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Salik

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Aug 10, 2001
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Those who control the Danish straits control commerce. That is the way it was in the Bronze Age, and that is the way it was in 1836, when our story takes its beginning. The control of trade going in and out of the Baltic is the reason that the German neighbors tried to influence Denmark throughout Medieval times, and it is the reason that Denmark became what it is- a mixture of German and Scandinavian, European and Nordic.

Danish politics always hinged on this- whether to face north or south, seek closer ties with Norway and Sweden or with the German states. By the late 14th century, a desisive shift was made, when the Union of Kalmar was formed under the leadership of Margrete I, the daughter of a Danish king. The unification of the Scandinavian countries was tumultous and long, but when it was finally fulfilled, the three kingdoms had the power to dominate the Baltic.
The many German and Slavic subjects that this brought under the crown were to a great extent allowed to govern themselves, but between the three kingdoms, there was a great deal of strife over the amount of resources spent on medling with the Holy Roman Empire rather than developing the Scandinavian core lands- again, wether to face north or south. Through the civil wars of the 18th century, the kingdom of Scandinavia emerged as a decentralized state with the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden as the core and the many subjects of the German, Slavic and Baltic duchies left out of the body politic. But with the Great Revolution and later on the establishment of the Empire, they were by 1836 equal citizens in a Centralized, modern and enlightened state.

As our story begins, tensions between Traditionalism and Progressionism, Scandinavianism and Europeanism, Intervensionism and Isolationism, and Monarchism and Republicanism are once again at a boiling point. The world is about to change, yet everything stays fundamentaly the same.



Welcome.

This is my second AAR, and my first in Victoria.

Whether you come here because you read the first part of this alternate history of Denmark - Gesta Danorum- Deeds of the Danes, or you are a new reader, welcome.

This is a continuation of an AAR that I made in EU III, IN, starting in 2009. I finished it this Spring, and I am now continuing it in Victoria II through the wonders of the EU3 to Vic2 savegame converter.

As the title suggests, this AAR, in contrast to Gesta, will focus on a few persons and their lives in the Scandinavian Empire. Through their eyes we will see the workings of the state, the transformation of the Empire and its neighbors from agricultural to industrial societies and the colonization of Africa and the Far East.

In case you are not familiar with the events of Gesta Danorum, I fully understand that you will want to start here rather than have to go through 50 chapters of backstory before you even know if this new project will be worth following. However, this might leave you a little confused about the state of the world you are about to acquaint yourself with. So for YOU, my lucky, if lazy reader, I have compiled a short summary of those 400 years of history that might differ slightly from your previous understanding of Danish history, which will make up the first four chapters of this AAR. Afterwards, there will be an introduction to the characters who we will follow from the start of this AAR.


 
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Lives of the Danes

Prelude I
The Union of Kalmar


In 1397, a treaty was signed between the three Nordic kingdoms, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, that the three countries should forever have a common king. At the time of this treaty, the Treaty of Kalmar, the kingdoms had recently come out of a long period of internal turmoil and interference from their German neighbors. The young king Olaf Haakonson was heir to the kingdoms of Sweden and Norway through his father and grandfather, and to the kingdom of Denmark through his mother, Margrete, who was the daughter of the late king Valdemar. Even so, his mother had had to lead a fierce struggle for the right of her son against the German duke Albrecht of Mecklenburg. However, soon after his ascension to the three thrones, Olaf died, aged only 17. In his place, his nephew Erik of Pomerania was elected king, with Margrete as the true ruler under the title Sovereign Lady and Ruler.

Erik died in a hunting accident in 1405 , and was succeeded by his cousin Frederik I. Frederik was a meek man, who struggled to keep the three kingdoms united after the death of his aunt Margrete. Still, it was during his reign that the first successful First Baltic War against the Teutonic Order was fought. In this war, the city of Danzig and the old Danish duchy of Estonia were conquered, being the first steps in the eventual conquest of the entire Baltic Coast.

When Frederik died in 1416, allegedly poisoned on the order of Swedish nobles, his son Vilhelm was elected king by the Danish and Norwegian nobility, but the Swedish nobles elected Karl Sture, later known as the great pretender.

This could have been the end of the Union, had Vilhelm not grown up to become one of the greatest kings in the history of Denmark. During his minority, another successful war against the Teutonic Order was fought, gaining an even stronger position in the Baltic, before defeating the Swedes in three decisive wars, the last one regretfully ending in his own demise in Lappland.

Vilhelm also won a victory against the Holy Roman Empire, led by Johann of Cleves, when he vassalised Hamburg and Münster and finally declared the Nordic countries to be completely independent of the Empire.

After the death of Vilhelm, his brother Hans, known as the Cruel, took the throne. Hans united the houses of Pomerania and Sture when he married Ulrika Eleonora, the daughter of the usurper Karl Sture. With this marriage, the kingdom of Sweden ceased to exist as a legal entity, and was completely absorbed into Denmark. Danish laws and customs were imposed on Sweden until the ascension of Hans’ son Christian, who eased the oppression, but kept the union of the two crowns. The title king of Sweden was a secondary title to that of king of Denmark, while the Norwegian crown was still theoretically independent.

