Denmark Flag
Dannebrog is the flag of Denmark, a white, continuous cross on a red
background.
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History
Denmark. Valdemar 4. Atterdags våpen i Gelres våbenbog 1370-86. A Dannebrog
flag is stuck through a variety of peacock feathers on one of the helmet's
ermine - covered vessel horns. It is the oldest known colored depiction of the
Danish flag. Valdemar Atterdag was probably also the first Danish king to use
Dannebrog. Because of his relationship with the emperor, he became acquainted
with the red flag of the Holy German-Roman Empire with a white cross; shortly
before 1200 it had evolved from the kingdom's originally all-red flag, in which
the emperor put a white cross when he went on crusades.
The oldest known source for the name Dannebrog is a Dutch coat of arms
(Bellenville), which is believed to have been started 1375-85 on the basis of
older material. Here the form Denenbroec appears. Later sources include forms
such as the Swedish Danabroka (1439) and the Danish Dannebroge (1478) as well as
Danæbrogæ and Danebroggi (both 1520's). The name is probably composed of a word
corresponding to Frisian dan, which means red, and the noun brog, which means
'clothes, fabric, cloth'. The name thus refers to the red-colored fabric of the
flag. However, the meaning was early perceived as the "flag of the Danes".
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AbbreviationFinder: Check three-letter abbreviation for each country in
the world, such as DMK which represents the official name of Denmark.
In a Dutch våbenbog (Gelre) which has been elaborated after 1370, shows a tab
with red white cross as part of the helmet designed to Valdemar 4.s arms. It
is the oldest colored reproduction of Dannebrog known. In another Dutch coat of
arms (Bellenville), where the oldest coats of arms seem to be attributable to
the years between 1330 and 1340, a shield with a cross and the word Dannebrog is
seen by the Danish royal coat of arms; the background color of the shield is
indicated by a letter as red. The oldest known Dannebrog must be linked
to Valdemar IV, who was king 1340-75.

Since the middle of the 12th century, the German emperor had used a
completely red flag. When he went on a crusade, a white cross was put in
it. From the end of the 13th century, the imperial red-and-white cross flag can
be regarded as a permanent German royal flag, which it still was in the 15th
century. In the Middle Ages, one could encounter a red weapon with a white
cross in several places in the outskirts of the Holy Kingdom, and they relate
in some way to the German emperor. An example is the Savoy's coat of arms and
corresponding flag, which reflects a close political relationship between the
Emperor and the Count of the Savoy. Before Valdemar 4.became king, he was
attached to the emperor and his son, the Margrave of Brandenburg. They had a
decisive influence on the negotiations that in 1340 led to Valdemar being
recognized as king by Denmark. He had good reason to nurture his relationship
with the imperial power. By adopting the same red flag with white cross that the
emperor used, he could send a political signal to those to whom the Danish
kingdom was pledged, and other German princes and Hanseatic cities.
The legend of Dannebrog
According to a2zgov, Dannebrog, which fell from the sky during a battle in Estonia, is mentioned
in Christiern Pedersen 's Danish chronicle from the beginning of the 1520's and
by the Franciscan Peder Olsen approximately 1527. The latter linked the event to the
year 1208. But tradition has maintained that the flag appeared at Lyndanise on
15 June 1219. It may have been Danish clergy who in the late 15th century
created the legend of the soaring flag to strengthen the monarchy. It can be
traced to around 1500 in connection with the flag that King Hans lost in the
defeat in Ditmarsken. Frederik 2.recaptured the flag in 1559 and had it hung
in Schleswig Cathedral, where it must have hung until around 1660. The king's
historian Hans Svaning wrote in a Latin script printed in 1561 that the red
national banner with white cross had been sent from heaven to Valdemar II.
abroad could thus gain knowledge of the legend.
In a presumably contemporary Low German poem about King Hans' defeat in 1500,
the king's cross banner was compared to the Roman emperor Constantine 's dream
of the cross in 312 before the battle, when he became sole ruler of the Roman
Empire and, according to tradition, converted to Christianity. This crucifixion
vision, to which the words in hoc signo vinces, "under this sign you shall
triumph", is attached, was the prototype of the miracles in the form of crosses
in heaven, which in the Iberian Peninsula in particular were associated with
battles between Christians and infidels.. After Ditmarsken's conquest in 1559,
Dannebrog's "holiness" played one at leastsymbolic role. In 1563, Frederik II
adopted a St. George gentle rider as a weapon for the Ditmarsken. In
the royal coat of arms, the field with the noble knight's saint was placed on
the Dannebrog Cross, and the cross became an expression of the crusade
legend. An outstretched white cross with a red border was used by
the Portuguese Order of Christ, which was instituted in 1318 during a crusade
against the Moors. The Portuguese gold coin the Portuguese redeemer reproduced
the Christ Cross and the words in hoc signo vinces. Christian IV minted
Danish Portuguese settlers from 1591 with a similar cross, which was soon
perceived as the Dannebrog Cross. In 1603 becameemperor Constantine s sentens in
hoc signo vinces added. In the royal coat of arms, the Dannebrog Cross
gradually took on an outward-curved shape, just like the Christ Cross. When
the Order of the Dannebrog was established in 1671, this design became the rule
until 1972, when the cross took on its original equilateral shape.
The historian Arild Huitfeldt mentioned the Dannebrog legend in
his chronicle, published 1600-1603. He dated it to 1219 and compared it
with Emperor Constantine 's crucifixion, but he was sober about
the miraculous content of the legend. His chronicle caused the legend to have a
lasting place in the consciousness of the Danes. The legend of Dannebrog's fall
from the sky in 1219 has nothing to do with the historical reality, but its
existence through the centuries is a fact and part of Denmark's history.
The growing national feeling of the 19th century
During the 19th century, the growing national feeling came to shape the
perception of Dannebrog. "From Heaven you have fallen, you Sanctuary of
Denmark", wrote BS Ingemann in the war year 1807 in "Fan proud of Codan's
Wave". Thus, he helped to enshrine the legend of Dannebrog in people's
consciousness. In 1809, CA Lorentzen painted his iconic picture of Dannebrog's
fall from the sky during the Battle of Lyndanise on June 15, 1219, which in the
form of lithographs found its way to the walls of patriotic homes. "About
Dannebrog I know, It fell from Heaven down", it says in Peter Faber 's "Then I
left Sted" from 1848.
Dannebrog at war
In wars with Sweden in the 15th century, Dannebrog was the main flag. After
1625, the army's flags in the upper inner corner had a Dannebrog mark, which
during the 17th century also appeared in the outward-curved shape. The noblest
units led Dannebrog alone. Since 1842, army units have used Dannebrog with an
outward-curved cross as opposed to the cross in the national flag and the war
flag, where it remained equilateral. Dannebrog has been at sea since the end of
the 16th century.
Split flag
Denmark. Dannebrog's proportions. Tv. the split flag in its present form,
established 1856, with the outermost fields and tongues shortened, and the stut
flag (marked with dashed lines) in the elongated form permitted in 1893. Th. the
war flag, as it was fixed in 1696. This and other flags belonging to the Navy
are deep or dark red. The basis of the proportions is the width of the cross,
which is 1/7 of the height of the flag.
According to an ordinance from 1630, the split flag was reserved for the
navy. In 1635 it was emphasized that merchant ships were not allowed to fly
split flags. In 1696 the proportions of the split flag were fixed; they have
since been changed. It became customary for the state to fly flags with split
flags on land as well. In 1748 it was definitively decided that the trade flag
is a rectangular flag without a split and with certain proportions. As a general
rule, the split flag is reserved for the royal house and the state. Private
should use the rectangular flag without split, also called stut flag. Since 1731
has the royal flaghad the royal coat of arms in a central field, and later
similar special flags were introduced for others in the royal family. Over time,
for a number of services, special marks or letters have been inserted in the
upper inner red box. Certain private institutions use the Dannebrog in a similar
way and in some cases carry split flags. According to tradition,
the war flag is deep or dark red.
The Danes' use of Dannebrog
In 1833, flagging was banned for private individuals. However, the ban was
not enforced and was lifted in 1854. In 1848-50, the population had eagerly
flagged the Dannebrog. The Danes like to hoist the flag at their houses and in
the allotment garden and decorate the Christmas tree with small Dannebrog
flags. Sporting events are also extensively marked with Dannebrog. Royal
people's birthdays, church holidays, national and military anniversaries have
been flag days since the 1880's. Flagging on half a pole has been practiced since
1743. The use of Dannebrog has been regulated by
div. regulations, regulations and royal resolutions. A proposal for a
comprehensive flag law submitted to the Riksdag in the early 1930's was not
adopted.
Flag days
On certain days, flags are traditionally flown by both public authorities and
private individuals. In 1886, the Ministry of War introduced that flags should
be flown from military buildings on the birthdays of 13 specified royals, on the
date of the signing of the Constitution of June 5, 1849, and on 7 memorial days
for military battles. In 1913, the Ministry of the Navy issued its own list of
flag days applicable to the Navy. In addition to regulations regarding royal
persons and a number of naval battles, the provision included that flags were to
be flown at the church holidays. 1922 - 1923, the two ministries supplemented
their list with election dayon June 15th. At intervals, the royal house
issues a list of the royal persons to be flagged for. Eventually, many private
individuals embraced the military flag days.
From 1939, the annual publication Who-What-Where contained for the first time
a list of "flag days". In addition to the military regulations, only the royal
birthdays are formally valid as flag days for all public authorities, as no
executive order has ever been issued regarding the other flag days, eg 9 April
and 5 May. These dates included Who-What-Where in 1946 in his list.
Official flag days
The Ministry of Justice publishes a circular letter on official flag
days; they are used by public authorities and many private citizens. Special
rules apply to military flag days.
The official flag days |
Date |
Occasion |
1st of January |
New Year's Day |
February 5th |
Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary 's birthday |
February 6th |
Her Royal Highness Princess Marie 's birthday |
|
Good Friday. Flags are flown at half mast all day |
|
Easter Day |
April 9 |
Occupation Day. Flags are flown at half-mast until 12.00, then on a
full pole |
April 16 |
Her Majesty the Queen 's birthday |
April 29 |
Her Royal Highness Princess Benedict 's birthday |
|
Christ's Ascension |
May 5 |
Liberation Day |
|
Pentecost |
May 26 |
His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederik 's birthday |
5th of June |
Constitution Day |
June 7 |
His Royal Highness Prince Joachim 's birthday |
June 15 |
Valdemar's day and reunion day |
June 21st |
Greenland 's national day. Flags are flown with the Greenlandic flag
Erfalasorput |
July 29 |
Faroe Islands ' national holiday, Olai Day. The Faroese flag Merkið
is flown |
5th of September |
Denmark's emissary |
December 25th |
Christmas day |
In cases where birthdays in the royal house fall on Good Friday, flags are
flown at half mast.
Denmark - history
Denmark - history, Prehistory
Paleolithic (until about 9300 BC). Probably Denmark was inhabited by
humans already in the last interglacial period for approximately 120,000 years ago and
perhaps also in warmer periods during the last ice age. The oldest preserved
finds of human settlement, however, are the traces of the reindeer hunters'
settlements from the Bølling period, 12,500-12,000 BC; it was the first warm
period at the end of the last ice age. During the next warm period, Allerødtid,
11,800-11,000 BC, the first open forest landscape emerged, where reindeer, elk
and giant deer were the nutritional basis for a growing hunter-gatherer
population. The following cold period, the Younger Dry Age, 11,000-9300 BC,
brought the tundra back and again brought a sparse population of reindeer
hunters to the area.
Mesolithic (approximately 9300-3900 BC). In the first period after the end of
the ice age, a hunter-gatherer spread over a large area of land that connected
Denmark with England during the mainland. In the beginning, the forest was open
to light and home to bison, wild horses, elk and aurochs. Over time, it became
denser, and red deer and roe deer became the most common hunting prey. The
settlements were often located on the shores of lakes, which have since been
converted into bogs, and in eastern Denmark the peat bog has retained a rich
selection of weapons and tools, bones of slaughtered animals and remains of
dwellings, such as cabin floors of wood and bark.
In Atlantic times, 7000-3900 BC, the sea level rose so much that northern
Denmark was divided into islands, and deep fjords cut into the country. A dense
forest spread with the linden as the dominant tree. The population lived mainly
on the coasts and lived primarily on seafood, supplemented by hunting and by
catching seals and other marine mammals. Meal wastes were accumulated
as kitchen wastes, rich in oyster shells. Graves such as those found
on Bøgebakken in Vedbæk testify to care and respect for the dead.
Neolithic (Late Stone Age, approximately 3900-1700 BC). Agriculture and
cattle breeding were introduced in Denmark approximately 3900 BC with the cultivation
of wheat and barley and with a livestock herd consisting of beef, sheep, goat
and pig. Large parts of the country were cultivated under the oldest peasant
culture, 3900-2800 BC, and the early peasants were energetic builders. They
built large gathering places, which were surrounded by moats and palisades as
at Sarup on Funen, and they built the oldest grave monuments of
stone, dolmens and burial chambers, which are found especially concentrated
here in Denmark, where several thousand are still preserved.
A veritable industry engaged in the manufacture of elegant, sharpened flint
axes, and flint mines were laid, at Hov in Thy. A large number of
sacrificial finds with pottery, flint tools and amber jewelery are known, as
well as evidence of sacrifices of both humans and animals. The first metal was
introduced from Central Europe in the form of simple jewelry and flat ax blades
of copper.
In the period approximately 2800-2300 BC the findings paint a picture of a
different life pattern than in the previously ritually marked society. The
knowledge of this time is almost exclusively based on finds from burial mounds,
where individual burials testify to equal respect for man and woman. From this
time wagons were used for transport, and larger areas were cultivated. At the
same time, there was settlement along the coasts, where fishing, hunting and
catching of marine mammals were the main occupation.
The last period of the Stone Age, 2400-1700 BC, coincided with the Early
Bronze Age in the British Isles and Central Europe. Weapons and tools of copper
and bronze kept their entrance and put the flint smith to the test. The result
is seen in the form of excellent flint imitations of alien bronze daggers. At
the end of the period, the manufacture of metal cases finally gained a foothold,
and there are tendencies towards a new social division. This is reflected in the
settlements, where both modest and very large, post-supported longhouses have
been found, as well as in the grave finds, which show great variation: graves
under flat ground and burials in burial chambers, in stone coffins and in burial
chambers under monumental mounds.
Bronze Age (approximately 1700-500 BC). The domed burial mounds from the
Early Bronze Age still characterize the Danish landscape today. The mounds
contain funerals that sometimes give a realistic picture of the people of that
time. The National Museum's collection of oak coffin graves shows them still
dressed in their costumes, the women with set hairstyles and with jewelry of
bronze and gold, the men with weapons. High mounds and remains of monumental
longhouses testify to class differences in an agricultural society, as in the
Early Bronze Age, until approximately 1100 BC, increasingly included land for
cultivation and especially for grazing for cattle. The fields were plowed with
the ancient plow, arden, and have had an extent of between 300 m 2 and
1000 m 2. The houses of the peasants lay individually or several
together and often in the same place for centuries. From the Late Bronze Age,
approximately 1100-500 BC, princely burials are known as Lusehøj at Voldtofte on
Funen, where, just like at Boeslunde on Zealand, there was a wealth center that
is reflected in a concentration of gold finds.
Rock carvings and bronze sculptures such as Solvognen from Trundholm provide
insight into the Bronze Age's religious imaginary world. Among the motifs are
frequent images of ships. The cult is also expressed through sacrificial finds
with lures, bronze helmets, cult axes, weapons and women's jewelry. Imported
objects in the form of weapons, shields and bronze vessels testify to a lively
connection with southern Central Europe, in particular with the Hallstatt
culture.
Iron Age (approximately 500 BC-750 AD). Knowledge of the oldest Iron Age is
limited. The graves were simple fire pits, and farmhouses of the same size were
surrounded by fences, ie the first organized villages. Over time, the settlement
changed structure, the farms increased in size, and towards the birth of Christ
there are signs of an increasing social division. Closest to man himself, one
comes by the miraculously preserved bogs such as the Tollund man and
the Grauball man from the older Iron Age, who were people who were thrown into
the lake either as punishment or as a sacrifice to the gods. The most notable
finds from the pre-Roman Iron Age (500 BC-birth) also come from bogs, eg the
oldest war booty, the Deer Spring Fountain, with the remains of the oldest
larger vessel preserved from Denmark's antiquity, and of the shape of the type
of ship known from the Bronze Age petroglyphs. The weapon types, on the other
hand, reflect Celtic forms. From the end of the period, the Dejbjerg
wagons originate with Celtic-style metal fittings and the large
metal vessels, Bråkedlen and Gundestrupkedlen, which are also evidence of
connections with the Celts and brought home in the turbulent times when the
Germanic peoples Cimbri and Teutons were on the move in Europe and attacked the
Roman border..
Agriculture in the older Iron Age is illustrated by finds from well-preserved
Jutlandic settlements and urban mounds from the centuries around the birth of
Christ. Small fields, bounded by low ramparts, represent a form of cultivation
that began in the Late Bronze Age and was used until 200-300 AD. Many of these
ancient fields were abandoned in the Early Iron Age and are therefore preserved
today. The abandonment of agricultural areas may have been the result of
torture, or a change may have taken place in connection with the social and
economic changes that occurred during the Iron Age. These led for larger
farms, for other forms of operation with the main emphasis on cattle farming and
for new property conditions. The development of rural areas throughout the 1st
millennium AD. illuminated by large settlement excavations as at Vorbasse in
southern Jutland, where you can follow the development from small adjoining
farmhouses in the older Iron Age to villages with large farms in the younger
Iron Age.
