Charles de Broqueville

Charles, 1st Count de Broqueville GC O. Leopold, GCMG
Prime Minister of Belgium
In office 22 October 1932 – 20 November 1934
Monarch	Albert I Leopold III
Preceded by	Jules Renkin
Succeeded by	Georges Theunis
In office 17 June 1911 – 1 June 1918
Monarch	Albert I
Preceded by	Frans Schollaert
Succeeded by	Gérard Cooreman
Personal details
Born	(1860-12-04)4 December 1860 Postel, Belgium
Died	5 September 1940(1940-09-05) (aged 79) Brussels, Belgium
Political party	Catholic Party

Memorial to Charles de Broqueville on Avenue de Broqueville, Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Brussels

Charles Marie Pierre Albert, 1st Count de Broqueville (4 December 1860 – 5 September 1940) was the Prime Minister of Belgium, serving during World War I.

Before 1914[]

First elected to the Chamber of Representatives in the 1892 election, he represented the arrondissement of Turnhout until June 1919.

The leader of Belgium's Catholic Party, he served as prime minister between 1911 and 1918 and headed the de Broqueville government.

Once it became clear that Germany intended to violate Belgian neutrality in August 1914, he oversaw Belgium's mobilization for war. Despite the mobilization, de Broqueville opposed King Albert I's proposal to deploy the Belgian Army along the German frontier in 1914 but strategically placed them throughout the country. He recognized that wartime support for Belgium depended upon its continued status as a nonprovocative neutral power.

First World War[]

The German invasion of 1914 forced the Belgian government into exile at Le Havre. De Broqueville fought the king on the neutrality issue and so denied Belgium a full alliance with the Allied forces.

The opposition of the king critically weakened de Broqueville's stance among members of his cabinet. Consequently, he resigned as Foreign Secretary in January 1918 and as Prime Minister in May when he lost the support of his own party.

De Broqueville also served as minister in various departments:

• Minister of Railways and PTT (Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones) 1910-1912
• Minister of War 1912-1917
• Minister of Foreign Affairs 1917
• Minister of Reconstruction 1917-1918
• Minister of the Interior 1918-1919
• Minister of National Defence 1926-1930

Postwar[]

Later, Charles de Broqueville became Prime Minister a second time, serving from 22 October 1932 to 20 November 1934.

Titles[]

• 1867 – 1919: Baron Charles de Broqueville
• 1919 – 1920: Charles, Baron de Broqueville
• After 1920: Charles, Count de Broqueville

Honours[]

Belgian[]

•  Belgium:
  • Croix de Guerre
  • Minister of State, by Royal Decree.
  • Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold (1919)^[1]

Foreign[]

•  Denmark: Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog
•  France:
  • Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur
  • decorated with the Croix de Guerre
•  Greece: Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer
•   Holy See: Knight with the Collar of the Order of Pius IX.
•  Japan: 1st class in the Order of the Rising Sun
•  Kingdom of Italy: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus,
•  Luxemburg: Grand Cross of the Order of the Oak Crown
•  Netherlands: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion,
•  United Kingdom: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
• Knight of the Order of the White Eagle (Russian Empire),
• Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Romania,
• Knight Grand Cross of the Portuguese Order of Christ (Portugal)
• Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Zähringer Lion (Grand Duchy of Baden)

Arms[]

Coat of arms of the Count de Broqueville hide

Coronet A Belgian Count's coronet Escutcheon Azure, a saltire or, in chief, a six-pointed star or Motto Quis me fortior aut fidelior

See also[]

• List of defence ministers of Belgium

Notes[]

Sources[]

• Louis DE LICHTERVELDE, Charles de Broqueville, in: Biographie Nationale de Belgique, t. XXIX, 1956-1957, p. 369-377.
• Paul VAN MOLLE, La parlement belge, 1894-1972, Antwerp, 1972
• Luc SCHEPENS, Albert Ier et le gouvernement Broqueville, 1914–1918 : aux origines de la question communautaire. Paris 1983,
• Thierry DENOËL, Le nouveau dictionnaire des Belges, 2e éd. revue et augm., Brussels, Le Cri, 1992, p. 167.
• Maria DE WAELE, Charles de Broqueville, in: Nieuwe Encyclopedie van de Vlaamse Beweging, Tielt, 1998
• Paul VOS, Charles de Broqueville op de kering der tijden, in: Vlaamse Stam, 2012, blz. 122-142.
• Frans RENAERS, De opvoeding van Charles de Broqueville, in: Vlaamse Stam, blz 142-145.

External links[]

• Charles de Broqueville at Prime Minister of Belgium
• Laurence van Ypersele: Broqueville, Charles Marie Pierre Albert, Baron de, in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
• Newspaper clippings about Charles de Broqueville in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
• Charles de Broqueville in ODIS - Online Database for Intermediary Structures