Concordia res parvae crescunt

"Unity makes strength" (Dutch: Eendracht maakt macht, pronounced [ˈeːndrɑxt maːkt mɑxt]; French: L'union fait la force) is a motto that has been used by various nations and entities throughout history. Currently, it is used by Bulgaria and Haiti on the national coat of arms and is the national motto of Belgium and Bulgaria.

The motto was originally used by the Dutch Republic. It is derived from the Latin phrase "concordia res parvae crescunt" (small things flourish by concord) in chapter 10 of the Bellum Iugurthinum by the Roman Republican writer Sallust.

The similar moral of the Aesopic fable "The Old Man and his Sons" has been rendered in various related ways: "All power is weak unless united" (1668), "Unity makes strength, strife wastes" (1685), "Strength lies in union" (1867), "Strength is in unity" (1887), "Unity is strength" (title), "Union gives strength" (moral) (1894), "Union is strength" (1912), "In unity is strength" (1919); although older versions are more specific: "Brotherly love is the greatest good in life and often lifts the humble higher" (2nd century), "Just as concord supplies potency in human affairs, so a quarrelsome life deprives people of their strength" (16th century).

The motto was used by Belgium after its Revolution of 1830, initially only in its French form "L'union fait la force". Only when Dutch was made equal in status to French did the Belgian state also take "Eendracht maakt macht" as its motto, sometimes with the variant "Eenheid baart macht". In 1830, this unity was identified with the unification of Belgium's nine provinces, whose nine provincial coats of arms are represented on the national arms, and the new country's unification of its liberal progressives and Catholic conservatives. Indeed, it was launched in 1827-1828 by newspapers published in Liège which allied liberals and Catholics in the unionism which brought about the Revolution and which then dominated Belgian politics until the founding of the Liberal Party in 1846. Although the motto is often used in Belgicist or unitarist circles (as a call to Flemings and Walloons, natives of Brussels and German speakers, all to maintain Belgium's unity), this is a historical misinterpretation — the motto is a unionist, not a unitarist, slogan. Its German version is "Einigkeit macht stark". Flemings sometimes parody the motto by chanting it as "L'union fait la farce" ("Union makes a farce") or "L'oignon fait la farce" ("The onion makes the filling"), trivialising it as a cooking recipe.

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