History (In the 20th Century)

World War I & Economic Chaos

When World War I broke out, Denmark found itself on a razor's edge and struggled to remain neutral, but its position astride the shipping lanes favored by both England and Germany made this especially perilous. On August 14, 1914, Germany laid mines in the sea channels of southern Denmark and then strongly implied that Denmark would be well advised to lay other mines in the channels leading toward Copenhagen. Fearing that if they didn't comply, Germany would lay the mines anyway and then commandeer parcels of Danish soil for installation of German naval bases, Denmark began laying mines.

Danish king Christian X had the unfortunate task of phoning his cousin, the king of England, about the situation. England agreed not to interpret Denmark's action as a direct act of hostility. Consequently, all the waters around Denmark were peppered with high-powered explosives, a situation that had a disastrous effect on Danish trade and the Danish treasury. Later, German U-boats sank at least 30% of Denmark's merchant fleet.

Eventually, through cooperation and joint commitments with Sweden and Norway, Denmark managed to retain its fragile hold on wartime neutrality, but at a high price in terms of unemployment, higher taxes, and endless neuroses and self-doubts.

Partly in reaction to the traumas of their untenable situation, the Danes signed a new constitution on June 5, 1915, establishing a two-chamber parliament and granting equal voting rights to men and women. In 1916, a law was passed that compelled industries to insure their workers against accidents. Also in 1916, a financially strapped Denmark concluded a treaty with the United States, selling the Danish West Indies (later known as the U.S. Virgin Islands) for $25 million.

In 1919, a land reform act resulted in the breakup of many large estates, with lands passing into the hands of greater numbers of farmers.

Because Germany was defeated in World War I, many people felt that all of Schleswig should be returned to Denmark and that the details should be hammered out during the Versailles Conference. But in an act that was later interpreted as remarkably callous, Denmark, because of its official neutrality during World War I, was not invited to the conference, despite the extreme losses its navy and merchant marine had suffered. Under pressure, the conventioneers eventually agreed to return North Schleswig, but not South Schleswig or Holstein, to Denmark.

A new treaty was drawn up between Iceland and Denmark in 1918. Although they functioned as separate, sovereign states, the two countries were united under one king, with Iceland under Denmark's protection. Danish ships were appointed as the official inspectors of Icelandic fisheries, and plans were laid for Iceland's eventual independence.

Denmark participated in the creation of the League of Nations and joined it in 1920. A crisis arose when Norway claimed jurisdiction over the territory of Greenland. However, in April 1933, the Permanent Court of International Justice granted Denmark sovereignty over Greenland, nullifying Norway's claim.

Although the Great Depression didn't begin in the United States until October 1929, Denmark was plunged into high levels of unemployment (30%) as early as 1926. Poor harvests and a 1926 tariff imposed on Danish grain by Germany, one of Denmark's largest trading partners, contributed to Denmark's fiscal woes. By 1932, a fiscal collapse of the Danish government seemed imminent. Fueled by the uncertainty, Danish branches of both the Fascist and the Nazi parties were established by the mid-1930s, although they remained relatively small. Part of their lack of success derived from the Danish government's policy of forbidding the civilian use of any kind of uniform in public, with the exception of the Boy Scouts. As a result, no mass demonstrations in the style of what the Germans later developed into the Third Reich ever took place on Danish soil.

The Coming of Hitler & Nazi Occupation

In May of 1939, Hitler asked Denmark to sign a nonaggression pact. Denmark accepted it; Norway and Sweden did not, and as such, any semblance of a united Scandinavian front collapsed. The pact specified that Denmark and Germany would not go to war with each other for 10 years, and that Denmark would not give aid or assistance to any nation with which Germany was at war. When war broke out in 1939, Denmark declared its neutrality. Denmark's ties with Iceland were severed, and the United States and Great Britain occupied Greenland and the Faroe Islands, respectively.

Despite the nonaggression pact, Nazi forces invaded and occupied Denmark in 1940. In 1943, Hitler sent General Hermann von Hanneken to impose martial law on Denmark and commandeered two Danish destroyers. Danish resistance continued against the German occupying forces, often in the form of sabotage of German-controlled industries and military installations. In many cases, Danish sailors scuttled their own ships to prevent them from falling under Nazi control. Danish Jews and homosexuals were arrested and sent to concentration camps beginning in 1942, but most, aided by the brave Danish people, were able to escape to Sweden. Danish civil servants tended to remain at their posts, as a means of ensuring an orderly administration of the country during terrible times.

