In the period after 1750, the foundation for modern Denmark was created. There are many explanations for this, but it is certainly the case that agriculture greatly contributed to the creation of modern society with the consequent demands for political, economic, educational and social change.

Denmark was still an autocracy, but there was a rapidly growing demand for agricultural products, partly due to the incipient industrialization of the rest of Europe, especially England. This benefited financially primarily the landowners and farmers, while homesteaders and farm workers gradually gained the status that the subsistence farmers had previously had with hard work for almost no pay.

In Europe, industrialization developed and this led to an increasing population growth with a consequent increasing demand for agricultural products, such as grain and cattle. Agriculture developed new techniques to increase the area of ​​cultivation and yield, and exports flourished, so that the merchants earned large sums.

Industrialization also led to conflicts between European countries over raw materials and border areas, often ending in wars that put a brake on economic expansion.

Denmark remained neutral on the grounds that it would ultimately benefit the booming economy In 1807, Denmark had to abandon its neutral policy and entered the conflict between primarily France and England, on the French side. It became a bit of a disaster for Dannark, commercially and geographically, when Denmark after several small wars had to cede Norway to Sweden, and trade came to a standstill.

But the general economic growth led to optimism and a demand for changes in the country's form of government. This also came from the European philosophers who had their thoughts on the tasks of state power published in book form. The task of the state power was not to benefit the autocracy, but to think of the inhabitants socially and economically. Democratic thoughts sprang up, and freedom of speech in limited form was allowed.

In 1789, the French Revolution began, which came to mean so much to the ideologies behind democracy. Freedom, equality and brotherhood were code words, words that even today create debate outside and in Europe. For a short time after the revolution, France was democratic, an inspiration to the rest of Europe.

in 1788 the United States seceded from England and a democratic constitution was written that also provided inspiration for change in autocratic countries in Europe.

The Danish kingdom was not characterized by great personality, so often it was skilled ministers and civil servants who, through their work, introduced major societal reforms, ministers governing the so-called colleges.

During Christian the 7th (1766 - 1808) there were real problems for the autocracy. The king was insane and unable to pursue a policy. A young doctor from Holsten Struense had a positive influence on the king's illness. Struense belonged to the progressive part of society and through his influence on the king implemented a number of reforms. But unfortunately there were forces that believed that Struense's reforms went too far, and when he also began a relationship with the queen, he was executed in 1772 in Copenhagen.

Denmark was then for a short period ruled by a number of conservative ministers, but in 1784 a progressive group of noble landowners came to power again. The group consisted of A.P Bernstoff and Chistian Ditlev Reventlow as well as the heir to the throne, the later King Frederik the 6th.

This group launched a number of reforms that were of crucial importance to Denmark, and which still today affect the country in a large number of areas. In the period before 1754, a debate had already begun on a reform of agriculture that was still characterized by the community and structure of the Middle Ages. The good grain prices meant that there was a need to streamline agricultural operations so that production could increase.

The reforms of the central administration brought about colossal changes all the way into the small villages.

Suddenly, farms were relocated from the village community to thereby gather the agricultural land into a coherent piece of land, and in effect give the individual farmer the opportunity to dispose of his own farm operation. Liberalism found its way, the most efficient peasant could get an economic gain. In 1818, 60% of the peasants were self-employed.

The influence of the landowners direct influence was moved from old local remnant system and farms to the economic gain that the landowners gained through sales by subdivision of agriculture. Perhaps there was also a fear of a development as in France, where the nobility after the revolution were persecuted and lost their possessions.

The medieval system of hovering, ie work obligation for the farmers on the estates, was abolished, as an alternative a new social group came into being, namely the homesteaders, who often had so little land that they were forced to take work for farmers and landowners.

With the good economic conditions, the new peasantry became more and more prosperous, and they understood that this provided an opportunity for political influence, which eventually ended with them gaining government power in the early 1900s.

