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Contents

Etymology

Pre-historic age: 10,000 BC -

The Viking kings

The Kalmar Union and the union with Denmark

The Kalmar Union (1396–1537)

The Union with Denmark (1537–1814)

Union with Sweden

Independent Monarchy

Norway in World War I

Norway in World War II

Post-war Foreign and military policy

Post-war Economic development

Post-war Social policy

The Oil Industry and the Industralization

Economy

Politics

Culture

See also

Notes

Sources and External links

Etymology

Modern etymologists believe the country's name means "the northward route" (the way north), which in Old Norse would be ''nor veg'' or
★ ''norð vegr''. The Old Norse name for Norway was ''Nóregr'', in Anglo-Saxon ''Norþ weg'', and in mediaeval Latin ''Northvegia''. The present name of the Kingdom of Norway in Norwegian Bokmål is "Kongeriket Norge" and in Norwegian Nynorsk "Kongeriket Noreg", both only a couple of letters removed from the original "northern way"; "Nor(d)-(v)eg".

Pre-historic age: 10,000 BC -

Archaeological finds indicate that there were people in Norway as early as the 10th millennium BC (12,000 years ago). Archaeological research shows that they came from either southern regions (northern Germany), or from the north-east (northern Finland or Russia) . From there they settled along the coastline.
Settled since the end of the last ice age, modern-day Scandinavia contains finds from the Stone age and Bronze age, such as rock carvings. From the time of the Roman Empire until about 800 AD, Scandinavia is known for its Iron Age culture. Many stone inscriptions can be found, written in Runes.

The Viking kings

Scandinavia became famous in the Middle Ages for its raiders, explorers, settlers and traders, the Vikings. Between AD 800 and AD 1100, the Vikings discovered and settled Iceland and Greenland, and conquered parts of Britain and Ireland, and were also known to travel as far as Constantinople, Greece, Northern Africa and Newfoundland. By using their excellent boats and organisation they became master traders and warriors.
In the 12th and 13th centuries, several history works, known as the kings' sagas were written in Norway and Iceland, the best known of which is Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla (c. 1220). These provide our main sources for the early history of Norway. However, their accuracy for the earliest period is uncertain, and a much debated topic among modern historians. The stories about the earliest times are partly legendary in nature, and are not taken as accurate history by modern historians.
In the sagas, the story of the dynasty of Ynglings is told. Their genealogy is traced back to Odin, who according to Snorri Sturluson was a human ruler. The early legendaric kings in the royal line are said to have recided in Uppsala in modern-day Sweden. According to the tradition, Halfdan the Black and his son Harald Fairhair, who ruled in Vestfold in the 9th century, were descendants of this family.
By the time of the first historical records of Scandinavia, about the AD 700s, Norway was divided into many petty kingdoms . A number of small communities were gradually organised into regions of larger stature, and in 872 King Harald Fairhair unified the realm and became its first supreme ruler. King Harald had many children, and his heirs ruled Norway with short interruptions until 1319. Religious influence from Europe (especially England and Ireland) led to the adoption of Christianity. Central in this was King Olav Haraldsson ("The Holy") who died in the Battle of Stiklestad on July 29, 1030. He became Norway's patron Saint Olav, and his tomb at Nidaros cathedral Trondheim became the most important pilgrimage destination in Northern Europe. The archdiocese of Nidaros was established in 1153. Between 1130 and 1240 Norway underwent a period known as the civil war era. Around 1200, the Norwegian king ruled over land from Man in the Irish Sea to the Kola Peninsula in the east. Greenland and Iceland were incorporated as dependencies in 1262.

The Kalmar Union and the union with Denmark

After the Black Death Norway entered into a period of decline. The Royal line died out and the country entered into two unequal unions from 1396 until 1814; this period was called "the 400-year-night" by Henrik Ibsen during the national romantic period as Norwegian national awareness was rediscovered in the 19th century. It can be broken into two main periods:

★ The union of all Scandinavia referred to as the Kalmar Union, and

★ The Danish Period or Union with Denmark.

