Loppem Coup
The Loppem Coup (, ) or Loppem Agreement (Pacte de Lophem, Akkord van Loppem) refers to a series of private meetings held by King Albert I at the Castle of Loppem in Loppem (Lophem), West Flanders on 11 to 14 November 1918 about the future political order in Belgium after the end of World War I. The term originated among conservative Catholic critics who denounced the King's actions as an unconstitutional "coup d'état". Convened in the aftermath of the Armistice of 11 November 1918 in the days before the King's triumphant return to Brussels which had been occupied since 1914, the Loppem meetings consisted of a series of private audiences with prominent socialist and liberal politicians and notables such as Edward Anseele, Paul-Émile Janson, and Émile Francqui who had become prominent in German-occupied Belgium. A number of sensitive political topics were discussed, including universal male suffrage, labour rights, and the status of Dutch language, notably in higher education. The meetings preceded the creation of a national unity government under Léon Delacroix on 21 November, sometimes referred to as the Loppem Government (gouvernement de Lophem, or regering van Loppem), which included liberals and socialists and marked the end of nearly four