German occupation of Luxembourg during World War I
From August 1914 until the end of
During this period, Luxembourg was allowed to retain its own government and political system, but all proceedings were overshadowed by the German army's presence. Despite the overbearing distraction of the occupation, the Luxembourgish people attempted to lead their lives as normally as possible. The political parties attempted to focus on other matters, such as the economy, education, and
The domestic political environment was further complicated by the death of
Background
Since the 1867
Since the 1860s, Luxembourgers had been keenly aware of German ambition,[2] and Luxembourg's government was well aware of the implications of the Schlieffen Plan. In 1911, Prime Minister Paul Eyschen commissioned an engineer to evaluate Germany's western railroad network, particularly the likelihood that Germany would occupy Luxembourg to suit its logistical needs for a campaign in France.[3][4] Moreover, given the strong ethnic and linguistic links between Luxembourg and Germany, it was feared that Germany might seek to annex Luxembourg into its empire. The government of Luxembourg aimed to avoid this by re-affirming the country's neutrality.[5]
In June 1914,
Anticipating a retaliatory declaration of war from Russia's closest western ally, France, Germany put into action the Schlieffen Plan. Under this military strategy, formulated by Count Schlieffen in 1905, Germany would launch a lightning attack on France through the poorly defended Low Countries. This would bypass France's main defences, arranged to the south. Germany's army would be able to encircle Paris, force France to surrender, and turn its full attention to the Eastern Front.[7]
Invasion
On 1 August 1914, Germany declared war on Russia. On the outbreak of war with its eastern neighbour, Germany put the Schlieffen Plan into action, and Luxembourg's government's fears were realised. Initially, Luxembourg was only a transit point for Albrecht von Württemberg's Fourth Army. One of the railways from the northern Rhineland into France passed through Troisvierges, in the far north of Luxembourg, and Germany's first infringement of Luxembourg's sovereignty and neutrality was the unauthorised use of Troisvierges station.[8]
The next day, while French troops were still at a distance from the German frontier, Germany launched a full invasion.
On 2 August, German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg justified the complete occupation of Luxembourg in terms of military necessity, arguing that France was ready to invade Luxembourg itself.[15] The French minister in Luxembourg dismissed this argument, claiming that it would not have considered violating Luxembourg's neutrality unless Germany had done so first.[16] Bethmann Hollweg attempted to prove his country's regret by offering Luxembourg compensation for the losses due to the military presence.[15] On 4 August, Bethmann Hollweg told the Reichstag:
We have been forced to ignore the just protestations of Luxembourg and the Belgian government. We shall make amends for this injustice as soon as our military goal is accomplished.[17]
However, when it seemed that Germany was on the verge of victory, the Chancellor began to revise his statements. In an internal memorandum, not discovered until midcentury, Bethmann Hollweg proposed that Luxembourg become a German federal state, and for that result to be forced upon the Luxembourgish people once Germany achieved victory over the Triple Entente.[18] However, the British and French halted the German advance at the Battle of the Marne in mid-September. This resulted in the indefinite continuation of German occupation.[citation needed]
Eyschen government
Just as the war was in the balance on the Western Front, so the fate of Luxembourg was see-sawing back and forth. It was clear to all that the good conduct of the Luxembourgish government, if fully receptive to the needs of the German military administrators, could guarantee Luxembourg's continued self-government, at least in the short-term. Eyschen was a familiar and overwhelmingly popular leader, and all factions put their utmost faith in his ability to steer Luxembourg through the diplomatic minefield that was occupation. On 4 August, he expelled the French minister in Luxembourg at the request of the German minister,[19] followed by the Belgian minister four days later and the Italian minister when his country entered the war.[20] To the same end, Eyschen refused to speak ill of the German Zollverein,[5] even though he had talked openly of exiting the customs union before the war began.[21]
On occasions, Eyschen rebuked the occupying forces. On 13 October, a Luxembourgish journalist named Karl Dardar was arrested by the German army for publishing anti-German stories. He was then taken to Koblenz, and tried and sentenced by court-martial to three months imprisonment. Eyschen was outraged that the Germans had kidnapped a Luxembourgish citizen and tried him for an extraterritorial offence, and Eyschen did nothing to hide his indignation. Eyschen told the German minister in Luxembourg that the action was a 'direct injury to the Grand Duchy's national sovereignty'.[22]
Similar complaints were made, by both Eyschen and
Eyschen was not the only person to be politically active during the occupation. In the summer of 1915, Eyschen pushed to further reduce the role of the Catholic Church in the state school system. Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde objected. A fervently religious Catholic (as was most of the country, but not her late father, who was Protestant), she was reputed to have said, "I will not allow their most precious heritage [Roman Catholicism] to be stolen while I have the key."[25] Marie-Adélaïde refused to budge, inviting Eyschen to resign if he could not accept her decision. Eyschen nearly resigned, but decided not to.[26] Nevertheless, he died shortly after.
