We’ve done a series of specials about what was going on in some of the neutral nations
of Europe during the Great War, and today I’m going to look at Denmark.
I’m Indy Neidell; welcome to a Great War Special episode about Denmark during the First
World War.
In 1864, Prussia and Austria had gone to war with Denmark over the duchies of Schleswig
and Holstein, which resulted in a humiliating peace-treaty for Denmark and the loss of a
bunch of land.
The resulting “national trauma” would define Danish politics for much of the next
century, and Denmark would follow a line of strict neutrality in international affairs.
That was partly, of course, from an existential standpoint - they didn’t really want to
anger neighboring Germany and lose even more territory, or worse, lose independence entirely.
Instead, the Danes looked inward and expanded industrial and agricultural output, and increased
their exports to the British and German markets.
The Danish Royal family was also quite active toward the end of the 19th century, marrying
into several of the great houses of Europe, and Danish princes would occupy the thrones
of Greece and Norway.
Russian Tsar Nicholas II and Britain’s King George V both had Danish mothers, and until
the War broke out, they often met in the summers at Fredensborg Palace.
Danish politics saw a change just before the world war broke out.
In the 1913 elections, the Social-liberal party rose to prominence, with Carl Theodor
Zahle becoming Prime Minister; a post he would hold until 1920.
His government would introduce some progressive reforms, and women would gain the vote in
1915, but the main priority during the war was to ensure Denmark’s neutrality, but
with the country’s strategic position at the mouth of the Baltic Sea, this would be
a big challenge.
In fact, early in the war, Germany issued an ultimatum to Denmark to mine the Danish
straits, which would effectively block the Baltic from British marine traffic.
Britain could have interpreted this as a hostile act on Denmark’s part, but they didn’t
and were mostly sympathetic toward the Danish position.
Neutrality was largely successful, though, and Denmark traded with both Britain and Germany,
much like Sweden, though constant mobilization of the army and shortages of supplies would
remain issues throughout the war.
Most of the trade involved agricultural products.
In fact, up to 90% of Danish exports were agricultural and were often processed products
like butter and bacon.
Now, within the territory lost in 1864 still lived a sizable minority of Danish speaking
people.
They were now citizens of the German Empire, and many were conscripted into the Germany
army to fight on the Western Front.
At least 30,000 of them served, and morale was - as you can imagine - an issue, since
there was the hope that an Allied victory would bring reunification with Denmark.
At least 5,000 Danes fell in service of Germany.
The Danish army itself was - as I said - mobilized.
That happened August 1, 1914, and by the 7th, the peacetime force of 13,500 men had grown
to 47,000 once the reserves were called in.
Now, 10,000 soldiers of this force were left to guard the continental Jutland peninsula
while the rest manned the fortresses around Copenhagen.
The army was known diplomatically as the “security force” and reached its maximum size of 58,000
by the end of the year.
Thing is, maintaining this force was costly, and since the enemy never came the men were
bored silly, which is still better than fighting and dying in a war, but men were gradually
sent home until the force numbered around 30,000.
Had the Germans invaded, fortress Copenhagen would not have been a serious problem for
them.
It had been built at great expense around 30 years before the war and consisted of several
forts and batteries surrounding the city, a forward position that bisected Sealand from
Roskilde to Köge, and the ability to flood much of the northern front.
The idea behind it was to hold the city long enough for foreign powers to intervene, but
by 1914 it was rendered completely obsolete by the power of modern artillery, as we saw
in other fortresses around the continent.
In fact, one of the inner rings of the fortress was the old ramparts of the city, which was
less than a kilometer from Parliament.
As for trade and foreign affairs, that all continued unabated.
In trade with Britain and Germany, there was increasingly the issue of inflated prices
and reduced quality, but that’s war for you.
Overall production fell, but the trade boom created many nouveau riche, known as “goulash
barons”, who were hated by a pretty big chunk of the Danish population.
Denmark sold some of its last colonies - St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas, which are
today the US Virgin Islands.
They weren’t really viable anymore, and if Germany had occupied Denmark they could
use the islands, so why not sell them off?
They got 25 million dollars in gold coin from the US for them, which is around 550 million
today.
Hey, here’s something - the German High Command wanted to reintroduce unrestricted
submarine warfare in late 1916, but they didn’t.
There was the worry that neutral nations might enter the war if they did so, but they weren’t
worried about the US.
See, the Romanian campaign had stretched the German armies so thin that if Denmark had
joined the war because of Danish shipping losses, they could have marched on Berlin
in no time.
It wasn’t until after Romania was defeated in the field that the submarine campaign would
begin.
Also, when mentioning submarines, the U-boat that sank the Lusitania, U-20, was grounded
on the western shore of Jutland in November 1916.
The crew tried to blow it up, but only damaged it.
They then abandoned it to its fate.
It was again dynamited in 1925, and its tower is now on display in Thorsminde.
With the German defeat, there were big hopes of regaining the lost lands, though there
had been no battles on Danish soil.
Northern Schleswig was returned to Denmark in 1920, but there was a big controversy over
land - the Easter Crisis.
See, northern and central Schleswig were to decide which country they would be part of
by plebiscite, not southern since it was German dominated and would remain part of Germany.
The north voted to join Denmark, but Central Schleswig voted to join Germany.
This angered Danish nationalists, and King Christian ordered Zahle to include Central
Schleswig in reunification.
Zahle refused and resigned, and the King appointed a new cabinet.
There was a huge public outcry over this, and the future of the monarchy was in jeopardy.
Faced with the overthrow of the crown, Christian backed down and dismissed his government.
New elections were held, and the power of the king as head of state was drastically
reduced.
Of course, that was after the war.
Today was just a general look at what was going on in Denmark during the war, when many
Danes fought and died for a nation and a cause in which they did not believe.
If you want to learn more about Denmark’s neighbour Sweden in World War 1, you can click
right here for our episode about that.
Don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more background information
on World War 1.
See you next time.