Portal:Belgium/Anniversaries/July/July 31


 * 1396: birth of Philip III, Duke of Burgundy, Count of Flanders and margrave of Antwerp, joined most of the current territory of Belgium into the Duchy of Burgundy
 * 1828: birth of François-Auguste Gevaert, composer
 * 1886: birth of Constant Permeke, expressionist painter
 * 1917: start of the Battle of Passchendaele, one of the bloodiest battlse of World War I with about 3 quarters of a million casualties
 * 1972, death of Paul-Henri Spaak, former Prime Minister of Belgium, Secretary General of NATO and chairman of the first session of the General Assembly of the United Nations
 * 1993: death of Baudouin of Belgium, king between 1951 and 1993