After Eyschen
Eyschen's death
On 11 October, Luxembourg's political system was thrown into disarray by the death of Paul Eyschen.
Critically, Eyschen had the
Mongenast government
The day after Eyschen's death, Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde invited Mathias Mongenast, who had been Minister for Finance since 1882, to form a minority government. Mongenast's special status as a 'caretaker' Prime Minister is underlined by his official title; he was not 'President of the Government', as all other Prime Ministers since 1857 had been, but held the lesser title of 'President of the Council'.[29]
Mongenast's administration was never intended to be long-lived, and Marie-Adélaïde's main objective when appointing the experienced Mongenast was to steady the ship. Nevertheless, nobody expected the government to fall as soon as it did. On 4 November, Mongenast nominated a new candidate for head of Luxembourg's école normale. The nomination did not meet with Grand Ducal approval, and Marie-Adélaïde rejected him.[29] Mongenast persisted; education had been a hobby horse of his, and he imagined that the Grand Duchess would accept the advice of a minister as experienced as he was. He was wrong; the Grand Duchess had always been single-minded, and resented a minority Prime Minister, particularly one so new to the job, making demands of her. The next day, Mongenast resigned, just 25 days after being given the job.[citation needed]
Loutsch government
Having fought with Mongenast, the Grand Duchess decided to appoint an all-conservative cabinet led by Hubert Loutsch. The Chamber of Deputies was steadfastly opposed; the Party of the Right held only 20 seats out of 52, but they formed the plurality.[30] Marie-Adélaïde sought to end this deadlock by dissolving the Chamber of Deputies and by calling for the voters to grant a mandate to the conservatives. This outraged the left, which assumed that its deputies alone had the constitutional right to grant the government confidence;[30] it was dubbed by those on the left a 'coup d'état by the Grand Duchess'.[31] Nonetheless, on 23 December, Luxembourg went to the polls. Although the position of the Party of the Right was improved, taking 25 seats, it fell a whisker short of winning an absolute majority. On 11 January 1916, the Chamber of Deputies passed a motion of no confidence, and Loutsch resigned.[citation needed]
National Union Government
Forming a consensus
After the failure of the all-conservative government, the Grand Duchess turned to the leading liberal politician, Victor Thorn, to form a new government. After Eyschen's premiership of 27 years, two governments had come and gone in three months, and the Luxembourgish people were becoming disillusioned with the failure of the politicians. Thorn's nature was to be a conciliatory leader, and he made a direct appeal to the Chamber of Deputies to support his government, no matter the deputies' individual ideological persuasions: "If you want a government that acts, and is capable of acting, it is imperative that all parties support this government."
Food shortage
The most pressing concern of the Luxembourgish government was that of food supply.[34] The war had made importation of food an impossibility, and the needs of the German occupiers inevitably came before those of the Luxembourgish people.[35] To slow the food supply's diminishment, Michel Welter, the Director-General for both agriculture and commerce, banned the export of food from Luxembourg.[36] Furthermore, the government introduced rationing and price controls to counteract the soaring demand and to make food more affordable for poorer Luxembourgers. However, the measures did not have the desired effect. Increasing numbers of Luxembourgers turned to the black market,[34] and, to the consternation of the Luxembourgish government, the German army of occupation seemed to do little to help. Moreover, the government accused Germany of aiding the development of the black market by refusing to enforce regulations, and even of smuggling goods themselves.[35]
Through 1916, the food crisis deepened, compounded by a poor potato harvest across all of the Low Countries; in neighbouring Belgium, the harvest was between 30% and 40% down on the previous year.[37] Although many Luxembourgers were on near-starvation level dietary intakes,[35] the country managed to avoid famine. In part, this was due to a reduction of German soldiers' dependence upon local food sources, instead relying on imports from Germany.[38]
Despite the avoidance of a famine, the Luxembourgish government lost much of the faith placed in it by the public and by the politicians. On 22 December, Michel Welter, the minister responsible, was censured by the Chamber of Deputies, which demanded his resignation. Thorn procrastinated, seeking any option but firing the leader of one of three major parties, but could find none. On 3 January 1917, Welter was fired, and replaced by another socialist, Ernest Leclère.[33] Even after the change and von Tessmar's promise of his soldiers' better conduct in future, Léon Kauffmann was capable of citing thirty-six instances of German soldiers caught smuggling foodstuffs between March 1917 and June 1918.[39]
Miners' strike
Discontent amongst the population grew constantly, particularly in the country's industrialised south. The autumn of 1916 had seen the first