The Kalmar Union (1396–1537)

King Haakon V died without male heirs in 1319. His daughter married a Swedish prince, whose son Magnus Eriksson inherited both kingdoms. Magnus's son Haakon VI and his infant son Olav IV were Norway's last native kings until Harald V ascended to the throne in 1991. Margrethe, the queen mother, succeeded in uniting Norway with Denmark and Sweden in the Kalmar Union (1397–1523), which ended after 180 years when Sweden seceded in 1536. Norway's power was weakened during this period by the loss of a large part of the population during the Black Death pandemic of 1349–1351.

The Union with Denmark (1537–1814)

The elite in Norway was so weakened that it was not able to resist the pressures from the Danes. More and more decisions were taken in Kopenhagen and the Norwegian Riksråd was eventually disbanded. The Danish crown was represented by a governor styled ''Statholder'', but it was always important for the King to maintain Norway's legal status as a separate hereditary kingdom. The Danish period can be separated into subperiods:

★ 'The Reformation in Norway' (1537–1596): Norway's power was further weakened by the dissolution of the independent Norwegian church in the reformation of 1537.

★ 'The Northern Wars' (1596–1720): A period of virtually continual war and preparation for war, including the Kalmar War (1611–1613), the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), the Northern War (1655–1658), the Gyldenløve War (1675–1679) and culminating in the Great Northern War (1700–1721).

★ 'The Period of Peace and Economic Growth' (1721–1770): During the 18th century, Norway enjoyed a period of great prosperity and became an increasingly important part of the united kingdoms.

★ 'National Reawakening and Preparation for Independence' (1770–1814): This period was built on the strong natural independence of the Norwegian farm culture, combined with awareness of the American Revolution (1775–1783) and the French Revolution (1789–1799), building the natural national assertiveness, and culminating in the constitutional convention of 1814.''

Union with Sweden

Main articles: Union between Sweden and Norway


In 1814 Denmark-Norway was defeated in the Napoleonic wars and the king was forced to cede Norway to the king of Sweden in the Treaty of Kiel (January 14). The Norwegian dependencies Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands were kept by Denmark. In an attempt to retain control over Norway despite the treaty, the Viceroy and hereditary prince of Denmark-Norway encouraged representatives of various social and political factions to gather at Eidsvoll to declare independence, adopt a constitution and elect hereditary prince Christian Frederik as king. May 17 is still celebrated as the day of the new democratic constitution of independent Norway. Sweden responded later the same year by waging war on Norway. In the peace negotiations, Christian Frederik agreed to relinquish claims to the Norwegian throne and return to Denmark if Sweden would accept the democratic Norwegian constitution and a loose personal union. The Norwegian parliament (''Stortinget'') then elected the Swedish king as king of Norway on November 4 1814. When residing in Sweden, the king was represented by a governor-general styled ''Stattholder'', often noble, repeatedly even the Crown Prince (then called Viceroy). The stattholder office, vacant after 1856, was abolished in 1873.
The union was peacefully dissolved in 1905 after several years of political unrest when Sweden recognised Norwegian independence. The parliament offered the throne to Prince Carl of Denmark, who accepted it after a referendum confirmed the monarchy and rejected a republican form of government. On November 18 he ascended the throne under the Norwegian name of Haakon VII.

Independent Monarchy

Norway's kings (''Norges Konge'' is the official style) in modern times, with periods of reign, are:

★ Haakon VII (1905-1957)

★ Olav V (1957-1991)

★ Harald V (1991-present)

Norway in World War I

Norway remained neutral during World War I. However, 1,893 Norwegian sailors were lost during the U-boat war. Despite their neutrality, the Norwegian government went to considerable lengths to accommodate Britain, on account of both British pressure and an anti-German sentiment. These accommodations came in the form of the very large Norwegian merchant fleet, which delivered essential supplies to Britain, which in return supplied Norway with vital coal. This led to Norway occasionally being called The Neutral Ally.

