Scandinavian kingdoms: 9th-14th century AD
The story of medieval Christian Scandinavia, after the various regions convert in the 10th and 11th century, is of dynasties in Denmark, Norway and Sweden struggling to establish stable kingdoms – with sometimes the added ambition of bringing the other two into a unified realm.
The earliest recognizable kingdom is that of Hemming in southern Denmark from 811; but the king’s successors fail to hold his territory. Another century passes before the whole of Denmark is united in a single kingdom, under the rule of Harald Bluetooth – who is baptized a Christian in about 960.
In the way of royal converts, he sees this personal event as the conversion of all the Danes (an achievement commemorated in Denmark’s famous Jelling Stone).
Harald’s son Sweyn extends the Danish kingdom to England in 1013, and his grandson Canute rules an empire which includes Denmark, England and even for a while (1030-1035) the kingdom of Norway.
Norway has only a few years previously become a single kingdom. Olaf II, ruling from 1015 to 1030, unites the whole region under one crown. Sweden achieves similar unity rather later; not until the dynasty established by Birger Jarl in the 13th century does the Swedish kingdom have the stature to match Denmark or Norway.
At various times different regions become dominant within this Scandinavian triangle. Valdemar I and his son Valdemar II extend Danish influence along the Baltic coast between 1169 and 1222. From about 1240 Haakon IV gives Norway an expansive period, asserting control over distant Iceland and Greenland. In 1323 Sweden is strong enough to incorporate much of Finland, agreeing a boundary in that year with the Russians of Novgorod.
Meanwhile, incessantly, the rulers of the Scandinavian kingdoms engage in two closely related methods of affecting the balance of power among themselves. They go to war against each other. And they marry each other’s daughters. One such marriage, in 1363, leads at last to the union of the three crowns.
Union of the crowns: AD 1363-1523
Margaret, who unites the three crowns of Scandinavia, is the daughter of Valdemar IV, king of Denmark. In 1363, at the age of ten, she is married to Haakon VI, the 23-year-old king of Norway. Seventeen years later her father and her husband are dead, but she has a young son, Olaf. She secures his acceptance as king of both Denmark and Norway, and rules very effectively in his name.
In 1387 the young king dies. Margaret’s authority is now such that she is accepted in her own right, in 1388, as the ‘sovereign lady and ruler’ of both countries. In that same year she is given the opportunity to add Sweden to her portfolio. The Swedish nobles, accustomed to electing their kings, are discontented with the present incumbent. They enlist Margaret’s help.
Before marching against the present king (Albert of Mecklenburg), Margaret declares her terms. She is to be sovereign lady and ruler of Sweden as of the other kingdoms (the phrase effectively means regent) and the Swedes are to accept her choice of the king to succeed her. With this agreed, she defeats Albert in battle in 1389 and takes control.
Stockholm holds out against her (it is virtually an independent city run by the German merchants of the Hanseatic League). But in 1398, in return for confirmation of the league’s commercial privileges, it too becomes part of her domain. The three Scandinavian countries are now a united regency. And the regent has already selected an infant king, to create a united kingdom.
In 1389 Margaret declares that her 8-year-old great-nephew Eric of Pomerania (grandson of her elder sister) is king of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The three realms become formally united when he is crowned at Kalmar in 1397. Margaret is officially regent only until Eric is declared of age (in 1401), but she continues to rule in his name – as effectively as ever – until her death in 1412.
In subsequent decades Eric follows the same policies as his great-aunt, but he is unable to hold the union together. Uprisings against him in all three kingdoms lead to his deposition in Denmark and Sweden in 1439, followed by Norway in 1442.
For almost another century there are attempts, sometimes briefly successful, to restore the union of the three realms under a single king. The last such king is Christian II, who rules in Denmark and Norway from 1513. He has to fight for his Swedish crown. After three years of war he takes Stockholm, in 1520, but it proves a brief triumph. He is crowned on November 4. Four days later a massacre in Stockholm prompts the uprising which results in the Vasa dynasty and an independent Sweden.
Christian loses his other two crowns, of Denmark and Norway, in 1523. From now on, although Norway does not achieve independence until 1905, the story of each Scandinavian country is clearly distinct.