From the Roman Iron Age (approximately birth of 400-AD AD) many finds of Roman goods
such as weapons, finer household utensils and precious metals are known. In the
older Roman Iron Age (approximately birth of Christ-200 AD), imports were characterized by
solid craftsmanship. The silver vessels from the Hoby find originate from Capua
in southern Italy and may have been received as a gift by a significant
Roman. In the Late Roman Iron Age (approximately 200-400 AD), mass-produced provincial
Roman goods in particular were imported. The many import cases in Danish finds
testify to close trade relations with the Roman Empire along routes that in
particular seem to have followed the sea routes.
At the transition between the older and younger Roman Iron Age, a clear shift
occurred in several areas. The majority of the war booty victims
from Thorsbjerg, Vimose, Illerup and Nydam belong to the Late Roman
period. They reflect conflicts between regional population groups on the eve of
the migration period. Several of the oldest fortifications can be traced back to
the Roman Iron Age. A developed naval defense has included sail barriers that
consisted of connected rows of poles. The clinker-built boats from Nydam Mose
were not sailing, but were rowed forward, and they represent a stage in the
shipbuilding tradition that led to the Viking Age vessels. From approximately 300
AD originates from the oldest sea-facing trading posts, eg Lundeborg, and at the
same time a picture emerges of a princely elite who may have had control over
larger areas. Rich tombs are known from Himlingøje in East Zealand. On
Funen, impressive halls were erected, as in Gudme, which was a center for
trade, crafts and worship. The oldest runic inscriptions in the Old Norse
language are found on weapons and tools from the war booty victims.
The gold horns from Gallehus, the most significant Danish gold find from
antiquity with the longest of the older runic inscriptions, were lost by theft
in 1802. The horns originated from the older part of the Germanic Iron Age (approximately
400-550 AD), which is characterized by many treasure finds with late Roman gold
coins, necklaces and bracelets and gold bracteate. From the beginning of the
Late Germanic Iron Age, approximately 550-750 AD, notable finds are known
of gold nuggets that seem to concentrate in certain places with a central
function such as Black Moldon Bornholm. It is on gold nuggets, jewelery and
metal fittings that the special Nordic art style developed during the Germanic
Iron Age. The semi-abstract animal ornamentation that lived on in the Viking Age
was dominant. The oldest royal hall in Lejre and the oldest Dannevirke, both
from the second half of the 600's, may be an expression of the fact that in the
younger Iron Age the country was ruled by a royal power.
Denmark - history (Viking Age)
Throughout its early history, Denmark has had versatile contacts with the
outside world, but with the beginning of the Viking Age approximately 800, the country
entered European history in earnest. Most famous were the Danes as the Vikings
who plundered churches and monasteries, but behind this one-sided image hides a
far more complicated political and cultural interplay.
See the entire royal line here.
National Assembly and royal power. Already around 700 a stronger
royal power arose in Denmark than previously seen; a king
named Angantyr (Ongendus) can probably be connected with Ribe, where just after
700 a regulated seasonal trading place was established.
Around 700, the power of the Merovingians crumbled, and the outer provinces
of the Frankish kingdom became free. This gave way to Danish power in the
southern North Sea area with Saxony and Friesland, and with Ribe, Denmark got
its first international trading place. When the Carolingians under Charlemagne
around 800 sought to restore the power of the Franks, it clashed with the Danes
under Gudfred; he would give up neither his influence in Friesland nor among the
abodrites, nor the tribute income which had been obtained under the weakness of
the Merovingians. To secure his income, he moved the merchants from the
Abodritite area to his own newly built Hedeby and fortified Denmark's southern
border with a new rampart. Gudfred's battles with Charlemagne were not just a
beach cut, it was rather a clash between empire builders.
Gudfred was assassinated in 810, after which several branches of the royal
family rivaled for power. The power struggle often drove those involved into
exile, and Denmark's rulers were always exposed to threats from rivals who
returned home and were strengthened by gains from Viking trains or which Harald
Klak had obtained foreign support. After 827, the son of God's son Horik
I asserted himself as sole king until a bloody civil war in the mid-800's. ended
with his and many others' deaths.
After this, the internal conditions are dark, until power around 900 was
taken over by a dynasty that is believed to have returned from Sweden. Then
followed the Jelling dynasty, which had also returned from abroad and came to
power a little into the 900's. Harald 1. Blåtand claims on his rune stone
in Jelling that he won all of Denmark. Possibly the word "Denmark" - which first
appears in the late 800's, but is probably older - covered only the Danish lands
east of the Great Belt, and Harald has then added these to his Jutland kingdom,
which he had inherited from his father, Gorm the Old.
The large buildings that can be found in Denmark throughout the Viking Age,
testify to a royal power that has been able to organize society's resources for
common purposes. Harald Blåtand's government can show particularly many
examples: new works on Dannevirke, the slave castles, the Ravning Enge bridge,
the Jelling complex, just as Hedeby, Ribe and Århus may have been fortified
during his reign. In connection with these tasks, the population must have been
required to work, but there is little evidence of the organization of
society. There was hardly any permanent military organization of the same nature
as the later command system. The most important basis of the monarchy has
probably been its control over the chiefs who had the real power at the local
level. The royal hird has been the decisive instrument of power. At Knud 4. the
Sainttime, a significant expansion of the monarchy was attempted, as Knud worked
for the recognition of new royal rights and for private administration of
justice to be replaced by public. The king has early had income from trade and
probably also from coinage. There may have been a minting of sceattas in Ribe in
the 720's, and also in the time of Horik 1.s and Harald Blåtand, a Danish coin
was minted. In the time of Knud II the Great, coins were found in many places
in the country.
In the Viking Age, Denmark largely acquired the area it retained throughout
the Middle Ages. Of the Scandinavian countries, Denmark had the largest
population in the smallest area. Southern Norway was considered part of the
kingdom of the Danish kings, and the Danish influence in Norway was so strong
that it was only in Danish periods of weakness that it was possible for
Norwegian chiefs to gather larger parts of Norway. A Swedish national assembly
came even later, and Danish influence was strong in both the Viking Age and the
following centuries.
The Viking expeditions, which from approximately 800 made the
Scandinavians known and feared in large parts of Europe, ranging from war
between states over interference in each other's affairs to pure beaching. In
the past, these expeditions were associated with a mass exodus from Scandinavia,
but it is now believed that there have most often been armies of hundreds rather
than thousands, who were primarily looking for prey, although some ended up
settling in England and Normandy.
Internal strife in the Frankish Empire did so from approximately 830 possible for
Danish chiefs, who were often exiled members of the Danish royal family, to
collect tributes from the Franks; several also went into Frankish service partly
in battle against other Vikings, partly as participants in the Franks' mutual
battles. These Viking expeditions culminated in the 880's with a prolonged siege
of Paris. Some chiefs received leniency from Frankish rulers at estuaries to
prevent other Vikings from accessing the rivers. Only one county, Normandy,
survived.
England and Ireland were haunted from approximately 800 frequently of Vikings, who
at first simply took prey and then disappeared, but over time overwintered and
acted as political parties in mutual struggles, not least in Ireland. In
England, 865-80, a Viking army succeeded in conquering three of the four
Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, and here the Danes settled permanently. Place names
testify to a significant Danish influence in the North and East of England,
although the Danes in a large part of the area came under English kings before
920. A resumption of the Viking expeditions to England in the late 900's. ended
with the conquest of the country by Danish kings. Svend 1. Tveskæg began to
demand tribute shortly after his takeoverin England, and he got competition from
several other Danish, Norwegian and Swedish Viking chiefs. He died in 1014
shortly after conquering England, but Knud the Great conquered it again in 1016.
He became king of both England, Denmark and Norway and had his foot inside
Sweden, but did not create any lasting empire of his kingdoms.
Trade and cities. Simultaneously with the Viking expeditions, there
was extensive trade between Denmark and the rest of Europe. Already from
approximately 700 Ribe existed as a seasonal trading place, and both it and Hedeby,
which in the Viking Age must have had a permanent population of about 1000 and
in the high season many more, developed into significant urban formations. I
1000-t. several cities had been added: Viborg and Odense, which like Ringsted
were old courthouses and religious centers, where many often gathered, Århus,
Ålborg, Slagelse, Roskilde, Lund and several others. Roskilde and Lund emerged
as centers of royal power and church. In all these cities coins were minted; the
money economy became widespread during the Viking Age. Many different goods were
imported from near and far; Imported goods from Norway such as iron and
soapstone as well as from Sweden and Western Europe found their way into the
Danish villages. What Denmark exported is less known, perhaps perishable goods
such as cattle and timber. When Arab merchants found their way all the way
toHedeby, however, they soon came to buy slaves, which the Vikings also sold
themselves in markets in both Europe and the Orient.
Most of the traffic took place by sea; the vikings had different types of
ships, small and large warships as well as merchant ships, to the domestic
waters and to the oceans. It was previously imagined that the Vikings were
robbers one day and merchants the next, but a large, heavy merchant ship was a
poor tool for Viking expeditions. Road traffic with carriages and in the winter
sledges also played a major role, and many bridges were built in late Viking
times, such as the bridge over Ravning Enge.
The Introduction of Christianity. The contact with foreign
countries had strong cultural influences, not least in the religious
field. Already shortly after 700, the missionary Willibrord sought to spread
Christianity to the Danes. From the outset, the mission went hand in hand with
politics. In addition to spreading Christianity, the Franks wanted influence in
Denmark, and some of the parties in the Danish struggle for the throne met
them. Harald Klak sought Ludvig 1. den Frommessupport and caused a Frankish army
to enter Jutland in 815; in 826 he was baptized, but when he was expelled from
Denmark the following year, his missionary, Ansgar, did not accomplish
much; only 25 years later did he build churches in Hedeby and Ribe, and these
only had a short life. Denmark's transition to Christianity more than 100 years
later followed political pressure from the German side. In 948, Otto the Great
appointed bishops to the founders of Schleswig, Ribe and Aarhus under the
archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen. Under this pressure, Harald Bluetooth himself
adopted Christianity approximately 965, but was baptized by a missionary, Poppo, who
did not come from Hamburg-Bremen, and it is uncertain whether the bishops
appointed in 948 came to work in Denmark. Harald's hostile relations with
Germany speak against it. Svend 1. Tveskægand Knud 2. the Great brought clergy
to Denmark from England, and Knud has probably thought of organizing the Danish
church in connection with the English possibly with Roskilde as archdiocese
subordinate to Canterbury like York. Svend 2. Estridsen implemented around 1060
an actual church organization with eight dioceses, Schleswig, Ribe, Aarhus,
Viborg, Vendsyssel, Odense, Roskilde and Lund. He also worked for the
establishment of an independent Danish archdiocese, but it first reached Erik 1.
Ejegod, who in 1103 had Lund elevated to the archdiocese of the whole of the
Nordic countries.
The peasant society of the Viking Age. After an older view
consisted society of free and equal pawns of properties in family farms size
in the district of things and county settled the society's affairs. However, it
is now clear that the distribution of property was very unequal and only a small
part of the population had full political rights. Land rats had considerable
estates, and the land was, to a large extent, divided into large farms far above
the size of the family farm, and they were in many places organized into
villages. The leading men of the local communities are met on the rune
stones. Glavendrupstenens Alle was a good, ie. a chief with both religious and
secular functions, just like Roulv on Helnæsstenen. Such chiefs have had their
own army of warriors, teams, as was also the case with the
chiefs long after the Viking Age. The ordinary members of society appear only
sparingly in the sources. Prisoners of war often became slaves, and slaves are
known from grave finds, but we cannot estimate the extent and social
significance of the slave group. Some artisans were slaves, others were
certainly free and traveled from one town or market and farm to the next.
It was previously a common belief that in the Viking Age there was a
significant emigration at the same time as an extensive internal colonization in
Denmark. It was therefore assumed that the population was growing strongly and
that the country was overpopulated. However, the internal settlement expansion,
which was postponed to the Viking Age, came only later.
Viking age agriculture was predominantly based on cattle breeding, and the
villages moved at intervals of a few hundred years within their resource
areas. These relocations ceased in the centuries after the Viking Age, and only
then began - in connection with a transition to grain cultivation, which
involved a significant deforestation - the division of the lands of the large
farms into smaller units, which led to the formation of the many new
settlements. endings such as -torp (now -rup, -drup, -trup and -strup), -rød
etc. and still characterize the map of Denmark.
Denmark - history (Middle Ages)
The Danish great men's murder of Knud IV the Holy in 1086 put a tentative end
to a radical expansion of the Danish monarchy. The kings then had to come to
terms with the fact that their rule was exercised in close harmony with the
interests of the great men and the clergy. The position of the church was
strengthened after the establishment of an independent Danish archdiocese in
Lund in 1103, and until the middle of the 1100's. the royal power was further
weakened by strife in Svend 2. Estridsen's descendants. Ambitions for royal
dignity led to a large number of murders within the ranks of the royals. In
1131, the king's son Magnus thus killed his rival Knud Lavard in Haraldsted
Skov. The period of violence did not end until 1157, when Knud Lavard's
son Valdemar I the Great overcame his rivals and ascended the throne.
The heyday of the Valdemars 1157-1241, Danish historians describe
the era that followed. During the victory of Valdemar I the Great and his two
sons Knud VI and Valdemar II, the central power was decisively strengthened. At
the same time, the Wendish tribes that had ravaged the country were overcome and
a significant expansion took place. In 1169, the Danes conquered the Slavic cult
site Arkonaon Rügen and placed this island under Roskilde bishopric. In 1219,
they secured Estonia as part of the Crusade of the time. Holstein was also added
to the extensive kingdom of the Valdemars, and the Lübeckers paid tribute to the
Danish king as overlord. Around 1200, the Danish royal power reached a peak, and
Valdemar II rightly bore the nickname Victory. But soon the dominion
crumbled. With his son, Valdemar was taken prisoner on Lyø and only redeemed
after payment of large ransoms. The Baltic empire was lost, and the attempt to
regain it led to the defeat at Bornhøved in 1227. The heyday was over.
Economic growth corresponding to that of the general European went hand in
hand with the expansion of the monarchy. The administration increased its
revenue through customs, coinage, and fines, and the country's residents were
increasingly able to pay in coins. One source in particular, the so-called King
Valdemar's Land Register, provides insight into the many resources that the
royal power could draw on by the year 1200. The older military duty, the
leadership, was partly replaced by payment, for example. At the same time,
however, the king granted privileges of tax exemption to the clergy, and the
military service of the lords also gave them freedom from tax.
With the support of the church, the royal power gradually gained influence
over the ordinary exercise of local law, and Jyske Lov from 1241 marked the
king's desire to stand out as society's legislator. However, the clergy, led by
the archbishop of Lund, created a special ecclesiastical legal system and gained
considerable independence, supported by the acquisition of estates and the
introduction of tithing. It was the rich church that ensured contact with the
European centers of learning, Paris. With Archbishop Anders Sunesen's Latin
poem Hexaëmeron, the country gained around 1200 an excellent expression of
international theological culture, and Saxo's official history writing in
the Gesta Danorumgave at the same time a national self-understanding. For the
first time, the Danes could reflect in a writing about the heroic deeds of the
ancestors.
Denmark's population grew to more than 3/4 million. people. There was still
room for more mouths at new clearings and the construction of new rural
settlements, but also an increasing number of cities could accommodate the
growth. As part of the country's economic prosperity, a system of market towns
emerged so that every farmer could sell his produce within a day's distance. In
the cities, a society other than the aristocratic one that long ruled the
country gradually formed. Where the villages were characterized by large farms
with dependent small farmers under them, developed during the 1200's. municipal
forms of government with council government in bishoprics and market towns. At
the same time, the nature of international trade changed. Instead of exchanging
luxury goods such as skins, furs and slaves, a trade arose based on
groceries. In step with this, the old Nordic-Slavic trade disappeared,
Disputes and dissolution of the kingdom in the years
1241-1340 followed the death of King Valdemar II. "With his death, the crown of
the Danes' head really fell", says Rydårbogen aptly.
Rivalries within the royal house were expressed in two assassinations. In
1250, Duke Abel of Southern Jutland had his brother Erik IV plowed to kill
Slien. Another royal assassination took place in 1286, when Erik 5. Klipping was
murdered by his own men in Finderup Lade. The royal family's internal unrest was
linked to its bitter struggle with the archbishops Jakob Erlandsen and Jens
Grand. A consolidation of power might seem to occur under Erik 6. Menvedaround
the year 1300; but it should turn out that the monarchy instead ruled against
total ruin. Attempts at expansion in northern Germany in conjunction with
burdensome expenses for court and castle construction led to significant
borrowing. Admittedly, the Crown tried to print new extraordinary taxes, plow
taxes, and prayers, but they were only reluctantly granted by the great men. The
only real resource that was available when it came to raising money for the
crown was and was mortgaging land and land.
