Het verhaal van Vlaanderen

De industriële revolutie (1x8)

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In the reign of Leopold I, the young Belgium was leading the Industrial Revolution second only to Britain, with such novelties as the continent's first railroad, making it the world's fifth-wealthiest economy. Yet for the working class, life as factory laborer was even worse, especially into 'continental Manchester' Ghent, often packed into unsanitary pauper housing, cesspits for diseases. The rich 2% who paid enough taxes to qualify for the vote opposed social reform, until a as trike wave allowed the socialist movement winning its main demand: the general vote, albeit it multiple for the rich and excluding women.