History of Luxembourg
History of Luxembourg |
---|
Luxembourg portal |
The history of Luxembourg consists of the history of the country of Luxembourg and its geographical area.
Although its
After the
In the following decades, Luxembourg fell further into Germany's
Early history
In the territory now covered by the
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
The
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
County
The history of Luxembourg properly began with the construction of Luxembourg Castle in the
Duchy
From the Early Middle Ages to the Renaissance, Luxembourg bore multiple names, depending on the author. These include Lucilinburhuc, Lutzburg, Lützelburg, Luccelemburc, and Lichtburg, among others. The Luxembourgish dynasty produced several Holy Roman Emperors, Kings of Bohemia, and Archbishops of Trier and Mainz.
Around the fort of Luxembourg, a town gradually developed, which became the centre of a small but important state of great strategic value to France, Germany and the Netherlands. Luxembourg's fortress, located on a rocky outcrop known as the
Habsburg (1477–1795) and French (1795–1815) rule
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the electors of Brandenburg, later kings of Prussia (
The first Hohenzollern claimant to descend from both Anna and her younger sister Elisabeth, was John George, Elector of Brandenburg (1525–98), his maternal grandmother having been Barbara Jagiellon. In the late 18th century, the younger line of Orange-Nassau (the princes who held sway in the neighbouring Dutch oligarchy) also became related to the Brandenburgers.
In 1598, the then possessor,
Governance
In the early 17th century, the Duchy was a Spanish possession administered from Brussels by an appointee of the Spanish King, at the same time as the other territories that formed the Spanish Netherlands.[3] They held the title of Governor-General or Lieutenant Governor and were frequently a relative of the King.[3]
The Governor-General was represented in Luxembourg by the Governor.[3] They were surrounded by counsellors, who formed the Provincial Council, effectively the Duchy's government.[3] However, as there was no separation of powers, the Provincial Council was also the main court of justice.[3]
The Duchy was composed of administrative units that were very different in nature:
- seigneuries (lordships), belonging to the nobility
- influential abbeys, whose many lands were exploited by the abbots
- prévôtés, governed directly by the King's administration: prévôts and sous-prévôts (provosts and sub-provosts)
- towns, living according to the laws of their charter[3]
From the 14th century, the inhabitants were represented by the Estates. This assembly comprised representatives of the three orders:
- the nobility
- the clergy
- the towns[3]
All the heads of noble families had the right to participate in sessions of the Estates, while the clergy were represented only by the heads of the largest abbeys:
French invasion
During this period of French rule, the defences of the fortress were strengthened by the famous
Habsburg rule was confirmed in 1715 by the
Austrian rulers were ready to exchange Luxembourg and other territories in the Low Countries. Their purpose was to round out and enlarge their power base, which in geographical terms was centred around
During the
Developing independence (1815–1890)
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
Prussia and the Netherlands, both claiming Luxembourg, made an exchange deal: Prussia received the
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.
In July 1819, a contemporary from Britain visited Luxembourg — his journal offers some insights.
In 1820, Luxembourg made use of the metric system of measurement compulsory.[5][6] Previously, the country had using local units such as the "malter" (which was equivalent to 191 litres).[5]
Much of the Luxembourgish population joined the
This loss left the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg a predominantly German state, although French cultural influence remained strong. The loss of Belgian markets also caused painful economic problems for the state. Recognising this, the grand duke integrated it into the German
Beginning in the 1830s, Luxembourg came to develop its own national identity.
Crisis of 1867
In 1867, Luxembourg's independence was confirmed, after a turbulent period which even included a brief time of civil unrest against plans to annex Luxembourg to Belgium, Germany, or France. The
William III, king of the Netherlands, and sovereign of Luxembourg, was willing to sell the grand duchy to France's Emperor
Famous visitors to Luxembourg in the 18th and 19th centuries included the German poet
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 Nicolas Ries elevated the status of Luxembourgish to a literary language, and nationalist organisations such as the Letzeburger Nationalunio'n developed, espousing anti-German and anti-French sentiments.[7] Luxembourgish was confirmed as an official and separate language by the Education Law of 1912, which established it as a mandatory school subject.[7] The demographic patterns reversed, with more people immigrating to Luxembourg than emigrating from it, and the politics of Luxembourg had consolidated into three major parties - the socialists of Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party, the liberals of the Liberal League, and the conservatives of the Rietspartei.[7]
First World War
The internationally recognised neutrality of Luxembourg from the 1867 revised Treaty of London was violated in 1914 when Luxembourg was occupied by German troops, although the government was left intact and Luxembourg was not incorporated into the German state.
