Évoquer le "mythe médian". Les imaginaires carolingien et lotharingien dans les revendications territoriales belges à l'égard de l'Allemagne après 1945

The reference to historical imaginaries and legitimizations for territorial settlements after a military conflict can be considered « classical ». This contribution aims to show how Carolingian and Lotharingian imaginaries influenced certain actors of expansionist movements in Belgium after 1945, the continued existence of which constituted an echo of 1918. Even if the Belgian territorial demands at the expense of Germany were, after all, hardly grounded in such discourses, this contribution highlights the fact that the discourse aiming to transform Aix-la-Chapelle and Cologne into “Belgian” cities, insisting on the kinship between “Belgians” and “Rhinelanders”, would serve as base for the rapprochement between old enemies in the 1950s. From then on, the historical landscape between Meuse and Rhine was integrated in the discourse on the “Occident” (the West) the political organization of which was considered as of utmost necessary, given the impending Soviet menace.