Chapter 13 Luxembourg suffers a trick of history

Before I talk about Switzerland, I would like to leave some ink for an interesting independent small principality, which is Luxembourg (meaning small castle).If it hadn't been for the important role it played in the first days of the world war, the small principality might still be unknown to this day.Their ancestors lived here when Luxembourg was still a Catholic province of Belgium.The capital of this region in the Middle Ages was considered one of the "impregnable" castles in the world at that time, so it once played a pivotal role.Luxembourg has a population of 200,000. Due to the long-term feud between France and the Kingdom of Prussia, the two countries had quarreled endlessly over the ownership of this land. Finally, the Vienna Conference in 1815 decided to allow this land to be independent and exist as a small principality, and the Dutch royal family was designated as its direct successor. ruler to compensate the Dutch for the land they lost to the Germans.

In the 19th century, the Duchy of Luxembourg almost became an excuse for war between Germany and France twice.In order to avoid similar troubles from happening again, this big castle, like Belgium, finally took the initiative to disarm itself and officially declared it a "neutral country". When the World War broke out, in order to satisfy their greed for territory, but did not want to take the risk of attacking France from the fortress as steep as a "saucer" in western France, the Germans tore up this neutrality treaty. The Great Plains of northeastern France drive straight in.Until 1918, Luxembourg was finally liberated from the iron heel of Germany.Even today, the small principality is at risk because of the considerable iron ore deposits buried under its soil.