The increased population growth in Europe, the incipient industrialization with new social groups led to greater need for food and thus an increasing trade. Throughout Denmark, urban trade grew and merchants expanded. Large storage spaces plus grocery farms were built for goods, and not least shipping experienced a time of greatness like never before in the late 1700s. Shipbuilding flourished in the small provincial towns. Here came more and diverse crafts and local trade, but distance trade gained ground quite slowly.

But the majority of the population still lived in the countryside where they worked in agriculture.

Denmark's foreign policy was characterized by trade considerations and the country successfully pursued a policy of neutrality. The architects behind this were Secretary of State J. H. E. Bernstorff and later nephew A. P. Bernstorff.

Danish ships sailed to India, China, from where they transported goods such as tea, porcelain, silk and spices back to Denmark. Denmark reached agreements on or conquered colonies in India, Africa and Central America. From Africa, slaves were bought from the local chiefs or the Arab merchants, who under appalling conditions were transported across the Atlantic to the Danish West Indies, where they were forced to work in the sugar cane plantations. with effect from 1803.

Danish merchant ships were often escorted by warships to avoid piracy. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, there were numerous attacks by pirates primarily from North Africa that captured merchant ships and forced governments to pay ransoms for cargo and crews who otherwise ended up as slaves in sultanates in North Africa. 

There are examples of Pirates from North Africa sailing all the way up to the North Sea to plunder and capture slaves. In the early 1800s, Britain and the United States decided through military force to force Algiers, Morocco, Tunis and Tripoli to stop piracy, which was destructive to international trade.

In 1797, Secretary of State A.P. Bernstorff and the Crown Prince took over government responsibility and strengthened neutrality. In 1800, Denmark entered into a neutrality alliance with Sweden and Russia. This was considered by England as an attack on their policy, in which they were in an open war with France, now ruled by Napoleon. France wanted to block England's trade with the rest of Europe. This forced Denmark to choose sides with France.

England feared that the large Danish navy could be a help to the French ambitions, and therefore launched a war against Denmark to have the navy extradited. There followed a period of a series of naval battles between Danish gunboats and English warships. But after a bombing of Copenhagen, England was handed over the fleet.

In 1812, Napoleon went on the offensive against Russia, whereby France eventually lost the war. After the defeat of France, a peace conference was opened in Vienna in 1815, where Denmark had to cede Norway to Sweden. Many Danish merchant ships were bought by England, which also bought the Danish colonies in India and Africa. Danish trade stalled, and the important trading partner England had found elsewhere to buy food. Many farmers who had optimistically expanded during the agrarian reforms had to leave home. The reforms stalled.

Read more about this period. Links to articles will be available here:

The relationship between Sweden and Norway 1814-1905 

Jens Christian Boje Nørgaard

After centuries under Danish rule, Denmark had to cede Norway to Sweden, according to a peace treaty that was signed in Kiel on January 14, 1814. Since 1380, Denmark-Norway had been in a common union that arose when Prince Oluf II inherited Norway from his father, Håkon 6. Oluf was Håkon and Margrete's 1st only child.

Oluf the 2nd was born in 1370 and died as early as 3 August 1387. He was king in Denmark 1376-1387 and in Norway 1380-1387. But in reality it was Queen Margrete who, until he turned 15, ruled the 2 countries as his guardian. For almost 434 years the 2 countries were closely linked through trade, administration, political interests, but in 1814 disaster struck.

The background for this was that Sweden and Denmark, based on political and commercial conditions, had chosen different allies during the Napoleonic wars. Denmark-Norway chose to ally with France and later Russia. It was considered a defense alliance between the French Emperor Napoleon I and Denmark-Norway's Crown Prince Regent Frederik. In 1808, Sweden, in turn, entered into an alliance with Great Britain. Napoleon sent French and Spanish soldiers to Denmark to force Sweden not to support Britain. Russia, which was also in alliance with France, now went to war against Sweden. The consequences were that Denmark-Norway was also at war with Sweden.

