King Leopold II
On 9 April, birth in Brussels of Leopold, Louis, Philippe, Marie, Victor, son of Leopold I and Louise-Marie.
Prince Leopold entered the Senate, of which he was a member by right. On 22 August, he married Marie-Henriette of Habsburg-Lorraine, Arch-Duchess of Austria. They had four children: Louise-Marie (), Leopold (), Stephanie (), Clementine ().
On 17 December, Leopold took the constitutional oath.
On 12 December, the King Palace convened an international conference in Brussels of scientists, geographers and explorers, focusing on the discovery of the centre of Africa. This resulted in the setting up () of an "association for the civilisation and exploration of Central Africa".
Leopold II set up, with the cooperation of the British explorer Stanley, the Study Committee on the Upper Congo, converted in into the International Association of the Congo.
The Berlin Conference recognised the independent state of the Congo, of which Leopold II became the Sovereign. That same year, the Belgian Parliament authorizes the King to be the Head of State of Congo.
In July, during the Brussels International Conference, a treaty was signed aga
Leopold II
LEOPOLD II (–; ruled –), king of Belgium and personal sovereign of the Congo Free State.
Leopold II, King of the Belgians—as his country's rulers have traditionally been known—was born in He took the throne in , on the death of his father, who had been the young nation's first king. In most of western Europe, monarchs were then rapidly losing power to elected parliaments, and so Leopold did not leave a great mark on Belgium's internal politics. But he left an enormous impact overseas.
Shrewd, ruthless, ambitious, and openly frustrated with being king of such a small country, he was eager to acquire a colony. After studying how Spain and Holland had won great colonial wealth, he made a string of unsuccessful attempts to buy or lease colonies in various parts of the world. In the s, as Europe rapidly began conquering almost all of Africa, he saw his chance. The Belgian government was not interested in colonies, but for the king that posed no problem.
Leopold hired the British explorer Henry Morton Stanley, and for five years, starting in , Stanley served as the king's man in Africa. Essentially Stanley staked out the vast territory in the center of the continent
Leopold II (Leopold Lodewijk Filips Maria Victor, 9 April – 17 December ) was King of the Belgians.
Born in Brussels the second (but eldest surviving) son of Leopold I, he succeeded his father to the throne in and remained king until his death. He was the brother of Empress Carlota of Mexico and first cousin to Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.
He is chiefly remembered as the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State, a private project undertaken by the King. The state included the entire area now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He ran the Congo brutally, as his personal fiefdom; for him it was a business venture. A friend of Henry Morton Stanley, he used Stanley to help him lay claim to the territory he called Congo. Leopold thought of himself as an astute businessman and he once spent a week in Seville studying Spanish records of their trade with their Latin American colonies.
The regime of Leopold's African colony, the Congo Free State, became one of the most infamous international scandals of the turn of the century. The famous report by the British Consul Roger Casement led to the arrest and punis
Leopold II
| King of the Belgians since 17 December Date of Birth: Country: Belgium |
Content:
- Leopold II, King of the Belgians
- King of Controversies
- Personal Life
- Legacy
Leopold II, King of the Belgians
Early Life and AccessionLeopold II was born on April 9, , to King Leopold I of Belgium and Louise Marie d'Orléans. He ascended to the throne on December 17, , after his father's death.
King of Controversies
Leopold II's reign was marked by the brutal exploitation of the Congo River Basin. He established commercial companies that engaged in genocide and the plundering of the region's resources. His ruthless actions earned him condemnation from European countries, with Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria calling him a "crowned broker" and Lenin describing him as a "swindler, financier, and adventurer."
Personal Life
Leopold II's daughter Stephanie married Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, whose death in was attributed to murder-suicide. Despite having four legitimate children with his wife, Marie Henriette of Austria, his only son died in childhood. In , he married Blanche Delacroix, a French prostitute, five days before his death.
Legacy
Leopold II di
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