For Want of A Sandwich - A Franz Ferdinand Lives Wikibox TL
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Dahomey is a country in Western Africa, bordered in the north by Mali, in the west by Togoland, in the south by the Gulf of Guinea and in the east by Sokoto and Odudawa.
History
Only conquered by the French in 1894, the Dahomey colony, formed by the reunion of the kingdoms of Allada, Porto-Novo and Abomey, was among the spoils of victory of the Treaty of Tours in 1920, joining the German colonial empire. The idea was to reinforce the importance of the Togoland colony, strengthening German positions over the Gulf of Guinea and providing an efficient buffer between British Gold Coast (now Ashante) and Nigeria (now Sokoto, Odudawa and Biafra).
The German colonization was quite uneventful, molded on the policies applied on neighbouring Togoland, even if the authorities in Berlin never thought of merging the two little colonies, given that the cultural outline of Togoland and Dahomey were different ; having Catholic and Protestant missionaries spreading the civilization along with the German language, the governorship in Cotonou relied on the traditional kings of Abomey, that had been defeated at great cost by the French, along with their Fon subjects, concentrating development on the coast and Abomey, with extensive German naval bases being maintained in Porto-Novo, Cotonou and Ouidah. In the northernmost part of the country, French influence from Mali remained. Thanks to Dahomeyan participation during the World War, Dahomey was included in the 1946 Dar-es-Salaam Pact, being promised independence within 25 years of cooperation with Germany. Due to agitation in neighbouring Liberia and Mali, however, and the small size and lack of self-reliance on the country, Dahomey only acceded to independence in 1977, as a full member of the Reichspakt and a constitutional monarchy, the Kings of Abomey becoming ceremonial heads of state and Abomey aristocrat and dentist Justin Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin serving as the country’s first President of Council, reflecting German colonial policies.
As German military and economic presence remains to this day, as in neighbouring Togoland, the Kingdom of Dahomey was not without troubles, due to the ethnic strife that was the legacy of “divide to rule” policies : in 1986, in the aftershock of the 1983 economic crisis, a peaceful revolution allowed the drafting of a new Constitution, monitored by Auxiliary Archbishop of Cotonou Isidore de Souza, who served as President of Council, that removed all discriminatory laws and access to suffrage. The democratic experience was cut short by a series of three military coups and counter-coups in 1988, giving rise to a military dictatorship by General Ferdinand Amoussou, with German support, that restored the prior Constitution and reintegrated Dahomey within the Reichspakt ; the monarchy, in turn, was on the verge of collapse due to a succession dispute in 1989, resolved with German ingerence.
Amoussou allowed a democratic transition in 2001 under German pressure but Pan-Africanist sentiments, quite strong in the northern country, led to a new series of troubles in 2013-2014, culminating with the assassination of President of Council Marie-Elise Gbèdo and an attempted military coup ; since 2014, the Conservatives, led by Sébastien Ajavon, have controlled the country in a pro-German foreign and internal policy.
Political situation
Under its Constitution (adopted at independence and restored in 1990), Dahomey is an unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The reigning King is Dah Sagbadjou Glele, descendant of the Kings of Abomey and elected by Dahomeyan aristocrats in 2018 ; as a tribute to the traditional authority of the king and its historical significance, the capital of the country remains in Abomey, the ancestral seat of the kings, even if the little city only serves as an administrative center formed around the royal palace, as Cotonou’s importance remains tantamount.
The king only has ceremonial powers, as executive and legislative powers are entrusted in the President of Council, leader of the majority party in Dahomey’s National Assembly, the country’s parliament ; judiciary powers are inspired by German law, mixed with Dahomeyan old traditions. Sébastien Ajavon, a Fon billionaire who made his fortune in the food industry, known as “the chicken king”, who also made his fortune in real estate and media ownership, has served as President of Council since 2014, his mandate being renewed with a supermajority in the 2019 general elections. Avajon belongs to Union for Future Dahomey (Union für Zukunft Dahomey), a conservative big tent party that had been founded by former military strongman Ferdinand Amoussou to support his own rule. The social-democratic Democratic Renewal Party serves as the official opposition, with the Pan-Africanist Congress of Agrican Democrats having been dissolved due to political pressure. Avajon’s rule has been described by foreign commentators as a “corrupt and autocratic sham democracy”, with revelations in 2017 in German newspaper Der Spiegel proving its relations with organized crime, the corruption of most of his activies and cronies and the extrajudicial killings of opponents and rivals, his rule being only enforced by German support ; the scandal was efficiently suppressed in Dahomey and Avajon remains the strongman of Dahomeyan politics.
