VI.

History

People have lived on the Jutland Peninsula for thousands of years, since shortly after the last ice age ended about 10,000 years ago. The earliest inhabitants were nomadic hunters and gatherers. By about 3000 BC, a farming people inhabited parts of the peninsula. They were replaced by warriors from the south about 2000 BC. By the 1st century AD, small farming villages had been reestablished on Jutland. In the 5th and 6th centuries AD, the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, who then inhabited parts of Denmark and northern Germany, invaded England.

A.

Age of the Vikings

The Vikings were Scandinavian warrior-sailors who dominated the seas of Europe from about the 9th century to the 11th century. They were excellent shipbuilders and the finest seafarers of their age. As both plunderers and traders, they were known from Russia to Iceland and from the British Isles to the shores of the Black Sea. The Vikings originally lived along the shores of Denmark and Norway. By the 10th century they had established settlements in eastern England and in Normandy, in northern France (see Normans). They had also ventured east across the Atlantic Ocean to Iceland, Greenland, and even North America. By the middle of the 10th century, Denmark had become a united kingdom under King Harold Bluetooth.

Harold Bluetooth had forsaken paganism for Christianity, and he initiated the Christianization of the Danes. Harold’s son, Sweyn I, conquered all of England in 1013 and 1014. During the reign of Sweyn’s son, Canute II, the Danish realm expanded to include Norway. The unified kingdom, which also included part of southern Sweden, declined after Canute’s death in 1035, and by 1042 Denmark’s union with England and Norway had been dissolved. For the next century, Denmark was torn by civil wars and outbreaks of violence.

B.

Expansion and Prosperity

In the late 12th and early 13th centuries, the Danes expanded to the east. They conquered the greater part of the southern coastal areas of the Baltic Sea, establishing a powerful and prosperous realm twice the size of modern Denmark. In this era of expansion, feudalism in Denmark attained its zenith. The kingdom became wealthier and more powerful than it had ever been. Most of the country’s once-free peasantry saw their rights reduced. The era saw marked economic progress, principally in the development of the herring-fishing industry and in raising livestock. This progress promoted the rise of merchants and craftsmen and of a number of guilds.

Growing discord between the Danish crown and the nobility led to a struggle in which the nobility, in 1282, compelled King Eric V to sign a charter, sometimes referred to as the Danish Magna Carta. By the terms of this charter, the Danish crown was subordinated to law, and the assembly of lords, called the Danehof, became an integral part of the administrative institutions.

A temporary decline in Danish power after the death of Christopher II in 1332 was followed, in the reign of Waldemar IV, by the reestablishment of Denmark as the leading political power on the Baltic Sea. However, the Hanseatic League, a commercial federation of European cities, controlled trade.

C.

The Kalmar Union

In 1380 Denmark and Norway were joined in a union under one king, Oluf III (called Olaf IV in Norway), a grandson of Waldemar IV. With Norway came the possessions of Iceland and the Faroe Islands. After Oluf’s death in 1387, his mother, Margaret I, reigned in his place. In 1389 she obtained the crown of Sweden and began the struggle, completed successfully in 1397, to form the Union of Kalmar, a political union of the three realms. Denmark was the dominant power, but Swedish aristocrats strove repeatedly—and with some success—for Sweden’s autonomy within the union.

The Kalmar Union lasted until 1523, when Sweden won its independence in a revolt against the tyrannical Christian II. The revolt leader, Gustav Vasa, was elected king of Sweden as Gustav I shortly afterward. A period of unrest followed as Lübeck, the strongest Hanseatic city, interfered in Danish politics. With help from Sweden’s king, Lübeck’s interference ended and Christian III consolidated his power as king of Denmark.

D.

The Reformation Period

During Christian III’s reign (1534-1559) the Protestant Reformation triumphed in Denmark, and the Lutheran church was established as the state church. At this time the Danish kings began to treat Norway as a province rather than as a separate kingdom. Denmark’s commercial and political rivalry with Sweden for domination of the Baltic Sea intensified. From 1563 to 1570 Sweden and Denmark fought the indecisive Nordic Seven Years’ War and later, the War of Kalmar (1611-1613).

