Quote Originally Posted by Noncommunist View Post
Given that Belgium was the second power to industrialize, do you think they would have been able to get a serious head start on Germany or France? Or maybe even try to prevent Germany from forming?
Not very likely, and I say this as a Belgian.

Our first two Kings were quite belligerent, but the government was never ready to follow their ideas. Leopold II then went on a spree in the Congo, without any real backing from Belgium.

So we would've industrialized and perhaps become the most industrialized nation of Europe for a while, but we'd be no threat to any other nations. Appeasement was a large part of our international politics. (Our Kings were attached to both the English, German and French monarchies).

In any case, militarily we'd never be a match for France or Germany or even Prussia for that matter.