These choices of different allies for Denmark and Sweden also led to several military confrontations between Denmark-Norway and Sweden.

The Swedish king Gustav Vasa the 4th chose to attack Norway in 1808. This should pave the way for a final invasion of Norway and later Denmark. However, the Swedish troops only managed to penetrate a few kilometers into Norway. Smaller army units fought battles for fortifications in the south-east of Norway.

The biggest battle took place in the spring of 1808 at Lier, where the Swedes succeeded in capturing Norwegian defenses, but then the attack came to a standstill. End of the year. A cease-fire was concluded at the southern part of the Norwegian-Swedish border, while the fighting continued for another six months in the northern part. In 1809, a peace agreement was concluded, which lasted until the agreement in Kiel in 1814.

One of the last major battles between Sweden and Denmark was at Bornhøved, approx. 20 km north of Lübeck in Schleswig in 1813, where armies from the 2 countries collided in a fierce battle with over 200 killed.

The revolt of Prussia and the German states against Napoleon in 1813 had given Denmark a chance to break the French-oriented policy, which had never been popular in Denmark, but which Denmark was forced into by England in 1807, after the English attack on North Zealand , siege and bombardment of Copenhagen.

The Danish king Frederik VI also sought contact with Napoleon's opponents in 1813, supported by Austria, but the conditions set by Sweden and England were unacceptable. It was demanded, among other things, that Denmark cede Norway to Sweden, and that control of the Danish army should be subordinated to the Swedish crown prince Carl Johan Bernadotte in the fight against Napoleon.
In effect, Sweden wanted to restore its former great power status and saw Norway as a strategically important province, a replacement for Finland, which was subjugated to Russia in 1808 after a war between the 2 states.

On 14 January 1814 peace was concluded in Kiel. Fredrik VI had to agree to cede Norway to Sweden. The Norwegians were not asked. This transition was marked by both resistance and difficult negotiations. On 16 January, Frederik the 6th wrote in his diary: "I wish I had not experienced this sad day when I had to make the confession that Norway, my dear Norway, had to be the victim for not giving up everything" Norway, which was strongly dissatisfied with joining a Swedish union, chose to take matters into his own hands and start a movement towards independence.

During some hectic and dramatic spring months, Norway got a constitution and elected the Danish prince Christian Frederik as Norwegian king during a so-called royal assembly at Eidsvoll. For a few months, Norway was a completely independent democratic state with its own king.
The National Assembly in Eidsvoll in 1814 consisted of a group of elected representatives who had been given the task of drafting a constitution for Norway. The group met in Eidsvoll in the days between 10 April and 20 May in 1814. The constitution was adopted on 17 May and the Danish prince Christian Frederik was elected king. Eidsvoll marked a showdown with autocracy and a colossal step towards democratic development that was far ahead of developments in other European countries. A constitution was adopted with 11 basic principles, all of which are the prerequisite for a real democracy.

Namely these:

1. Norway shall be a limited and hereditary monarchy; it shall be a free, independent, and indivisible kingdom, and the regent shall bear the title of king.

2. The people shall exercise legislative power through their representatives.

3. The people shall have the exclusive right to tax themselves through their representatives.

4. The right to war and peace shall belong to the regent.

5. The regent must have the right to pardon.

6. The judiciary must be exempt from the legislative and executive powers.

7. Freedom of the press must be introduced.

8. The Evangelical Lutheran religion must be the religion of the state and the regent. All religious sects present free exercise of religion; however, Jews are still barred from entering the kingdom.