Lutheran Denmark, Norway and Iceland: AD 1536-1550
The nobles of Denmark’s electoral council, the rigsraad, depose Christian II in 1523 and elect to the throne his uncle Frederick, duke of Schleswig-Holstein. Frederick I rarely visits his kingdom of Denmark. But when he does so, the rigsraad is alarmed to observe that he appears to sympathize with the Lutheran heresy.
On his death in 1533 the Catholic majority in the rigsraad attempts to withhold the crown from Frederick’s son, Christian, who is known to be an even more committed Lutheran. The result is a civil war, which ends in Christian’s favour.
Christian III becomes king of Denmark (and with it Norway and Iceland) in July 1536 after capturing Copenhagen. He immediately arrests the Catholic bishops, confiscates their property and dissolves the monasteries. Vast funds flow into the royal exchequer.
In October of that same year the Danish Lutheran Church is formally established. Next it is the turn of Norway, whose monasteries bring the crown further riches. The Norwegian Lutheran Church is in existence by 1539. Iceland resists a little longer, but it too is Lutheran by 1550. Brought to the new faith in a few short years, on the personal conviction of one powerful ruler, all three countries nevertheless remain firmly Lutheran.
When Christian III dies, in 1559, Denmark is stable, prosperous and well placed to play a commanding role in the affairs of the Baltic – to which it literally holds the key. The entire southern and western coast of the Scandinavian peninsula, from modern Karlskrona all the way to Oslo, is part of the Danish kingdom.
This gives Denmark a potential stranglehold on the other new Lutheran kingdom of the north. The only access which Sweden has to the North Sea, without her ships having to sail through narrow Danish waters, is from one harbour close to modern Göteborg. Warfare between Denmark and Sweden over the southern part of the peninsula becomes a feature of the next two centuries.
Denmark and Sweden: AD 1523-1574
Control of the Baltic, and of its entrance through the narrow Sound, first becomes an issue between Denmark and Sweden after the separation of the two kingdoms in 1523. The Swedish king Gustavus I makes plain his ambitions in the Baltic when he founds Helsinki, in 1550, as a trading post for the natural resources of Finland.
From 1559 a new king on the Danish throne, Frederick II, takes an aggressive stance by controlling the passage of foreign ships through the Sound – thus potentially severing Sweden’s main channel of trade. Denmark’s action is feasible because the Sound is only three miles wide at its narrowest point, and at this period both shores are part of the Danish kingdom.
By 1563 Denmark and Sweden are at war over the issue. The conflict lasts until 1570, becoming known as the Seven Years’ War of the North. It achieves no territorial gain for either side, but Denmark wins international recognition of certain Danish rights over the narrow waterway.
After the war, ended by the peace of Stettin, it is accepted that Denmark may levy a toll on ships passing through the Sound. To ensure collection of the payment, Frederick II builds (from 1574) the world’s most impressive tollbooth – the great Renaissance castle of Kronborg at Elsinore, overlooking the narrowest part of the channel. The toll is collected until 1857. Meanwhile, in the 17th century, Denmark intervenes rashly in the Thirty Years’ War.
An unwise excursion: AD 1625-1627
Denmark’s next major military campaign is less successful. The turmoil in Germany during the Thirty Years’ War tempts the Danish king, Christian IV, to join in. As a Lutheran monarch, he has good cause to support Protestant states in north Germany under threat from Catholic neighbours. He is also eager to keep Catholics away from the Baltic. He has been promised a subsidy by England if he intervenes in Germany’s wars. And he is interested in extending his own territory southwards to the estuaries of the Elbe and the Weser.
In May 1625 he marches into Germany.
Christian IV is an unskilled commander, and he has the misfortune to have ranged against him the two most experienced generals of the age. Tilly commands the Bavarian army on behalf of the Catholic League. Wallenstein is at the head of the separate imperial army which he has raised for Ferdinand II.
Christian’s first defeat is at the hands of Tilly, at Lutter in August 1626. Between them, Tilly and Wallenstein then drive the Danes north, clearing them from the Baltic coast, pursing them into the peninsula of Denmark and eventually confining Christian IV and his army to the Danish islands.