Luxembourg Rebellions
The Luxembourg Rebellions were a series of riots and mutinies in Luxembourg from 1918 to 1919, inspired by similar events in Germany. The rebellions failed, mainly due to the lack of public support as well as France intervening with the government.
1918 Rebellion
In November 1918, communists in Luxembourg city revolted and started a short rebellion, inspired by similar events in Germany. The rebellion soon spread to Esch-sur-Alzette. It was quickly suppressed by the Grand Ducal Gendarmerie, and was followed by the larger republican Luxembourg Rebellion the following January.
1919 Rebellion
The
Interwar period
The end of the occupation in November 1918, squared with a time of uncertainty on the international and national levels. The victorious Allies disapproved of the choices made by the local élites, and some Belgian politicians even demanded the (re)integration of the country into a greater Belgium. Within Luxembourg, a strong minority asked for the creation of a republic. In the end, the grand duchy remained a monarchy but was led by a new head of state, Charlotte. In 1921, it entered into an economic and monetary union with Belgium. During most of the 20th century, however, Germany remained its most important economic partner.
The introduction of universal suffrage for men and women favored the Rechtspartei (Party of the Right) which played the dominant role in the government throughout the 20th century, with the exception of 1925–26 and 1974–79, when the two other important parties, the Liberal and the Social-Democratic parties, formed a coalition. The success of the resulting party was due partly to the support of the church — the population was more than 90 percent Catholic — and of its newspaper, the Luxemburger Wort.
On the international level, the interwar period was characterised by an attempt to put Luxembourg on the map. Especially under Joseph Bech, head of the Department of Foreign Affairs, the country participated more actively in several international organisations, in order to ensure its autonomy. On 16 December 1920 Luxembourg became a member of the League of Nations. On the economic level in the 1920s and the 1930s, the agricultural sector declined in favour of industry, but even more so for the service sector. The proportion of the active population in this last sector rose from 18 percent in 1907 to 31 percent in 1935.
In the 1930s, the internal situation deteriorated, as Luxembourgish politics were influenced by European left- and right-wing politics. The government tried to counter
Second World War
Upon the outbreak of the
The Luxembourg royal family and their entourage received visas from Portuguese consul
Luxembourg remained
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
Executions took place after the so-called
U.S. forces liberated most of the country in September 1944. They entered the capital city on 10 September 1944. During the
Between December 1944 and February 1945, the recently liberated city of
fired a total of 183 rounds at Luxembourg. However, the V-3 was not very accurate. 142 rounds landed in Luxembourg, with 44 confirmed hits in the urban area, and the total casualties were 10 dead and 35 wounded. The bombardments ended with the American Army nearing Lampaden on 22 February 1945.Altogether, of a pre-war population of 293,000, 5,259 Luxembourgers lost their lives during the hostilities.
Modern history (since 1945)
After
Between 1945 and 2005, the economic structure of Luxembourg changed significantly. The crisis of the metallurgy sector, which began in the mid-1970s and lasted till the late 1980s, nearly pushed the country into economic recession, given the monolithic dominance of that sector. The Tripartite Coordination Committee, consisting of members of the government, management representatives, and trade union leaders, succeeded in preventing major social unrest during those years, thus creating the myth of a “Luxembourg model” characterised by social peace. Although in the early years of the 21st century Luxembourg enjoyed one of the highest GNI per capita in the world, this was mainly due to the strength of its financial sector, which gained importance at the end of the 1960s. Thirty-five years later, one-third of the tax proceeds originated from that sector. The harmonisation of the tax system across Europe could, however, seriously undermine the financial situation of the grand duchy.
Luxembourg has been one of the strongest advocates of the European Union in the tradition of Robert Schuman. It was one of the six founding members of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1952 and of the European Economic Community (EEC) (later the European Union) in 1957; in 1999 it joined the euro currency area.
