

The leader of Belgium's Catholic Party, he served as prime minister between 1911 and 1918 and headed the de Broqueville government.

Once it became clear that Germany intended to violate Belgian neutrality in August 1914, he oversaw Belgium's mobilization for war. Despite the mobilization, de Broqueville opposed King Albert I's proposal to deploy the Belgian Army along the German frontier in 1914 but strategically placed them throughout the country. He recognized that wartime support for Belgium depended upon its continued status as a nonprovocative neutral power.

During the war, de Broqueville was more willing to make concessions to the Flemish Movement than King Albert, in order to secure Belgian unity in the long term. He made several promises to the movements for after the war, such as the Dutchification of Ghent University and better conditions for the Dutch language in standard education.

In 1917, he proposed a customs union between France and Belgium, in order to help Belgium recover post-war, though the idea was rejected, out of fear that Belgium would become a junior partner in such a union.

First World War

The German invasion of 1914 forced the Belgian government into exile at Le Havre. De Broqueville fought the King on the neutrality issue and so denied Belgium a full alliance with the Allied forces.

The opposition of the King critically weakened de Broqueville's stance among members of his cabinet. Consequently, he resigned as Foreign Secretary in January 1918 and as Prime Minister in May when he lost the support of his own party.

De Broqueville also served as minister in various departments:

Postwar

Later, Charles de Broqueville became Prime Minister a second time, serving from 22 October 1932 to 20 November 1934. He died on 5 September 1940, during the second German occupation of Belgium.

Titles, honours and arms

Titles

  • 1867 – 1919: Baron Charles de Broqueville
  • 1919 – 1920: Charles, Baron de Broqueville
  • After 1920: Charles, Count de Broqueville

National honours

Ribbon bar Honour Date
BEL Croix de Guerre WW1 ribbon.svg Croix de Guerre
80px Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold 1919[1]
Minister of State

Foreign honours

Ribbon bar Country Honour Date Post-nominals
80px  Baden Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Zähringer Lion
80px  Denmark Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog
80px  France Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur
Croix de Guerre 1914-1918 ribbon.svg  France Croix de Guerre
80px  Greece Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer
80px  Holy See Knight with the Collar of the Order of Pius IX
Cavaliere di gran Croce Regno SSML BAR.svg  Kingdom of Italy Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus
JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 1Class BAR.svg  Japan 1st class in the Order of the Rising Sun
80px  Luxembourg Grand Cross of the Order of the Oak Crown
80px  Netherlands Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion
80px  Portugal Knight Grand Cross of the Portuguese Order of Christ (Portugal) GCC
80px  Romania Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Romania
RUS Order White Eagle BAR.png  Russian Empire Knight of the Order of the White Eagle
UK Order St-Michael St-George ribbon.svg  UK Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George GCMG

Arms

Arms of the Count de Broqueville
Rangkronen-Fig. 18.svg
200px
Coronet
A Belgian Count's coronet
Escutcheon
Azure, a saltire or, in chief, a six-pointed star or
Motto
Quis me fortior aut fidelior

See also

Notes

  1. Royal Decree of 1919/-Mémorial du centenaire de l'Ordre de Léopold. 1832-1932. Bruxelles, J. Rozez, 1933.

Sources

  • Louis DE LICHTERVELDE, Charles de Broqueville, in: Biographie Nationale de Belgique, t. XXIX, 1956-1957, p. 369-377.
  • Paul VAN MOLLE, La parlement belge, 1894-1972, Antwerp, 1972
  • Luc SCHEPENS, Albert Ier et le gouvernement Broqueville, 1914–1918 : aux origines de la question communautaire. Paris 1983,
  • Thierry DENOËL, Le nouveau dictionnaire des Belges, 2e éd. revue et augm., Brussels, Le Cri, 1992, p. 167.
  • Maria DE WAELE, Charles de Broqueville, in: Nieuwe Encyclopedie van de Vlaamse Beweging, Tielt, 1998
  • Paul VOS, Charles de Broqueville op de kering der tijden, in: Vlaamse Stam, 2012, blz. 122-142.
  • Frans RENAERS, De opvoeding van Charles de Broqueville, in: Vlaamse Stam, blz 142-145.

External links


Political offices
Preceded by Prime Minister of Belgium
1911–1918
Succeeded by
Gérard Cooreman
Preceded by Prime Minister of Belgium
1932–1934
Succeeded by
Georges Theunis