<P> French invaded the territory of modern - day Belgium and controlled it between 1794--1814 . The French imposed reforms and incorporated the territory into France . New rulers were sent in by Paris . Belgian men were drafted into the French wars and heavily taxed . Nearly everyone was Catholic, but the Church was repressed . Resistance was strong in every sector, as Belgian nationalism emerged to oppose French rule . The French legal system, however, was adopted, with its equal legal rights, and abolition of class distinctions . Belgium now had a government bureaucracy selected by merit . </P> <P> Antwerp regained access to the sea and grew quickly as a major port and business center . France promoted commerce and capitalism, paving the way for the ascent of the bourgeoisie and the rapid growth of manufacturing and mining . In economics, therefore, the nobility declined while the middle class Belgian entrepreneurs flourished because of their inclusion in a large market, paving the way for Belgium's leadership role after 1815 in the Industrial Revolution on the Continent . </P> <P> France turned the Netherlands into a puppet state that had to pay large indemnities . </P> <P> The Kingdom of Denmark adopted liberalizing reforms in line with those of the French Revolution, with no direct contact . Danes were aware of French ideas and agreed with them, as it moved from Danish absolutism to a liberal constitutional system between 1750--1850 . The change of government in 1784 was caused by a power vacuum created when King Christian VII took ill, and power shifted to the crown prince (who later became King Frederik VI) and reform - oriented landowners . In contrast to Old Regime France, agricultural reform was intensified in Denmark, serfdom was abolished and civil rights were extended to the peasants, the finances of the Danish state were healthy, and there were no external or internal crises . That is, reform was gradual and the regime itself carried out agrarian reforms that had the effect of weakening absolutism by creating a class of independent peasant freeholders . Much of the initiative came from well - organized liberals who directed political change in the first half of the 19th century . </P>

What impact did the french revolution have on europe