Luxembourg

The hot afternoon sun glistens upon the shiny armor of brave knights mounted on powerful steeds.  They watch horrified as incoming arrows fall like rain from the opposing hilltop, decimating their mercenaries at the base of the hill. 

As the Battle of Crecy unfolds disastrously on August 26, 1346, one knight lifts his helmet visor, and his steel blue eyes briefly disappear as he winces involuntarily.  Other knights flinch or turn away from the carnage that routs their front line of Genoese soldiers, mercenaries fighting only for money, eventually turn and run.

Launched by 10,000 bowmen, this modern military tactic of heavy long distant bombardment with arrows from a distance used by the forces of England's King Edward III will thereafter circumvent battles where knights on horseback clashed face to face.  In that former, more chivalrous era, knights would raise helmet shields at short range before engaging in combat showed mutual respect before lowering the shield for battle. That hand movement will be the basis for modern military salutes. 

This early foray into France will prove to be one of the largest and most successful for England in what shall become known as the Hundred Years War.  The British offensive is only possible because, sensing rising tensions with France made war to the east inevitable, King Edward III had signed a truce with Scotland.  He understood the perils of fighting wars on two fronts, a lesson Hitler apparently never learned from history.

Like in the World Wars six centuries later, allies lined up with one side or the other based on their own perceived self-interests for the Hundred Years War.  Among contingents of soldiers from different kingdoms fighting for King Philip VI of France were the troops under the command of King John the Blind of Bohemia.

Outnumbered and outmaneuvered, France's King Philip VI escaped to fight another day, but the 50 year-old Blind King, who had lost his sight due to ophthalmia about ten years earlier while crusading in Lithuania, chose to lead his men to the bitter end. 

"With God's help it will never be said that a Bohemian king would run from a fight," King John shouted  before leading his men on a charge into battle.  He had previously ordered his men to tie their mounts to his so that they might lead him into the fray. 

A blind knight waving a sword, his horse tethered to fellow knights, may seem like something out of Monty Python, but those who observed the battle unfold, including one medieval chronicler, reported John the Blind fought heroically and killed several enemy soldiers before succumbing. 

The son of King Edward III, the Black Prince of Wales, had never witnessed such bravery.  In homage, he adopted John the Blind's motto, "Ich dien" (I serve), and ostrich feather badge, which remain on the official symbol of the Prince of Wales still used by the successor to the British crown.

What does any of this have to do with Luxembourg? 

Blind John was also the Count of Luxembourg.  Educated in Paris, Blind John formed a sentimental bond that would eventually result in him siding with the French in the Hundred Years War.

When John was 13 years old and already the Count of Luxembourg, his father, Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII, arranged for him to marry 14 year-old Elisabeth of Bohemia in a ceremony in Speyer.  Elisabeth's deceased brother was King Winceslaus III of Bohemia, so by marriage John was positioned to become King of Bohemia (and also Poland) after winning the necessary support, which he accomplished due to the influence of his father.

Although John was initially known pejoratively as the Alien King in Bohemia (the Czech Republic and Hungary) by his subjects, his famous last stand at Crecy, France,  made him a legendary hero there as well. 

John the Blind's remains are enshrined in Luxembourg City's Notre Dame Cathedral, although over the centuries different people tried to take these treasured relics to other countries.

During John the Blind's reign, fortifications began on the Fortress of Luxembourg, which had been built in the tenth century. 

Over the centuries it became known as the impregnabe Gibraltar of the North, and while rulers of Luxembourg changed over the centuries, including Dutch, French, Burgundians, Spanish and Austrians (the Habsburgs), the fortress itself remained insurmountable by force.  In the end, the fortress could only be destroyed by peace treaty.

In 1867, the Second Treaty of London mediated by England between primarily Germany and  France declared Luxembourg perpetually independent and neutral. 

To assure neutrality, the treaty required the fortress be destroyed.  The citizens of Luxembourg, wanting nothing to do with any more wars, carried out the decree themselves.

The treaty became necessary because France, believing it deserved compensation for remaining neutral in the 1866 war between Prussia and Austria for control of united German territories, had been given control of Luxembourg and Belgium in an agreement between France's Napoleon III and Prussia's Otto von Bismarck. 

France really wanted territory on the Rhine as tribute, but Bismarck didn't want to give that up.

The fact that Luxembourg was actually under control by the Netherlands at the time was a technicality removed by a payment of 5 million guilders to the Dutch by the French.

Rather than a lengthy war as expected, Prussia had shocked the world by quickly defeating Austria in the Seven Week War in 1866 due to Prussia's unexpected military efficiency that employed new methodologies.

Its newly proven-military prowess swayed German public sentiment against ceding control of the second most powerful fortress in Europe to France, and German troop presence in Luxembourg made their point.  When the mighty fortress was dismantled under terms of the 1867 treaty, German troops withdrew.

Based on history, no peace should be expected to last forever, and  just three years later, in July of 1870, France declared war on Germany.

Germany was the underdog, but in ten months Prussian military efficiency once again shocked the world, making quick work of Napoleon III's forces.

Meanwhile, back in Luxembourg, perpetual independence actually turned out to be control by Dutch kings until 1890, followed by control by Germany's House of Nassau-Weilburg under an inheritance agreement between Germanic royals from 1783, which I guess explains why the Netherlands was willing to let Germany dicker with its soon-to-end hegemony over Luxembourrg.

In World War I, Luxembourg remained officially neutral but was occupied by Germany, which allowed the Luxembourgians to generally carry on with their lives. 

Luxembourg in World War II was a different story.  In September of 1939, Luxembourg declared itself neutral, but eight months later the Nazis invaded and established strict control.  The royal family of the constitutional monarchy fled into exile, mostly to America, with Grand Duchess Charlotte broadcasting weekly encouragement to her subjects over BBC radio from London.

In September of 1944, General Patton's Third Army liberated Luxembourg, and Patton established his field headquarters in Luxembourg City, where he is still revered as a great hero.  Like with John the Blind, there were attempts to move Patton's remains from the current "resting place" in the U.S. Military Cemetery in nearby Hamm, which to me seems odd in a modern era so clearly removed from superstitious worship of such "relics."

 


Then again, Patton is an iconic military hero, not unlike John the Blind. 

Recently, "Killing Patton" has been the top selling hardcover book in the country, reviving interest in the WWII hero in America and around the world.

Patton's death is steeped in mystery, and the fact that millions of book buyers are fascinated by this general seventy years after his death attests to his epic stature. 

Luxembourg remains grateful to the United States, which truly did liberate their country and allow it to become independent, unlike imperial powers through the millennia that considered conquered territories to be spoils of war.

In the post-WWII Cold War climate, which could have been very different had Patton lived and convinced America to follow his lead into a new war, Luxembourg has managed to become rich and powerful without military might.

 

As I touched on in my post about Strasbourg, Luxembourg is the judiciary and financial capital of the European Union. 

 The commerce brought by the free spending European government officials and their staffs has added to the prosperity of this landlocked country that's only about twice the area of the City of Los Angeles and has a population of 521,000, versus almost 4 million in L.A.  Luxembourg's small size and great wealth (second only to Qatar in per capita income) generated as a banking center as well as through its EU position allows for a generous welfare state, contributing to the popularity of its royal family among even the least affluent residents.

I'm glad our Uniworld excursion took us to see this "stein riche" country from our port in Trier.