For many Luxembourgers, particularly the miners, expression of disgust at the government could not be directed through the ballot box alone. Sensing the threat of civil disobedience or worse, von Tessmar threatened any individual committing an act of violence (in which he included strike action) with the death penalty.[41] However, on 31 May 1917, the workers sought to use their most potent weapon, by defying von Tessmar's ultimatum and downing tools.[42] Germany was dependent upon Luxembourgish iron, as the British Royal Navy's naval blockade forced Germany to look to accessible local supplies; in 1916, Luxembourg produced over one-seventh of the Zollverein's pig iron.[40][43] As such, Germany simply could not afford a strike, lest it be deprived of critical raw materials.[citation needed]
In putting down the strike, von Tessmar was ruthlessly efficient, but he was not required to resort to the executions that he had threatened. Within nine days, the strike was defeated and the leaders arrested.[44] The two ringleaders were then sentenced by German court-martial in Trier to ten years imprisonment, to the disgust of the government.[44] The continued refusal of the German authorities to respect the Luxembourgish government, and the humiliating manner in which the strike was put down by German military muscle rather than the Luxembourgish gendarmerie, were too much for Thorn. On 19 June, the government resigned.[33]
Kauffmann government
Although the experiment in grand coalition had failed, the need for some political unity remained. As the National Union Government was collapsing, Kauffmann arranged an alliance between his Party of the Right and Moutrier's
Whereas all of the above measures were broadly popular, across most of the political spectrum, the same was not true of the proposal to amend Article 32. Said article had not been amended in the overhaul of 1868, and its text had remained unchanged since the original constitution of 1848, stating unequivocally that all sovereignty resided in the person of the Grand Duchess.[46] For some, particularly those that resented the close relations between Marie-Adélaïde and the German royalty, the idea of national sovereignty residing in such a person was unacceptable. The Chamber of Deputies voted to review Article 32, but Kauffmann refused to allow it, seeing the redefinition of the source of national sovereignty as covert republicanism.[45]
The summer of 1918 saw a dramatic decline in the fortunes of the government. On 8 July, Clausen, in central Luxembourg City, had been bombed by the British Royal Air Force, killing ten civilians.[47] Although this did not endear the Allies to Luxembourgers, the Grand Duchess' instinct was to run to the Germans, who were even less popular amongst the people. On 16 August, German Chancellor Georg von Hertling paid a visit to Luxembourg; although Hertling asked only to see the Grand Duchess, Kauffmann asked that he also attend. To the Luxembourgish people, relations between the two countries now seemed unambiguously cordial, and all that was left of Kauffmann's credibility disappeared.[45] This was compounded further by the news on 26 August of the engagement of the Grand Duchess' sister, Princess Antonia, to Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, who was Generalfeldmarschall in the German army.[48] Pressure mounted on Kauffmann; with his party still strong, but with his personal reputation shattered, he was left with no option but to resign, which he did on 28 September in favour of Émile Reuter, another conservative.[49]
End of the war
Armistice
By the autumn of 1918, Germany's position in the war was becoming untenable. The massive German spring offensive had been an unmitigated disaster, whereas the Allied counterattack, the Hundred Days Offensive, had driven the German Army back to its own borders. On 6 November, von Tessmar announced the full withdrawal of German soldiers from Luxembourg.[50] Five days after von Tessmar's announcement, Germany signed an armistice, which brought an end to the war of four years. One of the terms of the armistice involved the withdrawal of German soldiers from Luxembourg, along with the other occupied countries.[51]
The Allied powers agreed that the German withdrawal from Luxembourg would be observed by the United States, and that the United States would receive the honour of liberating the captive country. On 18 November, American General John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing, Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) on the Western Front, issued a proclamation to the people of Luxembourg, stating that the United States' newly formed Third Army would move through Luxembourg to occupy the German Rhineland, but that the Americans would come as allies and as liberators:
After four years of violation of its territory, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is to be fortunately liberated. ... American troops enter the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg as friends, and will abide rigorously by international law. Their presence, which will not be extended longer than is absolutely necessary, will not be a burden upon you. The operation of the government and institutions will not be impeded. Your lives and livelihoods will not be disturbed. Your person and your property will be respected.[52]
The following day, American soldiers crossed the Franco-Luxembourgish border. Everywhere, they were fêted as liberators, in the spirit that Pershing had intended to inspire, and were met by bands and civilians waving flags, and were adorned with flowers.
