The Belgian Railway Crisis was a Franco-Belgian conflict in 1868/1869. A French railway company, the Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Est ("Eastern Railways Company"), wanted to take over two railway lines in eastern Belgium. The Belgian government suspected that the French imperial government wanted to acquire indirect influence in Belgium, so it prevented the project.
The conflict caused emotions to run high in both countries and had the potential to escalate into a European crisis or worse. France suspected secret interference by the North German Confederation, while Great Britain wanted to stay out of the crisis but also protect Belgium. The crisis was resolved by a compromise reached in a Franco-Belgian committee in Paris. Due to British pressure, the French emperor Napoleon III gave in and renounced an acquisition.
Acquisition plans
In Belgium of the time, many railway lines had been built by the government, but some lines had been given to commercial companies. This was the case especially in the east of Belgium. There was the with a line from Luxembourg to the north, and the with a line from Liège to the Dutch border. Both companies were in financial difficulties. The Belgian state did not want to buy them out, so in October 1868 they turned to a French railway company: the Chemins de fer de l'Est. It had already taken over the lines of the from Luxembourg for 45 years at the beginning of the year. This would have given the Est control of the rail network from the Swiss to the Dutch border. It was financially supported by the French government.
On December 8, 1868, the Est concluded a preliminary agreement with the two Belgian ones. While the Belgian government knew about the project early on and did nothing, the Belgian public was outraged: the acquisition seemed like a dangerous economic penetration of the country, so the Belgian government now sought to prevent it. In turn, there were calls in the French press to annex Belgium.
The Belgian government resisted all the more against the tones from France, which reminded of the time of Napoleon I. On February 6, 1869, the government submitted a bill to Parliament: Only with the approval of the state should foreign companies be allowed to buy or finance Belgian railways. Already on February 23, the law could come into force.
Aggravation
While according to David Wetzel the French government was wrongly suspected, Klaus Hildebrand writes of an "encroachment on Belgian independence." With this, France had actually wanted to hit Prussia. In a mixture of fear and arrogance, the French Empire made a claim to supremacy in Europe. It demanded a withdrawal of the law and suspected Prussia of being behind the Belgian resistance. In fact, North German Federal Chancellor Otto von Bismarck had not yet intervened in the crisis.
Since 1864, the British foreign policy had entered a period of non-intervention. A lack of an official definition of non-intervention caused confusion in the years following, and diminished Britain's prestige on the Continent. For example, in Summer 1866, during the war between Austria and Prussia, Britain did not intermediate. Britain did intervene, exceptionally, in the Luxembourg Crisis of 1867 and turned out to guarantee Luxembourg's independence. The Belgian railways crisis was, "like the crisis over Luxembourg in 1867, a tempest in a teapost caused by the desire to strengthen her eastern frontiers."
The British Foreign Secretary George Villiers Clarendon actually wanted to stay out of the matter, even though Belgian neutrality was of the highest priority to him. Bismarck, however, endeavoured to link Belgian neutrality and the German question. He pointed out to Britain that northern Germany could defend Belgium only together with Britain. Otherwise, he hinted, he might come to an agreement with France on German unity by surrendering Belgium to the French emperor. The British government, however, dreaded the prospect of getting into a Franco-Prussian war, which a British-Prussian alliance would make more likely.
Foreign Secretary Clarendon tried unsuccessfully to convince the French that Prussians were not always behind French failures. He correctly trusted, however, that France did not want a break with Great Britain, although the emperor now saw the railway question as a personal matter. Clarendon suggested to the Belgian government that it buys the two railway companies itself. Belgium did not want to set a precedent, however, since other Belgian railway companies were also experiencing financial problems.