The Era of Independents
From the promulgation of the first constitution, in 1848, until the early twentieth century, Luxembourgish politics was dominated by independent politicians and statesmen. The prerogative powers of the Grand Duke remained undiluted, and, as such, the monarch actively chose and personally appointed the Prime Minister. As a result, the Prime Minister was often a moderate, without any strong affiliation to either of the two major ideological factions in the Chamber of Deputies: the secularist liberals and the Catholic conservatives.
In the early twentieth century, the emergence of socialism as a third force in Luxembourgish politics ended the dominance of independents, and further politicised the government of the country. This did not affect the Prime Minister's position until 1915, when the long-serving Paul Eyschen died in office. His death created a struggle for power between the main factions, leading to the establishment of the formalised party system.
Prime Minister | Term of office | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
G.T.I. de la Fontaine | 1 August 1848 | 6 December 1848 | |||
Jean-Jacques Willmar | 6 December 1848 | 23 September 1853 | |||
Mathias Simons | 23 September 1853 |
26 September 1860 |
|||
Victor, Baron de Tornaco | 26 September 1860 |
3 December 1867 |
|||
Emmanuel Servais | 3 December 1867 |
26 December 1874 |
|||
Félix, Baron de Blochausen | 26 December 1874 |
20 February 1885 |
|||
Édouard Thilges | 20 February 1885 | 22 September 1888 | |||
Paul Eyschen | 22 September 1888 |
11 October 1915 |
|||
Mathias Mongenast | 12 October 1915 | 6 November 1915 | |||
Hubert Loutsch | 6 November 1915 | 24 February 1916 | |||
Victor Thorn | 24 February 1916 | 19 June 1917 | |||
Léon Kauffman | 19 June 1917 | 28 September 1918 | |||
Read more about this topic: List Of Prime Ministers Of Luxembourg
Famous quotes containing the word era:
“The great pagan world of which Egypt and Greece were the last living terms ... once had a vast and perhaps perfect science of its own, a science in terms of life. In our era this science crumbled into magic and charlatanry. But even wisdom crumbles.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)