History of Luxembourg

The history of Luxembourg consists of the history of the country of Luxembourg and its geographical area.

Although its recorded history can be traced back to Roman times, the history of Luxembourg proper is considered to begin in 963. Over the following five centuries, the powerful House of Luxembourg emerged, but its extinction put an end to the country's independence. After a brief period of Burgundian rule, the country passed to the Habsburgs in 1477.

After the Eighty Years' War, Luxembourg became a part of the Southern Netherlands, which passed to the Austrian line of the Habsburg dynasty in 1713. After occupation by Revolutionary France, the 1815 Vienna Congress transformed Luxembourg into a Grand Duchy in personal union with the Netherlands. The treaty also resulted in the second partitioning of Luxembourg, the first being in 1658 and a third in 1839. Although these treaties greatly reduced Luxembourg's territory, the latter established its formal independence, which was confirmed after the Luxembourg Crisis of 1867.

In the following decades, Luxembourg fell further into Germany's sphere of influence, particularly after the creation of a separate ruling house in 1890. It was occupied by Germany from 1914 until 1918 and again from 1940 until 1944. Since the end of the Second World War, Luxembourg has become one of the world's richest countries, buoyed by political stability and European integration.

Early history

In the territory now covered by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, there is evidence of primitive inhabitants dating back to the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age over 35,000 years ago. The oldest artifacts from this period are decorated bones found at Oetrange.

However, the first real evidence of civilisation is from the Neolithic or 5th millennium BC, from which evidence of houses has been found. Traces have been found in the south of Luxembourg at Grevenmacher, Diekirch, Aspelt and Weiler-la-Tour. The dwellings were made of a combination of tree trunks for the basic structure, mud-clad wickerwork walls, and roofs of thatched reeds or straw. Pottery from this period has been found near Remerschen.

While there is not much evidence of communities in Luxembourg at the beginning of the Bronze Age, a number of sites dating back to the period between the 13th and the 8th century BC provide evidence of dwellings and reveal artefacts such as pottery, knives and jewellery. The sites include Nospelt, Dalheim, Mompach and Remerschen.

What is present-day Luxembourg, was inhabited by Celts during the Iron Age (from roughly 600 BC until 100 AD).

The Gaulish tribe in what is present-day Luxembourg during and after the La Tène period was known as the Treveri; they reached the height of prosperity in the 1st century BC. The Treveri constructed a number of oppida, Iron Age fortified settlements, near the Moselle valley in what is now southern Luxembourg, western Germany and eastern France. Most of the archaeological evidence from this period has been discovered in tombs, many closely associated with Titelberg, a 50 ha site which reveals much about the dwellings and handicrafts of the period.

The Romans, under Julius Caesar, completed their conquest and occupation in 53 BC. The first known reference to the territory of present-day Luxembourg was by Julius Caesar in his Commentaries on the Gallic War. The Treveri were more co-operative with the Romans than most Gallic tribes, and adapted readily to Roman civilization. Two revolts in the 1st century AD did not permanently damage their cordial relations with Rome.

The land of the Treveri was at first part of Gallia Celtica, but with the reform of Domitian in c. 90, was reassigned to Gallia Belgica.

Gallia Belgica was infiltrated by the Germanic Franks from the 4th century, and was abandoned by Rome in AD 406.

The territory of what would become Luxembourg by the 480s, became part of Merovingia Austrasia and eventually part of the core territory of the Carolingian Empire.

With the Treaty of Verdun (843), it fell to Middle Francia, and in 855, to Lotharingia. With the latter's division in 959, it then fell to the Duchy of Upper Lorraine within the Holy Roman Empire.

County

The history of Luxembourg properly began with the construction of Luxembourg Castle in the High Middle Ages. It was Siegfried I, count of Ardennes who traded some of his ancestral lands with the monks of the Abbey of St. Maximin in Trier in 963 for an ancient, supposedly Roman, fort named Lucilinburhuc, commonly translated as "little castle". Modern historians link the etymology of the word with Letze, They held the title of Governor-General or Lieutenant Governor and were frequently a relative of the King. in 1795. The annexation was formalised at Campo Formio in 1797. In 1798, Luxembourgish peasants started a rebellion against the French but it was rapidly suppressed. This brief rebellion is called the Peasant's War.

Developing independence (1815–1890)

thumb|250px|The three [[Partitions of Luxembourg]]

Luxembourg remained more or less under French rule until the defeat of Napoleon in 1815. When the French departed, the Allies installed a provisional administration. Luxembourg initially came under the Generalgouvernement Mittelrhein in mid-1814, and then from June 1814 under the Generalgouvernement Nieder- und Mittelrhein (General Government Lower and Middle Rhine).