Christian got involved in the Independence War when he attacked the archbishopric of Bremen. The Holy Roman Emperor Charles of Spain stepped in to protect Bremen, and soon after king Stanislovas of Lithuania launched an attack on Memmel while king Henry of England invaded the Norwegian Orkney Islands.
The war ended with a minor victory, the Bishopric of Bremen being vassalized and the Lithuanians ceding Samogitia, but also left Christian with empty coffins and a badly hurt prestige internally and externally. This was only worsened a few years later, when the English in another war conquered the Orkney Islands and king Adolphus pronounced himself king of Great Britain and Ireland
In an attempt to solve these problems, the Greenland expedition of Oluf Schlentz was commissioned to find the Norse settlements in Greenland and reestablish the fur and ivory trade. In 1499, indemnities from a war against Lithuania were used to pay for the establishment of permanent settlements in Greenland, which soon lead to the rediscovery of Vinland and the establishment of the first colonies there under Christian’s son Frederik II

During his reign, the reformation of Bernardo Grosso swept across Europe. Frederik, being heavily influenced by the Catholic theologian Sebastian Sehested and his thoughts of the divine right of kings, took upon him the mantle of the counter reformation. It is for this fight that he is mostly remembered today, not least because of his later canonization, but it was also during his reign that the expansion in the Baltic really accelerated.

Frederik’s son Christian II was the first true Union King. While his predecessors had been kings of Denmark, ruling over two other countries, Christian had spent parts of his formative years in all three kingdoms, even acting as regent for his father in Norway. It is ironic then, that his reign should end with the breakup of the Union of Kalmar. After inheriting a costly war from his father over the ascension of his nephew Valdemar to the throne of Krakow, Christian got off to a bad start. Though Valdemar was put on the Krakowian throne, many among the more staunchly counter reformist nobles in Norway felt that he had not put everything into defeating the reformed opposition of Karl of Austria.
When a plot was discovered between the centuries old rival, the king of Lithuania, and his son in law - Christian’s brother - Vilhelm, who was acting as regent for his son Valdemar, the duke of Krakow, to put said Valdemar on the Union throne, Christian used a legal technicality to force a declaration of war through the Rigsråd, the noble parliament of the Union. This lead to the catastrophic 9 year war, which, even though it ended in the complete dismantlement of the kingdom of Lithuania, and a much strengthened Danish position in Eastern Europe, also tested the loyalty of the nobility to the limit.

In 1557, a Joint Rigsdag, a meeting of the nobles of all three kingdoms and representatives of the commoners, convened in Stockholm to discuss an end to the devastating 9 year war, which was still going on. The drafting of young men for the war and the heavy taxes levied to fund it had led to widespread riots and several castles and manor houses had been razed. In this light, the nobles decided to release the king from his duties. This move, the legality of which has been questioned for centuries, was part of plan by the higher nobility to instate a noble republic. As a transformation figure, Frederik Gyldenstierne, a childhood friend of the now former king, and leader of the peace party among the nobility, was elected king of Denmark-Sweden. However, the Norwegian nobles, who were still fiercely in the anti-reformation camp, suspected Gyldenstierne of harboring sympathies for the Grossoan reformation, and instead elected Hagen Rosenkrantz, another childhood friend of the king.

Christian II fled the country, and although he would twice try a comeback through uprisings in Northern Germany, he never set foot in Denmark again.
The Union of Kalmar was history, and the kingdoms of Norway and Denmark-Sweden with associated territories would be separate kingdoms, ruled by the Houses of Rosenkrantz and Gyldenstierne, respectively.
 
The Union of Kalmar was history, and the kingdoms of Norway and Denmark-Sweden with associated territories would be separate kingdoms, ruled by the Houses of Rosenkrantz and Gyldenstierne, respectively.

Ah, but are you sure that it is not, in fact, ruled by the Houses of Gyldenstierne and Rosenkrantz, respectively?
 
Ah, but are you sure that it is not, in fact, ruled by the Houses of Gyldenstierne and Rosenkrantz, respectively?

Yes. Norway is ruled by Rosenkrantz, Denmark-Sweden with associated territories is ruled by Gyldenstierne
 
Lives of the Danes

Prelude 2: The House of Gyldenstierne


When Frederik III Gyldenstierne was elected king at the Common Rigsdag in Stockholm, many among the nobility hoped that he would become a transition figure to a noble republic. The kingdom was still elective, but the crown had traditionally been passed on to the oldest son of the king in exchange for his signing of a charter limiting his powers and defining the rights of the nobility. Many among the nobility hoped to diminish the royal powers to the point where the king was merely the figurehead of a noble plutocracy, and where the title would pass between families, limiting the possibility of a royal family expanding its power with each generation.

