Belgium
Timeline
| 1388 |
Mannekin Pis sculpted. |
| 6 Oct 1536 |
The man to translate the Holy Bible into English, William Tyndale, is strangled and burnt at the stake in Brussels, Belgium. Translations of the Bible into vernacular had been long suppressed, but oddly most of the work in the KJV's New Testament is Tyndale's. |
| 1619 |
Jerome Duquesnoy sculpts a new Mannekin Pis, out of copper. |
| 1749 |
Mannekin Pis receives his first costume, donated by King Louis XV of France. |
| 1817 |
Mannekin Pis stolen by Antoine Lucas, who receives a 20 year prison sentence for the crime. |
| 1834 |
Freemason Theodoor Verhaegen establishes the Free University of Brussels (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), as part of an effort to de-Catholicize Belgium. |
| 1885 |
Leopold II establishes the Congo as his private plantation, with little regard to the well-being of its aboriginal inhabitants. |
| 1908 |
The Congo is taken away from Leopold II, who clearly never deserved it in the first place. |
| 10 May 1940 |
Nazi Germany invades neutral Belgium, which quickly surrenders. |
| 11 Sep 1941 |
King Leopold III marries a commoner. |
| 17 Dec 1944 |
Malmedy massacre, where 81 Americans of Battery B, 285th Field Artillery are killed by Waffen SS in Belgium.
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| 29 May 1985 |
Two hours before kickoff of the European Cup Final, a riot breaks out in the stadium between supporters of Liverpool and Juventus at Heysel Stadium in Brussels. 39 soccer fans are killed and more than 350 injured on live television. |
| 23 Mar 1990 |
Gerald Bull, the man assisting Iraq in the construction of a supergun, assassinated by Israeli agents outside his flat in Brussels, Belgium. |
| 18 Jul 1991 |
Deputy Prime Minister Andre Cools assassinated in Brussels. |
| 5 Dec 2003 |
Belgium announces it was preparing prosecution against importers of Adolf Hitler wine, brought in from Italy, under EU anti-racism guidelines. Bottles of the wine show Hitler performing a Sieg Heil, with subtext selected from a variety of Nazi propaganda slogans. |
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