In September 1944, many members of the Danish police, suspected (often correctly) of helping the Danish resistance, were imprisoned. The same year, a general strike among the Danes crippled Copenhagen, until the Germans accepted an uneasy compromise, and the Nazi troops became less visible in the capital.

On March 21, 1945, the Gestapo's headquarters (in what had been the Danish headquarters for Shell Oil) were demolished during an Allied air raid, sending most of the Gestapo's archives up in flames, much to the regret of later historians. Later, the Gestapo's Danish strongholds in Odense and Århus were also bombarded.

Beginning in February 1945, as the defeat of Germany appeared imminent, thousands of refugees from Germany poured across the border, seeking safety in Denmark. When Germany surrendered in 1945, British troops occupied most of Denmark. The island of Bornholm, however, was occupied by Soviet troops, who bombed parts of the island in a successful effort to dislodge the occupying Nazi forces. After the war, Denmark joined the United Nations.

Postwar Denmark

After 1945, the Liberal Party, under Knud Kristensen, assumed control of Denmark. In 1947, Kristensen resigned. The Social Democratic Party, who governed under Frederik IX, then governed the country. The economy remained sluggish until 1948.

In 1949, Denmark joined NATO. In 1953, the Scandinavian Council was formed, composed of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland; the council lasted until 1961. Also in 1953, Denmark adopted a new constitution, providing for a single-chamber parliament.

In 1972, Denmark became the sole Nordic member of the EEC. That same year, Queen Margrethe, born in 1940 (the year of the Nazi invasion), became queen of Denmark upon the death of her father, Frederik IX.

In 1982, Denmark seemed to abandon its long-cherished liberalism when it elected Poul Schluter, its first conservative prime minister since 1894. However, by 1989 Denmark was leading the world in the development of a liberal social agenda. It became the first NATO country to allow women to join frontline military units. Later, it became the first country to recognize marriages between partners of the same sex.

The early 1990s were dominated by Denmark's continuing debate over its role (or lack thereof) in the European Union. In 1992, Denmark rejected the Maastricht Treaty, which had established a framework for the European Economic Union. However, in a 1993 referendum Denmark reversed its position (by a close vote), voting to support the Maastricht Treaty and its own limited involvement in it. Denmark presided over the European Union for the first part of that year.

In 1993, Denmark also observed the 50th anniversary of the virtual overnight rescue of 8,000 of its Jewish citizens, who were smuggled out of the country in 1943 into neutral Sweden. That same year the Tivoli Gardens celebrated its 150th year, and The Little Mermaid statue, inspired by the famous character from H. C. Andersen's fairy tales, turned 80.

In 1996, Copenhagen was named the "Cultural Capital of Europe." Following in the footsteps of other European cities (including Athens, Florence, Paris, and Madrid), Copenhagen celebrated with a year of festivities. A massive campaign of restorations and new construction revitalized the city.

In May 1998, Denmark held a referendum on extending its ties and connections with the European Union. Danes, Greenlanders, and Faroese voted for enlargement of their position within the EU. The margin was extremely narrow, indicating how divided Danes remain on this important issue.

Denmark had a royal wedding on May 14, 2004. His royal highness, Crown Prince Frederik, married Mary Elizabeth Donaldson. She is now HRH Crown Princess of Denmark. The wedding took place in the Copenhagen Cathedral. Copenhagen is now her address, but the Crown Princess of Denmark was born in the Australian state of Tasmania, the daughter of two educators.

When the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, in autumn of 2005, published 12 editorial cartoons, it set off worldwide violence and protests in the Muslim world. Most of the cartoons depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, which is against Islamic law. Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen called the controversy "Denmark's worst international crisis since World War II." Massive protests from Morocco to Indonesia led to violence. The protest also led to a boycott of Danish products in the Muslim world. Danish flags and effigies of the prime minister were burned.

Another royal marriage in 2006 became a tabloid feeding frenzy. Prince Joachim and Princess Alexandra announced their divorce, the first in Europe's oldest monarchy in nearly 160 years. The couple has two sons, and Joachim is the second in line to the throne after his older brother Frederik.

The couple met in Hong Kong when he was working for a Danish shipping company. Alexandra became the first person of Asian heritage to marry into a sitting royal family in Europe.

No reason was given for the divorce, but tabloids and paparazzi have dubbed Joachim "the party prince," a man known for his wild visits to nightclubs, where he drank heavily and flirted with beautiful women.