When Frederik rose to power, he was 50 and relied heavily on the nobles who had elected him. Both these factors spoke against his chances to establish the necessary power base to secure the throne for his son Christopher. However, in the violent aftermath of the breakup of the Union of Kalmar, he managed to become popular in the wider population, while Christopher through his marriage to Kirsten, the daughter of Haakon VII Rosenkrantz of Norway, paved the way for an eventual reunification of the realms. The prospect of the House of Gyldenstierne establishing itself as a new royal dynasty led to the murder in Dalby Skov of Christopher Gyldenstierne, by the assassins of the prominently republican noble families Ulfeld and Oxe. The outrage, both among the general population and among the nobility, that rose against these families, and the support that poured in for the king, was enough to establish the hereditary kingdom with Christopher’s young son Harald as heir. The rest of his reign was spent at war with Great Britain, ending in the independence of Northern Ireland and Scotland and the reconquest of the Orkney Islands

Harald took the throne at the age of 28 upon the death of his grandfather. He would become one of the most colorful and posthumously popular monarchs of the early modern times, but he had few of the qualities that made his grandfather remembered as a great king. His first decade on the throne was defined by his fierce rivalry with his cousin, Haakon IX of Norway, which culminated in the Rosenkrantz wars and the reconquest of Norway.
Towards the end of his reign, however, Harald, who had always been a religious man, came under the influence of a puritan Catholic movement at court, and was dominated by his sons in law, married to the daughters of his third marriage to Vibeke Kruse. These men would form the regency council of his son Christopher III, when Harald died a broken and mentally ill man in 1619.

After breaking the power of his regents with the help of his tutor Peder Griffenfeld and the bishop of Copenhagen, Hans Tausen, Christopher reformed the kingdom through eleven hectic years. The most significant reform was the break with Rome and the establishment of the Church of Denmark, following an alleged coup attempt by the former regency and the archbishop of Lund. However, the reforms were somewhat stalled by Christopher’s early dead in 1633.

His brother Christian III initially followed the advice of Peder Griffenfeld, but after a series of wars had him executed, and, like his father, fell under the influence of his brothers in law and cousins, rolling back the reforms made by Christopher. When Christian died in 1662, his nephew Frederik IV took the throne.

Frederik IV, also known as the Great or Lillekongen (The Little King, due to his small stature), was the pinnacle of the Absolute Monarchy. During his reign, the court became increasingly luxurious, while the intelligent and diligent king involved himself in all aspects of state. The crowning of his efforts came with his election to Holy Roman Emperor, which led to the secession of Austria and most of the other reformed South German states and the formation of the Northern Empire. After suffering from the depression that was so common in the Gyldenstierne family, Frederik was reinvigorated by a grand tour of Europe and the marriage to Margrete, the young daughter of Henry of Great Britain. However, he died in 1690 after suffering a fall, leaving his infant and – as time would tell – severely debilitated son Frederik as king.
 
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Nice, looking forward to what this leads to
 
Lives of the Danes

Prelude 3: The Imperial Age

Frederik V had as a regency council his mother Margrethe of Great Britain, who was given the title Supreme Lady and Ruler, and three of his father’s closest advisors, Harald Danneskiold, Frantz Scholten and Ditlev Reventlow.
Margrethe was a woman of the enlightenment, and pushed through agricultural reforms which, although they made the peasants free also created a large rural proletariat, who lost access to the now privately owned commons. She also supported science, and it was during her reign that the foundations of modern Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Geology were laid by scientists working throughout the realm.
Her two children, Margrethe and Frederik, the king, were used like pieces on a chess board. Frederik, who was severely retarded, was a figure head for his mother’s rule, and the young Margrethe was married off to the Count Palatine of the Rhine to secure the Danish hegemony within the Empire of the North. This would later backfire.
It was also during Margrethe’s reign that the border to the Ottoman Empire was pushed south, creating a buffer zone in between the rich provinces on the Baltic and the Ottomans in Grodno. Furthermore, the island of Crete was conquered and a Greek puppet state on Peleponese was created, fulfilling the ambition of Frederik IV to have a naval presence in the Mediterranean to assist a push into the Levant and further to India.

On April 25th, 1721, Harald Danneskiold and Franz Scholten were arrested for usurping royal power and plotting to overthrow the Church of Denmark. The arrest was carried out during a ball at Sorgenfri Castle, and left most of the nobles present thoroughly confused. After all, these two men had been de facto rulers of the country for decades, since the ascension to the throne of Frederik V. Through the queen mother, Margrethe of Great Britain, they had been able to manipulate the tragically deranged king. It was a commonly known fact, that anything being decreed by the king was in fact the will of the former regency council.

Present at the ball was also the statholder of Norway Jørgen Gjedde, on a visit to the capital with his wife, Margrethe Gyldenstierne, the older sister of the king, who wished to be near her mother when she gave birth to their first child. Due to her advanced pregnancy, nobody had taken notice of her absence from the ball. In the next days, the court would learn that during their stay at Sorgenfri, Jørgen Gjedde and Margrethe had orchestrated a coup. While Jørgen Gjedde would go hunting with key courtiers, away from the eyes and ears of the spymaster Scholten, Margrethe had private consultations with the king. During these consultations, Margrethe managed to turn the king against the two men who had dominated his entire existence, and on the fateful night, had him sign the order for their arrest, which was promptly carried out by her husband’s close friend, the captain of the royal guard.

