THE STRATEGICAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE. 193 
to Major May must then include history as well as topography. The 
English selected the Netherlands as a base in the middle ages, because 
they had very close business relations with the Low Countries. From 
the 16th till the close of the 18th century the position of Belgium was 
very peculiar. The Low Countries passed into the possession of the House 
of Austria by the marriage of Maximilian with Mary of Burgundy ; 
their son acquired also by marriage the Spanish dominions, and 
Belgium remained in Spanish hands. Holland having adopted the 
Reformed Religion separated from Spain in the time of our Elizabeth, 
and the war that led up to the separation was desperate in the extreme. 
But Spain remained ruler of Belgium, and as Spain and France were 
fighting throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, Belgium was constantly 
involved. 
During the war of the Spanish Succession, Holland, England, and 
Austria were against France, and of course all strove for Belgium ; 
hence Marlborough’s great campaigns along the Dyle and the Scheldt. 
At the close of this war, Belgium passed to Austria, and of course as 
France was again fighting Austria, Holland and England in the 18th 
century, Belgium was once more a convenient theatre ; at last, after the 
Revolution, France overwhelmed both Belgium and Holland, but only 
for a time. In 1815 they were made one nation, and were allied with 
England in the Waterloo campaign, but they separated, and each 
set up as an independent state, 1832-3. This is a rough answer, but my 
object is to show that Belgium’s history would go far to explain how 
its territory has been the “ Cockpit of Europe.” 
A vote of thanks to the Lecturer was put and carried unanimously. 