Social situation, population
The majority of Dahomey’s 9 million population lives in the southern country, mostly in the coast, with Cotonou and Porto-Novo leading the economy and drawing a large sway of rural migrants, while 42 ethnic groups form the outline of the country, with Fons forming the ruling and majority population, and Yorubas, Dendis, Bariba, Fulas in the North. The Constitution of Dahomey acknowledges Fon, Yoruba, Fula and Bariba as official languages along with German that serves as the country’s vernacular language. Due to the troubles plaguing Sokoto, southern Dahomey became the seat for a large Sokoto diaspora, living in the slums surrounding Cotonou.
The few riches of the country, along with social development, are confined to the Fon majority, living in the central and southern country ; neglected during German colonization and after independence, the north remains backwards, with illiteracy, infant mortality, malaria and poor infrastructures remaining endemic. This enduring rift has led to deep animosity within Dahomeyan society, with northern populations being subjected to Pan-Africanist influence, allowing to a breakthrough of Pan-Africanist guerillas and Neo-Kemetic conversions, all repressed by the government in Abomey. Christianity, deeply encouraged by German missionnaries, is the country’s largest religious denomination ; Islam is more present in the north, while traditional religions, such as Vodun (the spiritual ancestor of Caribbean Voodoo) was repressed by German and later Dahomeyan authorities, with Ouidah, the religion’s spiritual center, being monorited ; Vodun had been pointed out by Germans as a “barbarian cult” as they also suspected its practioners of harbouring Pan-Africanist feelings.
Economy
Offshore exploitation of oil around Sémè, started during German colonization, proved unprofitable and was halted in the 1980s, and so Dahomey’s economy remains underdeveloped, relying on subsistence agriculture, cotton production, wood exploitation, German military presence and tourism, with Cotonou serving as the country only hub for foreign trade and exports, with the country’s only seaport and only international airport. The economy remains under German control, with Germany being the main economic partner of Dahomey, on a lesser level than neighbouring Togoland, the other big partner of Dahomey.
Military
As a member of the Reichspakt, Dahomey allows for the presence of a strong German military naval base in Cotonou, in a 99-years-lease from Germany, that constitute, along with Lomé and Sao Tomé, the main frame of the German West African Fleet of the Reichsmarine. Attempts at reducing German influence during the de Souza era were abandoned but the subject remains controversial in Dahomeyan politics. The Dahomey Armed Forces are deeply inspired by Prussian military traditions, equipped with German gear and mostly controlled by Fon military officers ; since the days of the Amoussou military regime in 1988-2001 and the defeat of the attempted coup in 2014, the Dahomeyan Army retains a reputation of a kingmaking force in politics.
Culture
Due to its lack of natural resources, Dahomey focused its economy of tourism and the promotion of its superb culture, celebrating the still reigning kings of Abomey, its folk traditions such as dances, music and cuisine and its lush landscapes ; modern artists have received major international recognition, such as Georg Adéagbo, Meschac Gaba or Romuald Hazoumè, and the music scene in Cotonou remains renowned throughout Africa. Due to German influence, a cultural rift has nevertheless being created between a cosmopolitan, Fon-dominated and German-influenced South and a underdeveloped, French- and Liberian-influenced Fulani, Bariba and Yoruba north.
History
Only conquered by the French in 1894, the Dahomey colony, formed by the reunion of the kingdoms of Allada, Porto-Novo and Abomey, was among the spoils of victory of the Treaty of Tours in 1920, joining the German colonial empire. The idea was to reinforce the importance of the Togoland colony, strengthening German positions over the Gulf of Guinea and providing an efficient buffer between British Gold Coast (now Ashante) and Nigeria (now Sokoto, Odudawa and Biafra).
