Editing Luxembourg (section)

=== French rule (1794–1815) ===
{{See also|Forêts|Secularism in France}}

During the [[War of the First Coalition]], [[First French Republic|Revolutionary France]] invaded the Austrian Netherlands, and with it, Luxembourg. In the years 1793 and 1794 most of the Duchy was conquered relatively quickly and the [[French Revolutionary Army]] committed many atrocities and pillages against the Luxembourgish civilian population and abbeys, the most infamous being the massacres of [[Differdange]] and [[Dudelange]], as well as the destruction of the abbeys of [[Clairefontaine Abbey|Clairefontaine]], [[Abbey of Echternach|Echternach]] and [[Orval Abbey|Orval]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://today.rtl.lu/luxembourg-insider/history/a/1715144.html|title=Dark Luxembourg: The French massacre of Differdange|access-date=6 October 2021|archive-date=6 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006182254/https://today.rtl.lu/luxembourg-insider/history/a/1715144.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url = http://shenandoahdavis.canalblog.com/archives/2016/03/24/33560312.html|title = LUXEMBOURG – 17 mai 1794 – MASSACRE DE DUDELANGE – l'HORRIBLE FIN DE PIERRE GAASCH, GARDE-FORESTIER ... – la Maraîchine Normande|date = 24 March 2016|access-date = 6 October 2021|archive-date = 6 October 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211006182254/http://shenandoahdavis.canalblog.com/archives/2016/03/24/33560312.html|url-status = live}}</ref> However the Fortress of Luxembourg [[Siege of Luxembourg (1794–95)|resisted for nearly 7 months]] before the Austrian forces holding it surrendered. Luxembourg's long defence led [[Lazare Carnot]] to call Luxembourg "the best fortress in the world, except Gibraltar", giving rise to the city's nickname ''the Gibraltar of the North''.<ref name="Kreins 2003, p.64">Kreins (2003), p.64</ref>

Luxembourg was annexed by France, becoming the [[Forêts|''département des forêts'']] (department of forests), and the incorporation of the former Duchy as a ''département'' into France was formalized at the [[Treaty of Campo Formio]] in 1797.<ref name="Kreins 2003, p.64"/>
From the start of the occupation the new French officials in Luxembourg, who spoke only French, implemented many republican reforms, among them the principle of [[laicism]], which led to an outcry in strongly Catholic Luxembourg. Additionally French was implemented as the only official language and Luxembourgish people were barred access to all civil services.<ref name="Michel Pauly p.65">Michel Pauly, Geschichte Luxemburgs 2013 p.65</ref> When the French Army introduced military duty for the local population, riots broke out which culminated in 1798 when Luxembourgish peasants started a rebellion.<ref name="Michel Pauly p.65"/> Even though the French managed to rapidly suppress this revolt called ''[[Peasants' War (1798)|Klëppelkrich]]'', it had a profound effect on the historical memory of the country and its citizens.<ref>Kreins (2003), p. 66</ref>

However, many republican ideas of this era continue to have a lasting effect on Luxembourg; one of the many examples features the implementation of the Napoleonic [[Napoleonic Code|Code Civil]] which was introduced in 1804 and is still valid today.<ref>Michel Pauly, Geschichte Luxemburgs 2013 p.67</ref>