The trial against Scholten and Danneskiold brought shocking testimonies from courtiers who swore to have heard them discussing ways to reinstate the bishop of Rome. A manservant to Danneskiold remembered seing his master with something that could well have been a rosary, and a chambermaid swore that she during a nightly visit, the purpose of which was not disclosed to the court, had seen Scholten wearing a crucifix under his clothes. When a personal letter from Danneskiold to Scholten was displayed, indicating that the king was not within his faculties, and that Danneskiold himself was the only descendant of Harald IV fit to rule, the case was settled. The most chocking implication of the trial, however, was that the queen mother, who had retained her Catholic faith even after the marriage to Frederik IV, was the hidden hand behind this plot. Due to appearances, she was not put on trial, but after the beheading, quartering and drawing of Danneskiold and Scholten, she was exiled to the small island of Tåsinge, where her chalet can still be seen to this day.

Margrethe Gyldenstierne and Jørgen Gjedde took over the reins of government at the same time as Margrethe’s cousing, Henry IX took power in Great Britain. The two cousins would form a strong alliance in the many Central European wars that marred the first half of the 18th century.
In 1726 the North German War between Denmark and Great Britain on one side and the small North German states and Austria on the other resulted in Danish hegemony over Northern Germany and a firm control of every elector in the Northern Empire. Two years later, when the Ottoman Empire tried to reconquer Achea, Denmark was dragged in to a state of war that would last two decades. The twenty years war was a three front war between South German princedoms supported by Austria, France and Spain on one side, Denmark and Great Britain on another and finally the formidable power of the Ottoman Empire on the third. During the war, which in fact consisted of several lesser conflicts, each with their own reasons and temporary conclusions, Central Europe was fragmented into several new states, most notably the five independent duchies that arose from the splitting of the Palatinate, formerly the most powerful entity within the Empire. In the later years of the war, Jørgen Gjedde the younger, son of Margrethe Gyldenstierne and Jørgen Gjedde, marked himself as an extraordinary general, most notably at the second battle of Lublin when he all but annihilated the great Ottoman army of Ahmed IV.

At the end of the 20 years war, the Danish crown had consolidated itself as the undisputed lord of Northern Germany and had acquired several holdings in the Mediterranean, but both France, Austria and the Ottoman Empire had strengthened their positions in the regions bordering the Northern Empire. Furthermore, widespread civil unrest had broken out in the last years of the war. People were tired of being drafted to fight in endless wars, that never seemed to lead to anything, and resentment against the secluded court at Sorgenfri and the implied alliance between the nobility and Jørgen Gjedde grew steadily.

Still, everyone expected Jørgen Gjedde the younger to ascend to the throne upon the death of Frederik V, who had no children. That is, until Valdemar Gyldenstierne, a destitute nobleman of questionable character, arrived in Copenhagen carrying documents proving him to be the son of Vilhelm Gyldenstierne, the younger brother of Frederik IV who had left the country in anger and joined the Austrian armies in fighting the Ottoman Empire during the late 17th century. Having been captured deep in Bulgaria, Vilhelm had been a prisoner of the Sultan until his release in 1705. He had stayed in Constantinople, marrying the daughter of a local Orthodox merchant. Being a direct male descendant of Harald IV made Valdemar’s claim to the throne stronger than that of Jørgen Gjedde, who was descended only through his mother.

Valdemar Gyldenstierne died in 1752, his six year old son Harald was named heir apparent. Frederik V died later that year, and Margrethe and Jørgen Gjedde were soon manoeuvred out of court by nobles disgruntled with the perceived loss of influence in Germany during their regency. They retired to the Gyldenstierne estates in Lund, while Jørgen Gjedde the younger was named statholder in Sweden. A clique of German minded nobles ruled for the young Harald V, while the Scandinavian fraction, based in the lower nobility and commoners plotted the overthrow of what they essentially saw as an usurper regime.

Based in Sweden, the Scandinavian fraction rose in rebellion with Jørgen Gjedde as pretender to the throne. Initially, they were successful, conquering most of Sweden and Scania, but in 1758, the war had come to a stalemate and the rebellious lords negotiated a deal with the crown, in which the government would focus on improving the economy at home rather than playing power games in Germany. The nobility were tired of financing wars with no other goals other than keeping the imperial title within the House of Gyldenstierne, especially since that title was mainly a question of vanity, the real power of which had been eroded. The nobles would step down only if Harald V would renounce the title of Emperor of the North and instead take the title “King of Scandinavians”.

This peace treaty, which symbolically was signed at the old Kalmar Castle is seen as the foundation of the modern Scandinavian nation.
 
Lives of the Danes

Prelude 4: Valdemar V and the Revolution​

With the death of Frederik V, the Imperial Age came to an end. With the internal strife in Denmark, the electors chose George V of Great Britain, the second cousin of Jørgen Gjedde as new emperor of the Northern Empire. It appears that there was an underhand agreement between Gjedde and the British king that the Imperial crown would pass to Denmark again once Gjedde had taken his rightful place as king of the Triple Kingdom. But as we saw in Chapter XLIX, Jørgen Gjedde’s supporters struck a deal with the regency council at Kalmar, and Gjedde went into exile in Great Britain. This also meant the end of the Danish British alliance. During the 1760’s and 70’s, three unsuccessful British supported invasions of the Scandinavian Peninsula were staged to put Gjedde on the throne.