The intervention of Christian IV in the religious struggle in Germany on behalf of the Protestant cause in the 1620s led to Danish participation in the Thirty Years’ War. Continued rivalry with Sweden for primacy in the north led to the Swedish Wars of 1643 to 1645 and 1657 to 1660. Denmark was badly defeated and lost several of its Baltic islands and all of its territory on the Scandinavian Peninsula except Norway.

E.

Absolute Monarchy

Economic reverses resulting from these defeats had far-reaching consequences in Denmark. The growing commercial class, hard hit by the loss of foreign markets and trade, joined with the monarchy to curtail the power and privileges of the nobility. In 1660, capitalizing on the nobility’s unpopularity after its poor military performance in the Swedish Wars, Frederick III carried out a coup d’état against the aristocratic Council of the Realm. The monarchy, which until then had been largely dependent for its political power on the aristocracy, was made hereditary, and in 1661 it became absolute. The monarchy ended the tax-exemption privileges of the nobility, and nobles were replaced by commoners as local administrators.

In the 18th century Denmark began the colonization of Greenland. Danish trade in East Asia expanded, and trading companies were established in the Caribbean Sea in the Virgin Islands (see Virgin Islands of the United States). In 1788 the Danish crown abolished constraints on the liberties of the peasants, and in the following decades an agricultural enclosure movement greatly enhanced the production of livestock and crops.

During the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815), efforts by England to blockade the European continent led to naval clashes with Denmark. Copenhagen was twice bombarded by British fleets, first in 1801 and again in 1807, and the Danish navy was destroyed. As a result, Denmark was largely cut off from Norway. The Danish monarch reluctantly sided with French emperor Napoleon I. By the Peace of Kiel (1814) Denmark ceded the island of Helgoland to the British and gave Norway to Sweden. In return, Denmark obtained Swedish Pomerania (see Pomerania), which it later exchanged for Lauenburg, previously held by Prussia.

F.

Constitutional Monarchy

A growing demand for constitutional government in Denmark led to the proclamation of the constitution of 1849. Denmark became a constitutional monarchy, in which civil liberties were guaranteed and a bicameral (two-chamber) legislature was established to share legislative power with the Crown. German nationalism in Schleswig and Holstein (see Schleswig-Holstein), both hereditary duchies held by the kings of Denmark, presented the Danes with serious problems in the wake of the Revolutions of 1848. The two duchies had long been objects of dispute between Danish kings and German monarchs. With diplomatic aid from Russia, Denmark prevailed in a first test of strength in mid-century, but in 1864 Prussia and Austria went to war with the Danes to prevent incorporation of Schleswig into Denmark’s territory and constitutional structure. The Danes were defeated and lost possession of the two duchies and of other territory.

In 1866 the Danish constitution was revised, making the upper chamber (Landsting) more powerful than the lower house (Folketing). During the last decades of the 19th century, commerce, industry, and finance flourished. Dairy farming and the cooperative movement expanded, and the working class grew in size as industry expanded. After 1880 the newly organized Social Democratic party played a major role in the Danish labor movement and in the struggle for a more democratic constitution. The principle of parliamentary government was recognized in 1901, ending a long political deadlock between the Crown and the Landsting on one side and democratic forces in the Folketing on the other side.

G.

Territorial Changes During the World Wars

Denmark declared its neutrality during World War I (1914-1918). In 1917 Denmark sold the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea to the United States. Constitutional reforms enacted in 1915 established many of the basic features of the present governmental system. Universal suffrage went into effect in 1918. The same year Denmark recognized the independence of Iceland, but continued to exercise pro forma control of the foreign policy of the new state, and the Danish king remained the head of state in Iceland. In 1920 North Schleswig was incorporated into Denmark as a result of a plebiscite carried out in accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Versailles; the southern part of Schleswig had voted to remain in Germany.

In May 1939 Denmark signed a ten-year nonaggression pact with Nazi Germany (see National Socialism). Despite this agreement, in April 1940 Germany invaded and occupied Denmark, although the Danish government was able to maintain control over much of its legal and domestic affairs until 1943. The Danish police helped Denmark’s 6,000 Jews to escape safely to neutral Sweden on the eve of their arrest and deportation. The United Kingdom occupied the Faroe Islands, and in 1941 the United States established a temporary protectorate over Greenland, building various weather stations and air bases on the island. In 1944 Iceland, following a national referendum, severed all ties with Denmark and proclaimed itself an independent republic.

