Luxembourg

 

Luxembourg is a state (grand duchy) in Western Europe. It borders with Belgium in the north, with France in the west and south, with Germany in the east. Has no access to the sea.

The total area of Luxembourg is 2586.4 km², making it one of the smallest sovereign states in Europe. As of January 1, 2022, the population of Luxembourg was 645,397, of which 341,230 were Luxembourgers (52.87% of the population) and 304,167 were immigrants (47.13% of the population).

Luxembourg is a multinational state with a wide ethno-cultural, linguistic, religious, racial and national diversity Go to the "#Population" section.

A founding member of the European Union since 1957, it is also a member of NATO, the OECD and the UN. Together with Belgium and the Netherlands, it is part of the Benelux.

Luxembourg has the smallest army in NATO, and in terms of area it is the second (after Malta) smallest EU state.

 

How to get here

How to get there
By plane
Luxembourg Airport (IATA: LUX, ICAO: ELLX) is located 5 kilometers northeast of Luxembourg City. This is the only international airport in the country, the airport has two terminals. Luxair, Luxembourg's international airline, flies in Europe, including from Paris, Frankfurt and London. Luxembourg Airport is served by many other airlines, including Air France, Czech Airlines, British Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines, VLM Airlines and TAP Portugal, Lufthansa, KLM and SAS Scandinavian Airlines. There are direct flights to Luxembourg to over 20 destinations from cities such as Zurich, Nice, Rome, Lisbon, Madrid, Paris and Dublin. There are no direct flights from Russia to Luxembourg, only with transfers in Europe.

By car
Autobahns come to Luxembourg City from Namur, Liège, Metz, Trier and Saarbrücken. If you need to go to the northern part of the duchy, it is most convenient to travel from Liege on another autobahn, through Verviers. To get to the east of the country, you will have to use local roads. Please note that the whole of Luxembourg and the adjacent parts of neighboring countries are located in low, but mountains, and therefore there can be ice in winter, and at any time the roads are slow, with a lot of turns.

Gasoline in Luxembourg is much cheaper than all neighboring countries.

By bus
From Brussels Charleroi Airport (Belgium) or Frankfurt Hahn Airport (Germany) you can take the Shuttle Bus.

 

Language
Luxembourgish is considered the national language, German and French are used for administrative communication. French is understood universally everywhere, by the entire population.

Purchases
Luxembourg is part of the euro zone (EUR), which means you don't have to exchange currency if you come from Belgium, France or Germany. If you know numismatists, save a few local coins, as Luxembourgish coins are among the rarest of the euro - even in Luxembourg, your change will consist mainly of coins from other countries.

Connection
The international dialing code of Luxembourg is +352. Country internet domain .lu

 

History

Ancient history
The oldest traces of human habitation on the territory of Luxembourg belong to the Upper Paleolithic and date back to about 35,000 BC. The oldest artifacts from this period are decorated bones found in Etrange

Permanent settlements with houses appear in the Neolithic era, in the 5th millennium BC. e. Traces of such settlements have been found in the south of Luxembourg, in the city of Aspelt, as well as in the communes of Weiler-la-Tour, Grevenmacher and Diekirch. The frame of the dwellings consisted of tree trunks, the walls were made of clay-covered wicker vines, and the roofs were covered with reeds or thatch. Neolithic pottery was discovered near Remerschen.

At the beginning of the Bronze Age, the population of the territory of Luxembourg was not numerous, but by the period of the XIII-VIII centuries BC include numerous finds: the remains of dwellings, ceramics, weapons, jewelry found in places such as Nospelt, Dahlheim, Mompach and Remerschen.

In the VI-I centuries BC the territory of Luxembourg was inhabited by the Gauls, then it was included in the Roman Empire (the diocese of Gaul).

In the 5th century, the Franks invaded Luxembourg.

medieval history
At the end of the 7th century, the population of the territory of modern Luxembourg was converted to Christianity thanks to the Monk Willibrord, who founded a Benedictine monastery there. In the Middle Ages, the land was alternately part of the Frankish kingdom of Austrasia, then the Holy Roman Empire, and later Lorraine; in 963 it gained independence as a result of an exchange of strategic territories. The fact is that on the territory of Luxembourg there was a fortified castle - Lisilinburg (Luxembourg. Lisilinbuerg - "Little Fortress"), which laid the foundation for the state. At the head of this tiny domain was Siegfried. His descendants expanded their territories slightly through wars, political marriages, inheritances, and treaties. In 1060, Conrad was proclaimed the first count of Luxembourg. His great-great-granddaughter became the famous ruler Ermesinda, and her great-great-grandson Henry VII, in turn, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1308. In 1354 the County of Luxembourg became a duchy, but in 1443 Elisabeth von Görlitz, niece of the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, was forced to cede this possession to Philip III, Duke of Burgundy.