charles.jpg


Jørgen Gjedde, ca. 1765

Meanwhile, Harald V and the court at Sorgenfri was growing tired of the British influence in the Northern Empire, which included most of the Danish duchies on the Baltic Coast and in Northern Germany. So in 1776, in response to the continuing British incursions and in clear disagreement with the isolationist promises made to the nobles at Kalmar, Danish armies crossed into the independent duchy of Cleves. In order to defend the Imperial Crown, Great Britain declared war on Denmark, but, without support from Austria and France, who were busy fighting each other in Northern Italy, was overpowered. In the spring of 1777 Scandinavian forces moved south from the Orkney Islands while 30000 men landed in Kent. By October London had fallen, and the British were forced to cede all their possessions in Vinland and renounce the Imperial crown. With this treaty, the last successor state to the Roman Empire ceased to exist.

Harald V died in 1785, and was replaced by his son Valdemar V. Valdemar did not see himself bound by the Kalmar agreement, and so continued the interventionist policies of his father. In 1787 he conquered Kutch in India and founded the East Indian Trade Company, in 1789 he supported the coup that put Alexander Talbot on the British throne, in the early 1790’s he supported the Louisiana independence movement from Spain in the former Danish colonies around the Mississippi, and fought several wars for control of Swahili against the Ottoman Empire. These activities all demanded a much larger standing army than had been customary, and much like in the 1750’s, the nobility was getting tired of financing it. The drafting of young men to the army bled the countryside dry of people to work the farms, and the supplies needed for the constant warfare was bankrupting the state. In 1795 the Scandinavian Civil War broke out between the crown, primarily supported by North German and Danish nobility, and the Republican Party supported primarily by Swedish and Norwegian nobles, who tried to instate a Noble Republic, like their namesakes of the 16th century namesakes.

The civil war was spurred not only by the traditional conflict between the king and the nobles, but also by the enlightenment. During the 18th century, Scandinavia had been at the centre of a scientific revolution. Steen Bille had published his work on gravity, Niels Steensen had founded Geology after studying sea shells found within rocks in the Norwegian mountains and realizing that the rocks must at one time have been sea floor. The ever growing understanding of the laws of nature led others to question the foundations of society. In The Social Contract of 1788, Johann Herman Wessel argued, that governments are erected not by heavenly inspiration, but by man. Governments were meant to address common problems, and had no authority other than that given to them by the constituents of the body politic. In other words, the King had no authority from God, only from his subjects.

Though the civil war ended with the defeat of the Republican Party, it sowed a seed among the general population. Since the court relocated to Sorgenfri Castle, noblemen had once again taken complete control of the court. Whereas earlier kings of the Gyldenstierne dynasty had chosen to surround themselves with commoners, the court at Sorgenfri was filled with noblemen who idled around, trying to get close to the king. The costs of war, while hurting the nobility economically, meant that living conditions for the poor and the middle class were unacceptable. The nobility could act with impunity, while execution for petty theft was an everyday occurrence for the poor. The agricultural reforms had created a wealthy farmer class, but also left the majority of people living on the brink of starvation. While the nobility lost labour force, the farmers lost sons. It has been estimated that one in five men born in the 1770’s was dead by the end of the civil war in 1799, either in the Ottoman wars or after being drafted to fight their fellow citizens.

In 1805, a widespread famine hit Southern Sweden. As often before, grain was distributed from the more fertile soil of Sjælland and the Baltic Coast, but due to widespread corruption in the administration, scarcity of flour became widespread. It was rumoured that shiploads of wheat had been sold underhand to Dutch merchants, and bread riots broke out in Copenhagen. On the 5th of June, the mob stormed Frederiksborg Castle, which mainly served as offices for lower echelons of the administration, and emerged in jubilation with gilded chandeliers, silverware and other movable property. It was only through the vigilance of unknown bureaucrats that the famous Rosenborg Tapestries, depicting kings going back to the 14th century were saved. They were packed away in a fireplace and taken to the cathedral were they were rediscovered in 1832. On the 7th, two days later, a delegation led by the Lord Major of Copenhagen went by foot to Sorgenfri to petition the king to handle the situation.

Faced with widespread revolt, Valdemar agreed to call in the Joint Rigsdag for the first time in almost 250 years , and to relocate the court to Frederiksborg Castle within the walls of the capital. Although this would be far more significant than the chaotic and senseless looting that took place at the storming of the castle, to this day the 5th of June, the Storming of Frederiksborg, is commemorated as the the beginning of the Scandinavian Revolution.

The Joint Rigsdag convened at the Copenhagen City Hall in October 1805. Present were representatives of the three estates, nobility, clergy and burghers. The fourth estate, the farmers, were not represented. The representatives of the nobility, though representing only a small fraction of the population, made up 200 of the 500 representatives.

The goal of the Joint Rigsdag was to frame a constitution that would limit the power of the king and establish a parliamentary system, but already from the first day it became clear that the estates had very diverging ideas about what such a system would entail. While the commoners, mostly represented by rich merchants, wanted voting rights distributed equally among those who “create the wealth of the nation”, that is to say, the wealthy, the nobility were more inclined towards a system that would divide power among the estates. The clergy, being represented by the 30 bishops of the European bishoprics, were leaning towards the view of the nobility. Traditionally, the king’s council had consisted of nobility and clergy, and the commoners should count themselves lucky to be granted access to the council. In reality, of course, the administration had been run by commoners for centuries, while the nobility had wasted away their time at Sorgenfri Castle, and the clergy had been dispersed throughout the kingdom and duchies, but this detail was lost on the leader of the clergy, the archbishop of Copenhagen and most of the nobility.

