The Luxembourg Crisis (German : Luxemburgkrise, French : Crise luxembourgeoise) was a diplomatic dispute and confrontation in 1867 between France and Prussia over the political status of Luxembourg.
The confrontation almost led to war between the two parties, but was peacefully resolved by the Treaty of London.
Luxembourg City boasted some of the most impressive fortifications in the world, the Fortress of Luxembourg, partly designed by Marshal Vauban and improved by subsequent engineers, which gave the city the nickname "Gibraltar of the North". Since the 1815 Congress of Vienna, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg had been in personal union with the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In a concession to neighbouring Prussia, Luxembourg became a member of the German Confederation, with several thousand Prussian soldiers stationed there. [1] The Belgian Revolution of 1830 had divided Luxembourg into two (see Third Partition of Luxembourg), threatening Dutch control of the remaining territory. As a result, William I of the Netherlands entered Luxembourg into the German customs union, the Zollverein , to dilute the French and Belgian cultural and economic influence in Luxembourg. [2]
The Second Schleswig War of 1864 had further advanced nationalist tensions in Germany, and, throughout 1865, it was clear that Prussia intended to challenge the position of the Austrian Empire within the German Confederation. Despite potentially holding the balance of power between the two, Emperor Napoleon III kept France neutral. Although he, like most of Europe, expected an Austrian victory, he could not intervene on Austria's side as that would jeopardise France's relationship with Italy post- Risorgimento .
As a result, at Biarritz on 4 October 1865, Napoleon III promised Prussian Prime Minister, Otto von Bismarck, France's neutrality, hoping that such an open statement of intent would strengthen France's negotiating position regarding the western bank of the Rhine. Bismarck refused to offer any land from the Rhineland, which was Napoleon's preferred region. However, he did make suggestions of French hegemony in Belgium and Luxembourg, although not committing anything to writing. [3]
When Austria and Prussia did go to war in 1866 (the so-called Seven Weeks' War), the result was a shock to Europe. Prussia quickly defeated Austria and her allies, forcing Austria to the negotiating table. Napoleon III offered to mediate, and the result, the Treaty of Prague, dissolved the German Confederation in favour of a Prussian-dominated organisation, the North German Confederation.
Assuming that Bismarck would honour his part of the agreement, the French government offered King William III of the Netherlands 5,000,000 guilders for Luxembourg. Being in deep financial trouble, William accepted the offer on 23 March 1867.
But the French were shocked to learn that Bismarck now objected. There was a public outcry against the deal in Germany; Bismarck's hand was forced by nationalistic newspapers in north Germany. [4] He reneged on the pledge that he had made to Napoleon at Biarritz, and threatened war. Not only had Bismarck united much of northern Germany under the Prussian crown, but he had secretly concluded agreements with the southern states on 10 October.
To avert a war that might drag their own countries into conflict, other countries rushed to offer compromise proposals. Austria's Foreign Minister, Count Beust, proposed transferring Luxembourg to neutral Belgium, in return for which France would be compensated with Belgian land. However, King Leopold II of Belgium refused to part with any of his lands, putting paid to Beust's proposal. [4]
With the German public angered and an impasse developing, Napoleon III sought to backtrack; he certainly did not want to appear to be unduly expansionist to the other Great Powers. Thus, he demanded only that Prussia withdraw its soldiers from Luxembourg City, threatening war if Prussia did not comply. To avoid this fate, Emperor Alexander II of Russia called for an international conference, to be held in London. [4] The United Kingdom was more than happy to host the talks as the British government feared that the absorption of Luxembourg by either power would weaken Belgium, its strategic ally on the continent. [5]
All of the Great Powers were invited to London to hammer out a deal that would prevent war. As it was clear that no other power would accept the incorporation of Luxembourg into either France or the North German Confederation, negotiations centred upon the terms of Luxembourg's neutrality. The result was a victory for Bismarck; although Prussia would have to remove its soldiers from Luxembourg City, Luxembourg would remain in the Zollverein.
The Luxembourg Crisis showed the influence public opinion could have on the actions of governments. It also demonstrated the growing opposition between France and Prussia and foreshadowed the Franco-Prussian War which would break out in 1870.
For Luxembourg, this was an important step towards full independence, despite the fact that it remained united in a personal union with the Netherlands until 1890. Luxembourg was provided an opportunity to develop itself independently, leading to the emergence of the steel industry in the south of the country.
In the Netherlands, there was criticism from parliament against the king and government, especially against Foreign Affairs minister Jules van Zuylen van Nijevelt. The liberals found the actions from the king and cabinet had endangered Dutch neutrality and almost dragged the country into a European war. Parliament blocked the budget of the Foreign Affairs department and, when the irritated king disbanded the parliament, the new parliament confirmed this and demanded the dismissal of the government. The king and government concurred, and the unwritten rule of confidence was created in Dutch state law: a minister or government could rule only with support of (a majority in) parliament.
