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 Denmark |  Germany |
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Denmark and Germany are full members of NATO and of the European Union. The border between the countries, which lies in the Schleswig region, has changed several times through history, the present border was determined by referendums in 1920. The Danish-German border area has been named as a positive example for other border regions. [1] Substantial minority populations live on both sides of the border, and cross-border cooperation activities are frequently initiated. [2] [3]
Modern northern outskirts of Germany formed part of Denmark in the Middle Ages, including the major medieval Danish city of Hedeby, and the town of Schleswig (Danish : Slesvig), founded in the mid-11th century after the destruction of Hebedy. The Danish-ruled Duchy of Schleswig, now divided between Denmark and Germany, was named after the town. A system of medieval Danish border fortifications, called the Danevirke, is located in modern northern Germany. Denmark was also the suzerain of the Slavic Principality of Rügen in modern north-eastern Germany in the High Middle Ages before it passed under the suzerainty of the Holy Roman Empire.
In addition to the clashes in the Dano-German border area, Denmark has been involved in rivalries in the Baltic Sea with German and other states, at various times either fighting wars against the Germans or forging alliances with them. Major Dano-German conflicts include the German–Danish War of 974, and wars between Denmark and the German-dominated Hanseatic League in 1361–1370 and 1426–1435. Denmark was allied with various German states during the Wendish Crusade of 1147 and Third Crusade of 1189–1192. In 1315 Denmark entered a large alliance with Norway, Poland, Sweden, the Duchy of Pomerania and Duchy of Mecklenburg against the Margraviate of Brandenburg, [4] and then Danish and Mecklenburg forces clashed with Brandenburg in the Battle of Gransee of 1316. From 1320 Denmark was involved in the war for inheritance in Brandenburg after the extinction of the Brandenburgian line of the Ascanian dynasty, supporting the claims of the duchies of Pomerania and Jawor in Poland against the duchies of Mecklenburg and Saxe-Wittenberg, however, in 1323 Denmark switched to the side of a new participant in the war for Brandenburg, that is the Wittelsbachs of Bavaria. [5] In 1350 and 1363 Denmark entered alliances with Poland against the Teutonic Order. [6] [7] During the Polish–Teutonic wars of 1409–1411 and 1454–1466, Denmark temporarily sided with the Teutonic Knights, but withdrew from the war with a truce with Poland in 1458. [8]
Chalcedonian Christianity was introduced to Denmark in the 9th century by Ansgar, Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen. In the 10th century, King Harald Bluetooth became a Catholic and began organizing the church, and by the 11th century, Christianity was largely accepted throughout the country. Since the Reformation in Denmark, the church has been Evangelical Lutheran, while retaining much of its high church pre-Reformation liturgical traditions. The 1849 Constitution of Denmark designated the church "the Danish people's church" and mandates that the state support it as such. [9] The Church of Denmark continues to maintain the historical episcopate. Theological authority is vested in bishops: ten bishops in mainland Denmark and one in Greenland, each overseeing a diocese. The bishop of Copenhagen is primus inter pares .
The Second Schleswig War was the second military conflict as a result of the Schleswig-Holstein Question. It began on 1 February 1864, when Prussian forces crossed the border into Schleswig.
Denmark fought Prussia and Austria. Like the First Schleswig War (1848–51), it was fought for control of the duchies because of succession disputes concerning the duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg when the Danish king died without an heir acceptable to the German Confederation. Decisive controversy arose due to the passing of the November Constitution, which brought the Duchy of Schleswig closer to the kingdom of Denmark in violation of the London Protocol, after the German Confederation had rejected the previous state constitution (Helstatsforfatning).
The war ended on 30 October 1864, when the Treaty of Vienna caused Denmark's cession of the Duchies of Schleswig, Holstein, and Saxe-Lauenburg to Prussia and Austria. The war resulted in a German victory.
The 1914 Septemberprogramm authorized by German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg proposed the creation of a Central European Economic Union, comprising a number of European countries, including Germany and Denmark, in which, as the Chancellor secretly stressed, there was to be a semblance of equality among the member states, but in fact it was to be under German leadership to stabilize Germany's economic predominance in Central Europe, with co-author Kurt Riezler admitting that the union would be a veiled form of German domination in Europe (see also: Mitteleuropa ). [10] [11] The plan failed amid Germany's defeat in the war.