The Congress of Vienna of 1815, gave formal autonomy to Luxembourg. In 1813, the Prussians had already managed to wrest lands from Luxembourg, to strengthen the Prussian-possessed Duchy of Julich. The Bourbons of France held a strong claim to Luxembourg, whereas the Emperor Francis of Austria, on the other hand, had controlled the duchy until the revolutionary forces had joined it to the French republic. However, his Chancellor, Klemens von Metternich, was not enthusiastic about regaining Luxembourg and the Low Countries, as they were separated so far from the main body of the Austrian Empire.

Prussia and the Netherlands, both claiming Luxembourg, made an exchange deal: Prussia received the Principality of Orange-Nassau, the ancestral Principality of the Prince of Orange in Central Germany; and the Prince of Orange in turn received Luxembourg. In 1815 Luxembourg joined the German Confederation and 1842 the German Customs Union.

Luxembourg, somewhat diminished in size (as the medieval lands had been slightly reduced by the French and Prussian heirs), was augmented in another way through the elevation to the status of grand duchy and placed under the rule of William I of the Netherlands. This was the first time that the duchy had a monarch who had no claim to the inheritance of the medieval patrimony. However, Luxembourg's military value to Prussia prevented it from becoming a full part of the Dutch kingdom. The fortress, ancestral seat of the medieval Luxembourgers, was garrisoned by Prussian forces, following Napoleon's defeat, and Luxembourg became a member of the German Confederation with Prussia responsible for its defence, and a state under the suzerainty of the Netherlands at the same time.

thumb|left|250px|Historic map (undated) of Luxembourg city's fortifications

In July 1819, a contemporary from Britain visited Luxembourg — his journal offers some insights. Norwich Duff, writes of its city that <blockquote>"Luxembourg is considered one of the strongest fortifications in Europe, and … it appears so. It is situated in Holland (then as now used by English speakers as shorthand for the Netherlands) but by treaty is garrisoned by Prussians and 5,000 of their troops occupy it under a Prince of Hesse. The civil government is under the Dutch and the duties collected by them. The town is not very large but the streets are broader than [in] the French towns and clean and the houses are good.... [I] got the cheapest of hot baths here at the principal house I ever had in my life: one franc."</blockquote>

In 1820, Luxembourg made use of the metric system of measurement compulsory. Previously, the country had using local units such as the "malter" (which was equivalent to 191 litres). The Catholic Church helped provide a sense of a unique cultural identity, and as early as 1840, Luxembourg had been granted its own diocese, and in 1870, a separate bishopric. Luxemburger Wort, which came to be the dominant national newspaper in Luxembourg, also had close links with the church. Patterns of language use further consolidated Luxembourgish nationality - while bilingualism prevailed, Luxembourgish became a language used in local literature and newspapers, especially when domestic issues and folklore were discussed; French was considered a language of diplomacy and was used when discussing international matters.

Famous visitors to Luxembourg in the 18th and 19th centuries included the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the French writers Émile Zola and Victor Hugo, the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt, and the English painter Joseph Mallord William Turner.

Separation and the World Wars (1890–1945)

Luxembourg remained a possession of the kings of the Netherlands until the death of William III in 1890, when the grand duchy passed to the House of Nassau-Weilburg due to the 1783 Nassau Family Pact, under which those territories of the Nassau family in the Holy Roman Empire at the time of the pact (Luxembourg and Nassau) were bound by semi-Salic law, which allowed inheritance by females or through the female line only upon extinction of male members of the dynasty. When William III died leaving only his daughter Wilhelmina as an heir, the crown of the Netherlands, not being bound by the family pact, passed to Wilhelmina. However, the crown of Luxembourg passed to a male of another branch of the House of Nassau: Adolphe, the dispossessed Duke of Nassau and head of the branch of Nassau-Weilburg.

By the beginning of the 20th century, Luxembourg had abandoned its cultural ties to Germany in favour of developing its own nationalism - writers such as elevated the status of Luxembourgish to a literary language, and nationalist organisations such as the developed, espousing anti-German and anti-French sentiments. On 10 May 1940 an invasion by German armed forces swept away the Luxembourgish government and monarchy into exile. The German troops made up of the 1st, 2nd, and 10th Panzer Divisions invaded at 04:35. They did not encounter any significant resistance save for some bridges destroyed and some land mines since the majority of the Luxembourgish Volunteer Corps stayed in their barracks. Luxembourgish police resisted the German troops, but to little avail and the capital city was occupied before noon. Total Luxembourgish casualties amounted to 75 police and soldiers captured, six police wounded, and one soldier wounded.