Administratively, the country's approximately 200 lords gradually been assembled
into larger units, len. Each county was given as its center a royal castle, led
by a bailiff or sheriff, as he was eventually called. The individual counties
and whole parts of the country were now in a capitalization of power pledged to
money-rich nobles and to princes. As early as 1325, about half of the counties
were mortgaged, and in the kingless years 1332-40, the entire kingdom was under
Holstein or Swedish rule. The monarchy was a shell without content, and in the
lament over the state of the Kingdom of Denmark, decay is mourned.
During these years, Danish society experienced a radical social change and
emerged as a state divided into estates. The lords became a well-defined
military and land-owning class with tax freedom that gradually absorbed Europe's
courtly knightly culture. The clergy also differed from others in the
acquisition of extended separate rights, and the same was true of the cities
where special city courts were introduced. In the state government, it was still
only the nobility and church leaders who prevailed. This happened first and
foremost at the national assemblies called hof (danehof). Here taxes were
granted and incoming kings demanded handcuffs guaranteeing the privileges of the
nobility and the church.
Everyone had to have a lord in this estate society, and many peasants sought
payment under the protection of a lord or a clergyman. These strengthened their
power with extensive castle building, and in almost every parish in the country
there was by the year 1330 a fortified facility. Only in 1396 could the royal
power intervene against the private castles.
The rebuilding of the kingdom and the plague became the two features
that came to characterize Valdemar 4. Atterdag's reign 1340-75. " The Black
Death " came to Denmark in 1350 and drove away large sections of the
population. The plague returned in 1360 and 1368-69 and triggered crisis and
social change; in the countryside many fields and farms lay desolate. At the
same time, Valdemar Atterdag worked with cunning and violence to gather the
mortgaged parts of the kingdom. By 1360 the goal had been reached, and a
strengthened monarchy took shape. The relationship between king and people is
expressed in the Peace of the Land of 1360, which in a national contract between
the two parties confirmed the existing division of estates. An expansive foreign
policy was attempted with the conquest of Gotland in 1361, leading to war with
the northern German Hanseatic cities, which saw their privileges
threatened. Although the Hanseatic League emerged victorious from the war, it
was a sign that their political leadership was no longer untouched.
Valdemar Atterdag's greatest foreign policy triumph turned out to be the
marriage between his daughter Margrete and King Håkon VI of Norway. After
Valdemar's death in 1375, Margrete's son, Oluf, was elected king of Denmark,
and she took over the reign in his name. After both Håkon's and Oluf's deaths,
Margrete allowed herself to be hailed as ruler of Denmark in 1387; the following
year she was first elected regent of Norway, and soon after, the Swedish nobles
also made her ruler of Sweden.
The Kalmar Union created a constitutional basis for the three-state union in
1397, when Margrete's relative Erik VII of Pomerania was crowned king of the
union. Thereafter, Norway was under the Danish king until 1814, while relations
with Sweden never achieved greater firmness, as it was characterized by constant
attempts at secession from the Danish supremacy. The first Swedish independence
struggle was the uprising 1434-36; then the Swedish council ruled through the
1400's. between submission under Danish rule and self-rule. Christian II's brutal
attempt to pacify Swedish resistance at the Stockholm Massacre in 1520 did the
opposite. Under Gustav 1. Vasasleadership erupted in a renewed Swedish uprising
that led to the definitive collapse of the union. Sweden entered a new era as a
northern European kingdom in fierce competition with Denmark-Norway.
Southern Jutland or Schleswig, as the region was gradually called,
had been lost to the Holsteins during the 1300's chaotic years, and persistent
attempts to regain the duchy under Valdemar Atterdag, Queen Margrete and Erik of
Pomerania ended in defeat at the Peace of Vordingborg in 1435. surprisingly,
however, the situation reversed in 1459, when the childless prince Adolf VIII of
Schleswig-Holstein died. In 1460, the Schleswig-Holstein knighthood and the
Danish king Christian 1 ended.an agreement that made him Duke of Schleswig and
Count of Holstein. In return, he had to promise forever not to divide the
countries, which was to have great significance in the 1800's national
struggle. An attempt to further expand the kingdom's territory by conquering the
peasant free state of Ditmarsken in 1500 failed miserably.
Late medieval society came to power after the 1300's crisis and
experienced new economic growth. The desolate farms were rebuilt during the
1400's, and approximately 80,000 peasants sat as freer users of larger farms. The
cities began to liberate themselves from the Hanseatic dominance with royal
support. At the same time, the Danish king's income shifted from the
Hanseatic-dominated Skåne marketsto a duty on the many Dutch and English ships
that sailed through the Sound. The royal power's income base was otherwise
improved with Valdemar Atterdag's and Margrete's acquisitions of crown estates,
which were placed under the counties. The central administration itself was also
gradually expanded, and Copenhagen increasingly gained status as the kingdom's
capital, after Erik of Pomerania had taken over the city from the Bishop of
Roskilde. The central position of the city was emphasized by the construction of
a university in 1479.
While the lower strata of the nobility suffered from problems with declining
incomes from the peasant estate, the richest nobility gained ground and built
extensive estate complexes. This part of the nobility and the clerical leaders
ruled at their seat in the royal council the country along with the king. The
other estates, citizens and peasants, had little to say. They were heard only at
the rarely convened estate meetings, which were frequently intended to sanction
royal taxes. A series of popular uprisings, culminating in the Civil War Count's
Feud 1534-36, merely strengthened the unity of the ruling social classes.
Denmark - history (Reformation and autocracy)
Today's Denmark was only a small part of the vast empire that Christian
III became king in 1536 after the victory in the Count's Feud. At that time,
Denmark also included Scania, Halland, Blekinge, Gotland and Øsel. In addition,
Norway, with its extensive North Atlantic possessions, the Faroe Islands,
Iceland and Greenland, had been in a personnel union with Denmark since the
founding of the Kalmar Union in 1397. The Norwegian clause (art. 3) in Christian
III's handshake in 1536 even made Norway a "leader" of Denmark in line with, for
example, Jutland. Finally, the Duchy of Schleswig was in county relationship
with the Danish crown, and the Oldenburg monarch was also Duke of Holstein.
The period 1536-1720 does not form a whole. Economically and socially, there
is a dividing line approximately in the middle of the period. 1500-t. was
favored by the boom, but around the year 1600 a serious sales crisis occurred,
which within a few decades developed into a prolonged recession, which only
approximately 1740 sounded. In domestic politics, the year forms 1660
divisions. Christian III's handshake had given the aristocratic royal council a
decisive influence on the kingdom's leadership. The dominance of nobility lasted
until 1660-61, when it was supplanted by royal autocracy following the European
model. This system change led to profound changes in the structure of
society. The spiritual life of the period was marked by the church break in
1536. The church then became a Lutheran princely church. The church and school
life of the time aimed to educate the Danes in the new faith and create obedient
subjects.
Danish society was an estate society composed of a highly
privileged nobility, of the clergy, the bourgeoisie and a large unprivileged
peasantry. About the total size of the population in the 1500's. you are not
notified at all. It is known, however, that the population as a whole was
steadily increasing. Around 1650, the country's total population was
approximately 800,000, when Skånelandene is included. With the loss of them, the
number dropped to approximately 600,000; but in 1720 it was again up to
approximately 700,000.
The farmers, who ran the country's almost 60,000 farms, accounted for
approximately 75% of the total population, the clergy approximately 5% - the same proportion
as the subsistence-free. The urban population comprised approximately 100,000 people
(approximately 15%), of which approximately 30,000 lived in Copenhagen, while the nobility
consisted of fewer than 2,000 individuals; however, they owned almost half of
the country's land, spread over approximately 700 main farms and a large number of
attachment farms.
Denmark was a distinctly agricultural country, whose only exports, grain and
cattle, were mainly exported to the densely populated Netherlands. Significant
industrial production did not exist, although Christian IV in a mercantilist
spirit tried to start a little industry in the metropolitan area and mining in
Norway. His initiatives, however, all ran into the sand, and not until the late
1600's. under the guise of the war, there was growth in international
trade. Actually non-agrarian production and international shipping on a larger
scale still belonged to the future.
The aristocracyis the descriptive term for the form of government
that was practiced 1536-1660. The government was constitutional in the sense
that the king was formally elected by the estates, in practice by the noble
royal council, which, however, always elected the king's eldest son. In return,
the king signed a treaty, which divided power between the king and the royal
council. The latter was a solemn assembly of a dozen members, who also held the
most important state offices. The country's policy was created in interaction
between the king and the royal council, while the rest of the population was
formally without influence. This political disenfranchisement was only
acceptable because the state finances were based on domain financing, which
meant that the state power did not normally burden the subjects with direct
taxes. In principle, state power was self-financing by virtue of crown property,
This system worked satisfactorily until the early 1600-t. Under normal
circumstances, the tasks of the state were not very costly. They essentially
limited themselves to maintaining law and order as well as securing the estate
privileges, in addition to providing the necessary funds for the conduct of
foreign policy, including the army and navy. However, they were activated only
in crisis and war situations. With the many wars of the 1600's, however, the
system came under pressure, as the wars caused the need for financing to grow
beyond what the traditional sources of income could bear. Increasingly, the
revenue had to be supplemented by direct taxation, and this brought the Council
of State into an almost insoluble dilemma. According to the privileges, the
aristocratic state was tax-free, and the tax burden thus fell unilaterally on
precisely the population groups that could afford the worst. After the failed
German War (Imperial War) 1625-29, the frustration among those affected was
obvious, and the anger was directed in particular at the Council of State, which
was accused of taking care of state interests rather than the kingdom. The
growing need for funding thus posed a credibility problem to the Council of
State, which ultimately led to its decline at the change of system in 1660-61.
The autocracy grew out of this protracted systemic crisis, but was
also a direct result of the acute state of crisis after the last Karl Gustav
war. Despite a weak starting position in the royal election in 1648, the
politically capable Frederik III succeeded already in the 1650's in eliminating
two of his strongest opponents in the Reichsrat, the Reichshofmester Corfitz
Ulfeldt and Norway's Governor Hannibal Sehested, who were both his
brothers-in-law. The king's heroic behavior during the siege of Copenhagen in
the winter of 1659 had also made him popular in broad circles, while the
nobility and the royal council were conversely put to hatred. This was the
reason why the estates - the nobility only compulsorily - in October 1660
offered to make the monarchy hereditary, which freed the king from dependence on
the royal council. He immediately used his new position of power to also change
the form of government to autocracy, which was tentatively established by the
Enevoldsareveregerings Act 10.1.1661 and 1665 carefully described in the Royal
Law, the Danish autocracy's constitution.
With the system change 1660-61, a hectic reform period began, which
culminated in Christian V's reign 1670-99 and first ebbed out under the
successor Frederik 4. The aim was to consolidate the new government and
transform Danish society into an orderly, hierarchically structured organism
with the autocratic monarchy as the undisputed center.
The aristocracy's modest chancery government was recast into a divisional
dormitory administration. The older division of estates was replaced by a new
division of ranks with the royal officials placed high on the ladder of
rank. The old birth saddle was deprived of most of its privileges and
supplemented with new rank saddle groups. Over the course of a lifetime, Denmark
transformed from an almost self-governing medieval estate society into a modern
official state. At the same time, there was a standardization of the
legislation, as older and newer laws were for the first time collected in a
systematically created law book, Christian 5.s Danske Lov1683, which became
valid for the whole kingdom and thus replaced the old landscape laws. With Ole
Rømer's help, uniform measuring and weighting systems were introduced; but the
greatest administrative achievement was a comprehensive survey and matriculation
of all agricultural land, collected in the Great Land Registry 1688. The
main purpose of this was to provide a uniform tax base. The matriculation was a
concrete expression of the fact that the new state had definitely put the domain
financing behind it and now relied heavily on direct taxation of the land's
owners and users. Although the landowners continued to play an important role in
tax administration and military service, and although the first monarchs had
difficulty positioning themselves politically in relation to the new great
bureaucracy, the reforms of the late 1600's created a solid foundation for 1700's
stable bureaucratic absolutism.
The spiritual life was throughout the period colored by
the Reformation. The Danish Church was now subordinate to the state power,
which purposefully used the widely branched organization with its school system
as an effective means of instilling in the people Luther's dogma about the
holiness of all authorities. As early as the end of the 16th century, the
Reformation uprising had solidified into Lutheran orthodoxy. It was not until
around 1700 that a real reaction could be traced in the form of the pietistic
movements that came here from Germany with demands for a more sincere personal
pious life. The National Church meant a gradual breakthrough for the mother
tongue, although Latin continued to play a role as a language of instruction.
Among the period's most significant contributions in Danish can be
highlighted Chancellor Arild Huitfeldt 's Kingdom of Denmark from the
1590's, in which he describes in core Danish the history of the Danes from Saxo
to his own time. In the middle of the 1600's. sent the Norwegian-born Arent
Berntsen his Danmarckis oc Norgis Fructbar Herlighet, the first
comprehensive topographical description of the two kingdoms; it was shaped in
lyrical terms, but also contained a wealth of concrete information about the
country and its residents. A peak was reached in the late 1600-t. with Odense
Bishop Thomas King's hymn poetry. In practice, he demonstrated the great
expressive possibilities of the Danish language when it came into knowledgeable
hands. The three examples mentioned illustrate a general phenomenon of the time:
A special Danish sense of identity was slowly gaining a foothold in the leading
layers.
With some restrictions, foreign policy was the king's area of
responsibility. During Christian III's reign, relations with Sweden were
peaceful. After the religious upheavals, the main task was to secure Denmark's
position in the Protestant camp, which is why the interest was especially
directed towards German territory. Denmark was the leading power in the Nordic
countries, and the Baltic Sea was still almost a closed, Danish-dominated sea,
guarded by the large navy. The Danish sovereignty was most clearly marked when
foreign merchant ships dutifully anchored at Elsinore to pay the Øresund duty to
the Danish king.
Around 1560, a change of regent took place in both Denmark and Sweden, and
this meant the end of peaceful coexistence. The Swedish leadership under Erik
XIV was determined to break the Danish dominance, and Frederik II dreamed of
restoring the Kalmar Union under Danish leadership. Such ambitions lay
behind the Nordic Seven Years' War (1563-70), which, however, ended in mutual
exhaustion without moving borders. The next warlike clash was the Kalmar
War (1611-13), which was initiated on Danish initiative. Again, the goal was to
force Sweden back into dependence on Denmark, and again it failed. This war
became Denmark's last attempt to restore the old union. From then on, the
balance of power in the Nordic countries shifted in favor of a dynamic Sweden
under the leadership of Gustav II Adolf.
The decisive turning point in Danish foreign policy came with Christian IV's
interference 1625-29 in the Thirty Years' War. His catastrophic defeat in 1626
at Lutter am Barenberg broke Denmark militarily. The humiliating peace treaty of
1629 and Gustav II Adolf's military triumphs in Germany from 1630 clearly marked
that Sweden was now the leading power in the Baltic Sea area, while Denmark,
regardless of the territory being intact, was defeated and isolated from foreign
policy. For the next 30 years, it was Denmark's own survival as an independent
state that was at stake. In the three subsequent Swedish wars,
the Torstensson feud 1643-45 and the two Karl Gustav wars1657-60, it was Sweden
that forcibly sought to incorporate Denmark into its Baltic empire, and after
Charles X. Gustav's legendary voyage across the ice-covered belts in February
1658, it was also close to success. The catastrophe was only prevented because
foreign powers, led by the Netherlands, forced the Swedes to peace. But the
price was the relinquishment to Sweden of all the East Sundish provinces with
the exception of Bornholm. As a result, the country was reduced by about a
third, and the main artery of the Baltic Sea trade, the Sound, also became
international waters, which was in line with the interests of the Western
navies.
The last two Swedish wars, the Scanian War 1675-79 and the Great Nordic
War1709-20, both were initiated on Danish initiative to recapture Scania from
the now ailing Swedish great power and at the same time break the annoying
alliance between Sweden and Gottorp. Although both wars ended almost in Danish
favor, they did not succeed in getting the Scanian countries back because the
European powers opposed it. Recognizing this, and because Sweden was now again a
power at the level of Denmark, the government definitely took the issue off the
foreign policy agenda. The border through the Sound was fixed. When the Gottorp
question at the same time found a satisfactory solution, the long-standing
Danish-Swedish rivalry was soon replaced by a new community of interest in the
shadow of the nascent Russian superpower. The peace of 1720 therefore heralded a
long period of peaceful coexistence between the two Nordic kingdoms.
Denmark - history (1720-1814)
Denmark - history (1720-1814), The long peace and the short war (1720-1814)
With the peace in 1720, the last Swedish war ended, and the years leading up
to the war with England 1807-14 became the longest period of peace that Denmark
has known so far. The first years of peace were marked by a heavy repayment of
the war's debt and by a serious agricultural crisis, which we know through one
of its hard-pressed tenant farmers, Holbergs Jeppe on the Mountain. However, the
population of the kingdom grew slowly from approximately 710,000 in 1720 to 978,000 in
1807 and reached approximately 1 mio. in 1814, when the country regained peace. From
around 1750, an ordinary European boom took hold in Denmark in the form of an
increasing demand for agricultural goods and tonnage. The boom created the basis
for the flourishing tradeand shipping under Denmark's neutrality in the wars
between the great naval powers. However, in 1801 this exploitation of neutrality
brought Denmark into open conflict with England. The boom also helped to shape
mentalities and attitudes. It was in those years that a Danish national identity
developed in the bourgeois public, just as the tension between Danish and German
became definitive. The Enlightenment's thoughts on freedom and equality made
thoughtful Danes question the autocracy of God's grace, even before the message
of the Revolution in France in 1789 reached Denmark.
