It belonged to Spain back when Spain was a Great Power, and their rebellion against Spain was part of the reason Spain ceased being a Great Power. But then the British and Prussians gave it to the Austrians so neither the French nor Spanish (both ruled by the Bourbons) could have territory in the Low Countries, but the Austrians didn't even want it, so they surrendered it easily once the French revolutionaries went to war. The French were harsh rulers, but they did succeed in accelerating the Frenchification of Belgium. So when the Dutch got a hold of Belgium at the Congress of Vienna, they treated the Belgians as second-class citizens, even the Dutch(Flemish)-speaking and/or Protestant Belgians, which finally prompted the Belgians to fight a war for independence. In the liberal nationalist spirit of the times, they should have been absorbed by France, but the British again didn't allow it, which left it the least homogeneous of all Western European countries.
They also had a lot of coal so they were one of the earliest countries to industrialize, which is what made them matter on the world stage just long enough to participate in the rape of Africa before they were left, as In Bruges put it, famous for chocolate and kid-diddlers - and they only have the chocolate to get to the kids.
Belgium does have a fucked up history.
It belonged to Spain back when Spain was a Great Power, and their rebellion against Spain was part of the reason Spain ceased being a Great Power. But then the British and Prussians gave it to the Austrians so neither the French nor Spanish (both ruled by the Bourbons) could have territory in the Low Countries, but the Austrians didn't even want it, so they surrendered it easily once the French revolutionaries went to war. The French were harsh rulers, but they did succeed in accelerating the Frenchification of Belgium. So when the Dutch got a hold of Belgium at the Congress of Vienna, they treated the Belgians as second-class citizens, even the Dutch(Flemish)-speaking and/or Protestant Belgians, which finally prompted the Belgians to fight a war for independence. In the liberal nationalist spirit of the times, they should have been absorbed by France, but the British again didn't allow it, which left it the least homogeneous of all Western European countries.
They also had a lot of coal so they were one of the earliest countries to industrialize, which is what made them matter on the world stage just long enough to participate in the rape of Africa before they were left, as In Bruges put it, famous for chocolate and kid-diddlers - and they only have the chocolate to get to the kids.