Swedish and Danish wars: AD 1643-1660
After losing much of his territory to the Catholic armies of the empire in 1627, the Danish king Christian IV recovers them in the peace of Lübeck in 1629. This is thanks partly to the support of his fellow Lutheran monarch, Gustavus II of Sweden. But it is the last occasion in this century when there is any cooperation between the Baltic kingdoms.
Between 1643 and 1660 they engage in two wars, both of which bring great advantage to Sweden.
The first begins in 1643 when the Swedish general Lennart Torstensson makes a lightning raid from the south and occupies Schleswig-Holstein and Jutland. The conclusion of that campaign, agreed in the peace of Brömsebro in 1645, is that Denmark cedes to Sweden the Baltic islands of Gotland and Ösel and part of the mainland north of the Baltic. She also exempts from tolls in the Sound all goods destined for Swedish territories.
The second war, beginning in 1657, is initiated by Denmark. The Swedish king, Charles X, is engaged in a war against Poland. Frederick III of Denmark hopes to use the opportunity to recover some of the lost Danish territory. The result is the opposite of what he intends.
Charles X, repeating Torstensson’s tactic of an attack from the south, occupies Jutland in the autumn of 1657. He follows this with an extremely bold move. A cold spell early in 1658 freezes the sea between peninsular Denmark and the islands. Charles marches his army across the ice to the island of Sjaelland on which Copenhagen stands.
On this occasion the Danes rapidly yield (though the citizens of Copenhagen resolutely withstand a Swedish siege later in 1658). In terms finally agreed in Copenhagen in 1660 Denmark cedes a region of immense strategic value to Sweden – the Skåne provinces at the southern end of the Swedish peninsula. This brings to an end Denmark’s control of both shores of the Sound.
A new ancien régime: AD 1660-1788
The humiliations and expense of the recent war lead to a constitutional revolution in Denmark. The powerful and privileged nobles are blamed for much of the crisis, yet even now they are reluctant to forgo their exemption from taxes. By contrast the king, Frederick III, is popular with the citizens of Copenhagen (he has led them in the siege of 1658). So there is pressure from the other two estates, the clergy and the commons, for political reform.
When Frederick III was elected king, in 1648, he had to accept a charter from parliament limiting his powers. Now the proposal is that he should reign as an absolute monarch, on the pattern of Louis XIV in France.
The nobles yield to the pressure for reform. In October 1660 the three estates release Frederick III from the terms of his coronation charter and acclaim him as a hereditary monarch. In January 1661 a document is distributed, for signature by all prominent citizens, granting the king absolute power.
This concept is enshrined in a constitution of 1665, known as the Kongeloven (King’s Law), which confers the same degree of power on Frederick’s heirs, charging them only with two specific duties – to keep the Danish kingdom undivided, and to ensure that Denmark remains Lutheran.
For another five generations, to the end of the 18th century, the Danish crown passes from father to son – in an unbroken line alternating the names Frederick and Christian in each successive generation. The first four successors of Frederick III use their absolute power responsibly and even timidly (two of the four are extremely pious). Denmark does not greatly prosper under their guidance, but there are minor gains.
Frederick IV intervenes twice in the Northern War, briefly and disastrously in 1700 but with more success in 1709-20 when Sweden’s fortunes are low. The treaty of Frederiksborg in 1720 brings the duchy of Schleswig into the hands of the Danish crown.
Denmark maintains neutrality in the later wars of the 18th century, bringing benefits in trade. But in rural Denmark the condition of the peasants deteriorates. Agricultural profitability is low, and the Danish crown appeases the landowners by binding the peasants to the land in conditions approximating to serfdom. Absolute monarchy has resulted in elements of a medieval society.
This leads to rapid change after a coup d’état in the fifth reign of the 18th century. Unlike his ancestors, Christian VII is feeble, debauched and mentally unstable. In 1784 his 16-year-old son, the future Frederick VI, takes power in a move planned with members of his father’s cabinet.
Sweeping reforms are introduced in 1788 by the crown prince Frederick and his ministers. Peasants are emancipated, being allowed now to move at will and to work for any employer, with the opportunity of acquiring their own freehold plot of land. Educational measures are introduced, and systems of poor relief.