However, the foreign policy that ensured the state and peace was far
from problem-free. Although the great power Sweden in 1720 had been reduced to a
power on a par with Denmark, Denmark still wrote off further plans for a
recapture of the provinces east of the Sound by military means. With
the Inheritance Tributein 1721, Frederik IV incorporated the Gottorp parts of
Schleswig into the royal parts, but it came to require a long and cohesive
political and diplomatic effort before the Gottorp question found a final, for
Denmark satisfactory solution. This did not happen until 1773 with the Treaty of
Stomach Change, in which the Duke of Gottorp relinquished his Schleswig
possessions and exchanged his parts of Holstein for the Danish royal family's
ancestral land Oldenborg. At that time, however, Gustav III's coup d'etat in
1772 had created far more serious problems for the Danish-Norwegian Helstat. The
strengthened Swedish monarchy embarked on a consistent policy of seizing
Norway. Denmark responded by entering into the Eternal Alliance with Russia in
1773, in which the two powers mutually guaranteed each other's territory. In the
alliance with the great power Russia, Denmark was the client and had to pursue a
foreign policy that did not conflict with significant Russian interests. Until
the final phase of the Napoleonic Wars in 1812, however, the alliance gave
Denmark the desired security; and until 1807 the Danish government could
concentrate its resources on a policy of neutrality in favor of trade and
shipping under the Danish flag.
The dictatorshipwas constitutionally soundly grounded in the
Enevoldsarveregerings Act of 1661 and the Royal Act of 1665, and its principles
were incorporated into Danish law in 1683. As a political system, however, the
Danish autocracy changed in step with society's changes. Frederik IV could still
rule his kingdom as a fictitious landowner; but under Christian 6. the actual
political leadership began to go from the majesty over to the ministers of the
council. Frederik V actually handed over political power to his Supreme Court
Marshal, AG Moltke, who ruled in good understanding with the ministers. The
crisis of the Danish autocracy occurred when it became clear to the inner circle
that the young Christian VII was insane. His physician, who was at the same time
the queen's lover, JF Struensee, assumed all power in 1770 and ruled through
cabinet orders, which was signed by the King or issued with his authority. The
circle that overthrew Struensee in 1772 had the king ordain a new political
institution, the Secret State Council, where the king, after listening to his
ministers, had to make his decisions. The Constitutional Constitution remained
in power until the fall of autocracy in 1848, but behind the scenes, actual
power shifted between the court, the Cabinet, and the Council of State. The
young Crown Prince Frederik took power in a coup in 1784 precisely to weaken the
court and cabinet government and strengthen the cabinet. But he himself went
from the end of the 1790's to a cabinet rule, which lasted until 1814, when the
cabinet rule was re-established and this time permanently. where the king, after
listening to his ministers, had to make his decisions. The Constitutional
Constitution remained in power until the fall of autocracy in 1848, but behind
the scenes, actual power shifted between the court, the Cabinet, and the Council
of State. The young Crown Prince Frederik took power in a coup in 1784 precisely
to weaken the court and cabinet government and strengthen the cabinet. But he
himself went from the end of the 1790's to a cabinet rule, which lasted until
1814, when the cabinet rule was re-established and this time permanently. where
the king, after listening to his ministers, had to make his decisions. The
Constitutional Constitution remained in power until the fall of autocracy in
1848, but behind the scenes, actual power shifted between the court, the
Cabinet, and the Council of State. The young Crown Prince Frederik took power in
a coup in 1784 precisely to weaken the court and cabinet government and
strengthen the cabinet. But he himself went from the end of the 1790's to a
cabinet rule, which lasted until 1814, when the cabinet rule was re-established
and this time permanently.
While the professional office in the central administration slowly gained
real political influence, it was a characteristic feature of the Danish
autocracy that the large rural population did not meet the king's officials at
local level, so to speak. In order to function at all, the autocracy had
delegated the tax collection and the discharge of soldiers and to a large extent
also the law enforcement to the Danish landowners. First in connection with the
agrarian reforms of the late 1700's. the autocracy began to withdraw this
delegated authority and establish a state local government with popular
participation.
Economicthe long peace of the first 50 years was marked by quiet
growth and institutional modernization, which was to form the basis of the
subsequent boom and agrarian reforms. Agricultural production grew in line with
the slow increase in population. But during the agricultural crisis of the
1730's, autocracy deliberately strengthened the landowners at the expense of the
subsistence farmers. Among other things. introduced in 1733 the staff band,
which cut off the male peasant population from relocating the food without the
permission of the landowners; in addition to ensuring sufficient manpower for
the land militia, which was the official rationale for the introduction, the
staff band ensured the landowners cheap labor. The dictatorship also closed its
eyes to the increase in hovering that began already during the crisis and
continued in step with the boom. At the same time, a number of institutions were
established: the Commercial College 1735, the Kurant Bank 1736 and the
Grosserersocietetet 1742, which were to serve as instruments for the economic
management of urban society, which the autocracy launched in good accordance
with the mercantilist thinking of the time. It was governance through support
schemes, privileges and monopolies, which was only gradually phased out in the
late 1700's, when companies had become viable over time and a liberal policy
proved more appropriate.
Agricultureunderwent in the last 35 years of the long peace a
revolutionary restructuring through the great agrarian reforms. In almost all
the more than 5000 villages, the medieval land community was abolished, and each
farm had its fields gathered in one plot. Nearly 15,000 of the total of almost
60,000 farms were demolished and rebuilt on the new lots, and at the same time
bought approximately half of the subsistence farmers their farms and thus became
self-employed. The restructuring took place mainly on the initiative of the
landowners and subsistence farmers, who regarded the conversion as a
prerequisite for increased agricultural production. In this process, autocracy
played a withdrawn role partly out of respect for the landowners' property and
disposition rights, and partly because the state was only to a limited extent
able to make loan capital available for the freehold purchases. In fact, the
most significant effort of the autocracy became the legal protection of the
farmers who remained tenants. In the eyes of contemporaries, the most
significant reform was the abolition in 1788 of the staff band, which the
freedom-enthusiastic and landowner-hating Copenhagen bourgeoisie's official and
merchant bourgeoisie marked with the raising of the Freedom Support. In the long
run, the restructuring was significant by dissolving the old feudal bonds
between the landowners and users and by creating the independent and
self-sufficient class of farmers and thus the new, sharp distinctions between
the middle class of the rural community and its underclass of homesteaders and
farm workers. as the freedom-enthusiastic and landowner-hostile Copenhagen
citizenship and trade marked with the raising of the Freedom Support. In the
long run, the restructuring was significant by dissolving the old feudal bonds
between the landowners and users and by creating the independent and
self-sufficient class of farmers and thus the new, sharp distinctions between
the middle class of the rural community and its underclass of homesteaders and
farm workers. as the freedom-loving and landowner-hostile Copenhagen citizenship
marked with the raising of the Freedom Support. In the long run, the
restructuring was significant by dissolving the old feudal bonds between the
landowners and users and by creating the independent and self-sufficient class
of farmers and thus the new, sharp distinctions between the middle class of the
rural community and its underclass of homesteaders and farm workers.
The flourishing trade had made the Copenhagen bourgeoisie in
particular prosperous and thus gave it a political self-awareness. The basis of
the wealth was the combination of an international boom for trade and shipping
and the Danish policy of neutrality that made Dannebrog in demand on the world's
oceans, as well as the huge quantities of overseas goods that were released to
the European market through Copenhagen, and freight earnings under the neutral
Danish flag. A special but smaller branch of the flourishing trade was the
transport of slaves from Africa to the Caribbean. The Danish king's ban in 1792
on Danish participation in this human trafficking attracted international
attention. In reality, however, there was a deliberate and economically rational
settlement of a form of trade before the great powers would force Denmark to do
so.
Freedom of expressionin 1700's Denmark was limited by the official
censorship and by the self-censorship that most writers imposed on themselves so
as not to bring themselves into disrepute with those in power and
patrons. Censorship, on the other hand, contradicted the Enlightenment's demands
for a free exchange of opinions, and under Frederik V it was therefore
administered easily. However, it attracted European attention when Struensee in
1770 had Christian VII abolish censorship with a stroke of the pen. In the
following years, the law emphasized on several occasions that the authors were
accountable under the law for what they wrote, and if they wrote anonymously,
the printer would be held accountable. Nevertheless, Denmark experienced in the
last 15 years of the 1700's. an extensive freedom of speech, and controversial
topics such as religion, the church, autocracy, and the structure of society
became the subject of a fairly free debate. The debate was carried in
newspapers, magazines and in the bourgeois clubs; it was in those years that
concepts likethe king was replaced by the state and subordinated by
the citizen. The phenomenon has been described as opinion-driven
autocracy. In 1799, however, those in power lost patience and significantly
curtailed freedom of speech, and during the war of 1807-14, even actual
censorship was reintroduced.
A national identitydeveloped as early as the mid-1700's, which is
early in relation to the rest of Europe. Before, it had been the men of power
who identified with the homeland and its past, while the horizons of ordinary
people were limited to the city, the parish and the region. As early as the
1740's, however, young, well-educated bourgeois sons identified themselves
mentally and emotionally with their homeland, with its language and its
history. This happened in part as a reaction against the foreign upper class at
court and in the political leadership and against the domestic upper class,
which appropriated the language and culture of the foreigners and openly
regarded Denmark as a culturally underdeveloped country. The showdown with
Struensee also included a critique of his German language and foreign birth. The
circle that overthrew him in 1772, deliberately sought to stabilize their own
power by pursuing a Danish and a bourgeois policy. This national policy
culminated in 1776 with the enactment of the Law of Citizenship, which gave the
natives exclusive rights to the offices of the state. At the same time, the
Citizenship Act was also an attempt to stem the burgeoning contradictions
between the state's Danish, Norwegian and German population groups through a
constructed whole-state patriotism. In particular, the Danish-German hostility
did not allow itself to be tamed. In the spring of 1789, these contradictions
exploded in the so-called German feud, which definitely made the German enemy
image a sad but true component of Danish identity. At the same time, the
Citizenship Act was also an attempt to stem the burgeoning contradictions
between the state's Danish, Norwegian and German population groups through a
constructed whole-state patriotism. In particular, the Danish-German hostility
did not allow itself to be tamed. In the spring of 1789, these contradictions
exploded in the so-called German feud, which definitely made the German enemy
image a sad but true component of Danish identity. At the same time, the
Citizenship Act was also an attempt to stem the burgeoning contradictions
between the state's Danish, Norwegian and German population groups through a
constructed whole-state patriotism. In particular, the Danish-German hostility
did not allow itself to be tamed. In the spring of 1789, these contradictions
exploded in the so-called German feud, which definitely made the German enemy
image a sad but true component of Danish identity.
The war came in 1807, when England invaded Denmark, bombed Copenhagen and
sailed away with the entire Danish fleet. As early as 1798, Denmark had
challenged England by letting its warships provide convoy protection for the
many, not always equally neutral activities that took place under the Danish
flag. The convoy conflict was triggered in July 1800 with the Freya affair,
during which England forced Denmark to stop the convoys. When Denmark then
sought support from Russia and joined the Armed Forces of Neutrality in December
1800, England responded again with war. On April 2, 1801, Admiral Nelson
defeated the Danish line of defense in Kongedybet in the Battle of the Nest.
Denmark - history (1814-1900)
Estates and Constitutions (1814-1849)
After the Peace of Kiel, the Danish monarchy consisted of four parts: the
Kingdom of Denmark (including the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland) and the
Duchies of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg. Denmark was reduced to a small
state that had to relax in foreign policy after the great powers. The colonies
in India and Africa were sold in 1845 and 1850. The Faroe Islands and Greenland
were ruled from Copenhagen, while in 1843 Iceland was restored to an advisory
Althing, which in 1874 became legislative for Icelandic affairs.
The post-Napoleonic Wars were marked by stagnation; Frederik VI's leading
minister was JS Møsting, and P.Chr. From 1827 onwards, Stemann also gained great
influence. The war had hit economic life hard; trade and shipping experienced a
sharp decline, and after the State Bankruptcy in 1813 followed sharp inflation,
which, however, was counteracted when Danmarks Nationalbank in Copenhagen from
1818 was given the exclusive right to issue banknotes. Agriculture was hit by
British import duties on grain and from 1818 by sharp price falls. In the late
1820's, however, conditions stabilized, and in the 1830's, agriculture again
experienced a boom that gradually had a contagious effect on the urban
industries.
Holsten had in 1815 been given a stand constitution in view, and under the
impression of the July Revolution in France in 1830, demands were made in the
duchies for the introduction of a Schleswig-Holstein estate assembly. In order
to fulfill the obligation to Holstein and at the same time maintain the unity of
the kingdom, Frederik VI's government decided with the Estates Ordinance of
18.5.1831 to introduce advisory estates assemblies for resp. Holstein,
Schleswig, Jutland and the Islands. The condition for suffrage and eligibility
was possession of real estate, which gave three electoral groups: landowners,
landowners in the cities and smaller property owners in the countryside,
ie. larger farmers. Despite censorship, a public political debate gradually took
shape, through the newspapers. The estate assemblies first met in 1835-36,
and in collaboration with the government, among other things, municipal
self-government for Copenhagen (1837), for the market towns (1840) and for the
rural municipalities (1841) as well as a revised customs law (1838). In general,
the estates wanted control over and frugality in public finances; the peasants
demanded the continuation of the agrarian reforms, while the liberals, with the
support of academics and urban traders in particular, demanded faster economic
liberalization, expanded freedom of the press, and increased influence for the
estate assemblies.
The 1840's became a decisive turning point in Danish society. There was a
broad mobilization of both urban and rural populations to participate in the
affairs of society. In the duchies, the national conflict intensified, and the
liberal opposition became in the 1840's with Orla Lehmann as the main political
figure for the National Liberals. At the same time, the economic
recovery took off in earnest. Agriculture was still the country's main
occupation, but especially in Copenhagen a certain industrialization
began. Great Britain became the main market for Danish agriculture, and the
terms of trade for the country as a whole and agriculture in particular
developed positively over many years.
At the same time, a peasant movement appeared on Zealand and Lolland-Falster,
which demanded intervention in the relationship between landowners and
tenants. The demands characterized the estate assembly in Roskilde in 1844, and
in November 1845 the government felt compelled to use the Peasants' Circular to
hamper the political activity of the peasant movement. The circular contributed
to a rapprochement between the hitherto royalist peasants and the National
Liberals. In 1846, the Peasant Friends ' Society was established as a body for
the peasant movement.
Christian VIII was met with great expectations at his accession to the throne
in 1839; as king of Norway, he had in 1814 passed the Eidsvoll Constitution,
which introduced a constitutional monarchy in Norway. As Danish king, however,
he rejected restrictions on autocracy. However, he implemented administrative
reforms and in 1842 appointed the moderately liberal AS Ørsted prime
minister. However, political developments gradually created a broad recognition
that autocracy could not survive a change of throne. Before his death, Christian
VIII had thus prepared a constitutional amendment, and after the election on
5.10.1848, the Constituent Assembly was convened. Negotiations for a free
constitution was lengthy, but June 5, 1849 could Frederik 7. sign Denmark's
first constitution, June Constitution. For its time, it was far from democratic
in securing civil liberties and a two-chamber system (Folketing and Landsting)
with ordinary suffrage for men, but with eligibility restrictions for the
Landsting. Already now the main political dividing lines appeared between the
Peasants' Friends on the one hand and the National Liberals and more moderate
forces on the other.
Under the June Constitution (1849-64)
From the first parliamentary sessions, the peasants' representatives
increasingly appeared as one party, while the situation with the other elected
representatives was different; at the center stood a large group of liberals who
did not have an actual party structure but were gathered around a number of
personalities now with DG Monrad as the central figure. The group had a strong
academic touch, but was quite heterogeneous. To the right of this stood a small
group of older officials and landowners who were opposed to the Constitution.
From around the middle of the 1800's. economic life was liberalized. The Trade
Act of 1857 erased the old distinction between country and city, the Øresund
Customs was repealed the same year, and the Customs Act of 1863 was a
moderate-liberal reform. The expansion of railways and telegraphs gained
momentum in the 1850's, gasworks were established in the larger cities, and in
1857 CF Tietgen founded Privatbanken as the first modern Danish commercial bank.
The political motto of the peasant friends was the abolition of the
attachment system, but it only led to legal adjustments in the relationship
between tenants and landowners in 1861. In return, farmers and larger farmers
experienced a significant increase in living standards.