The German colonization was quite uneventful, molded on the policies applied on neighbouring Togoland, even if the authorities in Berlin never thought of merging the two little colonies, given that the cultural outline of Togoland and Dahomey were different ; having Catholic and Protestant missionaries spreading the civilization along with the German language, the governorship in Cotonou relied on the traditional kings of Abomey, that had been defeated at great cost by the French, along with their Fon subjects, concentrating development on the coast and Abomey, with extensive German naval bases being maintained in Porto-Novo, Cotonou and Ouidah. In the northernmost part of the country, French influence from Mali remained. Thanks to Dahomeyan participation during the World War, Dahomey was included in the 1946 Dar-es-Salaam Pact, being promised independence within 25 years of cooperation with Germany. Due to agitation in neighbouring Liberia and Mali, however, and the small size and lack of self-reliance on the country, Dahomey only acceded to independence in 1977, as a full member of the Reichspakt and a constitutional monarchy, the Kings of Abomey becoming ceremonial heads of state and Abomey aristocrat and dentist Justin Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin serving as the country’s first President of Council, reflecting German colonial policies.
As German military and economic presence remains to this day, as in neighbouring Togoland, the Kingdom of Dahomey was not without troubles, due to the ethnic strife that was the legacy of “divide to rule” policies : in 1986, in the aftershock of the 1983 economic crisis, a peaceful revolution allowed the drafting of a new Constitution, monitored by Auxiliary Archbishop of Cotonou Isidore de Souza, who served as President of Council, that removed all discriminatory laws and access to suffrage. The democratic experience was cut short by a series of three military coups and counter-coups in 1988, giving rise to a military dictatorship by General Ferdinand Amoussou, with German support, that restored the prior Constitution and reintegrated Dahomey within the Reichspakt ; the monarchy, in turn, was on the verge of collapse due to a succession dispute in 1989, resolved with German ingerence.
Amoussou allowed a democratic transition in 2001 under German pressure but Pan-Africanist sentiments, quite strong in the northern country, led to a new series of troubles in 2013-2014, culminating with the assassination of President of Council Marie-Elise Gbèdo and an attempted military coup ; since 2014, the Conservatives, led by Sébastien Ajavon, have controlled the country in a pro-German foreign and internal policy.
Political situation
Under its Constitution (adopted at independence and restored in 1990), Dahomey is an unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The reigning King is Dah Sagbadjou Glele, descendant of the Kings of Abomey and elected by Dahomeyan aristocrats in 2018 ; as a tribute to the traditional authority of the king and its historical significance, the capital of the country remains in Abomey, the ancestral seat of the kings, even if the little city only serves as an administrative center formed around the royal palace, as Cotonou’s importance remains tantamount.
The king only has ceremonial powers, as executive and legislative powers are entrusted in the President of Council, leader of the majority party in Dahomey’s National Assembly, the country’s parliament ; judiciary powers are inspired by German law, mixed with Dahomeyan old traditions. Sébastien Ajavon, a Fon billionaire who made his fortune in the food industry, known as “the chicken king”, who also made his fortune in real estate and media ownership, has served as President of Council since 2014, his mandate being renewed with a supermajority in the 2019 general elections. Avajon belongs to Union for Future Dahomey (Union für Zukunft Dahomey), a conservative big tent party that had been founded by former military strongman Ferdinand Amoussou to support his own rule. The social-democratic Democratic Renewal Party serves as the official opposition, with the Pan-Africanist Congress of Agrican Democrats having been dissolved due to political pressure. Avajon’s rule has been described by foreign commentators as a “corrupt and autocratic sham democracy”, with revelations in 2017 in German newspaper Der Spiegel proving its relations with organized crime, the corruption of most of his activies and cronies and the extrajudicial killings of opponents and rivals, his rule being only enforced by German support ; the scandal was efficiently suppressed in Dahomey and Avajon remains the strongman of Dahomeyan politics.
