Status Updates From A History of Denmark

Denmark has maintained her position throughout her thousand-year-long history. Her inhabitants represent one of the few peoples in Europe that have never suffered from large-scale invasions or population transfers and so today can really claim, for the most part, to be the descendants of the “Danes” of the Stone Age

Denmark is a cat that always lands on its feet

Small countries must soberly face the fact that their production may become superfluous because despite everything it would hardly be noticed in the trade of the world if it should disappear.

The agreement into which Denmark's ambassador to the US had entered was that the US should take Greenland under her protection and in return be permitted to establish her military bases there for “the duration of the present situation”. But “present situations” have a habit of lasting more or less indefinitely

A resistance began in the form of small privately organized independent groups, which, though not capable of much to start with, soon developed into useful sabotage units. When the government started condemning acts of sabotage and all forms of resistance, and ordered the police and the law courts to intervene actively, both the government and its official organs began to lose their authority over the population

[about the no-aggression pact between Hitler’s Germany and Denmark] Help from abroad was something Denmark had on previous occasions waited for in vain. No nation helps another unless such help happens to suit its own book

But behind all the political activity, the defeat had another effect. Once again, Denmark’s strange ability to recover quickly from disasters and catastrophes revealed itself. Under the motto “what is lost outwardly is inwardly won”, work commenced on the consolidation of the country within the extremely limited framework available.

Napoleon III had a clause inserted in the Austro-Prussian peace treaty, paragraph 5, to the effect that the northern part of Slesvig was to be returned to Denmark "later", after a plebiscite. However the Prussian army defeated the French in 1871 and eight years later, with Austria's agreement, Bismarck deleted this paragraph 5; Slesvig was German.

Although it is correct from a political standpoint that democracy was introduced to Denmark in 1849, in reality it was based upon very ancient traditions that provided a foundation upon which it could rest for hundreds, even thousands, of years.

The ancient Danish rural settlements had always been independent. Throughout the land people were accustomed to discussing matters at meetings and making decisions.

the reason it fell late is because during that 190-year period none of Denmark's kings had been tyrants, and the administration of justice had never become arbitrary.

In fact, Molesworth, the scorner of Denmark's system of absolute monarchy, stated that her state of legislation was better and more reliable, and her courts of law more approachable and cheaper than in England, despite England's political freedom.

Frederick VI agreed to concede Norway peacefully but advised Norway’s ruler to ensure a noble list of rights first. Then he ends with “then I shall see in thee a great man, one that hath spared Norway from anarchy and done everything within his power to save the fates of 900,000 people. God, who knoweth my heart, will not, when we come before his judgment seat, fail to appreciate this my conduct.” verbatimgood

Napoleon knew that the Scandinavian kingdoms would refuse, and therefore gave orders to Marshal Bernadotte, who was in northern Germany at the time, to the effect that, if it should prove necessary, he was to march north into Jutland and force the Crown Prince to obey

The role of civilians in war:

“Charles X [King of Sweden] started to lay siege to the city [CPH], and in Copenhagen everybody got to work on the defense ramparts. Women, children, university students, and citizens alike all worked shoulder to shoulder. Regular shifts were organized for both work and guard duty. “

Christian IV was advised against joining the thirty years war but he went in. After a deciding defeat, he was never the same. The Swedish king proposed joining the war as an alliance. Christian refused. The Swedish king entered the war without Denmark, changed the tides of the war, then invaded Jutland and recieved Norwegian and Danish islands as well as the Halland province of Scania in return for peace ☮️

Christian IV was advised against joining the thirty years war but he went in. After a deciding defeat, he was never the same. The Swedish king proposed joining the war as an alliance. Christian refused. The Swedish king entered the war without Denmark, changed the tides of the war, then invaded Jutland and recieved Norwegian and Danish islands as well as the Halland province of Scania in return for peace ☮️

(Christian IV) “…personally completed both rough sketches and finished architectural drawings, personally tested the mortar used at building sites and criticized it, conducted negotiations with foreign ambassadors, wrote and spoke several languages, loved good music and was the founder of a distinguished era in Danish organ-building and the demands made upon Danish organists.”

(Christian IV) “He worked and he gave orders. More than 3,000 letters originating from his own hand have been preserved. He was indefatigable. Nothing escaped his attention and he poked his nose into everything. He ruled his two kingdoms rather in the manner of a careful country squire, and completed one building after another in the manner of an efficient building contractor.”

Norway had fallen apart into a number of separate settlements, given how far it was to travel from one place to another. This weakened the nobility greatly. The king of Denmark Christian III reformed Norway into becoming a Danish province rather than an equal member kingdom. “This was a flagrant violation of the terms of the union, but the Norwegians were too weak to protest effectively”

“The rumour was purely fictitious, but it proved fateful to Danish rule in Sweden”

“[After Valdemar Atterdag’s death. There was no heir] Moreover the Henseatic town of Lübeck had inserted a clause in the peace treaty to the effect that it was to be consulted when a King of Denmark was elected after Valdemar’s death”

“That evening the King [Valdemar] gave a banquet on the island for his guest, and Valdemar and his son got rather drunk. During the night Heinrich and his men crept from their ship back into the island, slew the King’s bodyguard, seized the King and his son, trussed them up, carried them aboard and sailed off with them to Schwerin. So Denmark was without a King.”

“Valdemar still had big political plans, and his Danish kingdom had in the meantime won him respect. German chroniclers during these years did not date events from the birth of Christ, but from the year king Valdemar ascended the throne of Denmark”