Norway in World War II

As World War II erupted, Norway insisted on remaining neutral despite warnings from some political factions that the country's strategic importance was too great for Nazi Germany to leave it alone, and attempts from the same factions to obtain political consensus to build up sufficient defences to withstand an invasion long enough for Allied reinforcements to arrive from France and Britain, ''(the specially raised British Independent Companies, who were the immediate forerunners of the Commandos)''.
In a surprise dawn attack on April 9, 1940, Germany launched ''Operation Weserübung''. The German forces attacked Oslo and the major Norwegian ports (Bergen, Trondheim, Kristiansand and Narvik) and quickly gained footholds in those cities and the surrounding areas. The Norwegian Army, manning a fort in the Oslofjord, sank the German cruiser ''Blücher'' using cannons and torpedoes. This delayed the Nazi German invasion long enough for King Haakon, his government and the parliament to escape the city with much of the treasury, and to resist the invaders. Despite the strength of the German invaders and the lack of air support, the Norwegian armed forces, together with allied British, French and Polish forces, kept up an organized military resistance for two months, longer than any other country invaded by Germany, except for the Soviet Union. Eventually, on June 7 the Norwegian forces had to surrender and King and government left Norway to form a government in exile in London. Many servicemen, and civilians who would join them, also escaped to Britain where they served invaluably with the British Forces and the Special Operations Executive (SOE).
The Norwegian national socialist politician Vidkun Quisling attempted a coup the same day, but was met with such strong resistance from the people that Nazi Germany deposed him within a week and installed a bureaucratic administration in lieu of a government. In September of 1940 the German Reichskommissar Josef Terboven formed a cabinet with himself presiding, and with most ministers recruited among members of Quisling's Nazi party, plus some independent collaborators. In 1942 this administration was replaced with a semi-independent puppet government headed by Quisling, who was promoted to "minister president" by the Reichskommissar. Quisling's name has come to mean "traitor" in several languages.
King Haakon and his government fled to Britain on June 7th, the same day the allied forces that had retaken Narvik abandoned it and the French forces returned to a quickly disintegrating France. The continued existence of a legitimate Norwegian government gave the exiles considerably more room for action than the French. The worldwide operations of the large Norwegian merchant fleet was a material aid to the Allies.
The Norwegian resistance movement began on a small scale right after the invasion, but gained in strength, especially after the installation of Quisling's puppet government in late 1940 and its attempt to enforce the native brand of fascism (see the next paragraph), and to enroll labour, teachers and officials in its organizations (for an anecdote of Norwegian civil resistance, see paper clip).
The resistance became very active towards the end of the war, closely and continuously supported by the British SOE. Norwegian resistance, ''(generally termed the 'Home Front')'', and its military branch ''(milorg)'' kept many German divisions tied down in occupation duty, and Norwegian spotters contributed to the destruction of numerous German warships and installations. The Norwegian resistance also smuggled people in and out of Norway during the war, ''(typically to Scotland via the 'Shetland Bus', and to neutral Sweden)'', and, with the SOE, managed to destroy much of the world's supply of heavy water and cripple the Vemork heavy water plant at Rjukan, thus perhaps preventing Germany from developing an atomic bomb (''Operation Gunnerside'').