In 1477, Luxembourg passed to the Habsburg dynasty, and during the division of the empire of Charles V, the territory fell into the hands of Spain. When the Netherlands rebelled against Philip II, King of Spain, Luxembourg remained neutral. As a result of this rebellion, the duchy passed into the possession of the rebel side. The beginning of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) passed quite calmly for Luxembourg, but with the entry of France into it in 1635, real trouble and ruin came to the duchy. In addition, the Peace of Westphalia (1648) did not bring calm - this happened only in 1659 as a result of the conclusion of the Iberian Treaty. In 1679-1684, Louis XIV systematically captured Luxembourg, but already in 1697 France handed it over to Spain.

History of the XVIII-XIX centuries
During the War of the Spanish Succession, Luxembourg, along with Belgium, returned to the Austrian Habsburgs. Six years after the start of the French Revolution, Luxembourg again passed to France, so that the state experienced all the vicissitudes of fate along with the French - the Directory and Napoleon I Bonaparte. The former territory was divided into three departments, in which the constitution of the Directory and the corresponding system of government were in force. The peasants of Luxembourg fell under the anti-church measures of the French government, and the introduction of military duty in 1798 led to an uprising in Luxembourg, which was brutally suppressed.

With the fall of Napoleon I, French rule in Luxembourg ended, its fate was decided by the Congress of Vienna in 1815: Luxembourg was granted the status of Grand Duchy with Willem I (representative of the Orange-Nassau dynasty, King of the Netherlands) at the head. Luxembourg retained autonomy, and the connection with the Netherlands was rather nominal - only because the duchy was considered the personal possession of Willem I. The territory was also part of the German Union, and a Prussian garrison was stationed on its territory. Willem's rule was quite harsh, as he treated the population of the territory as personal property and imposed huge taxes on them. Naturally, Luxembourg supported the Belgian uprising against Willem in 1830, and in October of that year it was announced that Luxembourg was part of Belgium, although Willem did not renounce his rights to the territory. In 1831, France, Great Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria decided that Luxembourg should remain with Willem I and enter the German Confederation. In 1839, under the Treaty of London, the French-speaking western part of the duchy became part of Belgium (modern province of Luxembourg in the Walloon region).

In 1842, Willem II signed an agreement with Prussia, according to which Luxembourg became a member of the Customs Union. This move greatly improved the economic and agricultural development of the duchy: infrastructure was restored, and railways appeared. In 1841, Luxembourg was granted a constitution, which, however, did not meet the wishes of the population. The French Revolution of 1848 greatly influenced the autonomy, since under its influence Willem granted a more liberal constitution, which was amended in 1856. With the collapse of the confederation in 1866, Luxembourg became a fully sovereign state. Officially, this happened on September 9, 1867. A little earlier, on April 29, 1867, at an international conference in London between Russia, Great Britain, France, Prussia and a number of other states, an agreement was signed on the status of Luxembourg. Under the treaty, the crown of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was recognized as the hereditary possession of the house of Nassau, and the duchy itself was defined as a "perpetually neutral" state.

History of the 20th century
With the death of Willem III in 1890, the Netherlands was left without a male heir, so the Grand Duchy passed to Adolf, formerly Duke of Nassau, and then to his son Willem, who died in 1912. Over the years of their reign, they were little interested in issues of state administration, but Mary Adelaide, Willem's daughter, developed a vigorous activity there, which was not appreciated by the population.

During the First World War, Luxembourg remained neutral; True, in 1914 Germany nevertheless occupied it, and Mary Adelaide did not particularly protest. At the very beginning of 1919, power in Luxembourg passed to the republican Committee of Public Safety, but was returned to the monarchy with the help of the French garrison. However, because of these events and according to the Treaty of Versailles, Maria Adelaide was forced to give the throne to her sister Charlotte, who was enthroned on January 9, 1919 (on the throne until 1964). According to the results of the plebiscite on September 28, 1919, the majority of the population "wanted to see Charlotte on the throne."

In 1940, Germany occupied Luxembourg for the second time. True, now the government refused to compromise with the invaders, so the entire court was forced to emigrate and live in exile. In the duchy, "traditional" Nazi orders were established, the French language was infringed. The duchy became part of Nazi Germany in December 1941. 12 thousand people received summons for mobilization in the Wehrmacht, of which 3 thousand evaded the draft, and about the same number died on the Eastern Front.

In September 1944, there was a liberation by the troops of the countries of the Anti-Hitler coalition. In the same year, Luxembourg entered into an economic union with Belgium and the Netherlands (Benelux). With its entry into NATO in 1949, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg violated its age-old military neutrality. In 1951, the Duchy, together with Belgium, West Germany, the Netherlands, France and Italy, signed an agreement establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), and since 1957, together with the same five states, signed the Treaty of Rome and established the European Economic Community, in 1993 year after the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty, which became the European Union. In 1964, Prince Jean ascended the throne of Luxembourg. Since March 26, 1995, Luxembourg has been part of the Schengen area.

In October 2000, Duke Jean abdicated the throne, citing his advanced age; His son Henri ascended the throne. In 2002, after three years of parallel circulation, Luxembourg became a member of the eurozone and finally replaced the national currency, the Luxembourg franc, with the euro.