H.

International Engagement and Constitutional Reform

After World War II Denmark became a charter member of the United Nations (UN) and was one of the original signatories of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949. Subsequently Denmark became a member of other international organizations, including the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Economic Community (a forerunner of the European Union, or EU).

In 1953 Denmark adopted a revised constitution. The constitution created a unicameral parliament, permitted female accession to the throne, and included Greenland as an integral part of Denmark. Greenland was granted home rule in 1979. In 2008 Greenlanders approved a referendum to give them more autonomy from Denmark, including a greater say in foreign affairs and a larger share of the island’s oil revenues. Under the terms of the referendum Greenland would control its own police and court system, along with its coast guard. It would lose some subsidies provided by Denmark. The autonomy plan was to go into effect in June 2009.

Four decades of dominance by the Social Democratic party ended with the 1968 elections. Hilmar Baunsgaard, leader of the Radical Liberal party, formed a coalition government that lasted until 1971, when Jens Otto Krag, a former Social Democratic prime minister, retained office. King Frederick IX died in 1972 and was succeeded by his daughter, Margrethe II, the first queen to reign over Denmark since Margaret I more than five and a half centuries earlier. Later that year Krag resigned and was replaced as prime minister and party leader by Anker Jørgensen.

I.

Economic Troubles

From 1973 to 1984, Denmark was ruled by a series of weak governments. No single party or group of closely allied parties held a working majority. During this period, the global economic slowdown triggered by the 1973 oil crisis hit Denmark sharply. Inflation and trade deficits increased and unemployment, which had virtually disappeared in the late 1960s, became chronically high. Denmark’s economic slowdown continued throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.

Liberals and Social Democrats headed the governments until September 1982, when Poul Schlüter became Denmark’s first Conservative prime minister in nearly a century. Elections in 1984, 1987, 1988, and 1990 returned Schlüter’s center-right coalition to office as a minority government. Under Schlüter, the government instituted a series of austerity measures to increase economic growth. They included an effort to suppress inflation by not indexing wages to the cost of living and imposing modest wage settlements when collective bargaining failed.

J.

Foreign Policy Shifts

Although the Schlüter coalition enjoyed solid support for its domestic reforms, the government’s foreign policy remained controversial. The revival of the Cold War in Europe in 1979 disappointed many Danes. The Social Democrats challenged Denmark’s national security policies, putting forward an agenda that was anti-NATO, pacifistic, skeptical of military confrontation in Europe, and strongly anti-nuclear. In 1985 the Folketing passed legislation barring future construction of nuclear power plants in the country, and the government agreed to help establish a Nordic nuclear-free zone.

The dramatic end of the Cold War and the collapse of communist governments in Eastern Europe after 1989 changed the Danish foreign policy agenda. Denmark demonstrated a new international activism through modest participation in the Persian Gulf War (1990-1991), active encouragement and support for the newly independent Baltic states, and support for the rapid integration of the former communist states into a democratic and capitalist Europe. Denmark sent significant military forces for peacekeeping in the Balkan Peninsula during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia (Wars of Yugoslav Succession).

During this period, however, the Danes themselves demonstrated skepticism regarding European integration. In 1992 Danish voters narrowly rejected the Maastricht Treaty, which provided for increased political and monetary integration within the European Community (now the European Union). After modifications to the pact that promised exemptions from certain standards for Denmark—including the right not to participate in a common European defense force or to adopt the EU’s common currency, the euro—the Danes voted their approval in May 1993.

K.

Growing Tensions Over Immigration

In the wake of a scandal over immigration visas, Prime Minister Schlüter abruptly resigned in January 1993. The scandal demonstrated a deeper change among the Danish people, for centuries an ethnically homogenous society. During the 1990s, a soaring number of refugees, especially from lands of the former Yugoslavia, the Middle East, and South Asia, fueled high levels of immigration in Denmark. Efforts by the Schlüter government to prevent political refugees from Sri Lanka from joining their families already in Denmark led to a scandal of historic proportions. The government’s illegal administrative measures forced Schlüter’s resignation and shone a spotlight on emergent social tensions within Denmark.

