History of Luxembourg The bombardments ended with the American Army nearing Lampaden on February 22, 1945. Altogether, of a pre-war population of 293,000, 5,259 Luxembourgers lost their lives during the hostilities. After World War II, Luxembourg abandoned its politics of neutrality, when it became a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United Nations. It is a signatory of the Treaty of Rome, and constituted a monetary union with Belgium (Benelux Customs Union in 1948), and an economic union with Belgium and the Netherlands, the so-called BeNeLux. Between 1945 and 2005, the economic structure of Luxembourg changed significantly. The
Revolution of 1848 in Luxembourg powers. After being annexed by the French in the Napoleonic Wars, Luxembourg was elevated to a Grand Duchy and awarded to the Dutch King by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. While it was supposed to be ruled by him in personal union, rather than as part of his kingdom, the King-Grand Duke William I treated it merely as a province of the Netherlands. (At the time, modern Belgium was part of the Netherlands, so Luxembourg was not separated from Dutch territory.) The Grand Duchy would also be part of the German Confederation (the successor to the Holy Roman Empire),