Treaty of London (1839)

Treaty of London

Belgian borders claimed before The Treaty of the XXIV articles.
Type	Multilateral Treaty
Signed	19 April 1839 (1839-04-19)
Location	London, United Kingdom
Original signatories	Austria  Belgium  France  German Confederation  Netherlands  Russia  United Kingdom
Ratifiers	Austria Belgium France German Confederation Netherlands Russia United Kingdom

The Treaty of London of 1839,^[1] was signed on 19 April 1839 between the major European powers, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Belgium. It was a direct follow-up to the 1831 Treaty of the XVIII Articles, which the Netherlands had refused to sign, and the result of negotiations at the London Conference of 1838–1839 which sought to maintain the Concert of Europe.^[2]

Under the treaty, the European powers recognised and guaranteed the independence and neutrality of Belgium and established the full independence of the German-speaking part of Luxembourg. Article VII required Belgium to remain perpetually neutral.^[3] Following the German invasion of 1914, Belgium abandoned its policy of neutrality (except for a brief, unsuccessful resumption from 1936 to 1940).