Social situation, population
The majority of Dahomey’s 9 million population lives in the southern country, mostly in the coast, with Cotonou and Porto-Novo leading the economy and drawing a large sway of rural migrants, while 42 ethnic groups form the outline of the country, with Fons forming the ruling and majority population, and Yorubas, Dendis, Bariba, Fulas in the North. The Constitution of Dahomey acknowledges Fon, Yoruba, Fula and Bariba as official languages along with German that serves as the country’s vernacular language. Due to the troubles plaguing Sokoto, southern Dahomey became the seat for a large Sokoto diaspora, living in the slums surrounding Cotonou.
The few riches of the country, along with social development, are confined to the Fon majority, living in the central and southern country ; neglected during German colonization and after independence, the north remains backwards, with illiteracy, infant mortality, malaria and poor infrastructures remaining endemic. This enduring rift has led to deep animosity within Dahomeyan society, with northern populations being subjected to Pan-Africanist influence, allowing to a breakthrough of Pan-Africanist guerillas and Neo-Kemetic conversions, all repressed by the government in Abomey. Christianity, deeply encouraged by German missionnaries, is the country’s largest religious denomination ; Islam is more present in the north, while traditional religions, such as Vodun (the spiritual ancestor of Caribbean Voodoo) was repressed by German and later Dahomeyan authorities, with Ouidah, the religion’s spiritual center, being monorited ; Vodun had been pointed out by Germans as a “barbarian cult” as they also suspected its practioners of harbouring Pan-Africanist feelings.
Economy
Offshore exploitation of oil around Sémè, started during German colonization, proved unprofitable and was halted in the 1980s, and so Dahomey’s economy remains underdeveloped, relying on subsistence agriculture, cotton production, wood exploitation, German military presence and tourism, with Cotonou serving as the country only hub for foreign trade and exports, with the country’s only seaport and only international airport. The economy remains under German control, with Germany being the main economic partner of Dahomey, on a lesser level than neighbouring Togoland, the other big partner of Dahomey.
Military
As a member of the Reichspakt, Dahomey allows for the presence of a strong German military naval base in Cotonou, in a 99-years-lease from Germany, that constitute, along with Lomé and Sao Tomé, the main frame of the German West African Fleet of the Reichsmarine. Attempts at reducing German influence during the de Souza era were abandoned but the subject remains controversial in Dahomeyan politics. The Dahomey Armed Forces are deeply inspired by Prussian military traditions, equipped with German gear and mostly controlled by Fon military officers ; since the days of the Amoussou military regime in 1988-2001 and the defeat of the attempted coup in 2014, the Dahomeyan Army retains a reputation of a kingmaking force in politics.
Culture
Due to its lack of natural resources, Dahomey focused its economy of tourism and the promotion of its superb culture, celebrating the still reigning kings of Abomey, its folk traditions such as dances, music and cuisine and its lush landscapes ; modern artists have received major international recognition, such as Georg Adéagbo, Meschac Gaba or Romuald Hazoumè, and the music scene in Cotonou remains renowned throughout Africa. Due to German influence, a cultural rift has nevertheless being created between a cosmopolitan, Fon-dominated and German-influenced South and a underdeveloped, French- and Liberian-influenced Fulani, Bariba and Yoruba north.
Ferdinand II (Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph von Habsburg-Lothringen) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia (as Ferdinand VI) and the first Head of the Danubian Federation. The eldest son of Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria, the younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, he became the heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne following the suicide of Crown Prince Rudolf in 1889 and the death of Karl Ludwig in 1896. He married morganatically Sophie Chotek in 1900, after he renounced his descendants’ rights to the throne after his courtship caused conflict within the Imperial Household.
Ferdinand succeeded his uncle to the thrones of the realm in November 1916. A believer in greater autonomy for the various ethnic groups of Austria-Hungary, especially the Slavic ones, he nevertheless considered Hungarians as too much of a threat for the Habsburg dynasty and announced his plans to reform the Empire, dismissing numerous hardliners, such as Minister-President of Austria Karl von Stürgkh or Chief of the General Staff Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf. As he came to the throne in the onset of the Great European War (1916-1921), Ferdinand II had to postpone his reforms until after the war, honoring his alliance with Germany while having to deal with ethnic strife, war economy planning and military setbacks until the Treaty of Kiev in 1921.