The resulting liberation of Danish agriculture leads to rapid improvements in productivity. And with Europe on the brink of a mighty war, Denmark’s policy of neutrality makes it well placed to profit from the hostilities. But even neutrality brings its dangers.
Napoleonic wars: AD 1800-1814
With France and Britain at each other’s throats, neutrality turns out to be a hard position to maintain – even when one is professing it most forcefully. The harm done by the war to the trade of neutral nations prompts crown prince Frederick, in December 1800, to join Russia and Sweden in a League of Armed Neutrality. They announce that the Baltic ports are closed to British ships.
Inevitably it is Copenhagen, the port at the mouth of the sea, which suffers from British retaliation – in the visit by Nelson in 1801, resulting in the destruction of most of the Danish fleet.
There is a similar disaster in September 1807, when Napoleon puts pressure on the Danes to close their ports to British ships. The British, in a pre-emptive strike, bombard Copenhagen and seize the Danish warships in the harbour – even though Denmark is still technically neutral.
Partly in indignation at this treatment, and partly because he is powerless to oppose Napoleon, Frederick declares war on Britain in October. Denmark plays little significant part in any of the subsequent campaigns, but the crown prince (who becomes Frederick VI on the death of his father in 1808) is now unmistakably on Napoleon’s side.
Of Napoleon’s allies in 1807, Denmark is one of the incautious few who fail to change sides during the next seven years. As a result, after the defeat of the French armies at Leipzig in October 1813, Danish territory is legitimately invaded by a Swedish army under Bernadotte.
In the subsequent treaty of Kiel, signed in January 1814, Denmark is compelled to cede Norway to Sweden.
In the aftermath of the war, Denmark goes through a lean and impoverished period. Frederick continues to rule in the absolutist manner traditional in his dynasty, as does his cousin Christian VIII (who succeeds him in 1839). But Denmark’s southern duchies of Schleswig and Holstein now present increasing problems.
Unrest in Schleswig-Holstein, partly inspired by the July revolution of 1830 in France, prompts Frederick to introduce elements of constitutional reform in 1834. The next year of revolution, 1848, coincides with the start of a new reign. The new king, Frederick VII, responds rapidly by providing a thoroughly liberal constitution. But this time he has war on his hands in Schleswig-Holstein.
Schleswig-Holstein: AD 1848-1864
The region of Schleswig-Holstein, at the interface between German and Danish-speaking regions but with no clear geographical boundaries, is a natural place for conflict in an era of growing nationalism. Historically Holstein has been within the German empire and Schleswig outside it, but both duchies have been attached to the Danish crown since 1460.
In the excitement of 1848 a revolutionary group seizes Kiel, declares the independence of the two duchies from Denmark and appeals to the German Confederation for help. The result is an invasion of Schleswig-Holstein, and then of Denmark itself, by a Prussian army on behalf of the Confederation.
On this occasion international pressure forces the Prussians to withdraw and the two duchies are restored to Denmark. But the crisis flares again in 1863 when the Danish king Frederick VII dies. He has no direct male heir. In Denmark the crown can pass through the female line; but Holstein, like the rest of the German empire, observes the Salic law.
This casts doubt on the right of the new Danish king, Christian IX, to the duchy of Holstein. The German Confederation (still officially presided over by Austria) decides to act. A joint Austrian and Prussian army overruns both Holstein and Schleswig. The result this time is that the two duchies are ceded jointly to Prussia and Austria, by the treaty of Vienna in October 1864.
North Schleswig: AD 1864-1920
The northern part of Schleswig contains a large Danish population which the treaty of Vienna now brings under German rule. The subsequent treaty of Prague, in 1866, confirms Denmark’s cession of the two duchies but promises a plebiscite to decide whether north Schleswig wishes to return to Danish rule. This provision is unilaterally set aside by a resolution of Prussia and Austria in 1878.
As a result there is continuing unrest in the region, heightened in World War I when Danes from north Schleswig are drafted into the German army – even though Denmark is neutral. A plebiscite in 1920 finally brings north Schleswig back into Denmark, creating the southern Danish border which applies today.
