This is the story of Norway’s struggle in 1814 to gain independence and become a sovereign nation again, told with insight and understanding by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. In its struggle Norway did not get much support from the Great Powers, when they after the Napoleonic wars sat down to change national boundaries and dependencies. For nearly 400 years Norway had been united with Denmark in an unhappy coexistence. In 1814 leading Norwegians felt the time had come to reestablish their country as a sovereign nation. Nearly a thousand years ago Harald Hårfagre (Harald the Fairhaired) had gathered the country in his powerful hands by conquering more than two dozen local chieftans in a final round, the famous battle of Hafrsfjord near Stavanger. Now the time had come for Norway once more to become an independent kingdom, no longer under Danish exploitation and free from Swedish usurpation.
A complicating factor had long been Norway’s fears of its richer neighbors in the east, Sweden and Russia. Time after time during the centuries Swedish kings had attacked Norway, wanting to gain land and riches, as well as access to ice-free harbors and sheltered fjords. Most worrysome in 1814 was the fact Sweden in 1809 had lost its Grand Duchy of Finland when the Russian Tsar Alexander I. had attacked and annexed it. So, since Sweden during the Napoleonic wars had come to the aid of England, Russia, Austria, and Preussia in conquering the French, King Karl XIII. of Sweden simply demanded Norway in compensation.
Norwegians en masse rebelled at the thought of being passed to the Swedish kings as a piece of merchandise. Leading citizens quickly called for a national assembly to meet at Eidsvold. There a group of officers, businessmen and landowners sat down, discussed, and agreed-to a novel Norwegian Constitution. It was broadly patterned after the American Constitution of 1776 and the French statutes on the inalienable rights of a state’s citizenry. This Constitution was finalized and adopted on May 17, 1814, since then the National Constitution Day, and marked every year by peaceful parades, formal ceremonies and family feasts.
Sweden strongly protested this opposition and with superior forces in late July 1814 attacked Norway in the east. After a brief incursion of some 14 days, the freshly imported and adopted French-Swedish Crown Prince Jean Bernadotte (later known as Sweden and Norway’s King Karl Johan), accepted the Norwegian Constitution. But he did so with one major stipulation: the Swedish king was to be Norway’s ruler in a Royal Union.
This was the greatest of political setbacks for Norway as a nation. As the people of a poor, backwards and misused country the Norwegians—with the knife at their throat—were forced to agree to a Royal Union with Sweden and and accept the Swedish king as their monarch. The deal was finalized in November 1814. Only minor modifications had to be made to Norway’s brand new constitution—mostly about the power of the king and the conduct of foreign policy. But the Swedish king would also be commander in chief of Norway’s military, even though he could not use the armed forces outside Norway without Norwegian consent. And there would be a proper Norwegian government in Christiania (as there was a Swedish one in Stockholm). The Storthing (the Norwegian parliament) would take care of all national affairs. This was the beginning of a 91 year long involuntary submission and resistance, probably a reason for the still found mistrust and skepticism among many Norwegians of Sweden and the Swedes.
A complicating factor had long been Norway’s fears of its richer neighbors in the east, Sweden and Russia. Time after time during the centuries Swedish kings had attacked Norway, wanting to gain land and riches, as well as access to ice-free harbors and sheltered fjords. Most worrysome in 1814 was the fact Sweden in 1809 had lost its Grand Duchy of Finland when the Russian Tsar Alexander I. had attacked and annexed it. So, since Sweden during the Napoleonic wars had come to the aid of England, Russia, Austria, and Preussia in conquering the French, King Karl XIII. of Sweden simply demanded Norway in compensation.
Norwegians en masse rebelled at the thought of being passed to the Swedish kings as a piece of merchandise. Leading citizens quickly called for a national assembly to meet at Eidsvold. There a group of officers, businessmen and landowners sat down, discussed, and agreed-to a novel Norwegian Constitution. It was broadly patterned after the American Constitution of 1776 and the French statutes on the inalienable rights of a state’s citizenry. This Constitution was finalized and adopted on May 17, 1814, since then the National Constitution Day, and marked every year by peaceful parades, formal ceremonies and family feasts.
Sweden strongly protested this opposition and with superior forces in late July 1814 attacked Norway in the east. After a brief incursion of some 14 days, the freshly imported and adopted French-Swedish Crown Prince Jean Bernadotte (later known as Sweden and Norway’s King Karl Johan), accepted the Norwegian Constitution. But he did so with one major stipulation: the Swedish king was to be Norway’s ruler in a Royal Union.
This was the greatest of political setbacks for Norway as a nation. As the people of a poor, backwards and misused country the Norwegians—with the knife at their throat—were forced to agree to a Royal Union with Sweden and and accept the Swedish king as their monarch. The deal was finalized in November 1814. Only minor modifications had to be made to Norway’s brand new constitution—mostly about the power of the king and the conduct of foreign policy. But the Swedish king would also be commander in chief of Norway’s military, even though he could not use the armed forces outside Norway without Norwegian consent. And there would be a proper Norwegian government in Christiania (as there was a Swedish one in Stockholm). The Storthing (the Norwegian parliament) would take care of all national affairs. This was the beginning of a 91 year long involuntary submission and resistance, probably a reason for the still found mistrust and skepticism among many Norwegians of Sweden and the Swedes.