Ending the war with a ravaged country that hadn’t taken any advantage from the conflict, Ferdinand II moved on with his reformist program, repeatedly locking horns with the opposition, from the Austrian Social Democrats (who unsuccessfully tried to vote a motion of no-confidence in 1923) to nationalist revolts (Ukraine, 1921-1923 ; Bosnia, 1922), and became sworn enemy to long-time Minister-President of Hungary Istvan Tisza, who benefited of an absolute majority in his own Parliament and who was worried over Ferdinand’s plans for a lesser Hungary. On July, 18 1925, nevertheless, Ferdinand II & VI managed to open the Pressburg Conference, sitting along with various nationalists from the Austro-Hungarian Empire to discuss the future of his realm.
Ferdinand pushed repeatedly for Bohemia and Croatia to have the same degree of independence within the Empire, on the same level than Austria or Hungary, but Tisza only agreed to grant his wishes for Bohemia (that lost its German-speaking parts to Austria), not Croatia. The Conference lasted for more than a year, providing the mainframe for the establishment of the Danubian Federation on September, 14 1926, replacing the Dual Monarchy with a federalist Trial Monarchy and increasing autonomy and rights for all of its peoples, yet it was still unacceptable to Tisza, who refused to ratify the Treaty, fearing it would break eventually Hungary apart due to Slovak, Romanian and Serbian pressures. It resulted in Tisza being arrested and deposed on grounds of high treason, igniting the rage of Hungarian nationalists.
Having been the victim of numerous assassination attempts (Sarajevo 1914, Ragusa 1924), Ferdinand II was worried after the assassination of his cousin and ally in Hungary, Archduke Joseph August, but nevertheless headed to Prague to attend his coronation as King of Bohemia, that was to take place on January, 1 1927 in St. Vitus Cathedral. As he exited the New German Theatre on December, 31 1926, after attending a performance of the Merry Widow, his carriage was targeted by a hand grenade thrown by Bohemian ultranationalist Jan Rys-Rozsevac, a medical student who felt that the Pressburg Conference didn’t get far enough in granting Bohemia independence. He was succeeded by his nephew Charles I, III & IV as Head of the Danubian Federation and survived by his wife and three children. His assassination was among the leading causes of the Danubian War (1927-1933).
The legacy of Ferdinand II & VI is very mixed in the area of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire and Danubian Federation. He is viewed very positively in Bohemia and Croatia as a reformer, far more progressive than Franz Joseph and inclined into granting more rights to the minorities of the Empire. Austrians view him as an ineffectual monarch, who didn’t went far enough to prevent to dislocation of the Habsburg realm and turned Austria-Hungary into a German puppet, beginning from the Great European War, not earning anything from the end of the war and culminating with the annexation of Austria by Germany in 1955. For Hungarians, he was a conservative motivated by his hatred of Magyars and the only man responsible for the Danubian War.
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein (Vienna 26 April 1889 - 14 October 1928) was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathermatics, the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of language, best known for his only and seminal work, the 75-page Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1922, Logical-Philosophical Treatise).
Born into one of Europe’s wealthiest families (the Wittgensteins possessing the whole Austrian steel cartel), Wittgenstein, the youngest of the family, was destined to succeed one day to his father : the harsh upbringing would lead to the suicide of three of his brothers. Taught by private tutors at home until he was 14, he attended the Realschule in Linz before studying engineering in Berlin (at the Technische Hochschule, getting his diploma in 1908) and Manchester (Victoria University, dropping out in 1911), before turning to the foundations of mathermatics after reading Bertrand Russell and Gottlob Frege, eventually attending the University of Cambridge to attend Russell’s classes, eventually growing frustrated. Returning to Austria in 1913, Wittgenstein soon inherited his father’s fortune, became benefactor to artists such as Rainer Maria Rike and Georg Trakl and settled in Norway, working on Logik, the first version of his magnum opus.
When the Great European War erupted, Wittgenstein had already begun his work on the Tractatus, but he immediately volunteered for the Austrian Army, serving on the Russian front as a lieutenant and receiving various medals for bravery (Military merit, Silver Medal for Valour), ending the war in captivity. Wittgenstein returned from the war a deeply changed man ; as he had completed the Tractatus during military leave in 1918, he divided his fortune between his siblings and to become an elementary school teacher in the Austrian countryside.