With a little more than half of the delegates, the third estate could theoretically enforce its demands by voting by a strict party line. This was not lost on the nobility, and the first week of the Joint Rigsdag was spent in futile discussion about whether the delegates had an individual vote or the estates voted en bloc. Since the royal decree had not been explicit about voting procedures, it was impossible for the delegates to even agree on a way to decide the ground rules of the convention. When the delegates convened for the second week, forty members of the third estate, among them Frans Bille, a professor of history from the University of Copenhagen, a renowned enlightenment philosopher and relative of the physicist Steen Bille, found the doors of the meeting hall locked from the inside. To this day, no one knows the real reason for the locked doors, but the members retreated to the steps of the city hall, which led into one of the main market squares of the city and proclaimed to the market goers that the nobility had made a coup against the Joint Rigsdag, and that a new, legitimate convention would meet in the nearby ceremonial hall of the University. This announcement caused a great deal of commotion, which was heard inside the city hall. Several delegates of the first estate got nervous and tried to escape the city hall, but were apprehended by the crowd and beaten. The captain of the royal guard at the nearby Frederiksborg Castle, where the king had been forced to take up residence, sent a platoon to the city hall square to disperse the crowd. In the ensuing battle, five delegates of the Joint Rigsdag, two noblemen and three commoners, were killed, along with an unknown number of ordinary citizens. Soon the word spread throughout the city, that the king and the nobility had tried to break up the convention. Faced with a furious population, the delegates of the higher estates had no choice but to accept the newly convened University Convention as the legitimate framework for making a constitution.

The resulting document established Scandinavia as a republic with Frans Bille elected as its first Consul. The duchies, free cities and colonies were dissolved, and a unified state ruled from Copenhagen was instituted. The convention also issued a set of universal human rights, including the right to life, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of religion. All of these would soon be disbanded, however, as the new republican government found it increasingly hard to govern under the heavy debate that soon raged in all kinds of pamphlets and newspapers. A large part of the population, while opposed to the nobility and clergy, were sympathetic to the king. After being raised with an image of Valdemar V and his father before him as benevolent fathers of the country, many found it difficult to accept that he was disposed by a mere professor. Within three months of his election, Frans Bille was struggling to maintain his authority, and in January of 1806, he was replaced by Valdemar Schlentz, a destitute lawyer, who had risen through the ranks of the revolutionaries by a significant amount of ruthlessness and revolutionary fervor. His first act as Consul was to charge the king, who was being kept under house arrest, with treason. On the 8th of February, Valdemar V, once one of the most powerful men of the Western World, was beheaded as the first in a long stream of noblemen, priests and other supporters of the old regime.

The beheading of the king ignited a wave of outrage throughout Europe, and in June France, Scotland and Austria all declared war to restore the legitimate government of Scandinavia with Valdemar V’s son Christopher as king. The disorganized government found it hard to fight a war while being criticized and satirized by the opposition press, and soon general censorship was instated, as was the assembly of more than five people after sunset. As the administration grew more and more paranoid, even those who had originally been leaders of the revolution, including Frans Bille, found themselves sentenced to death for treason.

Though the war went badly, and more and more of the North German core lands were occupied by French troops, the Scandinavian main land held steady. The navy blockaded French ports and prevented hostile armies from crossing the Belts and taking Copenhagen. In the colonies, patriots invigorated by promises of increased self government, occupied large swaths of French holdings.
Still, the war seemed lost, when Godtfred Due, a corporal born on Gotland and educated at the military academy of Næstved on Sjælland, led an assault on the fort at Rendsborg in Slesvig. This battle, which broke the occupation of Jylland, made him a popular hero. In the following months, he liberated much of Northern Germany, and instigated the mass levy, where common peasants and labourers left their work to fight for the Republic.

By 1819, peace treaties had been signed with France and Austria, and Godtfred Due was elected as Consul for life. In 1820, Poland, who had joined the war against the Republic, was conquered and a republican government was installed. On January 1st 1821, or the 1st of Midvinter, year 1 of the Imperial Calendar, Godtfred Due was crowned as emperor of Scandinavia. The challenging and chaotic “long 18th century” had come to an end, and the prosperous, orderly 1st century could take its beginning.



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Godtfred Due and the Empress Consort on the Imperial Thrones after their coronation
 
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Aha, you've started part 2 of this epic I see. Good luck and hopefully you manage to finish it without too many bumps along the way! I'll follow along.
 
Aha, you've started part 2 of this epic I see. Good luck and hopefully you manage to finish it without too many bumps along the way! I'll follow along.

Let's hope so. I hope to have the first chapter up tomorrow

um...what's with the yellow text? I can't even read it :/

It's a leftover from the previous AAR. To me, it reads fine on the red background, but I can change it if people have difficulties reading it
 
So for YOU, my lucky, if lazy reader, I have compiled a short summary of those 400 years of history that might differ slightly from your previous understanding of Danish history.