Denmark, despite having remained neutral all throughout World War I, still ended up involved in the negotiations following the defeat of Germany, due to US President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points listing the different people of Europe's right to self-determination amongst its principles, and the substantial Danish minority living in the Southern Jutland/Northern Schleswig area. Eventually, it was decided that the question of national affiliation for the people living in the area would be settled through a series of public plebiscites.
In accordance with negotiations, the Southern Jutland/Northern Schleswig area was split into three different zones. After an agreement between the Danish government, who declared they had no real interest in the third, southernmost zone, and the British prime-minister Lloyd George, who wanted to give Germany some minor concessions in the peace treaty, it was decided that no election was to take place there, while elections were to take place in the two other zones.
The elections could not be arranged until the Treaty of Versailles became effective in January 1920, but following that it was decided that elections were to take place in the first, northernmost zone on 10 February, and the second, middle zone on 14 March. In the outcome of the first zone election, about 75 percent of the votes favored a reunification with Denmark, while in the second zone about 80 percent of the votes were in favor of staying affiliated with Germany. Further negotiations between the Danish and the German governments settled on Denmark getting the area of Tønder, despite it formally being a part of the second zone, while the Flensborg area was to remain on German hands. On 15 June the Southern Jutland area was formally returned to Danish control.
Operation Weserübung was the code name for Germany's assault on Denmark and Norway during the Second World War and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign. The name comes from the German for Operation Weser-Exercise, the Weser being a German river.
In the early morning of 9 April 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway, ostensibly as a preventive maneuver against a planned, and openly discussed, Franco-British occupation of both these countries. After the invasions, envoys of the Germans informed the governments of Denmark and Norway that the Wehrmacht had come to protect the countries' neutrality against Franco-British aggression. Significant differences in geography, location and climate between the two countries, however, made the actual military operations very dissimilar.
Strategically, Denmark's importance to Germany was as a staging area for operations in Norway, and of course as a border nation to Germany which would have to be controlled in some way. Given Denmark's position in relation to the Baltic Sea the country was also important for the control of naval and shipping access to major German and Soviet harbours.
Small and relatively flat, the country was ideal territory for German army operations, and Denmark's small army had little hope. Nevertheless, in the early morning hours, a few Danish troops engaged the German army, suffering losses of 16 dead and 20 wounded. The Germans lost an unknown number of casualties, with 12 armoured cars and several motorcycles and cars destroyed. Four German tanks were damaged. One German bomber was also damaged. [12] Two German soldiers were temporarily captured by the Danes during the brief fighting. [13]
At 04:00 on 9 April 1940, the German ambassador to Denmark, Renthe-Fink, called the Danish Foreign Minister Munch and requested a meeting with him. When the two men met 20 minutes later, Renthe-Fink declared that German troops were at that moment moving in to occupy Denmark to protect the country from Franco-British attack. The German ambassador demanded that Danish resistance cease immediately and contact be made between Danish authorities and the German armed forces. If the demands were not met, the Luftwaffe would bomb the capital, Copenhagen. [13]
As the German demands were communicated, the first German advances had already been made, with forces landing by ferry in Gedser at 04:15 and moving north. German Fallschirmjäger units had made unopposed landings and taken two airfields at Aalborg, the Storstrøm Bridge as well as the fortress of Masnedø. [13]
At 04:20 local time, 1,000 German infantrymen landed in Copenhagen harbour from the minelayer Hansestadt Danzig, quickly capturing the Danish garrison at the Citadel without encountering resistance. From the harbour, the Germans moved towards Amalienborg Palace to capture the Danish royal family. By the time the invasion forces arrived at the king's residence, the King's Royal Guard had been alerted and other reinforcements were on their way to the palace. The first German attack on Amalienborg was repulsed, giving Christian X and his ministers time to confer with the Danish Army chief General Prior. As the discussions were ongoing, several formations of Heinkel He 111 and Dornier Do 17 bombers roared over the city dropping the OPROP! leaflets. Faced with the explicit threat of the Luftwaffe bombing the civilian population of Copenhagen, and only General Prior in favour of continuing to fight, King Christian X and the entire Danish government capitulated at 08:34 in exchange for retaining political independence in domestic matters. [13]