Taking up teaching posts starting in 1922, after the publication and translation of the Tractatus, Wittenstein became an overnight sensation in logician and philosophical circles, Wittgenstein quickly acquired a reputation as a eccentric and downright abusive teacher, beating boys and girls alike, even in the context of pre-Danubian War Austria. As Wittgenstein lived in isolation in spite of his growing celebrity, he had to resign from his teaching post after he had beaten viciously a 11 year-old pupil, Josef Haidbauer. Wittgenstein returned to Vienna, joining a circle of philosophers, scientists and mathematicians inspired by the Tractatus ; after working for a while as a gardner in a monastery and pondering about becoming a monk, later helping to design a house for his sister, Wittengenstin considered returning to philosophy in England ; but the Danubian War broke out and Wittgenstein further isolated himself at home in front of the chaos that seized the Empire, in spite of the pleas from his friends to flee.
On 14 October 1928, a week after the violent putsch of Glaise von Horstenau, a group of Landbund paramilitaries forced their entry into Wittgenstein’s apartment in Vienna ; even if many saw in the break-in an antisemtic motive, it seemed that the roughnecks were more interested in the supposed riches of the Wittgenstein family than by the philosopher’s reputation. Upon seeing the ascetic lifestyle of Wittgenstein along with the absence of money, the paramilitaries were met by harsh insults and yells : Ludwig Wittgenstein died there, shot in the head, before the paramilitaries destroyed his home. His body was recovered the following day by his sister.
One of his correspondants, John Meynard Keynes, summed up the catastrophe that the murder of Wittgenstein meant : “he was just getting out of isolation and returning to philosophy, after revolutizing the field in just one short book. One could wonder what Wittgenstein could have produced had he lived”. In his letters, Wittgenstein seemed to have reconsidered the ideas outlined in the Tractatus : his private works up to 1928 were however lost during the ransacking of his home and the chaos of the Danubian War ; fragments were discovered in 1953 in the cave of one of his assassins, eventually published as Philosophical Investigations, heavily annotated by Bertrand Russell.
Seen as one of the greatest philosophers of the 20th Century, some considering him “the most important since Immanuel Kant”, Wittgenstein contributed to a massive breakthrough with the Tractatus, judging that he had solved all philosophical problems through the logical relationship between propositions and the world, even if debate still rages among scholars as of whether or not they have truly understood the scope of Wittgenstein’s philosophy. In popular culture, his life was the subject of a British film by Michael Radford, “Wittgenstein”, released in 1993 with Tim Roth in the title role, winning the Academy Award for Best Film in 1994.
A Frosty Morning (Ein eisiger Morgen) is a historical essay written by German historian Arno Mayer, analyzing the roots of the Danubian War by pointing out the various incidents of racial strife within the Austro-Hungarian Army during the Great European War (1916-1921) ; in a case study, the book focuses on the Hotin Mutiny, a massacre of German soldiers by a Galician company of the Austro-Hungarian Army during the Battle of Ukraine, that occurred on 24 April 1920 in Hotin (today Hotin, Romania).
Postulating that the stress of battle during the Great European War and the increasingly multicultural outline of Austro-Hungarian troops (that only increased as losses forced intendence to mix different nationalities) contributed heavily to post-war political violence and nationalism, the essay studies the lynching of an Austrian corporal, one Adolf Schicklgruber, by his Galician and Czech fellow soldiers, a savage beating, torture and hanging that sparked a massacre of all 18 German-speaking soldiers within the unit before their mass desertion in the Ukrainian countryside and return to home.
According to the author, the case of Schicklgruber is interesting, due to the profile of the victim : a German Austrian with nationalist ideas, he had been living as a vagrant in Vienna then Munich, unsuccessfully trying to enlist in the Bavarian Army before being expelled to Austria and serving gallantly in the Army during the whole war, on the western front. Schicklgruber’s lynching occurred after he had used a racial epithet towards a Jewish Galician comrade, turning all against himself.
The essay was controversial upon its release in Germany.
