Motto: Eendracht maakt macht - L'union fait la force - Strength through unity- Einigkeit macht stark
The motto was used by Belgium after its Revolution of 1830, initially only in its French form "L'union fait la force". Only when the Dutch was equated with the French did the Belgian state take "Eendracht maakt macht" as its motto instead, sometimes with the variant "Eenheid baart macht". In 1830 this unity was identified with the unification of Belgium's nine provinces, whose nine provincial coats of arms are represented on the national arms, and the new country's unification of its liberal progressives and Catholic conservatives. Indeed, it was launched in 1827-1828 by newspapers published in Liege which allied liberals and Catholics in the unionism which brought about the Revolution and which then dominated Belgian politics until the founding of the Liberal Party in 1846. Although the motto is often used in Belgicist or unitarist circles (as a call to Flemings and Walloons, natives of Brussels and German speakers, all to maintain Belgium's unity), this is a historical misinterpretation - the motto is a unionist not a unitarist slogan. Its German version is "Einigkeit macht stark". Flemings sometimes parody the motto by chanting it as "L'union fait la farce" ("Union makes a farce") or "L'oignon fait la farce" ("The onion makes the filling"), trivialising it as a cooking recipe.
source:wikipedia.org
