Hello. I understand that this list is a genealogical one, but history has its part in genealogy. I would like to react to Dr. Waxweilers message of September 16th wherein he states that " Luxembourg used to be a part of the German Empire.", statement that was made while discussing the fact of Luxembourg belonging to Belgium from 1830-31 to 1839. Luxembourg for sure has strong and ancient germanic roots and did also belong to the german empire, but at that time (1830/31 - 1839), Luxembourg was positively under belgian administration. (Reference : Histoire du Luxembourg, by Gilbert TRAUSCH, Editions Hatier 1992.) A very condensed resumé / presentation : The Duchy of Luxembourg, at the beginning of the 17th century, was part of the so-called "Pays-Bas espagnols", Spanish possession. 1635 - France starts an expansion by war, to the north and the east. 1659 - Pyrénées peace Treaty / France holds the southern part of the Duchy of Luxembourg, 1679 - Frances continues its expansion to the north, 1684 - The city of Luxembourg capitulates after a siege by Vauban, 1697 - The French return the Duchy of Luxembourg to Spain / Treaty of Ryswick. 1713 / 1714 - Treaties of Utrecht and Rastadt put an end to the spanish succession war, the spanish heritage is split and Charles VI of Habsburg gets, amongst other regions, the Duchy of Luxembourg. This starts the so-called "Pays-Bas autrichiens", Austrian possession. The Habsburg dinasty holds the Duchy of Luxembourg until the french revolution wars. N: Maria-Theresia, Austrian Empress, in 1766 originated what is today commonly called "Le cadastre the Marie-Theresia", in ordre to establish fiscal equality amongst her subjects in the Duchy of Luxembourg - the "cadastre" is a very valuable source for genealogical research. 1795 - June 7th - The austrian troops lead by Marechal Bender capitulate to the french revolutionary armies, after a six-month siege. Luxembourg falls to the French. 1795 - October 1rst - French Decree declaring the annexion of the former "Pays-Bas autrichiens" and the "Principaute ecclesiastique de Liege". The new regions are divised into 9 "departments". Luxembourg becomes the "Departement des Forets". 1797 - The austrian emperor officially renounces to the Duchy of Luxembourg by the treaty of Campoformio (197) and the "peace of Lunéville" (1801). Luxembourg stopped to be a part of the german empire. 1814 - Bonaparte's empire crumbles - the allied armies cross the Moselle on January 7th, 1814. 1814 - January 15th, the fortress of Luxembourg is invested by hessian troops. 1814 - May 3rd - the fortress capitulates. 1815 - At the Vienna Congress, Guillaume I of Orange-Nassau, "Roi/King des Pays-Bas/of the Netherlands", gets the former "Pays-Bas autrichiens" and the "Principaute ecclesiastique de Liege", in fact the territories of what is now Belgium. The Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg is created, by the allied diplomats, as some sort of barrage to all future hegemonistic french aspirations. The Grand-Duchy becomes the personal property (union personnelle) of Guillaume I. From 1815 on, there where two juridically independent states, under one sovereign, a "King Grand-Duke": the "Royaume des Pays-Bas" and "Le Grand-Duché de Luxembourg". Prussia gets some luxembourg territories at the east of the Moselle, Sauer and Our rivers (Bitburg, Saint-Vith, Schleiden, Cronenburg). The Grand-Duchy is integrated into the newly created "Confoederatio Germanica", as one state amongst some other 35 - 40 independant germanic states. The city of Luxembourg becomes a federal fortess - with a prussian garnison. In fact, Guillaume I, according to the Vienna treaty, had the right to put is own troops into the fortress, together with the prussian ones, but he renounced that right. In 1815 , the Grand-Duchy holds two linguistic halves, "splitting" it into a western part, wherein people speak french or rather "wallon", and an eastern germanic part, wherein people speak the luxembourgish dialect. The Grand-Duchy enters the germanic confederation with its frenchspeaking population. The creation of the Grand-Duchy, as an independent state, is in fact the result of diplomatic efforts and had nothing to to with some sort of national luxembourgish aspirations to statehood. 1830 - Revolutionary activities starting in Brussels. The belgian part of the kingdom revolts against the policies of Guillaume I. The Grand-Duchy rallies the movement, with the exception of the capital where the prussian garnison holds strong. 1830 - October 4th, the revolutionary authorities proclame the belgian independance. A decree of October 16th says that the Grand-Duchy is part of the new belgian state. 1831 - June 26th, London congress - "XVIII articles treaty". Belgium as an independent and neutral state is confirmed. What to do with the Grand-Duchy ? Emergence of the so-called "luxembourgish question". Diplomats at the London congress leave the problem to be directly negociated between Guillaume I, King of the Pays-Bas and the new belgian state. After a military victory by the dutch troops, French armies had to intervene to help the fragile belgian state. 1831 - October 14th, London congress - "XXIV articles treaty". Belgium agrees to leave the Grand-Duchy to Guillaume I. But, its western half (Arlon, Bastogne, Marche, Durbuy) should be cut off and annexed to Belgium. Guillaume I refuses the treaty. He wants to keep the whole of the Grand-Duchy. Statu quo. During that time, the Grand-Duchy was under belgian administration, with the exception of the capital, staying under dutch-prussian administration. 1838 - The statu quo comes to an end in march 1838. Guillaume I finally accepts the proposed solution. Meanwhile, Belgium had grown accustomed to the idea of keeping the Grand-Duchy, so Belgium now refused the treaty. Finally, after diplomatic pressure, the treaty was accepted in 1839 and the Grand-Duchy was split. The eastern half was hold by the dutch Orange-Nassau until 1890, as personal property of the King-Grand-Duke, whereas the western half went to Belgium as "Province de Luxembourg". Since 1839 those boundaries of the Grand-Duchy haven't changed (2586 km2) Marc Lecuit Grand Duché de Luxembourg marc.lecuit@perceval.lu