The history of Luxembourg consists of the history of the country of Luxembourg and its geographical area.
William I was King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1815 until his abdication in 1840.
Napoleon III was the first president of France from 1848 to 1852, and the last monarch of France as the second Emperor of the French from 1852 until he was deposed on 4 September 1870.
The German Confederation was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, which had been dissolved in 1806 as a result of the Napoleonic Wars.
The Austro-Prussian War, also by many variant names such as Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as Deutscher Krieg, Deutsch-Deutscher Krieg, Deutscher Bruderkrieg and by a variety of other names, was fought in 1866 between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia, with each also being aided by various allies within the German Confederation. Prussia had also allied with the Kingdom of Italy, linking this conflict to the Third Independence War of Italian unification. The Austro-Prussian War was part of the wider rivalry between Austria and Prussia, and resulted in Prussian dominance over the German states.
Vincent, Count Benedetti was a French diplomat. He is probably best known as one of the central figures in the instigation of the Franco-Prussian War through his role in the Ems Dispatch.
The Kingdom of Prussia constituted the German state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. It was the driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1866 and was the leading state of the German Empire until its dissolution in 1918. Although it took its name from the region called Prussia, it was based in the Margraviate of Brandenburg. Its capital was Berlin.
The North German Confederation was initially a German military alliance established in August 1866 under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was transformed in the subsequent year into a confederated state that existed from July 1867 to December 1870. A milestone of the German Unification, it was the earliest continual legal predecessor of the modern German nation-state known today as the Federal Republic of Germany.
The Zollverein, or German Customs Union, was a coalition of German states formed to manage tariffs and economic policies within their territories. Organized by the 1833 Zollverein treaties, it formally started on 1 January 1834. However, its foundations had been in development from 1818 with the creation of a variety of custom unions among the German states. By 1866, the Zollverein included most of the German states. The Zollverein was not part of the German Confederation (1815-1866).
Count Friedrich Ferdinand von Beust was a German and Austrian statesman. As an opponent of Otto von Bismarck, he attempted to conclude a common policy of the German middle states between Austria and Prussia.
The unification of Germany was a process of building the first nation-state for Germans with federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany. It commenced on 18 August 1866 with adoption of the North German Confederation Treaty establishing the North German Confederation, initially a military alliance de facto dominated by Prussia which was subsequently deepened through adoption of the North German Constitution.
The Gastein Convention, also called the Convention of Badgastein, was a treaty signed at Bad Gastein in Austria on 14 August 1865. It embodied agreements between the two principal powers of the German Confederation, Prussia and Austria, over the governing of the 'Elbe Duchies' of Schleswig, Holstein and Saxe-Lauenburg.
The Kingdom of Bavaria was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1806 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German Empire in 1871, the kingdom became a federated state of the new empire and was second in size, power, and wealth only to the leading state, the Kingdom of Prussia.
Gerson von Bleichröder was a Jewish German banker. He was also a close confidant of Otto von Bismarck, serving as his financial agent. He became the first non-converted Jew in Prussia to be granted a hereditary title of nobility.
The Treaty of London, often called the Second Treaty of London after the 1839 Treaty, granted Luxembourg full independence and neutrality. It was signed on 11 May 1867 in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War and the Luxembourg Crisis. It had wide-reaching consequences for Luxembourg and for relations among Europe's great powers.
There were three Partitions of Luxembourg between 1659 and 1839. Together, the three partitions reduced the territory of the Duchy of Luxembourg from 10,700 km2 (4,100 sq mi) to the present-day area of 2,586 km2 (998 sq mi) over a period of 240 years. The remainder forms parts of modern-day Belgium, France, and Germany.
The causes of the Franco-Prussian War are deeply rooted in the events surrounding German unification. In the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War (1866), Prussia had annexed numerous ethnically German territories and formed the North German Confederation with other German territories. Prussia then turned its attention towards the south of Germany, where it sought to expand its influence.
The London Conference of 1864 was a peace conference on the Second Schleswig War that took place in London from 25 April to 25 June 1864.
The Tornaco Ministry was in office in Luxembourg from 26 September 1860 until 3 December 1867. It was reshuffled six times.
The Belgian Railway Crisis was a Franco-Belgian conflict in 1868/1869. A French railway company, the Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Est, wanted to take over two railway lines in eastern Belgium. The Belgian government suspected that the French imperial government wanted to acquire indirect influence in Belgium, so it prevented the project.