Not all Norwegians sided with the legitimate government in exile. Some became members of Quisling's National Socialist party (Nasjonal Samling – NS). Numerous opportunists joined his movement initially, while Germany seemed to be winning the war. Several thousand young Norwegians joined German Waffen-SS divisions to fight against the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front.
Following the 1941 raid by British Commandos on the minor port of Vaagsoy, Hitler further reinforced Norway, mistakenly thinking that the British might invade northern Norway to put pressure on Sweden and Finland. By the end of the war the German garrison was 372,000 strong (the Norwegian population at the time numbering a little over 3 million)[1]. In May of 1945 when the ''milorg'' was advised they no longer need act covertly, they were found to number some 50,000 members.
During the entire occupation, the German authorities built the so called Festung Norwegen. Innumerable bunkers, pillboxes, air strips and submarine hangars dotted the coast to fend off any invaders. Coupled with the large number of German soldiers in Norway, the Allies (especially the Norwegian government in exile) were worried that the remnants of the Nazi party would flee to Norway and make their last stand there. They could probably have held out for months, which would have devastated Norway. Fortunately, the Wehrmacht commander Böhme saw that resistance was futile, and surrendered on the order of Hitler's successor Dönitz on May 8, 1945.
The Norwegian merchant ships that were in Allied waters at the time of invasion were requisitioned by the exiled Norwegian Government in London. The Norwegian Shipping and Trade Mission was established in London shortly thereafter, and the name abbreviated to Nortraship, following a suggestion from the British Postal Services. The main duties were those of war transports, supply services etc. including the supply of food, ammunition and reinforcements to the front lines, besides evacuating the wounded. Nortraship had 1,081 ships with 33,000 sailors. 570 ships were lost (these numbers vary according to source), along with 3,734 sailors.
By the end of the war, Norwegian naval vessels were also fighting alongside the British. Norway was counted among the victors in World War II and was a founding member of the United Nations. The first UN Secretary General, Trygve Lie, was a Norwegian.
A side effect of the large German garrison was the birth of up to 12,000 children born to Norwegian women and German soldiers. Most of these women suffered recriminations after the war, as did their children, who were called "German children" or "Nazi children". Many of these children were abused throughout their childhood, some were sexually abused.^{[1] [2]} Norwegians who publicly regretted instances of maltreatment were occasionally accused of being too conciliatory.
After the liberation, active members of the National Socialist party and those who had collaborated with the enemy were prosecuted and sentenced. Twenty-five Norwegians, including Quisling, were executed for treason and/or war crimes, and 12 Germans were executed for war crimes.
After the war the Norwegian government forced German prisoners of war to clear minefields. When the clearing ended in September 1946, 392 of them had been injured and 275 had been killed. Meanwhile only 2 Norwegians and 4 British mine-clearers had sustained any injuries. Many of the Germans were killed through their British guards' habit of chasing them criss-cross over a cleared field to ensure that no mines remained. The Geneva Convention, Relative to the treatment of prisoners of war which states that it is forbidden to use prisoners for harmful or dangerous labor proved to be of no value as it was circumvented by the Norwegians claim that the German prisoners were Disarmed Enemy Forces.^[3]

Post-war Foreign and military policy

In 1949 Norway became a member of NATO. The discovery of oil and gas in adjacent waters in the late 1960s boosted Norway's economic fortunes. The current focus is on containing spending on the extensive welfare system and planning for the time when petroleum reserves are depleted. In referendums held in 1972 and on November 28, 1994, Norway rejected joining the European Union, though it remains associated with it through being part of the wider European Economic Area.
Militarily, while Norway and Britain both maintain independent forces, some common defence policies evolved as well as certain integration of training and deployment of both nations' Special Forces.

Post-war Economic development

Post-war Social policy

Norway has advanced in its standard of living beyond many of its European counterparts, in large part to its affluent economy. As a result, for the last several years the United Nations has ranked Norway as having the highest standard of living in the world. This ranking compares nations' level of education and income, combined with expected length of life.
Norway also ranked 2nd in a study conducted by World Economic Forum on the gender gap in 58 nations based on measuring the level of equality with men in five areas: Economic participation, economic opportunity, political empowerment, educational attainment, and health and well-being.[2] [3]

The Oil Industry and the Industralization

Economy

Politics

Culture

See also

★ List of Norwegian monarchs''

★ List of Norwegian Prime Ministers

★ List of Norwegians

★ Norwegian Golden Age

★ Sami people

Notes

1. 286209&previousRenderType=2 DN 10.07.2004 "Tyskerunger" tvingades bli sexslavar
2. SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY; SPAT AT, ABUSED, SHUNNED BY NEIGHBOURS. THEIR CRIME? Independent on Sunday (London) February 2, 2003, Sunday
3. VG 08.04.2006 ''Tyske soldater brukt som mineryddere''.

Sources and External links

★ Norway - Article from the 1907 ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' which details much about Norway including history.

★ History of Norway - Overview to Norwegian history.

★ History of Norway: Primary Documents

★ WorldStatesmen - Norway

★ Historical Atlas of Norway

★ Det rike landet

★ V.Malstøm: Norway before the Vikings

★ Map showing regions of Medieval Norway