Chronology of Luxembourg History


Luxembourg image from Gary Little's Luxembourg Central.
Modified from the Chronology of Luxembourg page located at Luxembourg WorldGenWeb.

900-400 BC Celtic tribes from Danube Valley crossed Rhine River into Gaul, Spain, and the British Isles.
52 BC-AD 450   Gallo-Roman era. Gaul part of Roman Empire. Trier is an important Roman city.
200-300 Rhineland Franks began raids into northeastern Gaul.
698 St. Willibrord established monastery at Echternach.
768 Charlemagne, son of Pepin the Short, became King of the Franks. Established his capital at Aix-la-Chappelle.
800 Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III.
950 Siegfried, son of Wigeric, count of the Ardennes, given Echternach as fief by Otto I.
962 Otto I crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope John XII.
963 Siegfried began construction of castle on the Bock (beginnings of city of Luxembourg).
963-1354 City of Luxembourg grew up under protection of Siegfried's castle. County of Luxembourg became important feudal state.
1308 Count Henry IV becomes King of Germany.
1312 John the Blind crowned King of Bohemia, first of four Luxembourgish Kings to rule that country.
1346 Charles, eldest son of John the Blind, elected Holy Roman Emperor.
1354 Luxembourg raised to status of Duchy, with Wenceslas I as its first duke.
1443-1555 Period of Burgundian rule.
1482 Hapsburgs obtain Luxembourg.
1517 Beginning of Protestant Reformation in Germany.
1519 Charles of Ghent inherited Austria, Bohemia and Hungary upon death of his grandfather, Maximilian I. Elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1520 as Charles V.
1521 Charles V presided over Imperial Diet at Worms, which condemned the teachings of Martin Luther.
1552-1554 Large part of Luxembourg City, including Siegfried's castle, destroyed while under siege during war between Charles V and Francois I, King of France. 1588 Defeat of the Spanish Armada by the English ended Spanish hopes of reconquering the northern Netherlands.
1618-1648 Thirty Years War.
1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees ended war between France and Spain. France annexed part of Duchy of Luxembourg, including area around Thionville and Mamedy (First Partition of Luxembourg).
1684-1697 French rule Luxembourg. Vauban redesigned fortifications of city, making it into Gibraltar of the North.
1697 Treaty of Ryswick. Louis XIV forced to return Luxembourg to Spanish rule.
1715-1795 Austrian Hapsburgs ruled over the southern Netherlands, including the Duchy of Luxembourg. Time of peace and relative prosperity.
1795 French revolutionary armies captured fortress of Luxembourg after long siege.
1795-1814 French ruled Luxembourg, which became the Department of Forests.
1798 Kloppelkrieg. (Rising in protest against conscription of Luxembourgers into French army.)
1815 Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. Congress of Vienna created Kingdom of the Netherlands, including Belgium and the former Dutch Republic. Luxembourg became a Grand Duchy, under the rule of the Netherlands. Eastern third of Luxembourg annexed by Prussia ( Second Partition of Luxembourg).
1839 First Treaty of London (Third Partition of Luxembourg) went into effect. Western part of the Grand Duchy became Belgian province of Luxembourg. Luxembourg is separated from Belgium, and becomes semi-independent, but ruled by the Netherlands.
1841 Large iron ore deposits discovered.
1859 First Luxembourg railroad opened.
1867 Second Treaty of London recognized independence and permanent neutrality of Luxembourg. Prussian garrison withdrew. Fortifications of Luxembourg to be dismantled.
1884 Thomas process of removing impurities from iron ore introduced into Luxembourg. Beginning of Luxembourg's rise as a major steel producer.
1890 Luxembourg gains full independence under a new royal house.
1914-1918 World War I. Luxembourg under German occupation.
1918-1919 Peace conference at Versailles. Belgium advanced claim to annex Luxembourg. Two American divisions occupied Grand Duchy.
1939-1945 World War II.
1942 Hitler proclaimed Luxembourg part of Third Reich. Conscription of Luxembourgers into German army began. General strike in protest put down with great severity.
1944 American 5th Armored Division entered Grand Duchy at Rodange on 9 September and liberated the city of Luxembourg on 10 September.
16 Dec 1944-
18 Jan 1945
Battle of the Bulge (Rundstedt Offensive). German troops reoccupied northern Belgium and Luxembourg. American Third Army under Patton entered Luxembourg and raced north to defeat the Germans and drive them out of Luxembourg again.
1963 Luxembourg celebrated 1000th anniversary of the founding of the city.


Table of Contents || Introduction] || Chapter 1: Luxembourg || Luxembourg Timeline || Chapter 2: Immigration
Chapter 3: Wisconsin || Wisconsin Timeline || Chapter 4: Ney Family || Chapter 5: Ney Children


Last Updated: 14 November 1998
Lisa Oberg || lisanne@eskimo.com || www.eskimo.com/~lisanne