Scandinavianism in Political Practice

The end of the Crimean War was followed by a marked shift in Scandinavian foreign policy. Having incurred the wrath of Russia and secured a treaty of questionable value with France and Britain, Sweden-Norway looked to Denmark to form a barrier against Russia. Meanwhile, Denmark’s relations with the German Confederation deteriorated rapidly as the conflict over the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein—left unresolved by the First Schleswig War—escalated, contributing also to a political deadlock between Danish unitary statists and nationalists. It was thus hardly surprising that the Scandinavian countries found reciprocal interest in a military alliance. In addition to explaining political developments in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, this chapter shows how a Scandinavian military alliance was very nearly entered into in 1857–1858, only for chance events to prevent the treaty from being concluded. The chapter also shows how a change of government in Denmark in 1857, bringing the national liberal C.C. Hall to power as council president, brought an emerging new course in Danish foreign policy as Hall looked for solutions to the conflict over the duchies.Meanwhile, changes of governments and monarch in Sweden-Norway had altered the political premise for Scandinavianism, although it was not yet clear to anyone exactly how. However, as the Danish-German conflict intensified and Napoleon III looked to change the map of Europe, it was becoming increasingly clear that the prospect of war began to loom, although where and how war would break out was a moot point.