Guilty as charged! I certainly was lazy with regards to Gesta Danorum, which I attempted to read a few times, the size was a bit daunting. Thus I greatly appreciate the overview provided here and the chance to follow this AAR from the beginning.

A very interesting read thus far, Denmark has clearly experienced a tumultuous time of it in the last few centuries what with constant war, rebellion, reform, plotting (especially of note was how Frederik V's sister took power) and so forth. Hopefully there is more of the same now in V2, chaos in game always providing a riveting read!
 
Country First

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The Ulfeldt family is one of the oldest noble houses of Denmark. Though its members have often played a controversial role in history, never shying away from openly opposing royal power, its motto, “Country First” has always held true.

If Ulfeldts have been rebellious, it has always been with the aim of furthering the interest of the nation. Yes, certain members of the house play the role of villains in most accounts of history, but only because an Ulfeldt gladly accepts appear villainous to the world, if in doing so he can save the nation.
Have the Ulfeldts been champions of noble privilege? Indubitably. But when the alternative was the rule of such cultureless profiteers as Ambrosius Bogbinder or the iconoclast and traitor Peder Griffenfeld , who would have bankrupted the state if it could have supported their trading houses, the nobles with their income tied to the land were surely better guardians of the common good.

The general was a true Ulfeldt. Being a lieutenant of 20 years in the year of the Revolution, 1805, he had kept his head down long enough to avoid the senseless bloodshed that befell the old ruling class. Though by no means a republican, he had refused to join the many noble officers who signed up with the French and Austrian armies at the head of the grand coalition that formed to overthrow the young republic, while not actively fighting to uphold the Republic either. Even in the case of mob rule, an Ulfeldt would never join ranks with the enemies of his country.
When Gotfred Due took the reins of power and put an end to the terror which had disgusted the young nobleman, he reenlisted in the service and was highly recommended for his valiant efforts in the battle of Lüneburg where the French forces were finally beaten back. In the aftermath of the war, and the institution of the Empire, he had risen steadily through the ranks of the army, and had eventually been able to buy back some of his family’s confiscated estates from the state.

After 20 years in the service he retired with the rank of general to his childhood home of Krogerup on the coast of Øresund to dedicate himself to a lifelong interest in fossils.
Having a steady income from his estates, and furthermore being appointed local commissioner in Krogerup amt, he was able to effectively live with the same position as a citizen under the empire as his ancestors had as counts and dukes under the monarchy. As a commissioner, the general had a seat in the upper house, the Landsting, where he was a seldom seen but well respected member.

On his occasional visit, he joined the ranks of many other former aristocrats, who like himself had been able to create for themselves a position similar to that of their ancestors
These old aristocrats mainly socialized with each other, and tried to preserve as much of the traditional society from before the revolution as could reasonably be expected under a common born, mob-elected emperor such as Gotfred Due. Still, though not necessarily loyal to the government, these men were fiercely loyal to the nation. Under the notion that the nation lives on, even when its leaders are misguided, they formed a loyal and rather complacent opposition to the emperor’s cabinet.

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All in all, the general at the age of fifty was in good health, independently wealthy, well respected in society and with an interest that could occupy him in his old age. There was no reason why he shouldn’t be able to live out his life in comfort and contentment. Indeed, on the fine spring morning on which we first pry into his life, the main concern on the general’s mind was the appointment of a curator to help him catalogue his ever growing collection. Little did he suspect that the fates of the House of Ulfed and its beloved country were about to once again be intimately interwoven.
 
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Oh hey, finally a new chapter in this AAR!
 
One of my resolutions this year was to crawl out of the cave of CKII AARs and come and have a look at what's on offer elsewhere. Might I say, I'm very glad this was the first AAR to pique my interest - very well written and readable (even with the yellow text, I find,) and the extensive history really appeals to me.

I look forward to what will happen next, and will gladly make this the first Victoria AAR to which I subscribe :)
 
So, as you have noticed, I finally found the time to get properly started on this project. I wanted to make sure that I had enough material to get it going before posting, as I think some regularity of updates is important. I hope you’ll like what I have in store for you. In the coming weeks, I hope to establish a somewhat regular schedule of updates, though I can’t say for sure what it will be yet. Next chapter, introducing another main character, should be up sometime this weekend, I’m halfway through writing it.

Guilty as charged! I certainly was lazy with regards to Gesta Danorum, which I attempted to read a few times, the size was a bit daunting. Thus I greatly appreciate the overview provided here and the chance to follow this AAR from the beginning.

A very interesting read thus far, Denmark has clearly experienced a tumultuous time of it in the last few centuries what with constant war, rebellion, reform, plotting (especially of note was how Frederik V's sister took power) and so forth. Hopefully there is more of the same now in V2, chaos in game always providing a riveting read!

I’m glad you enjoyed the overview. Updates on this AAR should be more or less regular in the foreseeable future. I hope the world I have created will be interesting to follow.

Oh hey, finally a new chapter in this AAR!

