DENMARK

All but a quarter of Denmark was under cultivation in the nineteenth century. The country's principal crops were oat, barley, rye, wheat, and sugar beets. Agriculture improved over time through more effective ploughing and irrigation. In addition, the Danes practiced dairy, pig, and poultry farming with considerable government support. They exported butter, bacon, and eggs, and imported timber, coal, minerals, and metals, mainly from Germany and Britain. Except on Iceland, Greenland, and the Faeroe Islands, where fishing ruled, Denmark was essentially a country of peasants.

agrarian and industrial change

In the eighteenth century large noble estates worked by serfs were the norm. New laws enacted in the period from 1786 to 1788 abolished serfdom, so that by 1800, peasants could live independently, free from feudal restraints. Denmark increasingly became a country of small ("freehold") farmers. Over half of them owned their own land by 1825, but because their numbers were multiplying, many suffered meager subsistence on very small plots—trying to make ends meet through cooperatives.

In nineteenth-century Denmark artisans and merchants far outnumbered factory hands. The only miners were in Greenland, for criolite and coppers. Old, water-powered factories producing linen or paper for domestic markets were small shops. But the first steam engine began operation in 1829, and the first railroad—between the capital and Roskilde—commenced service in 1847. New, steam-powered, mechanized cotton spinning and weaving mills, employing mostly young women, soon went into production. Despite waves of emigration to the United States of America and Canada, in 1901 the population of Denmark had reached two and a half million people, about two and a half times that of a century earlier. Even so it Denmark's population remained more rural than urban (62 to 38 percent).

royal copenhagen

Denmark's homelands—Jutland, the promontory connecting it to Germany, and its satellite islands, notably Zealand and Funen—lacked coal and metal, but certainly not clay. The chemist Frantz Heinrich Müller had taken advantage of this bounty in 1772, founding a porcelain factory on Bornholm. The establishment set the pace internationally both in manufacture and design. Such was its success that the monarchy turned it into a royally funded monopoly, "Royal Copenhagen." A law of 1790 forbade the importation of "china." The company's signature achievement, however heavy and ornate, is arguably the "Flora Danica" service of 1790–1802. Rivaling anything ever produced in Dresden and Sèvres, this gift to Empress Catherine II (r. 1762–1796) of Russia numbered thousands of pieces, featuring imagery of typical Danish flora (certified for accuracy by the botanist Theodor Holmskjold). In time, especially under the direction of Philip Schou and his master of design, Arnold Krog, the enterprise favored subtler, simpler forms and patterns. Their work was recognized as uniquely trendsetting at the International Paris Exposition of 1889.

This transition in aesthetic—from grandiose to modest—also marked the development of sculpture and painting. The sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen (1768 or 1770–1844; born in Copenhagen to Icelandic parents who were woodcarvers) paid skilled and beautiful homage to the Hellenic-Roman heritage. It was on the Mediterranean that he found inspiration for his statues of Adonis and Bacchus, and for his tribute to Emperor Napoleon I (r. 1804–1814/15), invoking Alexander the Great's conquest of Babylon.

And like Thorvaldsen, his students and admirers delighted in travels to Italy. But if neoclassicism pleased Danes in the first half of the nineteenth century, the next generation increasingly appreciated realism, such as Peder Severin Krøyer's imagery of contemporary, gentrified Paris. The painters Johan Lundbye, Godtfred Rump, and Jørgen Sonne, who captured everyday life in Denmark, including flora and fauna, likewise enjoyed popularity. The art historian Niels Lauritz Høyen promoted their celebratory national oeuvres.

liberalism

The abolition of serfdom and the rise of industrialization and urbanization gradually prompted Denmark to adopt progressive laws. In 1798 Jews were granted the right to marry Christians and given access to both primary and secondary education. As of 1814 education was made compulsory and free for every child between the age of seven and fourteen. By then a system of poor relief had also been instituted, funded by a tax. In 1834 King Frederick VI (r. 1808–1839) began taking counsel from advisory bodies of leading citizens. And in 1837 the crown agreed to the establishment of town councils; indeed by 1841 counties and parishes could also make recommendations to the monarchy. Based on the ownership of property, admission to these forums was limited. But the promise of representative government had been introduced: previously closed debates on taxes and the military's expenditures and rules of conscription turned public. To keep his power and maintain calm, an astute, conciliatory King Frederick VII (r. 1848–1863) in 1848 declared Denmark a constitutional monarchy.

