Experiences of War and Nationality in Denmark and Norway, 1807–1815

342 Pages·2014·3.553 MB·English

by  Rasmus Glenthøj, Morten Nordhagen Ottosen (auth.)

War, Culture and Society, 1750–1850
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Karen Hagemann (Chapel Hill, USA)
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Titles include:
Richard Bessel, Nicholas Guyatt and Jane Rendall (editors)
WAR, EMPIRE AND SLAVERY, 1770–1830
Eveline G. Bouwers
PUBLIC PANTHEONS IN REVOLUTIONARY EUROPE
Comparing Cultures of Remembrance, c. 1790–1840
Michael Broers, Agustin Guimera and Peter Hick (editors)
THE NAPOLEONIC EMPIRE AND THE NEW EUROPEAN POLITICAL CULTURE
Gavin Daly
THE BRITISH SOLDIER IN THE PENINSULAR WAR
Encounters with Spain and Portugal, 1808–1814
Alan Forrest, Etienne François and Karen Hagemann (editors)
WAR MEMORIES
The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century
Europe
Alan Forrest, Karen Hagemann and Jane Rendall (editors)
SOLDIERS, CITIZENS AND CIVILIANS
Experiences and Perceptions of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars,
1790–1820
Alan Forrest and Peter H. Wilson (editors)
THE BEE AND THE EAGLE
Napoleonic France and the End of the Holy Roman Empire, 1806
Rasmus Glenthøj and Morten Nordhagen Ottosen
EXPERIENCES OF WAR AND NATIONALITY IN DENMARK AND NORWAY,
1807–1815
Karen Hagemann, Gisela Mettele and Jane Rendall (editors)
GENDER, WAR AND POLITICS
Transatlantic Perspectives, 1755–1830
Leighton James
WITNESSING THE REVOLUTIONARY AND NAPOLEONIC WARS IN GERMAN
Central Europe
Catriona Kennedy
NARRATIVES OF THE REVOLUTIONARY AND NAPOLEONIC WARS
Military and Civilian Experience in Britain and Ireland
Catriona Kennedy, and Matthew McCormack (editors)
SOLDIERING IN BRITAIN AND IRELAND, 1750–1850
Men of Arms
Ralph Kingston
BUREAUCRATS AND BOURGEOIS SOCIETY
Office Politics and Individual Credit, France 1789–1848
Kevin Linch
BRITAIN AND WELLINGTON’S ARMY
Recruitment, Society and Tradition, 1807–1815
Pierre Serna, Antonino De Francesco and Judith Miller
REPUBLICS AT WAR, 1776–1840
Revolutions, Conflicts and Geopolitics in Europe and the Atlantic World
Marie-Cécile Thoral
FROM VALMY TO WATERLOO
France at War, 1792–1815
Mark Wishon
GERMAN FORCES AND THE BRITISH ARMY
Interactions and Perceptions, 1742–1815
Christine Wright
WELLINGTON’S MEN IN AUSTRALIA
Peninsular War Veterans and the Making of Empire c.1820–40
War, Culture and Society, 1750–1850
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Experiences of War and
Nationality in Denmark
and Norway, 1807–1815
Rasmus Glenthøj
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Southern Denmark
and
Morten Nordhagen Ottosen
Researcher, University of Oslo
© Rasmus Glenthøj and Morten Nordhagen Ottosen 2014
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-0-230-30281-5
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Historical Maps of Scandinavia x
1 Denmark-Norway and the Ideology of Patriotism 1
Between a Rock and a Hard Place 1
The Danish-Norwegian State 3
Dissatisfaction and Identity in Denmark-Norway 5
Patriotism and Fatherland 8
Society, Absolutism and Foreign Powers 12
Denmark-Norway and the Politics of ‘the Palmy Days’ 16
The Exploitation of Neutrality 20
The First Battle of Copenhagen, 1801 23
The Last Years of Peace 25
2 The Bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807 28
The Peace of Tilsit 28
The British Fleet in Danish Waters 32
Landing and Occupation 34
Fortress Copenhagen 36
Volunteers 37
The Militia and the Battle of the Clogs at Køge 37
The Besieged City 39
The Bombardment 41
Death and Destruction 44
Reactions in Denmark-Norway 45
Scapegoats 47
Collections after the Bombardment of Copenhagen 48
‘That damned thief the Englishman’ 49
Looting at Holmen and the Loss of the Fleet 51
Reactions in Great Britain 52
The Return of the Crown Prince 53
The Defence of the Fatherland and the Function of History 53
History as a Battlefield 56
Jesus, the Patriot 57
v
vi Contents
3 Scandinavian War, 1808–09 59
From Copenhagen to the River Kymme 59
The Swedish Attack on Norway 63
The Swedish–Norwegian Border War 65
D anish-Norwegian Reactions to the War
with Sweden 67
Wooing and Winning the Norwegians 70
