The king of France Louis XIV continued his father's policy of expansion. In fact, the taking of Montmédy in Luxembourg in 1657 was the future Sun king's first conquest. The Peace of the Pyrenees (1659) brought a temporary peace to Luxembourg at the price of ceding the border stronghold of Montmédy.
From 1672, the Spanish Habsbourgs react to renewed French aggression by strengthening the Fortress. The construction of new redoubts, including Marie and Berlaimont, marked the beginning of a second ring of modern fortifications around the city of Luxembourg at the cost of razing a 100 houses in the lower towns of Grund and Pfaffenthaler Berg. Their inhabitants were moved to new streets, the rues Chimay, Louvigny and Monterey in the upper town.
From 1681, French troops invaded the Duchy, camping outside Luxembourg and blocking the fortress. Over Christmas 1683 the city was bombarded. It was only at the end of April that Maréchal de Créquy began to lay siege to the fortress. After six weeks of intense fighting putting the city on the brink of destruction, Governor Chimay was forced to surrender.
The king's engineer Vauban, who had supervised the siege, had redoubts built on the surrounding hills. Within the city, powder magazines, a military hospital and new barracks were built, as on the Rham plateau.
Following the Peace of Ryswick (1697), the French withdrew at the beginning of 1698. They left behind them a entirely modernised Fortress. The troubles of the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) led to the short reign of the Prince-Elector, Maximilian-Emmanuel of Bavaria over the Southern Netherlands, which included Luxembourg. Relying on the Fortress, Maréchal de Villars prevented the Duke of Marlborough advancing any further in 1705. And so, Luxembourg escaped this war as a battlefield.
-
- - - - - -
- - - - - - -
- - - -
- - - - - -
