The Scandinavian Question

This chapter spans the years 1859–1862, a crucial phase in the continued escalation of the Danish-German conflict as well as for Scandinavian politics and relations. In Denmark, the government navigated thorny constitutional struggles within the unitary state exacerbated by the national conflict with the German Confederation. It also had to navigate fluid international political constellations in its efforts to find a negotiated solution to the conflict over the duchies, but such a solution proved elusive as Denmark was seemingly forced to make repeated concessions. A partition of both Schleswig and Denmark were among the alternatives laid on the table, increasing Danish fears of national annihilation. Meanwhile, Swedish-Norwegian relations were complicated by a conflict over the governorship of Norway, but the most important consequence of this crisis was the strengthening of the Swedish and Norwegian governments at the expense of Charles XV, the crown prince regent since 1857 and king from 1859. This tilt in power and influence was increased by a proposal for parliamentary reform in Sweden, which was tied to the king’s Scandinavianist ambition.Yet, whereas King Charles held summits with Frederick VII and strongly desired a Scandinavian alliance and subsequent unification, his governments, and most notably his foreign minister, resisted, complicating Swedish-Norwegian politics, foreign policy and relations to Denmark. Thus, by 1862 both the quest for a negotiated solution to the Danish-German conflict and the question of a Scandinavian alliance appeared to have run aground, but the successful Italian war of unification made leading Scandinavianists ponder whether war could help make the impossible possible.