ABSTRACT
The impact of the Belgian Revolt on Anglo-Dutch relations was twofold. In the short term it created a feeling of resentment, of having been left in the lurch, of Britain not honouring its obligations to maintain the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and not remaining true to its own Diktat. Yet not everything had changed. The new logic of neutrality still had to steer a middle course between the continental devil and the deep blue sea. Indeed, with a territorial base reduced to its former Republican limits, the Dutch colonial empire was looming ever larger and, with it, the imperative of good relations with Britain. In the second half of the 1820s, loosening great power relations in Europe allowed the Netherlands more space to manoeuvre, although politically there was no change of system: England remained its mainstay in international politics. This protecting role was put to the test in the most pungent manner by the Belgian Revolt of August 1830.