The Schleswig question
A central issue from the turn of the century until 1864 was the position of
the duchies in the monarchy. Of the total population in Denmark and the duchies
after 1815 was approximately 1/3 German, and Holstein was economically more developed
than the kingdom itself. Holstein and Lauenburg both participated in the German
Confederation and were both linguistically and culturally German, while
Schleswig was nationally divided; most landowners, the bourgeoisie in the cities
and the peasants in most of southern Schleswig were German-minded, while the
northern Schleswig peasants were predominantly Danish-minded. Demands from the
Duchy of Liberals in 1830 for a free constitution for a united
Schleswig-Holstein were rejected by Frederik VI's autocratic government, and the
most ardent Schleswig-Holstein spokesman, Uwe Jens Lornsen, was imprisoned. With
the Estates Constitution of 1831, an attempt was made to preserve the unity of
the kingdom; the question of an estate constitution for Holstein was resolved,
and the separation between the two duchies maintained. The contradictions
between Danish and German persisted, however, and the notion of a German
Schleswig-Holstein found support in Duke Christian August of Augustenborg's
inheritance claim on the two duchies at the expected extinction of the ruling
Oldenburg men's line. In November 1842, there was an open conflict over the
national question, when P. Hiort Lorenzen from Haderslev asserted his right to
speak Danish in the estate assembly in Schleswig. A Danish and a
Schleswig-Holstein movement now quickly took shape. and the notion of a German
Schleswig-Holstein found support in Duke Christian August of Augustenborg's
inheritance claim on the two duchies at the expected extinction of the ruling
Oldenburg men's line. In November 1842, there was an open conflict over the
national question, when P. Hiort Lorenzen from Haderslev asserted his right to
speak Danish in the estate assembly in Schleswig. A Danish and a
Schleswig-Holstein movement now quickly took shape. and the notion of a German
Schleswig-Holstein found support in Duke Christian August of Augustenborg's
inheritance claim on the two duchies at the expected extinction of the ruling
Oldenburg men's line. In November 1842, there was an open conflict over the
national question, when P. Hiort Lorenzen from Haderslev asserted his right to
speak Danish in the estate assembly in Schleswig. A Danish and a
Schleswig-Holstein movement now quickly took shape.
In Denmark, the liberal opposition took on the Danish cause in Schleswig,
which Orla Lehmann in 1842 demanded more closely linked to the kingdom by
proclaiming "Denmark to the Eider". Faced with increasingly strong efforts for
German unity, Danish nationalism also found support in a new experience of
Nordic cohesion, Scandinavianism. The government sought to mediate
between Danish and German, but had to reject the Duke of Augustenborg's
inheritance claim. In the Open Letter from 1846, Christian VIII maintained the
Oldenburg line's right of inheritance and the whole state's continued
maintenance, but rejected the Danish National Liberals' demands for a closer
connection to Schleswig, the so-called Eider policy.
After the death of Christian VIII in January 1848, the government envisioned
a constitutional amendment that maintained the separation between the kingdom
and the duchies. The February Revolution in Paris the same year sent a
revolutionary wave across Europe, and the national opposition in both camps was
rapidly radicalized. At a meeting in Rendsburg, the participants demanded a free
Schleswig-Holstein constitution and Schleswig's admission to the German
Confederation. Intelligence of the meeting led to demands from the National
Liberals for a change of government, and on March 22 a new government took
office under the leadership of AW Moltkeand with national liberal
participation; the Schleswig-Holstein demands were rejected, and Schleswig's
connection to Denmark was maintained. The next day a German Provisional
Government of Schleswig-Holstein was formed in Kiel; on March 24, the fortress
of Rendsburg was captured, and with it the civil war broke out.
The Three Years' War 1848-51. Two weeks after a victory at Bov on
April 9, the Danish army was defeated at Schleswig by a united
Schleswig-Holstein-Prussian army. The troops were then withdrawn to Als and
Fyn. After Russian pressure in particular, however, Prussia withdrew and in July
entered into a ceasefire agreement with Denmark, which had then strengthened its
position. The ceasefire did not include Schleswig-Holstein, which in September
introduced a democratic constitution. With the exception of Dybbøl and Als, the
Schleswig-Holstein government had control of the whole of Schleswig.
In April, 1849, war broke out again; the Danish navy suffered losses in an
attack on Eckernförde, and after battles at Kolding the Danish troops had to
retreat north. On July 6, however, Denmark added a decisive defeat at Fredericia
to its opponents. Prussia entered into a new ceasefire and in July 1850
concluded a final peace on its own behalf and on behalf of the German
Confederation. Schleswig-Holstein, on the other hand, continued the battle, and
the Battle of Isted 24-25. July s.å. became an expensive Danish victory. It was
not until New Year 1851 that the rebels finally laid down their arms. Despite
the defeat of Schleswig-Holstein, the Three Years' War was not a Danish
victory. The whole state lived on with a built-in bitter national conflict, and
the German-minded population increasingly perceived Denmark as an occupying
power. The language scripts, which in 1851 introduced Danish church and
school language in Middle Schleswig, was perceived by the German-minded as an
assault. The peace arrangement was dictated by the great powers, first and
foremost Russia, and in 1851-52 Denmark had to agree not to link Schleswig
closer to itself than Holstein; in return, Prince Christian (9th) of Glücksborg
was recognized as heir to the entire monarchy. A common constitution for all
parts of the kingdom never came to fruition and was formally repealed in 1858
for Holsten and Lauenburg.
War 1864. Denmark, which after agreements with the great powers
1851-52 had to come to terms with German influence in matters concerning the
duchies, sought under CC Hall's leadership from 1857 to get Schleswig
re-attached to the kingdom. In 1863, the Danish government took the decisive
step: Holstein was separated, and a joint constitution for Denmark and
Schleswig, the November Constitution, was adopted on 13 November. Two
days later, Frederik VII died, but Christian IX signed the new constitution. It
was a clear challenge to the German powers, and on February 1, 1864, Prussia and
Austria declared war on Denmark. The Danish army evacuated Dannevirke and took a
position on Dybbøl, which was captured by the Prussians on 18 April. A
ceasefire, during which the German troops occupied Jutland, was broken by
Denmark. In late July, German troops captured Als. The war was irrevocably lost,
and at the peace in Vienna on October 30, Denmark had to cede Schleswig,
Holstein and Lauenburg.
The Danish-German conflict had dominated Danish politics for a lifetime. The
interests of the great powers had limited Denmark's opportunities for action,
and after 1864 Danish foreign policy was completely determined by the
relationship with the militarily superior Germany, a relationship which was
further complicated by the Danish population in Schleswig. After 1864, changing
Danish governments maintained neutrality as a guiding principle in relations
with the outside world; the defeat was an emphasis on Danish political
powerlessness externally, but also became a spur to internal recovery.
The modern breakthrough (1864-1901)
Agriculture implemented major changes in the latter half of the
1800's; new land was cultivated and production was reorganized. The conversion
from grain to animal products was already underway, but took off in earnest when
agriculture around 1875 was hit by falling grain prices. From being an exporter,
Denmark now became an importer of grain, and exports to the UK were reorganized
into processed goods such as butter and from approximately 1890 pork and
eggs. Agricultural products accounted for 85-90% of exports, and production rose
sharply. The estates had led the way until then, but in the 1880's the farmers
organized themselves into cooperative dairies and cooperative pig
slaughterhouses.
The cooperative movement became the strongest expression of the
organization of agriculture and the rural community, which took place in the
latter part of the 1800's; the medium-sized and small farms thus gained a leading
position in agricultural production, and with the farmers as their core, a
characteristic agricultural culture was formed from the 1860's, which in addition
to widespread self-organization in the cooperative movement included
professional work, church and school. By the turn of the century, it had
replaced the old peasant culture with a modern, self-reliant mentality with the
farm and the family as the mainstays.
The ecclesiastical directions were an essential element of this
development. As early as the 1820's, parts of the rural population, especially on
Funen and Zealand, became involved in divine revivals, which, through
widespread lay preaching, demanded a personal appropriation of the
truth of Christianity. After being founded as a lay association in 1853, the Inner
Mission in the 1860's took the form of a revival movement within the
People's Church. It had a background in pietism and was characterized by the
demand for personal repentance and had a great impact, especially in the 1890's. Grundtvigianism,
which was based on Grundtvig's thoughts on baptism, the sacrament and the creed
as the most important elements in the conception of Christianity, also developed
in the latter half of the 1800's. to a broad popular movement, which through
independent schools and folk high schools and through the formation of electoral
and free churches gained great importance for the culture of the rural
population.
Urban development accelerated during this period, and the rural
population's share of the population fell from almost 80 to just over
60%. Corresponding to this was a development in the urban industries, especially
in crafts, service trades and small-scale industry, which worked for the
domestic market. Industrialization, which had hitherto been concentrated around
Copenhagen and the larger cities, reached the smaller market towns in the 1890's.
The political lifechanged character after 1864. First and foremost,
the National Liberals lost their leadership position, and as a replacement for
the Danish-Schleswig joint constitution, a new constitution was adopted on 28
July 1866, which gave the Landsting a composition that strengthened the
influence of the great landowners. The National Liberals gradually joined the
Conservative Party, which united the social forces, while various left-wing
groups in 1870 gathered in the United Left, which in 1872 gained a majority in
Parliament and demanded the reintroduction of the June Constitution,
parliamentary parliamentarism and reforms. The Conservatives, however,
maintained the equality of the Riksdag and the Folketing as well as the king's
right to freely elect his ministers. The fronts had thus been drawn up to a
conflict between the right-wing government and the left-wing majority of the
Folketing, which came to characterize the period 1872-94.
Behind the conflict was the opposition between the hitherto ruling layers,
ie. the officials and the landowners, and the peasants. The right-wing
governments of 1875-94, led by Council President JBS Estrup, stood firm in their
views, and the conflict developed into a bitter strife. In 1877, the first
Provisional Finance Act was implemented, and in the period 1885-94,
the Provisional Period, the Conservatives ruled using Provisional
Finance Acts, to complete the fortification of Copenhagen 1886-94. The
Liberal Party sought to obstruct Estrup's policy through a so-called withering
policy, but was weakened by internal contradictions between the moderates
under Frede Bojsen and the radicals under Christen Berg and Viggo
Hørup. Furthermore, the radicals were blown up in the 1880's in Bergs danske and
HørupsEuropean Left.
Despite progress in the elections until 1884 and constant storms against
Estrup's government, the Liberal Party failed to achieve a system change. In the
late 1880's, moderate leftists began a policy of negotiation with the
Conservatives. In 1891 a number of social laws were passed by a political
majority in the Reichstag, and in March 1894 a settlement was reached between
the moderate forces on both sides. Estrup resigned, but the Conservatives
retained government power until 1901, however, with increasing dependence on the
left majority. In 1895, the opposition opponents in the Liberal Party were
united in the Liberal Reform Party, whose leading figure was JC Christensen. In
the spring of 1901, the possibilities for a right-wing ministry were exhausted,
and in July the Left Reform Party formed a government under JH Deuntzer.
The labor movement in Denmark developed to a large extent on the
basis of the strong urban growth, the abolition from 1857 of the old low system
and the beginning of industrialization. At the initiative of Louis Piofounded in
1871 a socialist workers' movement, which was built as a unitary organization of
trade union sections and a political party, later the Social Democrats. The
movement was met with strong opposition from the authorities and the leaders,
Louis Pio, Poul Geleff and Harald Brix, were arrested. On May 5, 1872, there was
a direct confrontation between workers and police in the Battle of
Fælleden. After a short period of prosperity, the movement experienced a new
crisis from 1877, after Pio and Geleff had been bribed by the police to
emigrate to the United States. From approximately In 1880, however, the labor movement
succeeded in reorganizing, and in 1884 the first Social Democrats were elected
to the Folketing, where they followed the Liberal Party. A trade union movement
was built up, which during the 1890's gained considerable support in Copenhagen
and the market towns.The September Settlement, which established the right of
the trade union movement to represent the workers and the right of employers to
direct and distribute labor. At the turn of the century, the labor movement was
still growing, and in 1901 the Social Democrats won 14 of 114 seats in the
Folketing. Politically, the Social Democrats followed the Left until 1901, but
tensions between the parties increased in the late 1890's.
The big ham change
The period 1864-1901 meant a change of heart for Danish society; The shift
had begun earlier in many areas, but during this period the changes deeply
affected the lives of most Danes. Life in 1901 differed in almost every area
from life in 1814; the population had grown sharply, and living conditions
generally improved. With the School Act of 1814, ordinary schooling was
introduced, and approximately By 1850, illiteracy had been eradicated. Better
nutrition, hygiene and medical advances increased life expectancy.
There was a physical upheaval with a population migration from country to
city, just as many, though fewer than in Sweden and Norway, emigrated to
especially the United States. There was a break with old ideas and ways of life
and a blurring of traditional cultural forms. It has been strikingly expressed
that change became a state. The estate society was formally abolished in 1849,
and the inherited boundaries between the estates were transformed into a social
stratification according to possession and income. The peasantry was divided
into farmers, homesteaders, and day laborers, and in the cities
employer-employee relations were established; society's increasing demands for
services fostered the emergence of a stratum of salaried employees and new
groups of self-employed.
Women had not yet been given a share in political rights, but incipient
legislation secured their rights better than before, and by the end of the
1800's, women were entering the labor market, not least in the service
professions.
Denmark - History (1901-40)
Denmark - history (1901-40), System change and reform policy, 1901-13
With the change of system in 1901, the state custom was initiated that a
government cannot continue if it is met with a vote of no confidence from a
majority in the Folketing. Government power fell to the Left Reform Party, which
until 1906 had an absolute majority in the Folketing. In the Landsting, the
Conservatives and Free Conservatives still had a majority, which forced the
government to reach an agreement with one of these groups to pass laws. In 1906,
the Left Reform Party lost its majority. as a result of the split in 1905 and
the formation of the Radical Left, which soon gained a central position in
Danish politics. With this, the future pattern in Danish politics was determined
with four large parties, none of which has ever had an absolute
majority; changing governments have therefore only been able to implement their
policies in cooperation with one or more other parties.
The period until World War I became rich in reforms. Under the real
leadership of the eminent tactician JC Christensen, the left-wing governments
implemented significant parts of the party's program: a tax reform in 1903,
which replaced property and hartcorn taxes with income and wealth tax and
introduced a property debt. In the same year, the three-year high school was
created, which was connected to the primary school through a middle school. In
addition, a law on elected ward councils was passed, and women were given the
right to vote. In 1908, the Riksdag passed a law on universal suffrage also for
women to the municipal councils. In the labor market, a number of laws
supplemented the collective bargaining system. In 1907, state recognition and
support for unemployment funds was adopted, and in 1910, conciliator
institutions and the Permanent Court of Arbitration (today the Labor Court) were
introduced.
At the revelation in 1908 of the extensive frauds of the Minister of
Justice PA Alberti, the Liberal Party and in particular JC Christensen were
weakened, even though he was acquitted in a subsequent federal court
case. Shortly afterwards, lengthy negotiations began on a revision of the
Constitution. They only ended during World War I with the Constitution of 1915
as the crown of the period's major reform work with the abolition of the
privileged suffrage to the Landsting, implementation of universal suffrage for
women and servants and proportional representation to the Folketing, which
enabled a more equal distribution of seats.
The economic background for the reforms was favorable. Agriculture and
industry experienced strong growth and the number of workers in industry, trade
and transport increased significantly. In several areas, Danish industry was an
international leader, for example in the development of diesel engines for
ships. Agriculture benefited from the conversion to animal production, and even
in 1914, agricultural products amounted to approximately 90% of Danish exports with
butter and bacon to the British market as the most important goods.
In foreign policy, Denmark was in a double position. Economically, the
country was dependent on exports to Britain, security-wise on its neighborly
relationship with the politically and militarily increasingly stronger
Germany. The latter was further complicated by the consideration for the Danes
in Schleswig. They were at times subjected to harsh repression, which gave the
period's Danish nationalism a strong anti-German touch. In big politics, all
Danish governments had a low profile. There was agreement on a continuation of
the policy of neutrality and a tacit recognition that it had to be practiced
with special regard to Germany.
Within this framework, the parties marked great disagreement about defense
policy, which ranged from the Conservatives' demands for continued expansion of
a strong military defense to the radicals' and Social Democrats' desire for full
or partial disarmament. In 1909, the Conservatives and Liberals entered into a
settlement that strengthened the defense and Copenhagen's sea
fortifications. The parliamentary elections in 1913 gave rise to both the
Radical Left and the Social Democrats, and with the support of the Social
Democrats a radical government could be formed under the leadership
of C.Th. Zahle, who retained power until 1920.
Neutrality, regulatory policy and political conflicts (1914-20)
During World War I, Denmark managed to maintain neutrality, which, however,
was largely adapted to German wishes; Among other things, the Great Belt was
blocked by mines despite an international obligation to keep the passage open. A
larger security force was called in and concentrated around Copenhagen. The
Danes did not remain untouched by the war; 275 of the merchant navy's ships were
sunk, approximately 700 sailors lost their lives, and approximately 6,000 Danish southern
Jews fell in German war service. Economically, the country balanced between the
warring parties by concluding separate trade agreements, which entailed an
export ban, so that the blockades were not circumvented by re-exporting from
Denmark.
Domestically, the parties entered into a peace treaty that largely endured
the war. Based on the August Acts of 1914, the government and parliament built a
comprehensive system of regulation in almost all economic and social areas:
price policy, supply and rationing policy and to some extent distribution
policy, which entailed a strong expansion of state power.
During World War I, the area around the Danish West Indies gained increased
strategic importance. The United States was concerned about German companies'
interest in the Danish islands and therefore in 1915 contacted the Danish
government to buy the islands. The following year, a sale price of DKK 25
million was agreed. dollars, and the sale was finally approved by a referendum
in December. The transfer of the islands took place on April 1, 1917.