The 19th century
The Napoleonic Wars
The long decades of peace came to an abrupt end during the Napoleonic Wars. Britain felt threatened by the Armed Neutrality Treaty of 1794, which originally involved Denmark and Sweden, and later Prussia and Russia. The British fleet attacked Copenhagen in 1801 (Battle of Copenhagen (1801)), destroying much of Denmark’s navy. Denmark nonetheless managed to remain uninvolved in the Napoleonic Wars until 1807. The British fleet bombarded Copenhagen again that year, causing considerable destruction to the city. They then captured the entire Danish fleet so that it couldn’t be used by France to invade Britain (as the French had lost their own fleet at Trafalgar in 1805), leading to the Gunboat War (1807-1814). The confiscation of the Danish navy was widely criticized in Britain.
In 1809 Danish forces fighting on the French side participated in defeating the anti-Baonapartist German rebellion led by Ferdinand von Schill, at the Battle of Stralsund.
The Treaty of Kiel transferred Norway from the Danish to the Swedish crown in 1814, as a reward to Sweden — which had chosen the victorious side. But the Norwegians revolted, declared their independence, and elected crown-prince Christian Frederick (the future Christian VIII) as their king. However, the Norwegian independence movement failed to attract any support from the European powers. After a brief war with Sweden, Christian had to abdicate in order to preserve Norwegian autonomy, established in a personal union with Sweden.
Denmark suffered terribly as a result of the Napoleonic Wars, it’s economy broken, Norway lost, and Copenhagen badly damaged.
Interestingly, this period also counts as “the Golden Age” of Danish intellectual history. A sign of renewed intellectual vigor was the introduction of compulsory schooling in 1814. Literature, painting, sculpture, and philosophy all experienced an unusually vibrant period. The stories of Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) became popular not only in Denmark, but all over Europe and in the United States of America . The ideas of the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) spread far beyond Denmark, influencing not only his own era, but proving instrumental in the development of new philosophical systems after him. The sculptures of Thorvaldsen (1770-1834) grace public buildings all over Denmark and other artists appreciated and copied his style. Grundtvig (1783-1872) tried to reinvigorate the Danish National Church and contributed to the hymns used by the church in Denmark.
Nationalism and liberalism
The Danish liberal and national movements gained momentum in the 1830s, and after the European revolutions of 1848 Denmark became a constitutional monarchy on June 5, 1849. The growing bourgeoisie had demanded a share in government, and in an attempt to avert the sort of bloody revolution occurring elsewhere in Europe, Frederick VII gave in to the demands of the citizens. A new constitution emerged, separating the powers and granting the franchise to all adult males, as well as freedom of the press, religion, and association. The king became head of the executive branch. The legislative branch consisted of two parliamentary chambers; the Folketing, comprising members elected by the general population, and the Landsting, elected by landowners. Denmark also gained an independent judiciary. In 1845 Denmark sold its colony of Tranquebar in India to Britain.
The Danish king’s realm still consisted of four parts:
- the islands
- Jutland
- the Duchy of Schleswig
- the Duchy of Holstein
The islands and Jutland together constituted the kingdom, whereas the monarch held the duchies in personal union with the kingdom. The duchy of Schleswig constituted a Danish fief, while the Duchy of Holstein remained a part of the German Confederation. Since the early 18th century, and even more so from the early 19th century, the Danes had become used to viewing the duchies and the kingdom as increasingly unified in one state. This view, however, clashed with that of the German majority in the duchies, also enthused by liberal and national trends, which lead to a movement known as Schleswig-Holsteinism. Schleswig-Holsteinists aimed for independence from Denmark. The First War of Schleswig (1848-1851) broke out after constitutional change in 1849 and ended with the status quo only thanks to the intervention of Britain and other Great Powers. Much debate took place in Denmark as to how to deal with the question of Schleswig-Holstein. National-Liberals demanded permanent ties between Schleswig and Denmark, but stated that Holstein could do as it pleased. However, international events overtook domestic Danish politics, and Denmark faced war against both Prussia and Austria in what became known as the Second War of Schleswig (1864). The war lasted from February to October 1864. Denmark was easily beaten by Prussia and Austria, and obliged to relinquish Schleswig-Holstein.
