From these lands came the skilled Batavian
cavalry, which followed Caesar in pursuit of Pompey and forced Pompey's
flight at Pharsalia. From here afterward came other Batavians, who served
as the Imperial Guard of Rome from Caasar's time to Vespasian's. In race,
as in geographical position, the Netherlands have belonged in part to
France, in part to Germany, the interior long remaining Gallic, the
frontier Teutonic. From Caesar's time down to the fifth century, the land
was Roman. Afterward, in several periods, it was in part, or in whole,
included in the domain of France--in Charlemagne's time and after; under
Louis XI., who sought, somewhat unsuccessfully, its complete submission;
under Louis XIV., who virtually conquered it; under the French Revolution,
and during Napoleon's ascendency. On Belgium soil Marlborough fought and
won Ramillies, and Wellington Waterloo.
Belgium and Holland were for long great centers of European commerce--at
Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Amsterdam--rivals of English ports,
Holland an ancient adversary of England and her valiant enemy in great
wars.
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