Immediately after the end of World War I, political peace broke down. The
opposition, the Left and the Conservative People's Party, demanded that the
regulatory policy be phased out as soon as possible, but the government
hesitated for the sake of the social balance and due to the fear of a post-war
crisis. Despite these contradictions, a comprehensive set of land laws could be
passed in 1919, which changed the property form of the large estates and
included land for the creation of approximately 6000 homesteads.
To the left of the political spectrum, in the last years of the war, a
militant political and trade union opposition to the Social Democrats and its
moderate political course emerged. The unrest was partly inspired by the
revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe and intensified by widespread social
distress. The militant workers enforced the 1918-19 demands of the labor
movement since 1889 for an eight-hour working day, and this, together with
improved cost-time regulation, was incorporated into the agreement between the
Danish Employers' Association and the Cooperative Trade Unions in 1919.
The collapse of Germany created an opportunity for a solution to the South
Jutland question. Voting took place within the framework of the Versailles peace
treaties. At the first vote in North Schleswig as a whole on 10 February 1920,
3/4 voted for and 1/4 against an association with Denmark; a vote on March 14
s.å. in Central Schleswig, including Flensburg, gave the opposite result. The
votes triggered strong national sentiment on both sides. As early as 1919, the
Dannevirke movement had agitated for a border along Dannevirke, and after the
second vote, nationalist circles built a strong movement for Flensburg's return
despite the result of the vote.
At the end of March 1920, the bourgeois dissatisfaction with the policy of
regulation and the anger of the nationalists over the impending demarcation
north of Flensburg merged in a violent attack on the government and in a
pressure on Christian 10. to make him dismiss it. This triggered the Easter
crisis: On March 29, King Zahle's government resigned while the Folketing was on
Easter holiday, and thus without a majority being found against it. The next
day, the king appointed a business ministry, which was tasked with printing
elections. Christian 10.'s move was perceived by radicals and social democrats
as a coup, and in particular the labor movement made massive efforts to get
parliamentary conditions reintroduced, by threatening a general
strike. During large demonstrations, the workers demanded the establishment of a
republic. The prospect of a major conflict in the labor market also contributed
to exacerbating the situation. After intense negotiations, the party leaders
reached a settlement on Easter morning, which involved the appointment of a new
business ministry with the sole task of calling elections.
Between liberalism and state interventionism (1920-29)
The April 1920 election brought a left-wing government to power, which was
supported by the Conservative People's Party. It was given difficult conditions
as a result of a post-war crisis that affected both agriculture and industry and
created almost chaotic conditions in the banking sector; several banks cracked,
in 1922 Scandinavia's largest bank, Landmandsbanken, which had to be
reconstructed with the help of the state. The crisis was exacerbated by a hasty
revaluation of the krone. The 1920's were marked by high unemployment, especially
in 1922-23 and 1925-28, and by very extensive conflicts in the labor market. In
1924, the left-wing government was replaced by the country's first Social
Democratic government with the strong and tactically capable Th. Stunningas
Prime Minister. It also faced major problems, especially in the currency
area. During a major conflict in 1925, it prepared for a state intervention, but
it was not launched. The following year, a comprehensive crisis plan suffered
shipwreck. At the subsequent election, the majority changed, and the Liberal
Party formed a new government. Prime Minister became the strongly
liberalist Th. Madsen-Mygdal; his crisis resolution program was public spending
cuts, tax cuts, and labor market interventions.
Despite economic difficulties, considerable modernization was carried out in
both agriculture and industry in these years; Among other things, founded Ford
Motor Company Europe's first assembly line car factory in Denmark.
The 1920's were also marked by sharp ideological contradictions between the
liberalism of the peasants and the Left and the wishes of the workers and the
Social Democrats for an active state power, a desire which to some extent was
shared by the Conservative People's Party. The contradictions sometimes assumed
the character of a confrontation between country and city.
In foreign policy, the 1920's became a quiet decade. For a time, Denmark was
not threatened by any great power. Against the Soviet Union, Denmark
participated in the western sanctions policy until 1924, after which we
recognized the communist regime. In 1920, Denmark became a member of the League
of Nations, but, like the other Nordic countries, had problems with the policy
of neutrality in relation to the League of Nations' collective security system,
which meant that the country would be drawn into a conflict with a
peacemaker. On the other hand, the association's disarmament ideas fell in line
with the wishes of a majority of the Danish population. Still, it was a dispute
over the defense that overthrew the government in 1929, when the Conservatives
under the leadership of Christmas Mollerin dissatisfaction with the defense
appropriations abstained from voting for the Finance Act; The Radicals also
abstained, while the Social Democrats voted against.
Economic crisis and political stability (1929-40)
The election in April 1929 gave a majority to the Social Democrats and the
Radical Left, which formed a coalition government with Th. Stauning and P. Munch
as resp. Minister of State and Foreign Affairs. It became the longest-serving
government of the century. However, its comprehensive reform program was slowed
down when the world economic crisis of mid-1930 hit Denmark, initially
agriculture, which had problems with sales and prices. In the first half of the
1930's, many farmers were hit by the debt crisis and subsequent foreclosure. In
1931, the urban industries also felt the crisis in the form of business crashes
and massive unemployment, which in 1932 rose to over 40%. Externally, the
government sought to ease the crisis through trade agreements with Britain and
Germany, internally through a series of crisis settlements between the
government and one or both opposition parties.
The economic crisis and the rise of the fascist/Nazi movements in Europe
created fertile ground for growth on the political outer wings. The Communist
Party of Denmark (DKP) experienced some progress and in 1932 had two
representatives elected to the Folketing, one was the party's longtime
chairman Aksel Larsen. On the right wing, the very activist Farmers' Association
(LS) was formed in 1931, which arranged the Peasant Train to Copenhagen to
influence the Reichstag and the king. Parts of the LS were part of the extreme
right-wing groups of fascist or Nazi observance that formed and split in this
decade. In terms of numbers, the support was extremely modest, and it was not
until 1939 that they gained representation in the Folketing. In the face of the
right-wing groups' criticism of democracy for inefficiency, the major parties
acted by showing the actionability of democracy through conciliation. The most
significant, the Kanslergade settlement, named after Stauning's residence, was
concluded between the government and the Liberal Party and finally completed on
January 30, 1933, the same day that Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. It
involved a number of concrete interventions, including a contract extension by
law, the first of many since, a devaluation of the crown and crisis aid to
agriculture; furthermore, it was included in the settlement that the Liberal
Party gave up its opposition to the major social reform, which Minister of
Social Affairs KK Steincke had sought to implement for several years. The social
reform of 1933 simplified complicated legislation and definitely established
both the legal principle and fixed rates for social benefits. When the
government also gained a majority in the Landsting in 1936, its reform policy
was significantly facilitated. However, a proposal for a new constitution,
drafted in collaboration between the governing parties and the Conservatives,
was rejected in a 1939 referendum. Steincke for several years had sought to get
implemented. The social reform of 1933 simplified complicated legislation and
definitely established both the legal principle and fixed rates for social
benefits. When the government also gained a majority in the Landsting in 1936,
its reform policy was significantly facilitated. However, a proposal for a new
constitution, drafted in collaboration between the governing parties and the
Conservatives, was rejected in a 1939 referendum. Steincke for several years had
sought to get implemented. The social reform of 1933 simplified complicated
legislation and definitely established both the legal principle and fixed rates
for social benefits. When the government also gained a majority in the Landsting
in 1936, its reform policy was considerably eased. However, a proposal for a new
constitution, drafted in collaboration between the governing parties and the
Conservatives, was rejected in a 1939 referendum.
Through the crisis settlements, the ideological edges were to some extent
sharpened by the parties. Most striking was the decline of the purely liberal
ideas, while conversely the Social Democrats abandoned their original socialist
goal and became a workers' and people's party with appeal to broad
sections of the population, as marked in Stauning's program from 1934, Denmark
for the People. Another effect of the crisis policy was an ever closer
cooperation between the government, the administration, the business
organizations and the social partners.
Foreign policy in the 1930's was completely dominated by relations with
Germany. After Hitler took power in 1933, Germany's withdrawal from the League
of Nations the same year and the obvious rearmament in 1935, Danish security and
neutrality policy had to be redesigned not to bother the big
neighbor. Furthermore, the British government made it very clear that Denmark
could not expect military support in the event of a conflict with Germany. The
Nordic countries sought to reconcile their policy of neutrality, but had too
divergent interests to be able to co-operate on security policy. There was still
no agreement on a significant strengthening of the defense. A settlement in 1937
provided a little more equipment and personnel, but it did not suffice for more
than ascertaining and asserting neutrality. There could be no question of a
struggle for existence. In 1939, Germany proposed a non-aggression pact to the
Nordic countries. The other countries refused, while a few months before the
outbreak of war, Denmark signed a non-aggression pact, the value of which had no
illusions.
At the outbreak of war in September 1939, Denmark declared itself
neutral. But both the political and the economic balance in relations with
Germany and Britain became extremely precarious.
Denmark - History (1940-45)
Denmark - History (1940-45), The Occupation
Denmark was occupied by German troops during a few morning hours on April 9,
1940. The attack was accompanied by an ultimatum not to offer resistance. In
return, Germany would respect the country's political independence; the king and
the government bowed. Thus began a "peace occupation" of the country, during
which the illusion of independence was maintained. The connection between the
two countries went with few exceptions near via the foreign ministries.
England responded by occupying the Faroe Islands itself on 12 April, just as
England sought to seize the merchant navy; 2/3 of it thus eventually came to
sail in Allied service. The envoy to London, E. Reventlow, retained diplomatic
status. H. Kauffmann in Washington, on the other hand, made reservations and in
April 1941 concluded an agreement on the establishment of American bases in
Greenland, which had been under US protection since the beginning of the war.
Political and economic cooperation. The German military demanded in
principle that cases in which it was involved should be decided before its own
courts of war. On the Danish side, it was conversely claimed that Danish
citizens in sovereign Denmark should always be convicted by Danish law. When the
sabotage increased in 1942, the problem became topical and the dual jurisdiction
became a millstone around the neck of the co-operation policy.
The policy of co-operation with Germany had its counterpart inwardly in the
co-operation between the parties. Representatives of the Conservative People's
Party and the Liberal Party joined the Social Democratic government as ministers
without a portfolio. In July 1940, an actual unity government was established
with a few ministers without party affiliation, including Erik Scavenius as
foreign minister. The gathering at Christiansborg had general support among the
population, and a wave of Danishness and national feeling swept across the
country at the same time with the king as the nation's father figure and
gathering mark.
The Danish government feared that the Germans would let the Danish Nazi party
come to power. The danger of this was not real, however, as the Germans only
used the Danish Nazis as a scare image. However, this was not known either in
the government or among the "re-travel" circles that worked to create an
alternative government without a parliamentary basis consisting of professionals
and experts.
Foreign trade had to be turned over to Germany, which wanted to buy
agricultural exports at good prices and in return supply e.g. coal. Price
increases at the outbreak of the war were mitigated by an automatic wage
adjustment according to the price figure, but wage freezes were then introduced,
which was otherwise in accordance with German policy; the Germans thus did not
want the workers of the occupied countries to have a higher standard of living
than the workers of Germany. The result was good times for agriculture, while
real income in the cities in 1940 fell by approximately 20% and unemployment
rose. During the occupation, trade with Germany created a Danish export surplus
of approximately 3 billion DKK in the money of the time and thus an pumping out of
purchasing power in Danish society. The construction work of the German
military, especially airfields and fortifications on the West Coast, cost
approximately 5 billion kr.
The disadvantage of the cooperation policy was its dependence on
Germany. Restrictions on press freedom and other demands had to be complied
with, and "hetzers" such as the conservative Christmas Møller and the Social
Democrat Hans Hedtoft had to be removed from political life. The actions of the
Danish Nazis had to be tolerated despite the current ban on meetings. The
advantage of the co-operation policy was that, unlike in other occupied
countries, there was no Nazification of society. Army, navy and police were
under Danish leadership. Democracy continued to function at the central and
local levels, and no one interfered in the education sector. The professional
organizations and all other association life remained unaffected.
In connection with Germany's military attack on the Soviet Union 22.6. In
1941, the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact (1939-41), which had hitherto
protected Danish Communists from being persecuted by the German occupying power,
lapsed; the Germans now demanded that leading Danish communists be
interned. This was complied with to a far greater extent than required, and in
continuation of this violation of the Constitution, the Danish Communist
Party (DKP) was banned, just as attempts were made to purge the trade union
movement of communists. The party went underground and continued its activities,
which was the beginning of the organized illegal work in Denmark.
At German demands, the government accepted the establishment of Frikorps
Danmark to fight on the German side against Bolshevism and Danish accession to
the Anti-Comintern Pact. When Prime Minister Stauning died in May 1942, party
colleague Vilhelm Buhl became his successor. The economic situation found its
rent, the price level stabilized, unemployment declined, because German
construction work in Denmark absorbed a lot of labor, and we managed to get the
krone revalued by approximately 8% in relation to the German Reichsmark.
Cooperation policy under pressure. The burden of co-operation
policy came during 1942 with the illegal activities. After the German breach of
the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, the Communists became a significant force
in the resistance movement. They established in collaboration with circles from
the Conservative People's Party the resistance movement and the magazine Free
Denmark and began from April 1942 on sabotage actions. Christmas Møller's trip
to England at the beginning of May 1942 and subsequent radio speeches to Denmark
attracted a great deal of attention. From the turn of the year 1941-42, the
British organization SOE began(Special Operations Executive) to drop
paratroopers in the country, which happened in collaboration with people from
the party Dansk Samling. However, there was still little popular support behind
the illegals, whose numbers were very modest.
The autumn of 1942 was marked by German dissatisfaction with the situation in
Denmark, after riots during the Free Corps' leave, but also due to the need
for a strengthening of the German invasion defense. A diplomatic crisis was
triggered by a very brief telegram of thanks from the king to Hitler in
connection with the king's birthday, the Telegram crisis, and led to Hitler
personally intervening in Danish affairs. The Plenipotentiary, Renthe-Fink, was
replaced by Werner Best, and a new Commander-in-Chief, General von Hanneken,
was sent to Denmark in November, just as Foreign Minister Scavenius was also
required to be Prime Minister and the illegal activities were combated; von
Hanneken also demanded that Jutland be evacuated by the Danish military.
Werner Best continued the German policy in close cooperation with Scavenius,
because it partly gave Germany the best utilization of the country's production
- agricultural exports corresponded to approximately one month's consumption in
Germany - partly maintained calm and order with a minimal effort of German
resources. It was agreed that the German side did not oppose the holding of an
ordinary election to the Riksdag on 23 March 1943. The election was a test of
strength between the cooperating parties and the activists. With a record
turnout of 89.5%, the former received 93.4% of the vote; 2.1% voted for Dansk
Samling, while 3.3% of the votes went to Nazis etc. DKP was banned, but
participated indirectly in the election together with Frit Danmark with a
campaign to vote blank, a call which was followed by 1.2% of voters.
A change of mood was on the way during the spring and summer of 1943, caused
partly by ordinary "obsession fatigue", partly by the German defeats on the
fronts from the end of 1942. The number of strikes increased; so did the
sabotage operations, which from the spring of 1943 took place with explosives
supplied from England.
Yet the August Uprising came behind all parties. In 17 cities strikes broke
out with the Communists as organizers, and factories, offices, and shops closed,
accompanied by great unrest; However, Copenhagen only came to the turmoil
stage. The political and professional authorities did their best to bring the
movement to a halt, the German military showed moderation in the strike cities,
but wanted the Danish army disarmed, and Werner Best downplayed the scope of the
pipe towards Berlin.
Hitler intervened demanding that the Danish government introduce a state of
emergency and the death penalty for sabotage. The response from the Danish side
was negative. On 29 August, the government submitted its resignation to the
king, the German side disarmed and detained the Danish army and the navy, which,
however, sank itself, and von Hanneken declared a state of military emergency
throughout the country.
Departmental government and resistance struggle. On August 29 and
then, it was perceived as the decisive turning point in the relationship between
Denmark and Germany. The co-operation policy had ceased; as Best put it: "The
political parade horse Denmark is dead".
The country was administered until the liberation by the heads of department
through legislation approved by the Supreme Court. The co-operation continued at
the administrative level, and Danish society was not subject to Nazism.
The events sharpened the anti-German sentiments, and they were further
accentuated when the Germans carried out an action against the Danish Jews on
the night of October 2, 1943. Among other things. thanks to Best's double play,
it was a failure. Fewer than 500 Jews were captured and taken
to Theresienstadt, where the vast majority survived. approximately 7000 fled to
Sweden.
In mid-September, the Freedom Council was formed to lead the struggle for the
country's liberation. The council included representatives of the most important
illegal groups, namely the Communists and Free Denmark, Dansk Samling and Ringen
with resp. Børge Houmann, Mogens Fog, Arne Sørensen and Frode Jakobsenas the
main members. The unity of the struggle was alienated by directives from the
SOE; in December, orders were issued for the establishment of military groups to
act in the back of the German forces in the event of an invasion. This created a
unitary organization for the individual movements. The group formation was first
organized by the Communists and people from the Danish Assembly, then
increasingly by members of the Ring, among others. because many of the pioneers
disappeared either in German prisons and concentration camps or in the Frøslev
camp (approximately 10,000) or as refugees to Sweden (approximately 10,000).
