By the winter of 1794, the Jacobins were out of power, replaced by a slightly less repressive regime<\/a>. But the war on France, waged by a coalition<\/a> of practically all the monarchies of Europe, continued nonetheless. The massive French armies, raised by general conscription, continued to defeat the best and brightest of Europe.<\/p>\n That winter, Luxembourg City was under siege<\/a> by French forces, A few years later, Luxembourg’s peasants began an insurgency<\/a>, in response to France’s demands for military conscription, but the revolt was quickly quashed. Luxembourg was ruled by France until the defeat of Napoleon in 1815.<\/p>\n The territory became a significant item of contention during the Congress of Vienna<\/a>, which recomposed European in Napoleon’s wake. But that’s a story for another day!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.culture.gouv.fr\/Wave\/image\/joconde\/0015\/m502004_94de18660_p.jpg\" "\\"by")
<\/a> as it was one of the few opposition strongholds on the left bank of the Rhine. Luxembourg’s fortifications were escalated<\/a> by each successor in the series of rulers who occupied the territory — Austrian, Spanish, French, and Austrian again. The fortress-city withstood the otherwise-irresistible French army for seven months — enough time to strike distinctive siege-currency<\/a> which is quite valuable today. The strength of the city’s fortifications led a French leader<\/a> to name it “The Gibraltar of the North”.<\/p>\n