Yes, I thought finishing my M.Sc. Thesis would give me time to for this project, but as it turned out, working a full time job is even harder than thesis writing. I have gotten over the first shock of employment, though, and am now ready to do something about this AAR. I hope you’ll like it

One of my resolutions this year was to crawl out of the cave of CKII AARs and come and have a look at what's on offer elsewhere. Might I say, I'm very glad this was the first AAR to pique my interest - very well written and readable (even with the yellow text, I find,) and the extensive history really appeals to me.

I look forward to what will happen next, and will gladly make this the first Victoria AAR to which I subscribe :)

Thank you, I hope you’ll like it. In fact, coming from CK, you might feel at home here, as I intend to make this AAR character based.
 
Masters in the realm of the spirits​

The professor looked from the window of his office, out on the early summer foliage of the linden tree in the university court yard, bathed in afternoon light. He had known this office since it belonged to Frans Bille, the first Consul of the Scandinavian Republic. In 1803, when Valdemar Keiser was 18, his father, who was a provincial judge in Kolding, had sent him to Copenhagen to study law and eventually become a judge himself. Instead, he had been taken in from day one by the metropolitan erudite Bille. The office adjoined the apartment which came with the post of professor of History, and it was in this apartment that Bille had used to gather his favorite students for evenings of music and learned discussion.

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In those days, it had seemed possible to change the world. When professor Bille had led the delegation out on the front steps of the University, facing the cathedral, and had declared the Republic of Scandinavia, Valdemar had felt as if he was witnessing the most important moment ever. This moment would go down in history as the end of superstition and oppression, the beginning of a new golden age for mankind.
However, Bille soon lost his influence and the young republic went from the idealized beacon of enlightenment and became a blood soaked nightmare under the ruthless leadership of Valdemar Schlentz.

Though Bille was sentenced to death on trumped up charges, his former students had kept together, and now, 30 years on, were leading figures in academic circles, and were natural members of the Landsting. Here they stood up for what they saw as the true ideals of the revolution- freedom of thought and expression, freedom of trade, peace among the nations, equality among men and, guided by the council of learned men, a certain degree of government subsidies of industry and public works. This, they combined with a strong appreciation for the Nordic heritage, and were therefore called the Scandinavist fraction.
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Though it was not vested with any formal power, he saw the Landsting as an important institution, where the best and the brightest of the nation could meet, deliberate and make recommendations for the emperor and his cabinet. And they certainly needed it.
In the years that had passed since Godtfred Due took power, all the ideals of democracy had given way to the rule of the emperor and his inner circle, called the Duvist party. These were men of business, always seeking to maximize profit, and not shying away from war to protect trade. What was even worse was their pandering to the religious feelings of the uneducated masses. This sycophantic piety, which the professor was certain stemmed from no actual spirituality, was almost the worst of it.

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Lately, however, the liberal sentiments of the population had seemed to be on the rise. The emperor was rumored to be on the verge of forming a new cabinet, and the professor was confident that such a cabinet would be formed by those who, like himself, represented the true ideals of the revolution. Perhaps those ideals would have a second chance now- perhaps it was not too late for him to see the ideals of his youth come into reality. The wheels of history were turning, and who knew, perhaps one day a professor of history would once again be elected consul of a free republic. These thoughts, of course, were ones he dared not speak loudly. Yet.

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The professor was disturbed in his thoughts when a knock on the door announced the arrival of Ulrik Fischer, an aspiring naturalist, and one of the professor’s favorites
Valdemar Keiser, now 50, had taken over as professor of History, and in keeping with the example of his mentor, he invited a select group of students to regular gatherings in the professorial apartment.
He was surprised to see the young man back so soon, as he would have expected him to stay at Krogerup overnight. Normally, the general was more hospitable than to send a guest back by post carriage on the same day he arrived.
It was the professor who had arranged the visit, on the request of his fellow member of the Landsting, general Ulfeldt, who was seeking a curator of his fossil collection. Though by no means a political ally, the professor was on good terms with the general, and had been glad to recommend him a suitable young man for the job. However, it seemed that the interview had not worked out as planned.

“Mr. Fischer, why back so soon? I thought the general would have leaped at the chance to dine with a fellow naturalist”, the professor
“ Well, he isn’t exactly a naturalist, judging by the collection. It is not a collection of fossils, but rather of “unusual objects found in the ground”. With proper cataloging it could be of great value, though.”
“So why are you back now?”
“The general took me in his coach, he received a letter by courier and was suddenly in a hurry to get to the city.”
“That’s unusual for him. Did he tell you what it was about?”
“No professor, he was very secretive about it, though he talked a great deal about other matters. He talked at length about turning heaths into land for farming.”
“One of his few bright ideas. After he let you off, where did he go?”
“He went southwards on Nørregade, towards the city hall.”
“Yes. And the palace.”

The professor looked back out on the court yard. The sun had moved behind the roofs, and the chill of the evening was creeping in.
As he looked on the linden tree, he wondered why the general was summoned to the palace at such haste.
 
An intriguing update - and you're right, I feel right at home here :) I like the way you've imagined this, actually, from select individuals' points of view. It makes for an interesting narrative.
 
Amazing, awesome update, can`t wait to see more! Can we see a world map as it looks in V2?