Luxembourg's history reads a bit like the storybook
background its landscape suggests. Though the area's occupation actually extends
back further than the Roman era, present-day Luxembourg stems from the loins of
Count Sigefroid of Ardennes, who raised a castle here in 963 AD and sowed the
seeds of a dynasty that's spawned rulers throughout Europe.
By the end of the Middle Ages, Sigefroid's city had the Burgundians, Spanish,
French, Austrians and Prussians all waging bloody battles to conquer and secure
it.
Besieged, destroyed and rebuilt more than 20 times in 400 years, it grew to
become the strongest fortress in Europe, after Gibraltar.
Listed as a French 'forestry department' during Napoleon's reign, Luxembourg was
included in the newly formed United Kingdom of the Netherlands, along with
Belgium, in 1814.
It fragmented 16 years later, when Belgium broke off from the Netherlands,
taking half of Luxembourg along for the ride. This division heated up the Grand
Duchy's desire for independence, and in 1830 the Dutch portion became present-day
Luxembourg.
The 1867 Treaty of London reaffirmed this autonomy. Soon after, the country
declared itself neutral in international affairs and - an appropriate symbol of
its nascent neutrality - torched its much contested fort.
The discovery of iron ore around 1850 ushered Luxembourg into the 20th
century and pushed the country to the frontline of European economic influence.
(Steel exports continue to make up roughly a quarter of the country's export
trade.)
When the industry slumped in the mid-1970s, the Grand Duchy reacted quickly by
wooing big spenders from abroad with favorable banking and taxation laws. In
1948, after Nazi occupation during WWII, Luxembourg gave up its position of
neutrality to join in various economic, political and military organizations,
including NATO and the United Nations.
The formation of Benelux - an economic union between Belgium, the Netherlands
and Luxembourg - was among the more prominent of these groupings. It also served
as a model for today's European Union, of which Luxembourg was a founding member.