9. New restrictions on the freedom of nutrition are not permitted.

10. Personal or hereditary special rights (nobility) shall not be given to anyone for the future.

11. Citizens of the state are generally obliged to protect the fatherland for a certain time regardless of status, birth or wealth
(Source: https://snl.no/Riksforsamlingen)

The initiative for the National Assembly was also initiated by Prince Christian Frederik himself, who summoned influential political citizens to the meeting in Eidsvoll. Christian Frederik was the Danish king's cousin and came to Norway disguised as a fisherman in order to escape through the English naval blockade against Denmark-Norway.
When Prince Christian Frederik received the message on January 24 about Norway's cession to Sweden, the prince wrote in a note: "That the king can believe that the Norwegian jock will willingly surrender, and that he can only believe me low enough to let it down now, I truly do not understand that”. Christian Frederik thus expressed his anger at the outcome of the negotiations in Kiel and the Danish king's acceptance. His reaction was to call the meeting in Eidsvoll.

The participants in the National Assembly were indirectly elected from the country's church congregations and the military forces. There were a total of 112 participants, 33 from the military, 25 from the market towns, 54 from the various rural areas.

Norway's adoption of a Constitution and the election of a king caused anger in Sweden. The Swedish crown prince Carl Johan Bernadotte wanted the peace agreements from Kiel fulfilled and decided to launch a military attack on Norway. On 29 May, the Swedes moved across the border, counting on a quick victory as the Swedish army had battle experience. But the Norwegians put up strong resistance. When the Swedes moved into Bohuslän, the advance was stopped at the Frederiksten fortress and despite days of bombardment the fortress held its own.

In Värmland, the Swedish troops were not successful either. They were surrounded by the town of Lier in August 1814, and fierce fighting ensued with many killed and wounded.

In the long run, Crown Prince Carl Johan Bernadotte was not interested in a prolonged war, as it would cost financially and in terms of prestige, in addition Sweden needed urgent economic development. Therefore, Sweden's government decided to relax the demands from Kiel for Norway's complete integration into Sweden.

On 8 August 1814, peace negotiations were initiated in Moss and it was concluded that Norway should maintain its independence in a joint union with Sweden. The Danish prince Christian Frederik had to abdicate and Carl Johan Bernadotte took over the throne in Norway.

During the entire period from 1804 to 1905, there were regular disagreements between Norway and Sweden. It could be based on trade and economic-industrial development as well as on relations with other countries. Norwegian politicians wanted to be freed from the union and achieve independence, while several Swedish politicians believed that Norway had too many freedoms before the union. The disagreement grew as the economic disparity between the 2 states grew. The very free constitution in Norway also fueled fears of similar demands in Sweden. The relatively loose union was not unproblematic in the beginning, and gradually a number of symbolic matters became important to the Norwegians. Among these was Norway's desire to remove the Swedish so-called king of the state and the desire for a purely Norwegian flag. The relationship between the two states reached a low point in the early 1900s and there was a rush for mobilization for several months as well as a real danger of military confrontation. The conflicts led to Norway unilaterally dissolving the union in June 1905, which was confirmed in October of the same year by both states.

A Norwegian delegation was sent to Copenhagen and offered King Frederik the 8th's son the throne of Norway. Prince Carl would only accept the throne on the condition that the Norwegians approved him as their king in a referendum. After the referendum, it was clear that the Norwegians had voted for Prince Carl to be King of Norway, with the name Haakon on the 7th.

The year 1814 was decisive for both Norway and Sweden. For Norway, it marked the start of a new era with increased independence and a national identity of its own. For Sweden, it meant the opportunity to rebuild Sweden's great power status and secured the country a strategically important position in the Nordic region. For the entire Nordic region, this meant that a basis had been created for closer cooperation between the Nordic countries.

Material:
Lars Lindeberg "The English wars 1801-14" 1974
Kristin Fossum, Tor A. Myhrvold, Ellen Ugland "The world and Norway before 1850" 2001
Svend Åge Hansen "Economic growth in Denmark" 1972
John Danstrup, Hal Koch "Denmark's history" Politiken volume 10
1977 Knut Mykland "History of Norway" 1976 https://denstoredanske.lex.dk/Norgeshistorie