At 05:45, two squadrons of German Bf 110s attacked Værløse airfield on Zealand and wiped out the Danish Army Air Service by strafing. Despite Danish anti-aircraft fire, the German fighters destroyed 11 Danish aircraft and seriously damaged another 14. [13]
The invasion of Denmark lasted less than six hours and was the shortest military campaign conducted by the Germans during the war. The rapid Danish capitulation resulted in the uniquely lenient Occupation of Denmark, particularly until the summer of 1943, and in postponing the arrest and deportation of Danish Jews until nearly all of them were warned and on their way to refuge in Sweden. [14] In the end, 477 Danish Jews were deported, and 70 of them lost their lives, out of a pre-war total of Jews and half-Jews at a little over 8,000. [15]
Both Denmark and Germany are members of the European Union and NATO. The Bonn-Copenhagen declarations of 1955 establishes mutual recognition of the minorities on both side of the border, assures full civil rights and the right to establish schools teaching in the minority language. Additionally, the Danish Ministry of Education (Undervisningsministeret) cooperated with the Bundes state of Baden-Württemberg's ministry of education, Kultusministerium, to develop and carry out an exchange programme between gymnasium students in both countries. [16] The official name of the programme is "Deutsch-Dänisches grenzenübergreifendes Schüleraustauschprogramm für die Entwicklung und den Beibehalt, essentieller kultureller Verständigung und prägenden Erfahrungen". The first exchange was officially carried out in April 2016 in the city of Mosbach, Baden-Württemberg. The second official exchange took place in Odense, Denmark, in May, followed by a third, but not final, successful visit in August 2016. Even though the programme is officially over, plans have been made for a comeback before the end of 2016. [17]
In the context of the European migrant crisis, Denmark has been maintaining temporary border control on the Danish-German border since 4 January 2016, which has been repeatedly extended. [18] [19] As of April 2019, slightly more than 10 million people have been stopped, of which 7599 have been turned away. [20] As of October 2018, 801 weapons have been confiscated and 5479 charges of, among other things, human trafficking and drug smuggling, have been brought. [21] The police have been releasing weekly tallies Archived 2019-05-30 at the Wayback Machine of individuals checked, individuals denied entry and individuals charged with human trafficking.
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig. Its capital city is Kiel; other notable cities are Lübeck and Flensburg. It covers an area of 15,763 km2 (6,086 sq mi), making it the 5th smallest German federal state by area. Historically, the name can also refer to a larger region, containing both present-day Schleswig-Holstein and the former South Jutland County in Denmark.
The Duchy of Schleswig was a duchy in Southern Jutland covering the area between about 60 km north and 70 km (45 mi) south of the current border between Germany and Denmark. The territory has been divided between the two countries since 1920, with Northern Schleswig in Denmark and Southern Schleswig in Germany. The region is also called Sleswick in English.
The history of Denmark as a unified kingdom began in the 8th century, but historic documents describe the geographic area and the people living there—the Danes—as early as 500 AD. These early documents include the writings of Jordanes and Procopius. With the Christianization of the Danes c. 960 AD, it is clear that there existed a kingship. King Frederik X can trace his lineage back to the Viking kings Gorm the Old and Harald Bluetooth from this time, thus making the Monarchy of Denmark the oldest in Europe. The area now known as Denmark has a rich prehistory, having been populated by several prehistoric cultures and people for about 12,000 years, since the end of the last ice age.
Flensburg is an independent town in the far north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. After Kiel and Lübeck, it is the third-largest town in Schleswig-Holstein.
The Kingdom of Prussia constituted the German state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. It was the driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1866 and was the leading state of the German Empire until its dissolution in 1918. Although it took its name from the region called Prussia, it was based in the Margraviate of Brandenburg. Its capital was Berlin.
The Danish ethnic minority in Southern Schleswig, Germany, has existed by this name since 1920, when the Schleswig Plebiscite split German-ruled Schleswig into two parts: Northern Schleswig with a Danish majority and a German minority was united with Denmark, while Southern Schleswig remained a part of Germany and had a German majority and Danish and Frisian minority populations. Their historic roots go back to the beginning of Danish settlement after the emigration of the Angles. One of the most common names they use to describe themselves is danske sydslesvigere.
Prussia was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. The Knights had to relocate their headquarters to Mergentheim, but still kept their land in Livonia until 1561; they lost all their land by the Napoleonic Wars.
Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg was a German-Danish prince and officer who was the Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck from 1816 to 1825, and the Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg from 1825 to 1831. Friedrich Wilhelm is the progenitor of the House of Glücksburg.
Danes, or Danish people, are an ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural.
The Region of Southern Denmark is an administrative region of Denmark established on Monday 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, which abolished the traditional counties ("amter") and set up five larger regions. At the same time, smaller municipalities were merged into larger units, cutting the number of municipalities from 270 before 1 January 2007 to 98. The reform diminished the power of the regional level dramatically in favor of the local level and the central government in Copenhagen. The Region of Southern Denmark has 22 municipalities. The reform was implemented in Denmark on 1 January 2007, although the merger of the Funish municipalities of Ærøskøbing and Marstal, being a part of the reform, was given the go-ahead to be implemented on Sunday 1 January 2006, one year before the main reform. It borders Schleswig-Holstein (Germany) to the south and Central Denmark Region to the north and is connected to Region Zealand via the Great Belt Fixed Link.
The Scanian War was a part of the Northern Wars involving the union of Denmark–Norway, Brandenburg and Sweden. It was fought from 1675 to 1679 mainly on Scanian soil, in the former Danish–Norwegian provinces along the border with Sweden, and in Northern Germany. While the latter battles are regarded as a theater of the Scanian war in English, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish historiography, they are seen as a separate war in German historiography, called the Swedish-Brandenburgian War.
The coat of arms of Denmark has a lesser and a greater version.
The Schleswig plebiscites were two plebiscites, organized according to section XII, articles 109 to 114 of the Treaty of Versailles of 28 June 1919, in order to determine the future border between Denmark and Germany through the former Duchy of Schleswig. The process was monitored by a commission with representatives from France, the United Kingdom, Norway and Sweden.
Denmark–Russia relations are the relations between the countries of Denmark and Russia. The Kings of Denmark and the Russian Tsars interacted from the 15th century onwards – subsequently Denmark's control of access to and from the Baltic Sea had considerable significance for the trade and naval flexibility of the Russian Empire, while rivalries between Denmark and Sweden on the one hand and between Sweden and Russia on the other led to alliances and military support. Denmark and the USSR established diplomatic relations on 18 June 1924.
Denmark–France relations are the current and historical relations between Denmark and France. Denmark has an embassy in Paris and France has an embassy in Copenhagen. Both countries are full members of the Council of Europe, the European Union and NATO.
The relations between Denmark and Sweden span a long history of interaction. The inhabitants of each speak related North Germanic languages, which have a degree of mutual intelligibility. Both countries formed part of the Kalmar Union between 1397 and 1523, but there exists an inherited cultural competition between Sweden and Denmark. From 1448 to 1790 the two kingdoms went to war against each other at nearly every opportunity; in more than one case a new king tried to prove his worth by waging war on the other country for little or no political reason. Several Dano-Swedish wars took place between 1521 and 1814.
Denmark–Norway is a term for the 16th-to-19th-century multi-national and multi-lingual real union consisting of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of Norway, the Duchy of Schleswig, and the Duchy of Holstein. The state also claimed sovereignty over three historical peoples: Frisians, Gutes and Wends. Denmark–Norway had several colonies, namely the Danish Gold Coast, the Nicobar Islands, Serampore, Tharangambadi, and the Danish West Indies. The union was also known as the Dano-Norwegian Realm, Twin Realms (Tvillingerigerne) or the Oldenburg Monarchy (Oldenburg-monarkiet).
Approximately 15,000 people in Denmark belong to an autochthonous ethnic German minority traditionally referred to as hjemmetyskere, meaning "Home Germans" in Danish, and as Nordschleswiger in German. They are Danish citizens and most self-identify as ethnic Germans. They generally speak Low Saxon and South Jutlandic Danish as their home languages.
Foreign relations exist between Austria and Denmark. Austria has an embassy in Copenhagen and Denmark has an embassy in Vienna. Both countries are full members of the Council of Europe, of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and of the European Union. Diplomatic relations were established on 19 December 1925.
Denmark–Netherlands relations are the bilateral relations between Denmark and the Netherlands. The Netherlands has an embassy in Copenhagen and Denmark has an embassy in The Hague. Both countries are full members of the Council of Europe, the European Union and NATO. Princess Beatrix is a Dame of the Order of the Elephant since 29 October 1975. On 31 January 1998, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands also received the Order of the Elephant.
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