Norway

F

Second Union with Sweden

After 1815 the Storting was chiefly occupied with stabilizing and improving the financial condition of Norway and in implementing and guarding its newly won self-governance. Despite the bitter opposition of Swedish king Charles XIV John, an autocratic monarch, the Norwegian legislature passed a law in 1821 abolishing the titles of the nobility. The Storting held that the true Norwegian nobles were the peasant descendants of the medieval barons. Norwegian nationalism increased, and the Storting complained that Swedish treatment of Norway was inconsistent with the spirit of the Act of Union and with the status of Norway as a coequal state. In 1839 Charles XIV John appointed a joint committee of Swedes and Norwegians to revise the wording of the Act of Union. King Charles died in 1844, before the committee submitted its report. His son, Oscar I, admitted the justice of many Norwegian claims, and he granted Norway a national flag for its navy, although the flag bore the symbol of union with Sweden.

G

Rising Nationalism

A liberal movement in Norwegian politics, which accompanied the surge of nationalism, became more pronounced after the revolutions of 1848 in the major countries of Europe. Political nationalism was bolstered by intellectual and cultural nationalism. Norwegian folktales and folk songs were collected and arranged and became highly popular. Norwegian dictionaries, histories, and grammars were compiled. The literary renaissance included such writers as Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Jonas Lie, and Alexander Kielland.

When, in 1860, Sweden began to propose revisions in the Act of Union designed to enhance its power, the two greatest Norwegian political parties—the Lawyers Party and the Peasant Party—combined to form the liberal Venstre (Left) Party and blocked the revisions. Led by Johan Sverdrup, president of the Storting, the Norwegian legislature engaged in a long struggle with King Oscar II of Sweden over the issue of whether the king or the Storting would choose the cabinet (executive) in Norway. Under established tradition, the cabinet was responsible only to the Swedish king, giving the crown a permanent veto on legislation. Oscar was forced to yield in 1884, following the impeachment of his members from the Norwegian cabinet and their removal from office. Afterward, Oscar appointed Sverdrup to lead the first government responsible to the Storting, and Norway became a parliamentary democracy.

Once Norway had attained control over executive power, Norwegians demanded their own foreign minister to negotiate on behalf of the country. This was seen in Sweden as a threat to the authority of the king, and Sweden refused to capitulate. As a substitute policy, however, Norway demanded a separate consular service (to regulate Norway’s international economic and commercial relations) and a Norwegian flag for its merchant marine without the symbol of union. The flag was approved by Sweden in 1898, but Sweden balked at the demand for a consular service. Finally, in 1905, led by Prime Minister Christian Michelsen, the Storting declared the union with Sweden dissolved. In a plebiscite in August 1905 the Norwegian people voted overwhelmingly for separation from Sweden. The Swedish Riksdag (legislature) ratified the separation in October. A month later Prince Carl of Denmark accepted the Norwegian crown as Håkon VII.

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H

Independence

The Norwegian government, dominated by ministers with liberal politics, quickly became one of the most progressive in Europe in matters such as unemployment insurance benefits, old-age pensions, and liberal laws concerning divorce and illegitimacy. In 1913 Norwegian women achieved the right to vote in all national elections. In addition, new laws were passed to restrain foreign investment in Norway. The achievement of complete political independence coincided with the beginning of industrialization spurred by the development of waterpower and hydroelectricity. During the early 20th century the Norwegian merchant marine expanded its fleet of steam-powered ships, and Norwegian whaling vessels led the exploitation of waters around Antarctica.

I

Norway During the World Wars

After the beginning of World War I in 1914 the sovereigns of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark agreed to maintain the neutrality of the Scandinavian countries and to cooperate for their mutual interest. This policy of neutrality and friendship continued as the joint policy of all three nations after the war ended. The world economic depression that began in 1929 affected Norway considerably because of the country’s dependence on international commerce. In 1935 the Labor Party was elected to power and it continued the policies of progressive liberalism that had dominated Norwegian politics since 1905.

Norway maintained its traditional neutrality when World War II began in 1939. Despite sympathy for Finland during the Russo-Finnish phase of the conflict, Norway rejected an Anglo-French demand for transit of troops to aid Finland. Germany’s maritime warfare along the Norwegian coast, however, made neutrality increasingly difficult. On April 8, 1940, the United Kingdom and France announced that they had mined Norwegian territorial waters to prevent their use by German supply ships. The next day German forces invaded Norway, occupying all the major cities and important ports in a well-coordinated and long-planned assault.

Within three weeks German troops had fanned out into the hinterland, dispersing the isolated Norwegian forces that remained. King Håkon VII and his cabinet, after an unsuccessful attempt at resistance, fled to the United Kingdom in June, where they continued to direct the merchant marine and a small infantry, navy, and air force. The Storting had empowered the king and the cabinet to exercise sovereignty from abroad, and for five years thereafter, London was the seat of the Norwegian government-in-exile.

Political leaders in Norway refused to cooperate in any way with Josef Terboven, the German commissioner. In September 1940 Terboven dissolved all political parties except the fascist and pro-German Nasjonal Samling (National Union), which had never won a seat in the Storting. Terboven set up a governing council composed of National Union members and other German sympathizers, and announced the abolition of the monarchy and the Storting. In 1942 Germany installed a puppet government in Norway under National Union leader Vidkun Quisling. However, resistance to the Germans and to the puppet regime was widespread. As the Norwegian opposition became more organized, general strikes and other forms of passive resistance gave way to large-scale industrial sabotage and espionage on behalf of the Allied Powers. Germany’s response, which included declarations of martial law and death sentences for conspirators, did little to contain the resistance.

The leaders of the resistance in Norway cooperated closely with the government-in-exile in London, preparing for eventual liberation. The German forces in Norway finally surrendered on May 8, 1945, and King Håkon returned to Norway in June. The immediate tasks facing Norway were reconstruction of an economy that had been stripped of its resources and the prosecution of about 90,000 alleged cases of treason and defection. To punish traitors, capital punishment, abolished in 1876, was restored (it was subsequently abolished again in 1979). Quisling—whose name has since become synonymous with treason—along with 23 other Norwegians, was tried and executed. The government-in-exile resigned after order was reestablished.

J

Labor Governments

J

1

Postwar Reconstruction

In the general elections of October 1945, the Labor Party won a majority of votes, bringing to power a Labor cabinet headed by Einar Gerhardsen. The party remained in power for the next 20 years. Under its stewardship, Norway developed into a social democracy and welfare state, became a charter member of the United Nations (UN) in 1945, participated in the European Recovery Program in 1947, and joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949. NATO membership, by which Norway abandoned its traditional neutrality, was tacitly approved by the Norwegian people in the elections of October 1949.

The Norwegian economy came out of the war badly damaged by German exploitation and by domestic sabotage; retreating German troops burned many northern towns. Reconstruction began at once, directed by the Labor government. The government soon took over the planning of the entire economy in order to strengthen Norway’s position in international markets and redistribute the national wealth along more egalitarian lines. Subsidies were given to various industries and price controls were imposed on goods and services. Within three years, Norwegian gross domestic product (GDP) had reached its prewar level. This development was accompanied by new social legislation that greatly increased the welfare of the citizens. In 1959 Norway became one of the founding members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), a trading bloc that went into force the following year.

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