Flag of the Austrian Netherlands
History
The Austrian line of the Habsburg dynasty conquered the Southern Netherlands during the War of the Spanish Succession (1700-1714), which was a result of the male line of the Spanish Habsburg dynasty, which had ruled the Low Countries since 1482, becoming extinct. During that war, Austria was supported by Great Britain and the Dutch Republic, who both wished to prevent France from annexing this area.
Location of the Austrian Netherlands. The Prince-Bishopric of Liège was not part of the Kingdom of Austria but of the Holy Roman Empire.
The Treaty of Rastatt (1714) established Austrian rule over what had been the Spanish Netherlands, with some territories ceded to the Dutch Republic and Prussia. The Austrians agreed to a decentralised rule, with the Dutch responsible for the defence at the French border. When France invaded the Austrian Netherlands in the War of the Austrian Succession (which was another European elite's inheritance conflict of elites costing the lives of many) in 1740, the Dutch defense proved worthless and the French conquered the Southern Netherlands and parts of the Dutch Republic. But at the conclusion of the war French King Louis XV decided to return all the conquered territories to the original owners as a gesture, which meant Austrian power restored in the Southern Netherlands.
The ideas of the French Revolution (1789) soon spread across Europe and caused the Brabantian Revolution (1790) in the Austrian Netherlands, declaring independence of the United States of Belgium. The Austrian authorities were able to quell this revolt but in 1794 the French First Republic invaded the Southern Netherlands. Austria formally ceded it in 1797 with the Treaty of Campo Formio.
The Brabantian Revolution proved to be the first attempt to an independent Belgium. Fourty years later this independence was achieved in a revolt against the United Kingdom of the Netherlands which had included present-day Belgium after the defeat of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna in 1815. With the rise of nationalism in the 19th century, Belgium remained a troubled spot because of the Dutch-French language border running in the middle of the country, with its borders never established on the basis of ethnicity or language but as a result of medieval feudal estates inherited by the ambitions of the Burgundian and Habsburg dynasties. This explains the federal nature of present-day Belgium.
Currency
The Spanish Netherlands unit of account had been the Flemish Pound, which was divided in 20 Shillings (French: Escalin. Dutch: Schelling) each of 12 Groats (French: Gros. Dutch: Groot). The commonly use small denomination was the Liard (Dutch: Oord) which was half a Groat. The Ducaton was a large silver coin worth 10 Escalins or 240 Liards.
With the Austrians taking over in 1714, the monetary system did not change until 1744, when the copper Liard coins of the various provinces were unified and minted in Brussels, Bruges and Antwerp. From 1749, Ducatons and fractions of Ducatons were added.
In 1755 the Holy Roman Empire went through a monetary reform. A Conventionsthaler, for use in Germany and Austria, was set at 1/10th of a Cologne Mark (233 grams) of silver, and the Kronenthaler, for use in the Austrian Netherlands and the Duchy of Milan (where it was known as Crocione) at a higher value of 1/9th of a Cologne Mark.
In the Austrian Netherlands, the Kronenthaler was valued at 9 Escalins or 216 Liards. Gold coinage was added as well with the Souverain weighing 5.5 grams, and was valued at approximately 26 Escalins or 2.89 Kronenthaler.
The Duchy of Milan used exactly the same Kronenthalers as the Austrian Netherlands, but these were minted in Milan with a corresponding mint mark. These Crociones, as they were known locally, are catalogued under Milan of the Italian States.
Although part of the Austrian Netherlands, Luxembourg had its own coinage, denominated in Sol, which was equal to 4 Liards or 1/6th of an Escalin.
The short-lived revolutionary United States of Belgium (1790) had its own coinage denominated in Florin, worth 80 Liards or 1/3rd of a Ducaton that was in use before the Kronenthaler.
With the French annexing the Southern Netherlands in 1794, the French Franc replaced the Kronenthaler at a rate of slightly over 5 Francs.
Austrian Netherlands:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/austrian-netherlands-1.html