...The XXth century saw the ending of the Danish overseas colonies. The Danish West Indies and Danish Greenland were sold to the United States, the former in 1917 after a referendum, the latter in 1950 for 100 million dollars in order to fund the reconstruction of Copenhagen. They remain American territories to this day, less Erik the Red’s Land that was recognized as a Norwegian possession in 1933. Iceland became an independent kingdom in personal union with Denmark in 1918, a partnership that was renewed in 1943 before ending in 1969, after a referendum held in Iceland that voted for an independent republic. The Feroe Islands became an independent kingdom in personal union with Denmark in 1950, also to relieve the Danish economy, before becoming an independent republic in 1973.
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Christian X (born Christian Carl Frederik Albert Alexander Vilhelm, 26 September 1870 – 20 April 1947) was the King of Denmark from 14 May 1912, succeeding his father Frederik VIII, until his abdication on 19 October 1925, in favor of his son Frederik IX. He was also the first King of Iceland, ruling from 1 December 1918 until his abdication.
The brother of King Haakon VII of Norway, Christian X was a firm believer in royal dignity and power. As Denmark remained neutral during the Great European War, he saw the rise of the Social Democrats as tantamount with a Syndicalist takeover of Denmark and refused to appoint Social Democrat leader Thorvald Stauning as Prime Minister after the 1924 elections, appointing instead General Vilhelm Gortz. His hope was to personally lead Denmark into a closer relationship with Germany. Nevertheless, the king grew very unpopular, sparking riots throughout the country, until the Gortz government was overthrown in a motion of no confidence and a new election convened on 5 April 1925. The election saw a landslide victory of the Social Democrats and the King was forced to appoint Stauning as Prime Minister. Now deeply unpopular and unable to build confidence with the Social Democrats, he abdicated on 19 October 1925 in order to preserve the monarchy. He chose to keep a low profile, exiling himself in London ; he welcomed the Danish government in exile in his palace, before dying in 1947, in the middle of the World War and the Syndicalist occupation of Denmark. His body was rapatriated in Denmark after the liberation.
In retrospective, the Royal Crisis (1924-1925) was the milestone for Danish modern democracy, as the Stauning governement embarked into a far reaching constitutional revision and helped to build a true welfare state, renowed around the world. The Social Democrats would remain the first party in the Folketing from 1925 to 1985 even if, ironically, they became the first advocates of rapprochement with Germany after the World War ; Denmark’s relationship with his southern neighbour had been Christian X’s main concern when undertaking royal rule.
Frederik IX (born Christian Frederik Franz Michael Carl Valdemar Georg; 11 March 1899 – 14 January 1972) was the King of Denmark from 19 October 1925, succeeding his abdicating father Christian X, to his death on 14 January 1972. He was also the second and last king of Iceland, succeeding his father until the country became a republic on 19 September 1969, and also the first King of the Faroe Islands, beginning on 14 September 1950.
Frederik IX came to the throne at at uneasy time, the Danish Crown having been marred by the failed authoritarianism of his father, with talks of an abolition of the monarchy altogether. Nevertheless, his excellent relationship with long-seating (1925-1942) Social Democrat Prime Minister Thorvald Stauning and his successors fostered the new role of the monarchy in Danish politics, along with his support of grand coalitions to face the economic crisis and the World War ; he personally implicated himself in resolving the Erik the Red’s Land issue, pushing the government to acknowledge Norwegian claims over Eastern Greenland. His role during the World War and the Syndicalist Occupation cemented his status, as he governed in exile from London, collaborated with the Allies and fought personally, commanding warships during the invasion of Pas-de-Calais.
The latter part of his reign was marked by the Reconstruction of Copenhagen, that he fully supported, ending it with the inauguration of the New Amalienborg Palace in 1960. He also saw the 1953 Kolchak Incident, Danish neutrality during the Aland War, the entrance of Denmark into the Reichspakt and the European Community, the full independence of Iceland, the selling of Greenland to the United States and the establishment of the Kingdom of the Faroe Islands in personal union with Denmark (as the country would become fully independent in 1973, after a referendum held in 1971).
