London Conference of 1867

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The conference of the six Great Powers (which for the first time included Italy) which met at London in May, 1867, to settle the political order of northern Europe after the disruption of the German Confederation in 1866 is known as the London Conference of 1867. It resulted in the Treaty of London (1867). The immediate occasion of the conference was the necessity of settling the status of the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, which, after the downfall of the First Napoleon, had been added to the dominions of the King of Holland as a separate and independent state and made a member of the German Confederation. Notwithstanding the dissolution of the confederation, Luxemburg continued to be occupied by Prussian troops, the French government insisting upon the removal of these troops and threatening war to enforce the demand. The conference was called to avert the new danger to the peace of Europe, and it solved the problem by the statesmanlike device of placing the Grand Duchy under the collective guaranty of the Great Powers as a permanently neutralized territory. The conference is notable for its clear recognition of the principle of neutralization and of the rights of a neutralized state, as well as the obligations incurred by the Powers joining in the collective guaranty. The neutrality established by the conference was strictly observed by all the parties thereto until the War of 1914, when Germany, which had succeeded to the obligations of Prussia as a guaranteeing state, violated the neutrality of the Grand Duchy by using its territory as a base of operations against Belgium and France.