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Luxembourg History
Home » Luxembourg » Luxembourg: Overview and History » Luxembourg HistoryAs one would expect of a country with its small size, Luxembourg has struggled for centuries with occupation and domination by its more powerful European neighborhoods. The country has often served as a crossroads of Western Europe, yet Luxembourgers maintain their own proud identity.
In 963 AD, Count Sigefroid of Ardennes built a castle in Luxembourg (thought it was actually the name of the castle spawned the name Luxembourg) that eventually became known as the Gibraltar of the North. Over several centuries, all the major European powers fought to secure the fortress and thus the region. The fortress was destroyed and rebuilt at least twenty times, and some of the various incarnations of the castle/fortress still remain.
At some point during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, the Spanish, French, and Austrians each controlled Luxembourg. Napoleon controlled the region until his fall, at which point the Congress of Vienna made it a grand duchy and placed it under the control of the Netherlands. In 1839, Luxembourg became an independent nation, and in 1867, this independence was reaffirmed in the Treaty of London.
Although Luxembourg was politically neutral, Germany occupied and controlled the nation during both world wars. The final major European battle of World War Two, the Battle of the Bulge, was largely fought in Luxembourg, and the Allied troops liberated the country in 1944.
Soon after World War Two, Luxembourg became active in forging European unity. The country helped form the Benelux Economic Union and was one of the founding members of the European Economic Community (now the European Union). In addition, Luxembourg has joined NATO and the United Nations.
Related Luxembourg: Overview and History Articles
- Introduction to Luxembourg/Ten Things You Should Know about Luxembourg
- Luxembourg Geography
- Luxembourg History
- Luxembourg Today