After Schlüter stepped down, a new majority coalition government was formed, with Social Democrat Poul Nyrup Rasmussen as prime minister—the first majority coalition government since 1971. In elections held in September 1994, the coalition headed by Rasmussen retained power, but it lost its majority in the Folketing. After shuffling his coalition slightly, Rasmussen was returned to office once again in 1998 with a majority of just one seat. In September 1999 Rasmussen issued an official apology to a group of Greenland Inuit (known as the Inughuit) who were evicted illegally from their homes and hunting grounds nearly 50 years earlier to allow for the expansion of a key United States airbase at Thule. The apology followed a ruling by a Danish court that Denmark’s government had violated Inughuit rights.

L.

Denmark in the 21st Century

In November 2001, following a surge of support for his government after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, the prime minister called a snap election. Despite a high turnout, however, the Social Democrat-led government was defeated, and the center-right Liberal Party emerged as Denmark’s largest political party. A minority coalition government composed of the Liberal Party and the Conservative People’s Party replaced the Social Democrat-led government. Liberal Party leader Anders Fogh Rasmussen was named prime minister. The far right, anti-immigration Danish People’s Party, which became the third largest party in the Folketing, agreed to support the Liberal-Conservative coalition.

As prime minister, Rasmussen vowed to halt the growth of taxes while maintaining the nation’s social welfare system. In 2004 Rasmussen’s government succeeded in pushing through a package of modest tax cuts. Rasmussen’s government also announced that it would move quickly to impose new immigration and asylum restrictions, and a new ministry of refugees, immigration, and integration was created. In July 2002 the government succeeded in passing the tough new restrictions—among the most stringent in Europe—into law. By 2004 immigration to Denmark had declined by nearly 80 percent from its 2001 level.

L.1.

Denmark on the World Stage

During the controversial U.S.-led military invasion of Iraq beginning in March 2003, Denmark sent two naval vessels and a small contingent of troops to help oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (U.S.-Iraq War). The Rasmussen government’s strong support for the invasion sparked deep divisions within the Danish public; a bare majority of the Folketing voted in favor of the action. After the ouster of Hussein, Denmark deployed a peacekeeping force in Iraq. However, allegations that the Danish government exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq to justify the invasion forced the resignation of the government’s defense minister, Svend Aage, in April 2004. Four months later, in August, a scandal broke out over the alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners by Danish soldiers.

In 2006 Denmark became the center of an international controversy after protests began to spread throughout the Islamic world against cartoons published in September 2005 in Denmark’s largest-circulation newspaper. The cartoons depicted the prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam. Any attempt to depict Muhammad is generally regarded as blasphemous among Muslims. One cartoon portrayed Muhammad as a terrorist.

Leaders of Denmark’s Muslim community, which numbers about 200,000, objected when the cartoons were published, saying it was part of a growing climate of hostility against Muslims in Denmark. The editor-in-chief of the Danish newspaper apologized for the offense, but a number of newspapers in Europe and elsewhere reprinted the cartoons as an issue of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. In response, demonstrations, often violent, took place throughout the Islamic world. A number of Islamic countries withdrew their ambassadors from Denmark, and in early February Danish embassies and consulates were attacked and burned in Lebanon, Syria, and Iran. Many Muslim leaders also called for boycotts of Danish goods.

L.2.

Recent Elections

Buoyed by a healthy economy, the popular curbs on immigration, and a pledge to keep taxes from rising, Prime Minister Rasmussen scheduled a snap election for February 2005. Despite some lingering concerns over Denmark’s Iraq policy, Rasmussen and his center-right coalition secured a second term in office, winning about 54 percent of the vote.

Rasmussen again called early elections in late 2007, counting on high approval ratings and a strong economy to give his government a fresh mandate for additional reforms in the public sector. His Liberal Party and its coalition allies won 90 seats in the 179-seat Folketing—a narrow, one-seat majority. The opposition led by the Social Democratic Party secured 84 seats. The New Alliance, a newly formed party led by a Syrian-born Muslim, Naser Khader, won 5 seats. It represented a moderate centrist position between the two polarized extremes in Denmark. Although the party generally agreed with the Liberal Party on many issues, it supported the relaxation of immigration laws.

In April 2009 Rasmussen was named secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). He was succeeded as prime minister and Liberal Party leader by Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the finance minister.