Search results
There are, in my opinion, two main reasons why Denmark faired quite well post WW2: 1) The evacuation of the Danish Jews in 1943 (in which, I would like to add, the neutrality of Sweden played a crucial part) and 2) Danish propaganda in London aimed at occupied Denmark and the Allied powers.
- Overview
- Parliamentary democracy and war, c. 1900–45
- Postwar Denmark, 1945–c. 1990
The Left Reform government that came to power under the Change of System in 1901 went swiftly to work on a number of reforms. Parliamentary supremacy, requiring the king to appoint a parliament-approved government, began in that year. A free-trade law that corresponded to the agricultural export interests was passed. In conformity with the ideas of N.F.S. Grundtvig, the state church was transformed into a folk church, with parochial church councils; the educational system was also democratized. In addition, the reformers changed the tax law so that income, not land, was the main criterion for taxation.
Despite the victory over the Conservatives, it soon became apparent that it was impossible for the Left Reformers, led by Jens Christian Christensen, to remain united. In 1905 a radical faction broke away to become the Radical Left Party (Radikale Venstre), the most important members of which were Peter Rochegune Munch and Ove Rode.
Between 1913 and 1920 the Radicals, supported by the Social Democrats, were in power. In 1915 the constitution was revised, and the privileged franchise to the Landsting was revoked, although the electoral qualifying age of 35 was retained. At the same time, the franchise to both the Folketing and the Landsting was extended to women, servants, and farmhands. The right-wing majority in the Landsting agreed to the constitutional reform on condition that the single-member constituency be replaced by proportional representation. There followed a number of reforms, including trial by jury and a land reform bill that aimed to redistribute land from large estates to increase the size of smallholders’ farms.
In the years leading up to World War I, it became increasingly important to define Germany’s intended attitude toward Denmark in the event of a European conflict. The Germans were well aware that the Schleswig affair had left a good many Danes with a loathing for everything German, and the constant friction between the Danish minority and the German administration in Schleswig increased the tension between the two countries. Danish governments after 1901 made persistent efforts to assure Germany of Denmark’s benevolent neutrality, but the disagreement over this policy’s implementation remained unreconciled. At the outbreak of war in 1914, Germany insisted that Denmark lay mines in the Great Belt, a strait between several Danish islands that connects the Baltic Sea with an arm of the North Sea. However, as the British fleet made no serious attempts to break through, neutrality was maintained.
World War I gave Denmark and other neutral countries good export markets in the belligerent countries, but the conflict also led to a shortage of supplies. With a widespread overseas trade, the country’s economic life was vulnerable. It became especially so in 1917, after Germany opted for unrestricted submarine warfare. (Some of Denmark’s exports to Great Britain were thereby reoriented to Germany.) There was a deficit of raw materials in both agriculture and industry, and the government rationed a number of consumer goods.
The Treaty of Versailles, signed at the end of the war, included a clause stating that part of Schleswig should revert to Denmark in accordance with the principle of self-determination. The boundary was determined by a plebiscite in 1920. The discontent that nonetheless arose as a consequence of the drawing of the boundary, coupled with labor unrest and dissatisfaction with remaining wartime restrictions, led to the fall of the government in the same year. A Left government, supported by the Conservatives, then came to power.
The Left Reform government that came to power under the Change of System in 1901 went swiftly to work on a number of reforms. Parliamentary supremacy, requiring the king to appoint a parliament-approved government, began in that year. A free-trade law that corresponded to the agricultural export interests was passed. In conformity with the ideas of N.F.S. Grundtvig, the state church was transformed into a folk church, with parochial church councils; the educational system was also democratized. In addition, the reformers changed the tax law so that income, not land, was the main criterion for taxation.
Despite the victory over the Conservatives, it soon became apparent that it was impossible for the Left Reformers, led by Jens Christian Christensen, to remain united. In 1905 a radical faction broke away to become the Radical Left Party (Radikale Venstre), the most important members of which were Peter Rochegune Munch and Ove Rode.
Between 1913 and 1920 the Radicals, supported by the Social Democrats, were in power. In 1915 the constitution was revised, and the privileged franchise to the Landsting was revoked, although the electoral qualifying age of 35 was retained. At the same time, the franchise to both the Folketing and the Landsting was extended to women, servants, and farmhands. The right-wing majority in the Landsting agreed to the constitutional reform on condition that the single-member constituency be replaced by proportional representation. There followed a number of reforms, including trial by jury and a land reform bill that aimed to redistribute land from large estates to increase the size of smallholders’ farms.
