Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Books about Vikings
A History of the Vikings,
Gwyn Jones
The Vikings,
Magnus Magnusson
The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings,
Peter Sawyer (Ed)
The Vikings,
Else Roesdahl
Denmark & Sweden - the Enemies
Talk to many Norwegians and you'll quickly find that there's no love lost between them
and their neighbours, Denmark and Sweden. Here's why.
A series of disputes between the Danish Union and the Swedish crown were played out
on Norwegian soil. First came the Seven Years War (1563-70), followed by the Kalmar
War (1611-14). Trondheim, for example, was repeatedly captured and recaptured by both
sides and during the Kalmar War an invasion of Norway was mounted from Scotland.
In two further wars during the mid-17th century Norway lost a good portion of its territ-
ory to Sweden. The Great Nordic War with the expanding Swedish Empire was fought in
the early 18th century and in 1716 the Swedes occupied Christiania (Oslo). The Swedes
were finally defeated in 1720, ending over 150 years of warfare.
Despite attempts to re-establish trade with Greenland through the formation of Norwe-
gian trading companies in Bergen in 1720, Danish trade restrictions scuppered the nascent
economic independence. As a consequence, Norway was ill-equipped to weather the so-
called 'Little Ice Age', from 1738 to 1742. The failure of crops ensured a period of famine
and the death of one-third of Norwegian cattle, not to mention thousands of people.
During the Napoleonic Wars, Britain blockaded Norway, causing the Danes to surrender
on 14 January 1814. The subsequent Treaty of Kiel presented Norway to Sweden in a
'Union of the Crowns'. Tired of having their territory divided up by foreign kings, a contin-
gent of farmers, businesspeople and politicians gathered at Eidsvoll Verk in April 1814 to
draft a new constitution and elect a new Norwegian king. Sweden wasn't at all happy at
this show of independence and forced the new king, Christian Frederik, to yield and accept
the Swedish choice of monarch, Karl Johan. War was averted by a compromise that
provided for devolved Swedish power. Norway's constitution hadn't lasted long, but it did
suggest that Norwegians had had enough.