His marriage with his cousin Olga of Greece only procuced daughters ; rumours claimed he hoped his daughter Margarethe (1924-2015) would succeed him with a change in the succession rule ; nevertheless, he was succeeded by his brother Knud (who took the regnal name of Christian XI) after his death in 1972, after a reign of almost fifty years.
Christian XI (born Knud Christian Frederik Michael, 27 July 1900 – 14 June 1976), was the King of Denmark from January 14, 1972, succeeding his elder brother Frederik IX, to his death on June, 14 1976, being succeeded by his eldest son Frederik X. He was also the second and last King of the Faroe Islands, with the country becoming a republic on January, 1 1973.
A career officer in the Danish Navy and a veteran of the World War, Christian XI only acceeded to the throne at 71, leaving all with the expectation of a short reign. His four-year rule was nevertheless marked by the end of the personal union with the Faroe Islands (a decision that had already been ratified by referendum in 1971, in the last year of his brother’s rule), an event that signified the end of the Danish colonial empire.
Frederik X (born Ingold Christian Frederik Knud Harald Gorm Gustav Viggo Valdemar Aage, 17 February 1940) is the current King of Denmark, having succeeded his father Christian XI on 14 June 1976.
His reign saw the late XXth Century and the early XXIth Century, characterized in Denmark by the 1983 economic crisis, a political instability with uneasy coalitions from 1983 to 2001, that saw the steady decline of the Social Democrats, and the success of the Asatru neopagan religion, still frowned upon due to the 2005 terrorist attacks in Copenhagen committed by radicals.
Married to Christina of Sweden, daughter to King Gustaf VII Adolf, Frederik X is still childless. If his heir apparent is his nephew, Prince Frederik, born to his brother Prince Christian (1942-2013), his advanced age led to a debate about the abolition of monarchy in Denmark, as advocated by elements of the Socialist People’s Party, a populist party that has ruled Denmark since 2015.
The Destruction of Copenhagen was a Syndicalist-ordered ground bombing attack during the World War, that took place during the retreat of Syndicalist forces from Scandinavia. On 18 September 1948, as Allied troops were prepared to enter Danish territory, coming from Malmö (Sweden), Syndicalist occupying forces detonated dynamites charges throughout Copenhagen, blowing up the city’s bridges, strategic objectives and landmarks (such as the Amalienborg, Christiansborg, Frederiksborg and Rosenborg Palaces and numerous churches) while retreating to the Schleswig peninsula, obligaterating residential areas in the process.
Denmark had been occupied and annexed by the Syndicalists since 9 August 1945, during Operation Août Rouge, surrendering in a day ; its government had joined the World War in exile from London and the Danish resistance proved particularly vehement against the occupiers ; the Allied invasion of Norway, followed by the Liberation of Sweden, engineered a large-scale uprising in Copenhagen, as the Danish Army in exile was among the Allied troops.
General Henri Tanguy had taken over the position of military governor of Copenhagen, after retreating from Stockholm ; a devout Sorelian, he followed Doriot’s orders to plant explosive charges throughout the city, as the Syndicalist leader pursued a scorched earth policy to slow down the advancing Allied forces. The planting and detonation of the charges was personally led by Tanguy, along with the violent repression of the Danish resistance.
Copenhagen had had more than 700,000 residents before the Syndicalist invasion ; it is estimated that 57,000 died in the destruction of the city, unparalleled in the history of Denmark and considered as a war crime. Tanguy was captured in Hamburg in December 1948 as he prepared to follow the same plan for the German city, and executed for war crimes by German and Danish courts in 1952.
The Reconstruction of Copenhagen was the main objective of the Danish government in the 1950s, encouraged by the international community ; the extensive project, that costed for than 2 billion dollars, had been funded by the selling of Greenland to the United States, the independence of the Faroe Islands and the renunciation of Denmark to neutrality in order to benefit of the Lodge Plan. The Danes reconstructed their city to the indentical, taking advantage of the works to modernize it, and the Reconstruction was deemed complete with the inauguration of the New Amalienborg Palace on 15 June 1960 by King Frederik IX and Prime Minister Viggo Kampmann. Considered a high feat of modern architecture and of Danish resilience, the Reconstruction nevertheless indebted Denmark for decades, as evidenced by the violence of the 1983 Crisis in the country.