The war caused Denmark as a nation severe trauma, forcing it to reconsider its place in the world. The loss of Schleswig-Holstein came as the latest in the long series of defeats and territorial loss that had begun in the 17th century. The Danish state had now lost some of the richest areas of the kingdom: Skåne to Sweden and Schleswig to Germany, so the nation focused on developing the poorer areas of the country. Extensive agricultural improvements took place in Jutland, and a new form of nationalism, which emphasized the “small” people, the decency of rural Denmark, and the shunning of wider aspirations, developed. Industrialization came to Denmark in the second half of the 19th century. The nation’s first railroads were constructed in the 1850s, and improved communications and overseas trade allowed industry to develop in spite of Denmark’s lack of natural resources. Trade unions developed starting in the 1870s. There was a considerable migration of people from the countryside to the cities, and Danish agriculture became centered around the export of dairy and meat products.
The two concepts of internationalism and nationalism have become very much part of the history of the Danish Labour movement.
The Labour movement gathered momentum when social issues became associated with internationalism. Socialist theory and organisational contact with the First International, which linked labour movements in various countries, paved the way. Louis Pio emerged as the driving force. In 1871, following the bloody defeat of the Paris Commune, he started publishing socialist journalism. He campaigned strongly for an independent organisation of the workers under their own management, and organised a Danish branch of the First International. This became the foundation stone for the Social Democratic Party under the name of Den Internationale Arbejderforening for Danmark (The International Labour Association for Denmark). As a combination of union and political party, it adroitly brought together national and international elements.
Pio saw internationalism as vital for the success of the workers’ struggle: without internationalism, no progress. He pointed out that the middle classes cooperated across national frontiers and used nationalistic rhetoric as a weapon against the workers and their liberation.
The Danish section started organising strikes and demonstrations for higher wages and social reforms. Moderate demands, but enough to provoke the employers and the forces of law and order. Things came to a head in the Battle of Fælleden on 5 May 1872. The authorities arrested the three leaders, Louis Pio, Poul Geleff and Harald Brix, charged them and convicted them of high treason. The three left Denmark for the United States to set up the ill-starred and short-lived socialist colony near Hays City, in Ellis County, Kansas.
Back in Denmark, the emerging political situation made possible by the new constitution alarmed many of the existing elites, since it inevitably empowered the peasantry. Simple men with little education replaced professors and professionals in positions of power. The peasants, in coalition with liberal and radical elements from the cities, eventually won a majority of seats in the Folketing. Even though constitutional changes had taken place to boost the power of the Landsting, the Left Venstre Party demanded to form the government, but the king, still the head of the executive branch, refused. However in 1901, king Christian IX gave in and asked Johan Henrik Deuntzer, a member of Venstre, to form a government, the Cabinet of Deuntzer. This began a tradition of parliamentary government, and with the exception of the Easter Crisis of 1920, no government since 1901 has ruled against a parliamentary majority in the Folketing.
Monetary union
The Scandinavian Monetary Union, a monetary union formed by Sweden and Denmark on May 5, 1873, fixed both their currencies against gold at par to each other. Norway, governed in union with Sweden, entered the monetary union two years later in 1875 by pegging its currency to gold at the same level as Denmark and Sweden (.403 grams) The monetary union proved one of the few tangible results of the Scandinavist political movement of the 19th century.
The union provided fixed exchange-rates and stability in monetary terms, but the member-countries continued to issue their own separate currencies. In an outcome not initially foreseen, the perceived security led to a situation where the formally separate currencies circulated on a basis of “as good as” the legal tender virtually throughout the entire area.
The outbreak of World War I in 1914 brought an end to the monetary union. Sweden abandoned the tie to gold on August 2, 1914, and without a fixed exchange rate the free circulation came to an end.
The 20th Century
1901-1939
In the early decades of the 20th century the new Radical Party and the older Venstre Party shared government. During this time women gained the right to vote (1915), and the United States of America purchased some of Denmark’s colonial holdings: the three islands of St. John, St. Croix, and St. Thomas in the West Indies. The period also saw Denmark inaugurating important social and labour-market reforms, laying the basis for the present welfare state.