The Luxembourg royal family and their entourage received visas from Portuguese consul Aristides de Sousa Mendes in Bordeaux. They crossed into Portugal and subsequently travelled to the United States in two groups: on the from Lisbon to Baltimore in July 1940, and on the Pan American airliner Yankee Clipper in October 1940. Throughout the war, Grand Duchess Charlotte broadcast via the BBC to Luxembourg to give hope to the people.

Luxembourg remained under German military occupation until August 1942, when Nazi Germany formally annexed it as part of the Gau Moselland. The German authorities declared Luxembourgers to be German citizens and called up 13,000 for military service. 2,848 Luxembourgers eventually died fighting in the German army. Luxembourg was fully incorporated into the Third Reich in 1942, which the German government justified by ‘proclaiming’ that Luxembourgers were ethnically and linguistically German.

An estimated 3,500 Jews lived in Luxembourg before the war; an estimated 1,000 to 2,500 were murdered in the Holocaust.

Luxembourgish opposition to this annexation took the form of passive resistance at first, as in the Spéngelskrich (lit. "War of the Pins"), and in refusal to speak German. As French was forbidden, many Luxembourgers resorted to resuscitating old Luxembourgish words, which led to a renaissance of the language. The Germans met opposition with deportation, forced labour, forced conscription and, more drastically, with internment, deportation to Nazi concentration camps and execution. In October 1941, a census was administered, including questions on jetzige Staatsangehörigkeit (‘current citizenship’), Muttersprache (‘mother tongue’), and Volkszugehörigkeit (‘ethnicity’). An overwhelming majority of the population answered these questions with "Lëtzebuergesch", an act that showed the opposition to Luxembourg's incorporation into the Third Reich, while also emphasising that Luxembourg was not a part of the German nation.

Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, followed this European tradition. On 10 September 2004, Juncker became the president of the group of finance ministers from the 12 countries that share the euro, a role that led him to be dubbed "Mr Euro".

On 24 December 1999, Grand Duke Jean announced his decision to abdicate the Luxembourgish throne in favour of his son, Henri, who had already served as regent since 4 March 1998. Henri was sworn in as Grand Duke on 7 October 2000, ending the 36-year reign of Jean, over which Luxembourg had seen major transformations.

On 10 July 2005, after Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker had threatened to resign in case of a victory of the "no" vote, the proposed European Constitution was approved by 56.52% of voters in a referendum.

In November 2012, RTL and d'Lëtzebuerger Land made allegations concerning misconduct and disorganisation within the State Intelligence Service (SREL), including the transcript of a covertly recorded 2008 conversation between Juncker and SREL head Marco Mille which mentioned links between Grand Duke Henri, MI6 and the Bommelëer Affair. The Chamber of Deputies then opened a parliamentary inquiry which revealed further misconduct, including illegal wiretapping operations, and concluded that Juncker should bear political responsibily for the SREL's actions. After the LSAP pulled from Juncker's coalition government on 10 July 2013, he announced his resignation and the organisation of a snap election.

Following the election, although Juncker's CSV remained the largest party, a coalition between the DP, LSAP and the Greens was formed, with the CSV entering the opposition for the first time since 1979. The DP's Xavier Bettel was sworn in as prime minister on 4 December 2013, succeeding Juncker - who at the time was the EU's longest serving leader - and becoming the world's third openly gay head of government.

In July 2014, the European Parliament elected Juncker as President of the European Commission, making him the third Luxembourger to hold the post. He succeeded Portugal's José Manuel Barroso, who had held the post since 2004, on 1 November 2014.

Following the narrow victory of his liberal-led coalition in the 2018 general election, Xavier Bettel was sworn in for a second term in December of that year. The following year was marked by the death of Grand Duke Jean on 23 April 2019 at age 98, which was followed by a 12-day period of national mourning and a funeral at Luxembourg Cathedral.

On 29 February 2020, in accordance with its 2018 coalition accord, the Bettel II Government implemented free public transport across Luxembourg, making it the first country in the world to implement the measure nationwide.

The October 2023 general election was marked by a sharp electoral defeat for the Greens, which failed to compensate for the DP and LSAP's gains and led to the Bettel II Government losing its majority. With the CSV having once again won the most seats, its leader, former minister Luc Frieden, who returned to politics after a decade-long hiatus, was invited to form a government. The CSV formed a coalition with the DP, with Frieden being sworn in as Prime Minister on 17 November and Bettel remaining in government as Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.

Footnotes

External links

History Of Luxembourg

Luxembourg emigration in the 19th century - Offers reasons why people left Luxembourg in the 19th century.
History of Luxembourg: Primary Documents
Historical Map of Luxembourg 1789
National Museum of Military History