page_title: Liège Revolution
section_title: Historiography
hierarchical_section_title: Liège Revolution / Historiography
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: 1787 en rouge: la principauté de Liège, en gris clair: les Pays-Bas autrichiens, en gris foncé: le duché de Bouillon English: Map of the republic's territories (red) between the Austrian Netherlands (grey).
context_page_description: The Liège Revolution, sometimes known as the Happy Revolution, started on 18 August 1789 and lasted until the destruction of the Republic of Liège and re-establishment of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège by Austrian forces in 1791. The Liège Revolution was concurrent with the French Revolution and its effects were long-lasting and eventually led to the abolition of the Bishopric of Liège and its final annexation by French revolutionary forces in 1795.
context_section_description: According to Hervé Hasquin, the Liège Revolution mirrored the French Revolution or even formed part of it. Both revolutions began in 1789 and in Hasquin's interpretation the Liège Revolution continued after the prince-bishop's temporary return – he sees a second phase with the entry of French revolutionary troops into Liège in 1792, and a third phase in 1794 with the French's second return. In this interpretation the Liège Revolution only ended in 1795 with the disappearance of the principality and its annexation by France. During this phase the Revolution had several extreme episodes, such as the demolition of the cathédrale Saint-Lambert by the city's revolutionaries. The principality's inhabitants were given universal male suffrage for the first time and also voted in a plebiscite for the French annexation.
  Other historians see the revolution as occurring during the prince-bishop's absence between his departure on the night of 26–27 August 1789 and his return on 12 February 1791. In this interpretation, the Liège Revolution was a counterpart to the Brabant Revolution in the Austrian Netherlands, which was crushed. Even so, this interpretation carries a contradiction – the Liège Revolution and French Revolution both aimed to ask deeply egalitarian questions about the political and social order, whereas the Brabant Revolution hinged on contesting and rejecting the egalitarian reforms of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor. The Liège Revolution led to France's annexation of the Principality, meaning that its inhabitants took no part in the Brabant Revolution or the United States of Belgium.
caption: The Principality (red) cut the Austrian Netherlands (grey) in two.
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