Article révisé par les pairs
Résumé : As elsewhere in Europe, the origins of Belgian obstetrics are related to the double rivalry between medical doctors and surgeons on the one hand and between surgeons and midwives on the other hand. Extension of obstetrical teaching in our regions has been hampered because of political turmoil resulting from the successive territorial dominations by Spain, Austria, France and Holland. In this evolution, the organisational sanitary model emerging from the French revolution exerted a prominent influence namely through creation of the subordinate grade of "Health Officer" and the suppression of local medical colleges as well as of the sole existing university faculty of medicine. These factors explain the poor quality of obstetrics which has prevailed on our soil until 1815.