Shortly after the
French Revolution of 1848, Belgian migrant workers living in
Paris were encouraged to return to Belgium to overthrow the monarchy and establish a republic. Around 6,000 émigrés, coming from Paris, formed a so-called
Belgian Legion. The Legion, equipped with weaponry by some of the administrative authorities of
Lille, intended to penetrate into Belgium to "raise the people" and overthrow the
Belgian monarchy. It is likely that the revolutionaries had the support of
Alphonse de Lamartine, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the
French Second Republic, which had only recently been installed and was still very militant. The first group of revolutionaries attempted to travel into Belgium by train; they were stopped and quickly disarmed at
Quiévrain on 26 March 1848. The 2,000-strong second group entered Belgium at dawn on 29 March at Risquons-Tout. The revolutionaries were met by around 250 infantrymen of the
Belgian Army under the command of General . A heavy cannonade routed the revolutionaries in only two hours, killing seven and wounding 26. 60 revolutionaries were captured and some were imprisoned in the
Citadel of Huy, of whom 17 of them were condemned to death and executed at
Antwerp. Several smaller revolutionary groups managed to infiltrate Belgium, but the reinforced Belgian border troops were successful in keeping order, and the defeat at Risquons-Tout effectively ended the revolutionary threat to Belgium. Later two streets were named after the incident, and a monument was erected in the local cemetery. ==References==