In the years leading up to World War I, it became increasingly important to define Germany’s intended attitude toward Denmark in the event of a European conflict. The Germans were well aware that the Schleswig affair had left a good many Danes with a loathing for everything German, and the constant friction between the Danish minority and the German administration in Schleswig increased the tension between the two countries. Danish governments after 1901 made persistent efforts to assure Germany of Denmark’s benevolent neutrality, but the disagreement over this policy’s implementation remained unreconciled. At the outbreak of war in 1914, Germany insisted that Denmark lay mines in the Great Belt, a strait between several Danish islands that connects the Baltic Sea with an arm of the North Sea. However, as the British fleet made no serious attempts to break through, neutrality was maintained.
World War I gave Denmark and other neutral countries good export markets in the belligerent countries, but the conflict also led to a shortage of supplies. With a widespread overseas trade, the country’s economic life was vulnerable. It became especially so in 1917, after Germany opted for unrestricted submarine warfare. (Some of Denmark’s exports to Great Britain were thereby reoriented to Germany.) There was a deficit of raw materials in both agriculture and industry, and the government rationed a number of consumer goods.
The Treaty of Versailles, signed at the end of the war, included a clause stating that part of Schleswig should revert to Denmark in accordance with the principle of self-determination. The boundary was determined by a plebiscite in 1920. The discontent that nonetheless arose as a consequence of the drawing of the boundary, coupled with labor unrest and dissatisfaction with remaining wartime restrictions, led to the fall of the government in the same year. A Left government, supported by the Conservatives, then came to power.
Following the war, the question of Denmark’s southern border arose once again as the Danish minority in German-controlled South Schleswig called for incorporation with Denmark. The idea won strong support among the local population, but in Denmark opinion was divided. In the autumn of 1946, after the United Kingdom formally requested the Danish government to state its intentions regarding South Schleswig, all parties agreed to the October Note of 1946, which rejected any alteration of the 1920 boundary between Denmark and Germany. Once the Social Democrats, under the leadership of Hans Hedtoft, returned to power in 1947, all remaining plans to pursue the boundary question were abandoned.
Meanwhile, the Danish government had made the defense of the realm a top priority in the immediate postwar period. Denmark joined the United Nations in June 1945 and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in April 1949. Its military defenses were considerably strengthened by statutes passed in 1950 and 1951 and were further complemented by armaments from the United States. Denmark nevertheless rejected a request by the United States to establish air bases on Danish territory. With West Germany’s admission to NATO, Denmark succeeded in obtaining guarantees—formalized in the Bonn Protocol of 1955—for the rights of the Danish minority in South Schleswig.
People also ask
How did the German occupation affect Denmark?
How did the Danish government change after WW2?
What happened in Denmark during WW2?
How did the German insurrection affect Denmark?
The world war and occupation, 1940–1945. Political efforts to maintain Denmark’s favourable neutral relationship with Germany required special consideration during the Nazi period. As early as the mid-1930s, the Danish government had asked the Danish press to refrain from criticising Germany and Nazism.
Nov 28, 2021 · Post-war Denmark. Denmark was a special case—a Sonderfall —in Nazi-occupied Europe. On 9 April 1940 the Danish government felt itself forced to give up the fight and under protest accept the German “offer” of a peaceful occupation.
- Henrik Lundtofte
- henlu@sydvestjyskemuseer.dk
Sep 17, 2017 · The Danish government rejected the German claims and as a consequence resigned. From then on, Denmark was administered through the heads of departments with the Germans as the real rulers. In short, the August insurrection drove a wedge between the Danish elite and the Germans that bolstered the resistance movement and internationally moved ...
- Flemming Mikkelsen
- FM@soc.ku.dk
- 2018
Denmark’s policy of accommodation did not last. After Stauning’s successor, Vilhelm Buhl, was forced to resign in November 1942 under pressure from the Germans, Scavenius, who advocated cooperation with the German authorities, became prime minister.
29 August – The Danish government resigns, leading to direct administration of Denmark by German authority. [3] 28 September – Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz, a German diplomat, after secretly making sure Sweden would receive Jewish refugees, leaks word of the German plans for the arrest and deportation of the some 8,000 Danish Jews to Hans ...
