• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Congress of Vienna (1815)

In 1815, the collapse of the Napoleonic Empire resulted in a redrawing of the European map, which was to give rise to unexpected repercussions for Luxembourg. With the aim of erecting a barrier against France, the great powers brought together at the Congress of Vienna decided to create a great Kingdom of the Netherlands. The new state included Holland, Liège and the former Austrian Netherlands. Logically, Luxembourg should also have been part of this territory, but the diplomats thought differently.

Luxembourg became a separate political entity. It was established as a grand duchy and assigned to the king of the Netherlands, William I of Orange-Nassau, who henceforth also bore the title of grand duke. The elevation in rank did not stop the country from losing a vast region situated to the east of the Moselle, the Sûre and the Our. These territories were awarded to Prussia. The Congress of Vienna brought about an additional complication regarding the international status of the Grand Duchy. The latter became a member of the German Confederation, an association of 39 German states essentially pledging mutual defence. The fortified town of Luxembourg thus became a federal fortress.

How can the resolutions adopted by the Congress of Vienna be explained? For one thing, the principle of monarchical legitimacy played a role. The Orange-Nassau dynasty was in possession of a number of small principalities in Westphalia which, in 1815, were absorbed by Prussia. William I received Luxembourg in compensation. This territory was awarded as a patrimonial asset, in contrast to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which was not part of the heritage of the Orange-Nassau family. Furthermore, the diplomats doubted the ability of the Dutch to defend the fortress of Luxembourg.

Integration into the German Confederation enabled a Prussian garrison to be stationed at the fortress, a far more efficient protection to contain a French attack. As a final shrewd touch, the title of grand duke gave William I precedence over the lesser German princes within the same Confederation.

On paper, Luxembourg became a state distinct from the Netherlands in 1815. In reality, however, William I made no such distinction. He governed the Grand Duchy as though it were the 18th province of his kingdom. The Dutch fundamental law was applied to Luxembourg, Luxembourg delegates sat in Dutch institutions and Dutch was taught at school. While the Luxembourg people did not oppose this, the economic and in particular fiscal policies of the Dutch regime gave rise to a growing discontent among the population. It was not surprising therefore that, when the Belgian Revolution broke out in 1830, the inhabitants of the Grand Duchy joined the Belgian insurgents. A great number of Luxembourg volunteers left for Brussels to join the army of the patriots.

Following Belgium's declaration of independence on 4 October 1830, several Luxembourg representatives sat in the constituent assembly, and later in the institutions of the young Belgian state. Only the capital of the Grand Duchy remained under Dutch control, since it was protected by the Prussian garrison. Keen to extinguish the revolutionary fire, the great powers decided to separate the Belgians and the Dutch by creating the Kingdom of Belgium, while dividing the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg between the two adversaries (Treaty of the Twenty-Four Articles dated 14 October 1831). The Belgian Parliament accepted this decision, while William I refused to do so. For a further eight years, the Grand Duchy continued to be run by a double administration: Dutch power was limited to the city fortress, while the rest of the country remained under Belgian authority. Eventually, William I agreed to the decision of the great powers.

The Treaty of London of 19 April 1839 laid down the division and from then on there were thus two distinct Luxembourgs: the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, which remained under the sovereignty of the Orange-Nassau dynasty, and Belgian Luxembourg, which formed a province of Belgium. The dividing line more or less followed the linguistic border, except in the region of Arlon. The treaty of 1839 defined the borders of the Grand Duchy, which have not changed since.