Encouraged by the contacts established with the Dutch and Belgian governments in exile, Luxembourg pursued a policy of presence in international organisations. In the context of the Cold War, Luxembourg clearly opted for the West, having joined NATO in 1949. Engagement in European reconstruction was rarely questioned subsequently, either by politicians or by the greater population.
Despite its small proportions, Luxembourg often played an intermediary role between larger countries. This role of mediator, especially between the two large and often bellicose nations of Germany and France, was considered one of the main characteristics of its national identity, allowing the Luxembourgers not to have to choose between one of these two neighbours. The country also hosted a large number of European institutions such as the European Court of Justice.
Luxembourg's small size no longer seemed to be a challenge to the existence of the country, and the creation of the
In 1985, the country became victim to a mysterious bombing spree, which was targeted mostly at electrical masts and other installations.
In 1995, Luxembourg provided the president of the European Commission, former Prime Minister Jacques Santer, who later had to resign in March 1999 over corruption accusations against other commission members.[12]
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".[13]
The present sovereign is Grand Duke Henri. Henri's father, Jean, succeeded his mother, Charlotte, on 12 November 1964. Jean's eldest son, Prince Henri, was appointed "Lieutenant Représentant" (Hereditary Grand Duke) on 4 March 1998. On 24 December 1999, Prime Minister Juncker announced Grand Duke Jean's decision to abdicate the throne on 7 October 2000, in favour of Prince Henri who assumed the title and constitutional duties of Grand Duke.[14]
On 10 July 2005, after threats of resignation by Prime Minister Juncker, the proposed
In July 2013, Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker announced his resignation following a secret service scandal. He had been prime minister since 1995.[16]
In December 2013, openly gay Xavier Bettel was sworn in as the new prime minister to succeed Juncker. Bettel of the Democratic Party (DP), formed a coalition of Liberals, Social Democrats and Greens who won a combined majority of 32 out of 60 seats in Luxembourg's snap election on 20 October 2013. However, Juncker's Christian Democrats (CSV) remained the biggest party with 23 seats.[17]
In July 2014, European Parliament elected former Luxembourg prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker as the President of the European Commission on 1 November 2014, succeeding Portugal's Jose Manuel Barroso, who had held the post since 2004.[18][19]
In December 2018, Prime Minister Xavier Bettel was sworn in for a second term, following the narrow victory of his liberal-led coalition in 2018 parliamentary election.[20] In February 2020, in accordange 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.
In October 2023, the Christian Social People's Party (CSV) won the
See also
- List of monarchs of Luxembourg
- List of prime ministers of Luxembourg
- Politics of Luxembourg
- History of rail transport in Luxembourg, 1846 to present day
General:
Footnotes
- ^ "Luxembourg". Catholic Encyclopaedia. 1913. Retrieved 30 July 2006.
- ^ a b Jacobs, Frank (17 April 2012). "Who's Afraid of Greater Luxembourg?". The New York Times.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Schiltz, Pol (1 April 2003), "Les répercussions de la Guerre de Trente Ans au Luxembourg", Hémecht (in French), vol. 55, no. 2, pp. 137–138, retrieved 30 October 2023
- ^ Literally 'woods', in reference to the Ardennes.
- ^ a b Washburn, E.W. (1926). International Critical Tables of Numerical Data, Physics, Chemistry and Technology. Vol. 1. New York: McGraw-Hil Book Company, Inc. p. 9. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
- ISBN 978-1-4471-1122-1.
- ^ S2CID 143661114.
- ^ Frédéric Laux, "Bismarck et l'affaire du Luxembourg de 1867 à la lumière des archives britanniques," [Bismarck and the Luxembourg Affair of 1867 in Light of British Archives] Revue d'histoire diplomatique 2001 115(3): 183-202
- ^ Herbert Maks, "Zur Interdependenz innen- und außenpolitischer Faktoren in Bismarcks Politik in der luxemburgischen Frage 1866/67," ["The Interdependence of Domestic and Foreign Factors in Bismarck's Policies on the Luxembourg Question, 1866-67] Francia Part 3 19./20. 1997 24(3): 91-115.
- ^ Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Luxembourg and the German Invasion: Before and After (London and New York, 1942) p. 32
- ISBN 9781447233770.