Denmark remained neutral during World War I, but the conflict affected the country to a considerable extent. As its economy was heavily based on exports, the unrestricted German submarine warfare was a serious problem. Denmark had no choice but to sell many of its exports to Germany instead of overseas nations. Widespread profiteering took place, but commerce also suffered great disruption because of the conflict and because of the ensuing financial instability in Europe. Rationing was instituted, and there were food and fuel shortages. Following the defeat of Germany in the war (1918), the Treaty of Versailles (1919) mandated the Schleswig Plebiscites, which resulted in the return of Northern Schleswig to Denmark. The king and parts of the opposition grumbled that Prime Minister Carl Theodor Zahle (in office 1909-1910 and 1913-1920) did not use Germany’s defeat to take back a bigger portion of the province, which Denmark had lost in the Second War of Schleswig in 1864. The king and the opposition wanted to take over the city of Flensburg, while the cabinet insisted on only claiming areas where a majority of Danes lived, which led to a plebiscite in the affected areas over whether they wanted to become a part of Denmark or remain within Germany. Believing that he had the support of the people, King Christian X used his reserve power to dismiss Zahle’s cabinet, sparking the Easter Crisis of 1920. As a result of the Easter Crisis, the king promised to no longer interfere in politics. Although the Danish Constitution remained un-amended, Danish monarchs have stayed out of politics since then. The end of the war also prompted the Danish government to finish negotiating with Iceland, resulting in Iceland becoming a sovereign Kingdom on December 1, 1918 while retaining the Danish monarch as Head of State.
In the 1924 Folketing election the Social Democrats, under the charismatic Thorvald Stauning, became Denmark’s largest parliamentary political party, a position they maintained until 2001. Since the opposition still held a majority of the seats in the Landsting, Stauning had to co-operate with some of the right-wing parties, making the Social Democrats a more mainstream party. He succeeded in brokering an important deal in the 1930s which brought an end to the Great Depression in Denmark, and also laid the foundation for a welfare state.
World War II
Denmark declared its neutrality at the beginning of World War II and signed a non-aggression agreement with Nazi Germany. Nevertheless, Germany (so as to secure communications for its invasion of Norway) occupied Denmark on April 9, 1940, meeting only token resistance. British forces, however, occupied the Faroe Islands (12 April 1940: see British occupation of the Faroe Islands in World War II) and invaded Iceland (10 May 1940) in pre-emptive moves to prevent German occupation. Following a plebiscite, Iceland declared its independence on June 17, 1944 and became a republic, dissolving its union with Denmark.
The Nazi occupation of Denmark unfolded in a unique manner. The conditions of occupation started off very leniently (although the authorities banned Danmarks Kommunistiske Parti (the Communist party) when the Wehrmacht invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941), and Denmark retained its own government. The new coalition government tried to protect the population from Nazi rule through compromise. The Germans allowed the Folketing to remain in session, the police remained under Danish control, and the German authorities stayed one step removed from the population. However, the Nazi demands eventually became intolerable for the Danish government, so in 1943 it resigned and Germany assumed full control of Denmark. After that point, an armed resistance movement grew against the occupying forces. Toward the end of the war, Denmark grew increasingly difficult for Germany to control, but the country remained under occupation until the end of the war in May 1945.
Denmark succeeded in smuggling most of its Jewish population to Sweden in 1943 when the Nazis threatened deportation; see Rescue of the Danish Jews.
Post-war
In 1948 Denmark granted home rule to the Faroe Islands. 1953 saw further political reform in Denmark, abolishing the Landsting (the elected upper house), colonial status for Greenland and allowing female rights of succession to the throne with the signing of a new constitution.
After the war, with the perceived threat posed by the USSR and the lessons of World War II still fresh in Danish minds, the country abandoned its policy of neutrality. Denmark became a charter-member of the United Nations in 1945 and one of the original members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation in 1949 (though Denmark had originally tried to form an alliance only with Norway and Sweden). A Nordic Council later emerged with the aim of co-ordinating Nordic policy. Later, in a referendum in 1972, Danes voted in favour of joining the European Community, the predecessor of the European Union, and Denmark became a member on 1 January 1973. Since then, Denmark has proven a hesitant member of the European community, opting out of many proposals, including the Euro which it rejected in a referendum in 2000.
Christian Kresall 