June 11 - The story of this country is long and complex for such a small place. It shows the usual evidence of Neolithic settlement, but it is only in Roman times that it enters written annals. Julius Caesar conquered the area in 53 BCE, and assigned it to Gallica Celtica. Domitian reassigned it to Gallica Belgica in 90 CE. The people living here at the time were the Treveri, a group known to be fairly cooperative with the Romans and tended to take up their cultural influence willingly. The area slipped away from Roman control in 406 CE, and subsequently became part of many dominions of the Middle Ages.
Officially, Luxembourg as its own entity began in 963 CE, when Siegfried I, Count of Ardiennes, made some land deals and built what would become Luxembourg Castle, in the location occupied by the current country’s capital. (geographically, ’Ardiennes’ refers to a region of forest that extended through Luxembourg, southern Belgium, and bits of France and Germany). The site chosen for the castle supposedly was that of an earlier fortification, perhaps Roman, but it may also have been from some episode of the Middle Ages.
The House of Ardiennes - Luxembourg lasted from Siegfried’s time up into the 1200s. At that time, the county was inherited by the House of Limburg-Arlon and a new Luxembourg dynasty began under Henry V (in 1247 CE).
In 1443, troops from the Burgundian state (an agglomeration of territories ruled from Brussels in the 15th century that covered much of the Low Countries) invaded and Luxembourg was absorbed. In turn, the abdication of Habsburg Charles V in 1555 left this mass of small fiefdoms and principalities to Spain. This happened because Charles V was in the process of dividing the sprawling Habsburg Empire into Austro-Hungarian and Spanish branches. What constituted the Burgundian state at that time was under Habsburg dominance, so it ended up with the Spanish (and named Spanish Netherlands).
This is where one of the sites we see today weaves into the complex historical arc.
The Bock is a long, thin outcrop of sedimentary rock eroded on three sides by the Alzette River. Structurally, it makes a natural fortification, with vertical sides. The fourth side, connected with the remainder of cliffs along the Alzette, has a chunk missing at the top. A bridge spanning this gap is the only way on or off the Bock.
Vague historical references suggest that a Roman fortification stood here, which makes sense. Siegfried I recognized its value as a defensive position and fortified it, calling it by the name ‘Lucilinburhuc’, which appears not to be an invention of his time but a name given to it much earlier in history. The name is important because its phonetics clearly have evolved into the name of the city and country today.
Thus we can assume that at least since 963 CE, the Bock has continually been modified and reinforced for defensive purposes. This really took off when the Spanish arrived in the 1540s to take possession of what were their new territories. Walls utop the cliffs were strengthened and cannons installed.
Thus, Luxembourg entered its long history as a punching bag of the major powers. France was upset with the arrival of Spanish soldiers at its eastern border, and Luxembourg was attacked multiple times by the French army in the 1540s and 1550s. Each time, the Spanish ultimately prevailed.
The French and Spanish sparred over Luxembourg for many years. Its location between major spheres of European influence keep it a hot item. The French finally besieged the Bock in late 1683 and, by 1684, had destroyed much of the above-ground portion.
This is when another major phase of building occurred, now under the French. The underground portion (see the cliff windows in the above photo) was enlarged, and cannons were placed. By the time the French withdrew in 1698 under the terms of the Treaty of Rijswijk, they left a fully modernized fortress.
The Spanish didn’t hold on to the Spanish Netherlands for long, however. The crippling Treaties of Utrecht in 1713 takes the Spanish Netherlands away from Spain and back to the Habsburgs (remember, they gave it away in 1555).
Soon after this, in 1735, the Austrians build the Pont du Chateau.
This is also when a great deal of work was done on Fort Thüngen, part of a defensive system that expanded well beyond the Bock.
This Austrian phase ended in 1794, when French revolutionary troops laid siege to Luxembourg and starved out the Austrian troops. The Duchy of Luxembourg was officially declared void, and the territory became the administrative center of the newly formed Départements des Forêts. This unglamorous title, in turn, ended in 1814, when France withdrew in the wake of the Napoleonic wars.
The Congress of Vienna took made various stipulations, including the installment of Prussian soldiers, Dutch officers, and rule by Holland of the Luxembourgish natives. This hodge-podge solution did not work well, and discontent grew among the local population.
In 1839, the Treaty of London laid down changes to Luxembourg's borders, granting a large swath of land to Belgium and reducing its size by half. The new border was marked with iron posts. This treaty also granted independence for the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. It entered into the German Customs Union, and a steel-making industry developed.
Luxembourg regained its punching-bag status, as the defensive structures such as Fort Thüngen and the Bock become a shield against the French. After spending years under French cultural dominance, now all of the influence swerved to the German Confederation.
However, the German Confederation fell apart, and the imminent conflict between France and Prussia led to a decision in 1867 to destroy the Luxembourg fortifications so that they could not be used by either party. That, and the withdrawal of Prussian troops, left Luxembourg much more to their own devices than they had known for centuries. One one hand this was a relief, but it also crashed the real estate market in the city and killed commerce, which had been partly supported by Prussian troops. The fortifications were completely demolished by 1883.
This was for the best, because Luxembourg was completely spared involvement in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71.
Though Luxembourg declared neutrality in World War I, it was occupied by the German army (who claimed to respect its neutrality anyway). Many citizens did not trust the Germans and some served in the French army. Only later, after the war, did it become known that Germany’s intention was to assimilate it after their intended victory against France.