Germany's defeat created the perfect opportunity for the Allied powers to resolve the Luxembourgish question once and for all. By removing Luxembourg from Germany's sphere of influence, they hoped to guarantee its continued independence, and thus preserve the peace they had won. On 19 December, at the instigation of the British and French governments, the Luxembourgish government announced its withdrawal from the Zollverein and an end to the railway concessions that Luxembourg had previously granted Germany.[54]
Rebellion
Although the Allies were satisfied at this remedy, at the time, the Luxembourgish government was threatened by a communist insurgency. After the retreat of the German army, revolutionaries established
Although the left's early attempts at founding a republic had failed, the underlying cause of the resentment had not been addressed, and, as long as Marie-Adélaïde was Grand Duchess, the liberals would ally themselves to the socialists in opposition to her. The French government also refused to cooperate with a government led by a so-called '
Nonetheless, the disloyalty shown by her own armed forces was too much for Marie-Adélaïde, who abdicated in favour of her sister, Charlotte.[57] Belgium, which had hoped to either annex Luxembourg or force it into personal union, grudgingly recognised Charlotte on 13 February.[60] The dynasty's hold on power would be tenuous until September 1919, when a referendum on the future of the Grand Duchy found 77.8% in favour of continued rule by the House of Nassau-Weilburg.[61]
Paris Peace Conference
Despite the armistice ending the war, and the end of the revolts, Luxembourg's own future was still uncertain. Belgium was one of the countries hit hardest by the war; almost the whole of the country was occupied by Germany, and over 43,000 Belgians,
The resulting
Luxembourgers overseas
Thousands of Luxembourgers overseas, unconstrained by the Luxembourgish government's need to remain neutral, signed up to serve with foreign armies. 3,700 Luxembourgish nationals served in the
The
See also
Footnotes
- Links to many of the cited primary sources, including speeches, telegrams, and despatches, can be found in the 'References' section.
- ^ Speech by Bismarck to the North German Reichstag (in German), 27 September 1867.
- ^ Calmes (1989), p. 340
- ^ (in French) Operational Intelligence Report. 24 September 1911. Retrieved on 23 July 2006.
- ^ Luxembourg Railways Intelligence Report
- ^ a b Thewes (2003), p. 56
- OCLC 750443358.
- ISBN 0-7126-6645-1.
- ^ Telegram from Eyschen to Jagow (in German), 1 August 1914.
- ^ Otte, 2014 Chapter 7 p. 487
- ^ Telegram from Eyschen to assorted foreign ministers (in French), 2 August 1914.
- ^ Speech by Eyschen to the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies (in French), 3 August 1914.
- ^ Gaul, Roland. "The Luxembourg Army". Archived from the original on 22 August 2006. Retrieved 23 July 2006.
- ^ a b Doody, Richard. "The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg". Archived from the original on 12 July 2006. Retrieved 23 July 2006.
- ^ O'Shaughnessy (1932), p. 155
- ^ a b Telegram from Bethmann-Hollweg to Eyschen (in German), 2 August 1914.
- ^ Letter from Mollard to Eyschen (in French), 3 August 1914.
- ^ Speech by Bethmann-Hollweg to the German Reichstag (in German), 4 August 1914.
- ^ "The September Memorandum (September 9, 1914)". GHDI - German History in Documents and Images. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
- ^ Telegram from Eyschen to Mollard (in French), 4 August 1914
- ^ Mersch, Jules (1953). "Paul Eyschen". Biographie Nationale du Pays de Luxembourg. Luxembourg City: Victor Buck. p. 132.
- ^ Letter from Eyschen to Nyssens (in French), 28 December 1882.
- ^ Telegram from Eyschen to Buch (in German), 8 December 1914.
- ^ Telegram from Thorn to Berg (in German), 1 February 1915.
- ^ David Heal, Victims Nonetheless: The invasion of Luxembourg, 1914 (2010)
- ^ O'Shaughnessy (1932), pp. 134–135
- ^ Calmes (1989), p. 93
- ^ a b Thewes (2003), p. 64.
- ^ O'Shaughnessy (1932), p. 65.
- ^ a b Thewes (2003), p. 65.
- ^ a b Thewes (2003), p. 66
- ^ Kreins (2003), p. 88.
- ^ Speech by Thorn to the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies (in French), February 1916
- ^ a b c d e Thewes (2003), p. 69.
- ^ a b Thewes (2003), p. 68.