The creation of the military groups made the resistance movement large (at
the turn of the year 1944-45 about 20,000, at the liberation about 50,000), and
they were armed with small arms from England or Sweden. On the other hand, the
sabotage groups (in Copenhagen BOPA and Holger Danske, in the province
including the Valther group in Odense) made up only a modest fraction of the
total number. The actions were directed at the railways (approximately 1500), at
industrial enterprises working for the Germans, as well as at ships and
shipyards (a total of approximately 2800); the latter posed a threat which was taken
very seriously by the German side.
In parallel with the Freedom Council, the army operated, whose crew was
released in October 1943. The officers were concentrated in special groups in
Copenhagen, and in Sweden a brigade, Danforce, was established. Officers were
deployed to most leadership positions in the regional apparatus, and from June
1944 the illegal work was secretly funded by the Treasury.
After the People's Strike in Copenhagen in the days around 1 July 1944, there
was a rapprochement between the Freedom Council and politicians. It resulted
partly in a joint appeal to the Allies to get Denmark recognized as an ally,
which, however, stalled on Russian reluctance, partly in negotiations on the
joint formation of the first government after the liberation, which ended with
half of the ministerial posts for each party.
The investigation of illegal activity had after 29.8.1943 been handed over to
the German police, the Gestapo. From New Year 1944, it was supplemented by the
so-called "counter-terrorism", clearing murders and schalburgtage, in response
to assassinations of members of the armed forces and sabotage. German efforts to
get the Danish police to take part in the fight against sabotage and maintain
order during strikes failed and led to the dissolution of the police on 19
September 1944 and the subsequent placement of police officers in concentration
camps. The war and the occupation cost a total of approximately 7000 Danish life.
The last months of the occupation were marked by increased shortages of
goods, poorer quality of goods, clashes between resistance fighters and Danes in
German service and rising crime. From February 1945 came approximately 200,000 German
refugees from East Prussia to Denmark. However, the end of the war was in
sight. The German troops in Denmark capitulated to the English with effect from
5 May 1945 - except on Bornholm, which was in the Russian sphere of
operation. For the same reason, the island first joined the total capitulation
on May 8, 1945, and Rønne and Nexø were exposed to Russian air bombardment in
the days before.
Denmark - history (1945-2001)
Denmark in the international community
Despite its unclear position during World War II, Denmark achieved status as
an ally and founding member of the UN in 1945. Many saw this new institution as
a guarantor of peace, but with the beginning of the Cold War in 1946/47, this
view changed. The division of Europe created a new security policy situation for
Denmark. A new superpower, the Soviet Union, was now close to the country's
borders, and the classical isolated neutrality no longer struck. Initially,
efforts were made to establish a Nordic defense alliance, but negotiations on
such an alliance broke down in early 1949, after which Denmark, like Norway,
participated in the establishment of NATO in April 1949.. A considerable
skepticism in the population and the hesitation among the politicians in the
first years made Denmark an "ally with reservations". The reservations primarily
concerned the placement of nuclear weapons on Danish soil as well as West
Germany's rearmament and accession to NATO.
The Liberation Government, whose leader was Vilhelm Buhl, stated at the
presentation of its program on 9 May 1945 that Denmark's border was
fixed. Nevertheless, a fierce domestic political showdown arose over the border
with Germany, but in 1947 it became clear that the border was not changed. In
the following years, relations with West Germany improved, and in 1955 the good
neighborhood was sealed by the Copenhagen-Bonn declarations on minority
conditions in the border country. In 1961, a Danish-German Unity Command was
established for NATO's northern region.
In January 1968, the Danish government requested a renewed guarantee from the
United States that the ban on nuclear weapons on Danish territory would not be
violated. The background was that a US nuclear-armed B-52 bomber had crashed
near Thule in Greenland. However, it was not ruled out that this could be an
isolated case as a result of an emergency. However, the case gained new
relevance when the Danish government in 1995 released unprecedented information
that Minister of State and Foreign Affairs HC Hansenin 1958, despite official
Danish policy, had given the United States permission to fly over and land with
nuclear-armed aircraft in Greenland. The Danish workers, who in 1968 had
participated in the clean-up work after the Thule accident, thus got a further
argument in their fight for compensation for physical and mental injuries,
demands which were later met.
Prime Ministers and governments of Denmark since 1848 |
Year |
Government |
1848 |
AW Moltke (Government of Officials with the Participation of
National Liberals) |
1848-51 |
AW Moltke (Government of Officials with Conservatives and National
Liberals) |
1851-52 |
AW Moltke (Government of Officials with Conservative Participation) |
1852-53 |
CA Bluhme (Conservative) |
1853-54 |
AS Ørsted (conservative) |
1854-56 |
PG Bang (Conservative and National Liberal) |
1856-57 |
CG Andræ (Conservative and National Liberal) |
1857-59 |
CC Hall (National Liberals and Conservatives) |
1859-60 |
CE Rotwitt (Peasant Friends and National Liberals) |
1860-63 |
CC Hall (predominantly National Liberal) |
1863-64 |
DG Monrad (National Liberals) |
1864-65 |
CA Bluhme (Conservative) |
1865-70 |
CE Free (conservative) |
1870-74 |
Ludvig Holstein-Holsteinborg (Conservative and National Liberal) |
1874-75 |
CA Fonnesbech (Conservative and National Liberal) |
1875-94 |
JBS Estrup (Right) |
1894-97 |
Take the Reedtz-Thott (Right) |
1897-1900 |
Hugo Hørring (Right) |
1900-01 |
Hannibal Sehested (Right) |
1901-05 |
JH Deuntzer (Left Reform Party) |
1905-08 |
JC Christensen (F) |
1908-09 |
Niels Neergaard (F) |
1909 |
Ludvig Holstein-Ledreborg (F) |
1909-10 |
C.Th. Numbers (B) |
1910-13 |
Klaus Berntsen (F) |
1913-20 |
C.Th. Numbers (B) |
1920 |
Otto Liebe (Ministry of Commerce) |
1920 |
MP Friis (Ministry of Business) |
1920-24 |
Niels Neergaard (F) |
1924-26 |
Thorvald Stauning (A) |
1926-29 |
Thomas Madsen-Mygdal (F) |
1929-40 |
Thorvald Stauning (A, B) |
1940-42 |
Thorvald Stauning (coalition government) |
1942 |
Vilhelm Buhl (coalition government) |
1942-43 |
Erik Scavenius (coalition government) |
1943-45 |
The Board of Ministers |
1945 |
Vilhelm Buhl (coalition government) |
1945-47 |
Knud Kristensen (F) |
1947-50 |
Hans Hedtoft (A) |
1950-53 |
Erik Eriksen (V, C) |
1953-55 |
Hans Hedtoft (A) |
1955-57 |
HC Hansen (A) |
1957-60 |
HC Hansen (A, B, E) |
1960 |
Viggo Kampmann (A, B, E) |
1960-62 |
Viggo Kampmann (A, B) |
1962-64 |
Jens Otto Krag (A, B) |
1964-68 |
Jens Otto Krag (A) |
1968-71 |
Hilmar Baunsgaard (B, C, V) |
1971-72 |
Jens Otto Krag (A) |
1972-73 |
Anker Jørgensen (A) |
1973-75 |
Poul Hartling (F) |
1975-78 |
Anker Jørgensen (A) |
1978-79 |
Anker Jørgensen (A, V) |
1979-82 |
Anker Jørgensen (A) |
1982-88 |
Poul Schlüter (C, V, D, Q) |
1988-90 |
Poul Schlüter (C, V, B) |
1990-93 |
Poul Schlüter (C, F) |
1993-94 |
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (A, D, B, Q) |
1994-1998 |
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (A, B, D) |
1998-2001 |
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (A, B) |
2001-05 |
Anders Fogh Rasmussen (F, C) |
2005-07 |
Anders Fogh Rasmussen (F, C) |
2007-09 |
Anders Fogh Rasmussen (F, C) |
2009-11 |
Lars Løkke Rasmussen (V, C) |
2011-14 |
Helle Thorning-Schmidt (A, F, B) |
2014-15 |
Helle Thorning-Schmidt (A, B) |
2015-16 |
Lars Løkke Rasmussen (V) |
2016-19 |
Lars Løkke Rasmussen (V, LA, K) |
2019- |
Mette Frederiksen (A) |
Parties: · A: The Social Democrats
· B: The Radical Left
· C: The Conservative People's Party
· D: Center-Democrats
· E: Danmarks Retsforbund
· F: Socialist People's Party
· LA: Liberal Alliance
· Q: Christian People's Party
· V: Left |
The first party designation corresponds to the party to which the
Prime Minister belongs. |
In parallel with the NATO engagement from 1949, Denmark, together with the
other Nordic countries, made a significant contribution to the UN's peacekeeping
work by, among other things, to make forces available in Suez 1956-57, in Congo
1960-64 and in Cyprus from 1964. Since 1961, Denmark has provided development
aid to an increasing extent and is now one of the countries that provides
relatively most. Thus, since 1992, Denmark has fulfilled the UN's requirement
that at least 1% of gross national income must go to development aid.
Economically, from 1948 Denmark received a share in the Marshall Aid, which
partly eased the country's currency problems, partly foreign imports of raw
materials and machinery and thus contributed to a significant modernization and
rationalization of both agriculture and industry. Through membership of the OEEC
(now the OECD), Denmark was involved in the general internationalization of the
economy with the abolition of trade and currency restrictions. Denmark did not
take part in the establishment of the European institutions leading to the
European Economic Community (EC) of the Treaty of Rome in 1957-59, but was
involved in the negotiations on the European Free Trade Area (EFTA).), which
was established in 1960. The problem was that Danish exports were almost evenly
distributed between the two areas, and when Britain in 1961 applied for
membership in the EC, Denmark immediately followed, but gave up when the British
were rejected. After another failed attempt in 1967, negotiations were
established for the establishment of a Nordic Economic Union (NORDEK). The
experiment sank in 1969, when the application for admission to the EC was
reopened. In 1972, after an intense debate, a majority voted in a binding
referendum for Danish membership of the EC, which came into force on New Year
1973. However, the question of the further development of European co-operation
split the population into two almost equal parts.
The welfare state under construction
Already during the occupation, a liberation government with equal
representation from the Freedom Council and the political parties had been
prepared. When it took office in May 1945, it initiated a legal settlement with
collaborators. However, it was mainly the actual Nazis, henchmen and smaller,
economic collaborators who were convicted.
The government's second task was a normalization of political life with the
holding of elections to the Folketing in October 1945. Here the DKP was strongly
strengthened at the expense of the Social Democrats. The Liberal Party went
forward and, with the support of conservatives and radicals, formed a minority
government, led by Knud Kristensen. It fell on a personal vote of no confidence
in the Prime Minister due to his agitation for a border move. At the election in
1947, the Social Democrats regained some of its strength, and the party formed
under Hans Hedtoft'sleadership a minority government that, like the previous
one, ran into problems due to the country's difficult economic situation, and
after the election in 1950, it preferred to step down on a question of easing
the butter rationing. The successor was a government of the Liberals and
Conservatives, led by Erik Eriksen, whose main effort was the implementation of
a major constitutional amendment in 1953. This abolished the Landsting,
parliamentarism was enshrined in the constitution, sovereignty was opened,
referendums were introduced and established an institution of ombudsman. In
connection with the Constitution, a succession law was passed, which gave the
right of inheritance for women to the Danish throne; the Succession Act does
not, however, imply full equality, as a younger son precedes an older daughter.
After the adoption of the constitutional amendment, the government was
replaced by Social Democratic minority governments with radical support, first
led by Hans Hedtoft and after his death in 1955 by HC Hansen. After the election
in 1957, HC Hansen formed a majority coalition of the Social Democrats, the
Radical Left and the Legal Association (the Georgians). It became the first
government to benefit from the international boom and domestic economic
growth. Until 1968, Denmark had Social Democratic-led governments, 1960-62 with
Viggo Kampmann as prime minister, from 1962 with JO Krag. The governments were
most often based on cooperation with the Radical Left, 1966-68, however,
supported by the Socialist People's Party (SF), which had been formed in 1959
after a profound split of the DKP. In 1968, a bourgeois three-party government
was formed by the Radical Left, the Conservative People's Party and the Left
with the radical Hilmar Baunsgaard as Prime Minister. In 1971, JO Krag again
became the leader of a Social Democratic government; After a majority in the
referendum in 1972 had voted for Denmark's accession to the EC, he handed over
the post of Prime Minister to Anker Jørgensen.
By the end of World War II, almost all parties had drawn up comprehensive
programs; most comprehensive was that of the Social Democrats with a welfare
strategy that affected all areas of society. The economic problems of the first
decade after 1945 blocked a reform policy, but from the mid-1950's alternating
coalitions in the Folketing implemented a welfare policy that included national
pension (1956), sick pay scheme (1960), disability insurance (1965) and sharp
increases in support. to the Unemployed and a Social Administration Act
(1970). This happened in connection with the Local Government Reform, which
reduced the number of municipalities from 1386 to 275. In 1971-73, a reform of
the unemployment benefit scheme was implemented due to illness and a health
insurance law that abolished the sickness funds and made health insurance
tax-financed.
In the field of education there was a tremendous expansion. The primary
school was fundamentally changed in 1958, the high schools, vocational
educations and the higher educations experienced an explosive growth in the
approach. In the cultural field, public efforts were strengthened, especially
after the establishment of the Ministry of Culture in 1961, and laws on
theaters, libraries, a film fund and the Statens Kunstfond in the first half of
the 1960's.
Welfare legislation was based on the principle of universalism, ie. not just
the right of the particularly needy, but the right of all citizens to benefits
in all sectors. This principle characterizes the Nordic welfare societies and is
one of the reasons for the high degree of consensus between parties and social
classes that has characterized the legislation. Another reason is the absence of
an absolute majority for a single party. Another principle in welfare
legislation has been the financing over taxes; until the 1980's, this
relationship spawned an explosive increase in government spending and taxes.
The reforms were based on very strong economic growth from approximately 1958 and
in major structural changes in the Danish business community and in the labor
market. In both agriculture and industry, productivity increased sharply, which
in agriculture led to a reduction in the number of uses and labor force, while
industry expanded, and from the early 1960's the value of industrial exports
exceeded that of agriculture. However, the number of salaried employees in the
service sector, in the private sector and especially in the public sector grew
the strongest. Both here and in industry, it was women in particular who
conquered the new labor market.
This second industrial revolution is characterized by the industry moving to
the west, i.e. away from the old centers and into rural areas and into smaller
provincial towns with the exploitation of the labor force that was pushed out of
agriculture. This led to completely new housing patterns in relation to the old
urban working class, a kind of urbanization of the country. Everywhere new
detached house neighborhoods sprang up; many families got a car and went on a
charter trip. Consumption patterns changed sharply, and people created new ways
of life that gave rise to cultural clashes and ultimately the violent shifts in
the political pattern that Denmark experienced in the first half of the
1970's. One warning was the so-called rindalism debate in the mid-1960's, prompted
by the first distribution from the Statens Kunstfond.
However, the most marked political-cultural clashes in the 1960's and early
1970's took place between the new generation of young people, raised during
welfare, and the older generation with experiences from before and during the
war. Themes in this youth uprising were many: protests against nuclear
armaments, against the US war in Vietnam, and more generally against hardened
democratic processes. The watchwords were democratization and co-determination
at all levels of society, initially with the greatest effect on the higher
education institutions with the introduction of a Government Act(1970), which
gave students and younger teachers co-influence. During the same period, the
political and cultural debate was re-ideologised, with strong elements of
Marxism and other radical ideologies. The new activism manifested itself in
untraditional extra-parliamentary forms, in protest marches, occupations of
houses, factories and universities, so-called wildcat strikes, street theater
and happenings.
Political upheavals, economic crisis and renewed progress
After 1973, Denmark's foreign policy and economy have become increasingly
internationalized. Both under the auspices of the UN and bilaterally,
development aid has increased steadily, and Denmark continues to contribute with
peacekeeping forces, in the 1990's in the former Yugoslavia. Despite a broad
consensus on NATO membership, disagreement arose for a number of years over the
concrete stance on the Alliance's strategy. From 1977/78, a majority supported
the idea of a nuclear-weapon-free Nordic region. NATO's "double decision" in
1979 meant that new missile systems would be set up in Europe unless the Warsaw
Pact and NATO agreed to limit such weapons. The consequences of this were met
with great skepticism in Denmark, and the disagreements culminated in 1982-88,
when a so-called alternative majority, supported by a strong popular peace
movement, in a number of cases, the government required reservations about NATO
decisions, the so-called footnote policy. In the second half of the 1980's, the
opposition diminished, partly when the Radical Left, which had formed part of
the footnote majority, entered into government co-operation in 1988, partly as a
result of the relaxation policy and the collapse of communist regimes in Eastern
and Central Europe.
Relations with the EC, from 1993 to the EU, have been a point of contention
since 1972. Despite a solid majority in the Folketing for continued membership
and expanded integration, the population has been divided almost in the middle
of the three referendums that have been held. The vote on the common internal
market in 1986 resulted in a majority of just over 56%, but the Maastricht
Treaty on Enlarged Integration fell in a referendum on 2 June 1992 with 50.7% no
votes. After that, supporters and opponents parties entered into a "national
compromise", and on that basis, Denmark obtained in the Edinburgh decision some
exemption provisions, which led to the Treaty being adopted by a new vote on 18
May 1993 with 56.8% of the vote.