Popular Resistance in Norway 72
To Die for an Ideal 79
Occupation, Recalcitrance and Collaboration 81
An Amicable Occupation 83
Crisis and Devastation 86
T he Fall of Gustav IV Adolph and an Opportunity
for Scandinavia 89
Discontent and Conspiracies 94
4 Naval and Economic Warfare 98
A New Fleet 98
Naval War 100
Imprisoned Sailors 103
Privateering 105
The Double Blockade 110
Economic Crisis and State Bankruptcy 115
Patriotic Societies 123
Corn to Norway and Criticism of Denmark 126
Famine Exploited 130
Postwar Ruin 133
The Scope of War 135
5 Internal Changes and External Threats, 1810–12 138
Respite, Discontent and Dangers 138
The Society for the Welfare of Norway 139
Norwegian Demands 141
T he First Turning Point: The Sudden Death of Crown
Prince Carl August 145
T he Second Turning Point: The Second Crisis of
Swedish Succession 146
Proto-Scandinavianism 150
The Annexation of Holstein 153
Resentment and Resistance in Holstein 160
Renewed Threat from Sweden 163
Contents vii
The Threat from Napoleon 164
Frederick’s Absolutism and the ‘Red Feathers’ 167
Dawning Separatism in Norway 170
6 Endgames 1812–13 174
Chained to Napoleon 174
The Russo–Swedish Alliance 178
Denmark-Norway and Napoleon’s Defeat 180
Fighting Napoleon 183
Crisis in Norway 188
Sweden’s Designs on Norway 190
The Effects of Swedish Propaganda 195
Prince Christian Frederick and Norway 197
War and Defeat in Holstein 200
Room for Manoeuvre 205
7 Postlude – Freedom and Suppression, 1814–15 208
Peace in Scandinavia? 208
Danish Double-dealing? 209
Mental Mobilisation 212
The Prince’s Policy 214
When Home Is a Foreign Country 216
On the Brink of Revolution? 217
A House Divided 220
The Ghost of Reunification 223
The Struggle over Citizenship 224
T he Norwegian Constitutional Act
and the National Monarchy 226
Conscription and the Will to Defend the Country 228
Contributions on the Altar of the Fatherland 229
A Free Norway or a United Scandinavia 229
Swedish Policy 233
Targeting the Common People 236
A People’s War as a Political Instrument 237
The Diplomatic Endgame 239
‘The War of Cats’ 241
Deserters 244
Autumn in Norway 245
The New Norway 250
The Immediate Consequences of Separation 251
Denmark and the Congress of Vienna 252
viii Contents
8 Denmark and Norway after Denmark-Norway 257
War and Separation 257
A Norwegian Model 261
The Settlement of the Danish-Norwegian Estate 266
T he Norwegian View of Denmark in the Wake
of the Separation 268
D anish Relations with Norwegians Shortly
after the Separation 271
An Independent Language by Name or by Nature 272
The Fellowship Continued 274
1905 – The Waterloo for the Common Culture 276
Notes 279
Bibliography 295
Index 317
Acknowledgements
Right from the point when the idea behind this book was conceived
and sketched out over some excellent Belgian ale in Christianshavn,
Copenhagen in early August 2009, we have incurred many debts. We
would like to thank John Mason and Manuscripts for translating our
manuscript into English from a rather chaotic blend of Danish,
Norwegian and English, and also the Research Council of Norway and
the Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History, University
of Oslo for generously funding the translation. Thanks are also due to
Ruth Hemstad and Martin Austnes for very helpful comments and sug-
gestions to parts of the manuscript, and to Michael Bregnsbo for shar-
ing an as yet unpublished article with us. Thanks also to Mette Dahl
Hansen at the Royal Library, Copenhagen for her assistance. The excel-
lent scholars associated with the so-called Norwegian ‘1814 Project’ at
the University of Oslo and the Danish ‘1814 Network’ at the University
of Southern Denmark have provided us with many opportunities for
fruitful discussion, and for this we thank them all. Last, but not least,
we would like to thank Alan Forrest and Rafe Blaufarb for their encour-
agement. While all these people have made invaluable contributions to
the making of this book, all flaws and errors that remain are of course
solely our own.
This publication has received funding from the Research Council of
Norway.
Rasmus Glenthøj and Morten Nordhagen Ottosen
Copenhagen and Oslo, April 2013
ix