- ^ "The Santer Commission Resignation Crisis" (PDF). pitt.edu. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
- ^ Dougherty, Carter; Meller, Paul (11 September 2004). "Prime minister of Luxembourg is cast as first 'Mr. Euro'". The New York Times.
- ^ "Twenty Years of Rule: Looking back at the accession of Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg". 7 October 2020.
- ^ "Referendum on the European Constitution in Luxembourg 10th july 2005".
- ^ "Luxembourg PM Juncker to resign over spy scandal - BBC News". BBC News. 10 July 2013.
- ^ "Luxembourg installs Bettel, Juncker out | DW | 04.12.2013". Deutsche Welle.
- ^ "Parliament elects Jean-Claude Juncker as Commission President | News | European Parliament". 15 July 2014.
- ^ "Juncker's election 'crucial step' towards United States of Europe". 29 June 2020.
- ^ "Luxembourg PM Bettel begins second term of coalition government". Reuters. 5 December 2018.
- ^ "Luxembourg PM Bettel faces exit after election defeat". POLITICO. 9 October 2023.
- ^ "Luxembourg's Bettel to return as foreign minister in new government". POLITICO. 15 November 2023.
Further reading
- Arblaster, Paul. A History of the Low Countries (Palgrave Essential Histories) (2005)
- Blom, J.C.H. History of the Low Countries (2006).
- Bodenstein, Felicity. "National Museums in Luxembourg." Building National Museums in Europe 1750-2010 (Linköping University Electronic Press, 2011) online.
- Brühwiler, Ingrid, and Matias Gardin. "Fabricating National Unity in Torn Contexts: World War I in the Multilingual Countries of Switzerland and Luxembourg." in Small Nations and Colonial Peripheries in World War I (Brill, 2016) pp. 140–156.
- De Bres, Julia, Gabriel Rivera Cosme, and Angela Remesch. "Walking the tightrope of linguistic nationalism in a multilingual state: constructing language in political party programmes in Luxembourg." Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 41.9 (2020): 779–793.
- de Vries, Johan. "Benelux, 1920-1970," in C. M. Cipolla, ed. The Fontana Economic History of Europe: Contemporary Economics Part One (1976) pp 1–71.
- Duong, Mei (2021). "Development-Led or 'Preventive' Archaeology in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg". Internet Archaeology (57). doi:10.11141/ia.57.6.
- Fletcher, Willard Allen. “The German Administration in Luxemburg 1940-1942: Towards a ‘De Facto’ Annexation” Historical Journal 13#3 (1970), pp. 533–544. online
- Garcia, Nuria. "The paradox of contemporary linguistic nationalism: the case of Luxembourg." Nations and Nationalism 20.1 (2014): 113–132.
- Horner, Kristine, and Jean Jacques Weber. "The language situation in Luxembourg." Current issues in language planning 9.1 (2008): 69–128.
- Kossmann, E. H. The Low Countries 1780–1940 (1978).
- Millim, Anne-Marie. "Schooling the gaze: Industry and nation-building in Luxembourgish landscape-writing, 1900–1940." Journal of European Studies 44.2 (2014): 151-169 online.
- Péporté, Pit. Constructing the Middle Ages: historiography, collective memory and nation-building in Luxembourg (Brill, 2011).
- Péporté, Pit; Kmec, Sonja; Majerus, Benoît and Margue, Michel Inventing Luxembourg. Representations of the Past, Space and Language from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-first Century Archived 17 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Vol. 1 of the Collection ‘National Cultivation of Culture’, ed. Joep Leerssen (Leiden/Boston: Brill) (2010).
- Schreiber, Catherina. "Integrating the cosmopolitan and the local–The curricular construction of citizens in Luxembourg in the long 19th century." Encounters in Theory and History of Education 16 (2015): 165-182 online.
- Thyssen, Geert. "The stranger within: Luxembourg’s early school system as a European prototype of nationally legitimized international blends (ca. 1794–1844)." Paedagogica Historica 49.5 (2013): 625–644.
- Zariz, Ruth. “The Jews of Luxembourg during the Second World War” Holocaust & Genocide Studies No 7 (1993). pp. 51–66.
External links
- 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