Domestically, the 1970's became a turbulent decade. The parliamentary
elections in 1973, the so-called landslide elections, turned the party structure
upside down. The support of the four old parties fell from approximately 90% to
approximately 58%, and many new parties were represented, first and foremost the
Progress Party and the Center Democrats, who with resp. approximately 16% and approximately 8%
of the vote gathered a quarter of voters. The Progress Party, led by Mogens
Glistrup, represented a revolt against the welfare state, in particular the
increased tax burden and growth in the public sector. Political life was then
characterized by frequent elections, complicated government formations and a
narrow parliamentary base for governments. 1973-75 the Liberals ruled under Poul
Hartlingat only 22 seats. Until 1982, the Social Democrats under Anker
Jørgensen formed minority governments, 1978-79 in coalition with the Liberal
Party. The political life of the 1970's was further colored by a number of broad
social movements that, in individual areas such as the environment and nuclear
power, "green" politics, sought to influence political decisions. Among these
movements, the women's movement was undoubtedly the most influential.
The impact of the international economic crisis in Denmark from 1974 in the
following decade created major problems for the changing governments. Stagnant
economic growth and unemployment were accompanied by significant inflation,
which was sought to be counteracted through income policy and alternating
measures. The Social Democratic government's crisis-political settlement options
were exhausted in 1982, and a coalition of bourgeois parties, the "four-leaf
clover government", consisting of the Conservative People's Party, the Left, the
Center Democrats and the Christian People's Party, took power under
Conservative Poul Schlüter.
Schlüter was the leader of alternate bourgeois governments until 1993 and
thus the longest-serving prime minister since Stauning. In 1988, the "four-leaf
clover government" was replaced by a "three-leaf clover" consisting of the
Conservative People's Party, the Left and the Radical Left, and in 1990,
government cooperation was reduced to include only the Conservatives and the
Left. Although the bourgeois coalition governments declined in every election,
they achieved significant results in a number of areas, not least through
cooperation with the Social Democrats. An energetic anti-inflationary economic
policy was implemented, removing the automatic cost-of-living adjustment,
tightening public spending and increasing the cost of consumer
loans. Competitiveness was improved, the crown strengthened, and more than
200,000 new jobs were created, but unemployment continued to rise, as did
foreign debt and tax pressures. Inflation, on the other hand, slowed down, and
from the end of the 1980's a number of factors contributed to improving the
Danish economy: the international economy turned, the trade balance improved and
the Danish external debt gradually diminished, e.g. as a result of almost
complete self-sufficiency in energy by virtue of oil and gas from the North Sea.
During this incipient progress, the bourgeois government had to resign in
January 1993 due to Minister of Justice Erik Ninn-Hansen's violation of the
Immigration Act (Tamil case), a matter that was later ruled in the first
Danish state court case in 80 years. Poul Schlüters succeeds the Prime Minister,
the Social Democrat Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, first led a four-party government of
the Social Democrats, the Radical Left, the Center Democrats and the Christian
People's Party; in the September 1994 election, the Unity List, an association
of parties and groups on the left, was represented, while the Christian People's
Party did not gain representation. Nyrup Rasmussen continued as Prime Minister
of a three-party government of the Social Democrats, the Radical Left and the
Center Democrats, which left the government in 1996. The intensified
international competition, European integration and the goal of reducing the
state's debt have set a narrow framework for governments of the past decade.
economic options. One of the main themes in Danish politics from the mid-1990's
has therefore been about the conditions and forms of maintaining and expanding
the welfare society.
Through an expansive economic policy, Nyrup Rasmussen's government succeeded
in reducing unemployment, and a number of important reforms were implemented in
the welfare system and labor market policy based on a desire to draw as many
recipients of public benefits into the labor market as possible. As part of this
strategy, the government reached an agreement with the bourgeois parties in 1998
on a change to the early retirement scheme. It should help to postpone the time
of withdrawal from the labor market. Despite a modest scope, the change led to a
violent crisis of confidence for the Social Democrats and especially Prime
Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen.
In the parliamentary elections in March 1998, the Conservative People's Party
experienced a serious setback, which was partly caused by internal strife over
the leadership of the party. The Christian People's Party again gained
representation, and the Danish People's Party and the Center Democrats made
significant progress. Immediately after the election, the Liberal Party's
leader, Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, and the Conservative leader, Per Stig Møller,
resigned. They were replaced by Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Pia Christmas-Møller,
who were replaced in 1999 by Bendt Bendtsen. On the basis of a slim majority,
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen was able to form a government in coalition with the Radical
Left.
System change 2001
The election result in November 2001 created the most radical changes in the
political balance of power since the election in 1973. The entire left wing and
especially the Social Democrats declined sharply. The Center Democrats lost all
their seats, while the Liberal Party and the Danish People's Party achieved
massive progress. The Liberal Party became Denmark's largest party, and with
parliamentary support from the Danish People's Party, the Liberal Party's
chairman, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, in 2001 prime minister of a government of the
Left and the Conservative People's Party. With the support of the Danish
People's Party, the government implemented significant and highly controversial
austerity measures in the area of refugees and immigrants in 2002. In order to
ensure fulfillment of the election promise of a tax freeze and of strengthening
the core areas of the welfare state, the government majority implemented
reductions in public expenditure by e.g. large savings on development aid and in
the field of the environment. The tone of Danish politics sharpened in the time
after the change of government. The political struggle became more and more
marked by a struggle for values and cultural attitudes. Shortly after the
Social Democrats' election defeat, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen resigned as party
chairman and was replaced by Mogens Lykketoft.
In 2003, the government majority decided that Denmark should join the
international coalition, which under the leadership of the United States carried
out an invasion of Iraq with a view to forcing a regime change. Thus, for the
first time since 1864, Denmark was at war. The international engagement also
included the deployment of troops to Afghanistan.
In the parliamentary elections in February 2005, the governing majority of
the Liberal Party, the Conservative People's Party and the Danish People's Party
consolidated its position, while the Social Democrats (the Social Democrats'
term since 2002) could not regain the loss from 2001. As a consequence, Mogens
Lykketoft resigned immediately after the election., and to his successor, party
members elected Helle Thorning-Schmidt after an intense battle against Frank
Jensen. However, the Social Democrats continued to have great difficulty in
formulating a unifying political vision and gaining prosperity among the
electorate.
The government and the Danish People's Party continued to support
participation in the US-led coalition's occupation of Iraq. In 2005-06, Denmark
went through a serious international crisis. It was caused by some caricatures
of the Prophet Muhammad in the morning newspaper Jyllands-Posten (see
the Muhammad cartoons). They aroused great anger and indignation in Muslim
circles, and in a number of countries in the Middle East, Danish representations
were attacked. The crisis also developed into a heated domestic political
showdown over whether or not one should respect faith and religious feelings in
the exercise of freedom of expression.
In domestic policy, two far-reaching reforms were implemented in
2005-06. After preparation in a structural commission, a reform was adopted
which, with effect from 2007, reduced the number of municipalities and replaced
the county municipalities with five regions, whose main tasks were the
administration of the hospital system (see the structural reform). In early
2006, a Welfare Commission issued a report with comprehensive proposals for
changes to a number of welfare schemes. Some of these proposals were used as a
basis for a settlement between the government parties, the Danish People's
Party, the Social Democrats and the Radical Left, which in particular raised the
age limit for early retirement recipients, raised the retirement age and
introduced early activation of unemployed and incentives for students to
accelerate. the studies. The main goal was to ensure that as many people work in
the labor market for as long as possible. With the desire for greater
parliamentary cooperation on the project, the government called parliamentary
elections in the autumn of 2007; it resulted in a historically different
re-election for a Liberal-led government.
Denmark - history (after 2000)
With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the conditions for Europe's
development changed. This also applies to Denmark, which has since changed in
several ways in relation to the society that was the result of the Cold War and
the time before. The development can be summed up in one word in the upheaval that
has taken place in the years around the turn of the century, both internally in
the country and in Denmark's relationship with the outside world, which seems
increasingly present, also in the individual Dane's everyday life. The break-up,
which is being felt in almost all areas of society and daily life, has met with
a strong reaction from the existing one. At the beginning of the new millennium,
Denmark was thus marked by the tension between a new global
reality, globalization, and growing focus on the national, the ethnic and the
religious. It is this very tension, the opposition between a world in disarray
and the desire to maintain known patterns and values that has characterized
Denmark since the early 1990's.
When it comes to foreign policy and the defense of Denmark's sovereignty,
globalization is seen in the form of a number of new international commitments,
which range from democracy and reform support to military interventions. At the
same time, the "drawing crisis" 2005-06 has shown that the outside world also
takes a critical part in the development in Denmark (see the Muhammad
drawings). The Danish side developed a strong political and economic commitment
in the Baltic region during the 1990's, and Denmark was among the countries that
most consistently supported the EU's and NATO's accession of the Eastern and
Central European countries as full members. Since then, the country has also
strengthened its efforts for development, democracy and human rights in other
parts of the world. At the same time, Danish forces based on Denmark's
active,The 1991 Gulf War became increasingly involved, first in the peacekeeping
operation in Bosnia in 1992, in the air war against Serbia in 1999 and in the
NATO force in Kosovo, etc., then in the international coalition in the war in
Afghanistan following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 and finally
from March 2003 to August 2007 as a member of the multinational coalition in
Iraq. From the summer of 2006, military involvement in Afghanistan increased. It
has been characteristic that Denmark, with this military participation, has
moved ever closer to an active intervention policy, based more on alliance
policy and consideration for human rights than on a more traditional binding on
the UN and classical international law.
Conversely, changing Danish governments in the same period in referendums
have encountered opposition to a constant deepening of Denmark's participation
in the European integration process, translated into reservations regarding full
participation in some of the parts of European co-operation that appear most
dynamic during the period., in particular the economic-monetary, security and
legal fields. With a flimsy no in the 1992 referendum on Denmark's ratification
of the Maastricht Treaty on the European Union, a yes the following year to the
Treaty with four Danish reservations and a no in 2000 to Denmark's participation
in the third phase of Economic and Monetary Union, a development process has
been drawn. notwithstanding the ratification in 1998 of the Amsterdam Treaty and
in 2001 ofThe Treaty of Nicehas created uncertainty about Denmark's anchoring in
the core of countries that want to participate in a stronger and more binding
European cooperation. The EU's pause for reflection "following the failure of
France and the Netherlands to ratify the European Constitutional Treaty in 2005
and the prospect of a further expansion of the EU membership's current issues
regarding Denmark's overall European orientation in general and the political
position on the reservations in particular. There still seems to be a division
in the population about how Denmark's sovereignty and welfare are best defended
and developed: For some, the starting point is that Denmark should hold back in
the European integration process in order to ensure national self-determination
in as many areas of society as possible. Others believe that Denmark can only,
through full participation in the European development process, assert the
interests that together constitute the country's sovereignty. At the same time,
the course of the drawing crisis and a more critical international commentary on
aspects of national development have exposed the country's vulnerability in a
globalized world and the importance of support from related countries. It is not
clear how this experience in the long term will affect the population's view of
Denmark's position in European co-operation and other international
engagement. At the same time, the course of the drawing crisis and a more
critical international commentary on aspects of national development have
exposed the country's vulnerability in a globalized world and the importance of
support from related countries. It is not clear how this experience in the long
term will affect the population's view of Denmark's position in European
co-operation and other international engagement. At the same time, the course of
the drawing crisis and a more critical international commentary on aspects of
national development have exposed the country's vulnerability in a globalized
world and the importance of support from related countries. It is not clear how
this experience in the long term will affect the population's view of Denmark's
position in European co-operation and other international engagement.
Overall, the country is thus in its relationship with the outside world in
the paradoxical situation that it is both deeper and more actively politically,
economically and militarily connected with the outside world than ever before,
and at the same time in significant areas unresolved both in relation to
European development and above for the growing international commitment to
development nationally in Denmark.
A similar fracture is found in domestic politics. Here the settlement of the
Cold War meantloss of external pressure, which for more than 100 years was a
prerequisite for Danish politics and societal development. The change of
domestic political opinion could therefore unfold in the years around the turn
of the millennium without the compelling consideration of changing external
threats of previous decades. At the same time, with a strong focus on the issues
of globalization, it has moved away from the well-known opposition between
easily recognizable views on the left and right wings, respectively. As a
result, the large group of publicly and privately employed wage workers has also
changed its role and attitude. The group increasingly sees itself as critical
citizens and volatile voters in a welfare society whose political parties with
toned-down ideological profiles compete for who can most credibly manage and
further develop welfare. Overall, from the beginning of the 1990's, Denmark has
experienced significant economic progress, where material welfare and
consumption have increased, driven both by a significant increase in production
and exports and by rising revenues from oil and natural gas. The image of
Denmark in the world is marked in contrast by respect for the distinctive and
successful economic-social model that unites adaptability, dynamism and
security, internationally known asflexicurity, and a growing critique
of Denmark's refugee and immigration policy.
At the same time, globalization, with the breakdown of known structures and
the opening up of the country to people, goods, capital and culture, has
underlined the uncertainty of where development is heading. The focus is on the
often problematic encounter between Danish culture and immigrant culture and a
renewed interest in religiously conditioned values, not least in the clash
between secular society and Islam. Both tendencies have contributed to weakening
the political parties' anchoring in certain population groups. The democratic
power struggle has in a new way opened up for nationally conditioned changes of
mood, such as it has been expressed with the building of the Danish
People's Party as a significant political factor with both parliamentary and
economic co-responsibility and with the changes in several of the other parties'
mutual balance of power and positioning. At the same time, the advancement of
information technology in itself changes the supporting structures of society,
just as access to the Internet and satellite TV has created new sub- and mass
cultures that permeate both locally, nationally and globally and enable Danes
with ethnic ties to other countries and cultures. to maintain close contact with
like-minded people all over the globe. Thanks to this development, the former,
nationally entrenched common worldview has to some extent been replaced by a
plurality of competing, internationally entrenched views of the world and its
development. The tendency has been that the established political system on that
basis tries to focus on continued improvement and rationalization of the welfare
society within the supranational cooperation, which increasingly determines
external and internal conditions for the development of society. The incipient
outsourcing and liquidation of state monopolies and ownership of infrastructure
are examples of this effort. The ambitious investments of the 1990's in the major
bridges and Ørestad as well as the work in the middle of the new millennium's
first decade with globalization strategies and long-term welfare reforms can
also be seen as part of the efforts to secure the future of "Welfare State
Denmark".
In this situation, the population is again divided between different notions
of how Denmark as a nation and state can and should relate to the challenges of
globalization. This schism, which transcends well-known party divisions and
conflicts of interest, has increasingly set the political agenda. On the one
hand, globalization itself with the opening of borders and changes in the
composition of the population is perceived as a starting point for a modernist
social project that is probably based on old values, but which has definitely
abandoned the notion that the Denmark of the future will be a reflection of the
past. In this perspective, change is not seen as a threat, but as a
necessity. Immigrantsis similarly seen as a resource whose quality and active
participation in the labor market are crucial parameters for the functioning of
society and future competitiveness in the global market. The Danish are
perceived less as something ethnically and culturally local and more as a set of
values that belong to a modern, open welfare society. The vision will be a
multi-ethnic Denmark based on integration, not assimilation. On the other hand,
the increasingly radical opening of Denmark to the world is perceived as a
growing threat, not least for the population groups that have the most
difficulty in benefiting from the globalization that, among other things, means
that one tenth of all Danish jobs disappear annually and approximately one third of
all workers, a total of approximately 800,000, every year have to change
jobs. Immigration, the growing role of Islam, binding international co-operation
and the flagging out of the jobs of the least educated, here, come to symbolize
an image of the enemy, which ultimately results in the perception that the near
and well-known, even the very values of democracy, are threatened by it.
strangers and strangers. It will be for these often socially disadvantaged
sections of the population and for the parties that want to represent them, a
goal in itself to shield Denmark from further immigration and external
adaptation requirements. The perspective of a multi-ethnic Denmark is rejected,
as is Denmark's further participation in the European integration process. In
relation to the rapid globalization of the surrounding countries, this effort
may be slowing down. It is also characteristic here that the international and
cosmopolitan thrive in contradictory interactions with the local and the near,
and that the conflict between "them" and "us" has been given a more prominent
place in a polarized political debate. In relation to the rapid globalization of
the surrounding countries, this effort may be slowing down. It is also
characteristic here that the international and cosmopolitan thrive in
contradictory interactions with the local and the near, and that the conflict
between "them" and "us" has been given a more prominent place in a polarized
political debate. In relation to the rapid globalization of the surrounding
countries, this effort may be slowing down. It is also characteristic here that
the international and cosmopolitan thrive in contradictory interactions with the
local and the near, and that the conflict between "them" and "us" has been given
a more prominent place in a polarized political debate.
The world has come closer to Denmark since the turn of the millennium, and
Denmark has made its first experiences with a global public that has its own
perception of development and its own agendas for how it is interpreted. While
Denmark in the economic and business field has had outstanding success with
globalization, the meeting with the outside world still gives rise to serious
tensions when it comes to foreign policy, integration, culture and the cohesion
of society.
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