Partitions of Luxembourg

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The three partitions of Luxembourg reduced Luxembourg's area substantially, to the advantage of the three surrounding countries.

There were three Partitions of Luxembourg between 1659 and 1839. Together, the three partitions reduced the territory of the Duchy of Luxembourg from 10,700 km2 (4,100 sq mi) to the present-day area of 2,586 km2 (998 sq mi) over a period of 240 years. The remainder forms parts of modern-day Belgium, France, and Germany.

All three countries bordering Luxembourg have, at one point or another, sought the complete annexation of Luxembourg, but all such attempts have failed. Conversely, there have been historical movements to reverse Luxembourg's loss of territory, but none of these came to fruition, and Luxembourgian revanchism is only a fringe opinion today.

First Partition

Main article:
Franco-Spanish War (1635–59)

The first partition of Luxembourg occurred in 1659, when the

Franco-Spanish War, France and England had captured much of the Spanish Netherlands. Under the Treaty of the Pyrenees, France received from Luxembourg the fortresses of Stenay, Thionville, and Montmédy
, and the surrounding territory.

The area taken by France from the Duchy of Luxembourg totalled 1,060 km2 (410 sq mi).[1] This area accounted for approximately one-tenth of area of the Duchy of Luxembourg at the time.

Second Partition

Main article: French Revolutionary Wars

In 1795, during the

House of Orange would receive all of the Low Countries, including Luxembourg. However, Prussia, which had received the whole of the Rhineland and Westphalia during the war, requested the fortress of Bitburg, which would serve to form part of the German Confederation
's western border fortifications. As the rest of Luxembourg was changing hands anyway, the Dutch did not attempt to argue this point.

The Second Partition reduced Luxembourg's territory by 2,280 km2 (880 sq mi), or 24% of Luxembourg's contemporary area. Along with Bitburg, Prussia gained the towns of

Sankt Vith, Schleiden, and Waxweiler. Altogether, the lands had a population of 50,000.[1] Today, these lands belong to both Germany and Belgium; the district of Eupen-Malmedy was ceded by Germany to Belgium in 1919 under the Treaty of Versailles
.

Third Partition

Main articles: Belgian Revolution, Luxembourg and the Belgian Revolution, and Treaty of London (1839)

The largest territorial loss occurred under the

Great Powers relented, and the Conference instead decreed that the status of Luxembourg would be decided later; the Netherlands, which had assented to the Conference's decision, invaded Belgium to force the Belgians to accept limitation of its territory.[2] After the withdrawal of Dutch forces, the London Conference made its third suggestion, that Luxembourg be divided between the two countries, with most of the land going to Belgium, but with Luxembourg City remaining under Dutch control. Leopold agreed, and the treaty was signed on the 15 November 1831.[3] Although the Dutch King William I rejected this suggestion at first, after the stand-off had dragged on for several years, he gave in, and agreed to the partition in 1839.[2]

In the Third Partition, Luxembourg lost all of its western territories, including the towns of

Duchy of Limburg to the German Confederation that was equal in population to the territory lost to Belgium. The cities of Maastricht and Venlo
were therefore excluded from the Confederation.

The line of Luxembourg's partition was established in London, on the basis of maps that were out-of-date and inaccurate.[5] It used several criteria, with the linguistic criterion being the main one.[5] The Grand Duchy lost all of its French-speaking territories. For military reasons and due to French pressure, the Arlon region, though German-speaking, was also given to Belgium.[5] The objective was to remove the Athus-Arlon road from the influence of the German Confederation; in Arlon, it joined up with the road leading to Brussels.[5]

The mixing-up of the applied criteria may explain the sometimes arbitrary nature of the line of demarcation.[5] In many cases, it separated families as well as economic entities.[5]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b Gardini, Fausto. "The Two Luxembourg". Luxembourg American Cultural Society. Archived from the original on 2006-07-13. Retrieved 2006-07-20.
  2. ^ a b c Fyffe (1895), ch. XVI
  3. ^ Fuehr, Alexander (1915). The Neutrality of Belgium. New York: Funk and Wagnalls. Retrieved 20 July 2006.
  4. ^ Calmes 1989, p. 316.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Trausch 1992, pp. 80–81.

References and further reading

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