- ^ a b c Letter from Thorn to Buch (in German), 28 August 1916
- ^ Letter from Tessmar to assorted commanders (in German), 8 May 1916
- ^ Letter from Hoover to Percy, 7 October 1916
- ^ Letter from Buch to Thorn (in German), 4 October 1916
- ^ Letter from Kauffmann to Kirsch (in German), 26 September 1918
- ^ Statec. Archived from the original(GIF) on 24 August 2006. Retrieved 23 July 2006.
- ^ Proclamation by Tessmar to steel workers at Differdange (in German), 10 May 1917
- ^ Telegram from Thorn to Arendt (in German), 2 June 1917
- ^ Zollverein pig iron production. National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved on 23 July 2006.
- ^ a b Letter from Kauffmann to Zimmerman (in German), 3 August 1917
- ^ a b c d Thewes (2003), p. 72.
- ^ a b (in French and German) "Mémorial A, 1868, No. 23" (PDF). Service central de législation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2006. Retrieved 23 July 2006.
- ^ Faber 1932, p. 155
- ^ Thewes (2003), p. 74.
- ^ Thewes (2003), p. 76.
- ^ Letter from Tessmar to Reuter (in German), 6 November 1918.
- ^ (in French) La convention d'armistice Archived 24 December 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Article A(II). 11 November 1918. Retrieved on 20 February 2012.
- ^ Proclamation by Pershing to the people of Luxembourg (in French), 18 November 1918.
- ^ a b c "March into Germany". Archived from the original on 23 September 2006. Retrieved 23 December 2007.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). US Third Army, 14 July 2004. Retrieved on 20 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine Internet Archive - ^ Thewes (2003), p. 79.
- ^ a b c Kreins (2003), p. 89.
- ^ a b c Thewes (2003), p. 81.
- ^ a b Dostert et al. (2002), p. 21.
- ^ Luxembourg country profile. WorldStatesman.org. Retrieved on 23 July 2006.
- ^ Kreins (2003), p. 90.
- ^ a b Kreins (2003), p. 91.
- ^ Dostert et al. (2002), p. 22
- ^ Everett, Susan (1982). History of World War I. New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 248.
- ISBN 0-8153-3351-X.
- ISBN 1-84540-065-8.
- ^ Treaty of Versailles Archived 17 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Article 40. 28 June 1919. Retrieved on 23 July 2006.
- ^ Treaty of Versailles, Annex V(5), 28 June 1919
- ^ Treaty of Versailles, Article 268(c), 28 June 1919
- ^ "Grand Duchy of Luxembourg". National Museum of Military History. Archived from the original on 9 June 2008. Retrieved 20 December 2008.
- ^ Lahmeyer, Jan. "Luxembourg: Country population". Archived from the original on 11 August 2004. Retrieved 23 July 2006.
- ISBN 3-88865-192-1.
- ^ a b c Fasto Gardini. "The Demise of the Luxemburger Gazette". Archived from the original on 8 February 2006. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
References and further reading
- (in French and German) German occupation of Luxembourg. GWPDA, 21 May 1998. Retrieved on 2006-07-23.
- Bellion, Joé (1 July 2013), "Luxemburger in der französischen Armee während des Ersten Weltkrieges", Hémecht (in German), vol. 65, no. 3, pp. 367–298, retrieved 28 October 2023
- Calmes, Christian (1989). The Making of a Nation From 1815 to the Present Day. Luxembourg City: Saint-Paul. OCLC 220806453.
- Dostert, Paul; Margue, Paul (September 2002). The Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg (PDF). Luxembourg City: Service Information et Presse. ISBN 2-87999-018-1. Archived from the original(PDF) on 30 June 2006. Retrieved 23 July 2006.
- Faber, Ernest (1932). Luxemburg im Kriege 1914–1918 (in German). Mersch. )
- Hamdi, Mohamed (5 January 2018). "L'industrie lourde luxembourgeoise dans l'armement allemand". d'Lëtzebuerger Land. p. 11.
- Kreins, Jean-Marie (2003). Histoire du Luxembourg (in French) (3rd ed.). Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. ISBN 978-2-13-053852-3.
- Otte, Thomas (2014). July Crisis: The World's Descent into War, Summer 1914. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-1070-6490-4.
- O'Shaughnessy, Edith (1932). Marie Adelaide – Grand Duchess of Luxemburg, Duchess of Nassau. London: Jonathan Cape. OCLC 551606.
- Thewes, Guy (July 2003). Les gouvernements du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg depuis 1848 (PDF) (in French) (Édition limitée ed.). Luxembourg City: Service Information et Presse. ISBN 2-87999-118-8. Archived from the original(PDF) on 4 February 2004. Retrieved 23 July 2006.