Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
vote. Hydroelectric projects sprang up all around the country and prosperous new indus-
tries emerged to drive the increasingly growing export economy.
Having emerged from WWI largely unscathed - Norway was neutral, although some
Norwegian merchant vessels were sunk by the Germans - Norway grew in confidence. In
1920 the
storting
voted to join the newly formed League of Nations, a move that was op-
posed only by the Communist-inspired Labour Party that dominated the
storting
by 1927.
The 1920s also brought new innovations, including the development of factory ships,
which enabled processing of whales at sea and caused an increase in whaling activities, es-
pecially around Svalbard and in the Antarctic.
Trouble, however, lay just around the corner. The Great Depression of the late 1920s
and beyond almost brought Norway to its knees. By December 1932 there was 42% unem-
ployment and farmers were hit especially hard by the economic downturn.