The king, in part, hoped to end what had become virtually a civil war in the contiguous Danish territories of Schleswig and Holstein between Danish-speakers in the former and German-speakers in the latter, each a majority in its duchy. Buffering the Danes from the "Germans," Schleswig and Holstein were not only graced by fertile lands, but also contained vital waterways and harbors to the North and Baltic Seas. They moreover offered strategic, military, and commercial entry into Europe.

When in 1848 Denmark sought to incorporate Schleswig into its kingdom, fighting broke out. Prussia, which also claimed title to the duchy, sent an army representing the German Confederation (of 1815) to oppose Denmark there and to defend its own claim on Holstein, where a provisional revolutionary government had been established. The Armistice of Malmö (1848) and the London Protocol of 1852—achieved with international support based on fear of political radicalism—restored the status quo. But in 1863 the king of Denmark, willing to negotiate Holstein, proclaimed a new constitution for Schleswig that would join it to his monarchy. Prussia, supported by Austria, demanded he repeal this plan or it would forcefully interfere. When the king refused this ultimatum, Prussia and Austria declared war on Denmark and won easily. In 1864 the Treaty of Vienna gave Schleswig and Holstein to Prussia and Austria jointly. Both duchies came under Prussian rule following the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and became part of united Germany in 1871.

The Danish Constitution of 5 June 1849, revised in 1863 and 1866, introduced a national, legislative parliament (Rigsdag) divided between a lower and an upper house, a Folke- and Landsting, the former controlled by the latter—that is, by the king, his administrative elite, and men of landed wealth. This constitution also guaranteed freedom of religion and of the press and it forbade monopolies on industry and trade, although it would not enforce the order until 1856 to 1857. Thanks to the movement led by the schoolteacher Frede Bojsen, in 1891–1892 Danes gained the benefits of health insurance subsidies and old-age pensions. In 1899, due to the actions of labor unions led by Jens Jensen, workers gained the formal rights to organize, strike, and go to arbitration. In 1901 Denmark established a full parliamentary system, by which (under the nominal king) the majority party in the Folkesting would form a government. Soon the nation would undergo a general property assessment and turn to a system of progressive taxation.

religion and science

This new liberal Denmark did not impress every Dane. Its lack of interest in Protestantism and the church disturbed many. Increasingly ignored by most in everyday life, religion served mainly for the celebration of christenings, confirmations, weddings, and funerals; only at Christmas and Easter could it be said that people flocked to the cross. The spread of atheism, pregnancy out of wedlock, and divorce evoked more than one complaint from the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. In Either/Or (1843) and Training in Christianity (1850) he promotes an engaged Christian life, urging vigilance against complacency or easy indulgence of the material world. The fables of Hans Christian Andersen, the son of cobblers in Odense, arguably also meant to cure, by satire rather than logic, what the author perceived as an epidemic of vanity and competition. From 1835, his works, aimed not exclusively at children, include "The Ugly Duckling," "The Little Matchgirl," and "The Little Mermaid," as well as "The Emperor's New Clothes," based on a tale from the 1300s.

But regarding Denmark's future there was reason for optimism. The accomplishments of the scientists Niels Ryberg Finsen (1860–1904), Hans Christian Ørsted (1777–1851), and Valdemar Poulsen (1869–1942) inspired confidence in the possibility of continuous individual and social improvement: the first originated a method of light therapy for the cure of lupus; the second discovered electromagnetism (and established Copenhagen's Polytechnic University); the third devised the arc and wave system of radio-telegraphy. Denmark also took heart in Joachim Frederik Schouw (1789–1852), a botanist and the author of an Atlas of Plant Geography.

See alsoDanish-German War; Finland and the Baltic Provinces; Sweden and Norway.

bibliography

Begtrup, Holger. Det danske folks historie i det nittende aarhundrede. Copenhagen, 1909–1914.

Christensen, Lars K. "The Textile Industry and the Forming of Modern Industrial Relations in Denmark [2004]." Available at http://iisg.nl/research/denmark.doc.

Harvey, William J., and Christian Reppien. Denmark and the Danes: A Survey of Danish Life, Institutions, and Culture. London, 1915.

Jones, W. Glyn. Denmark. London, 1970.

Oakley, Stewart. A Short History of Denmark. New York, 1972.

Johan Åhr