Dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden


The dissolution of the union between the kingdoms of Norway and Sweden under the House of Bernadotte, was set in motion by a resolution of the Storting on 7 June 1905. Following some months of tension and fear of an outbreak of war between the neighbouring kingdoms – and a Norwegian plebiscite held on 13 August which overwhelmingly backed dissolution – negotiations between the two governments led to Sweden's recognition of Norway as an independent constitutional monarchy on 26 October 1905. On that date, King Oscar II renounced his claim to the Norwegian throne, effectively dissolving the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, and this event was swiftly followed, on 18 November, by the accession to the Norwegian throne of Prince Carl of Denmark, taking the name of Haakon VII.

Background

Norwegian nationalistic aspirations in 1814 were frustrated by Sweden's victory in a brief but decisive war that resulted in Norway entering into a personal union with Sweden. The Norwegian constitution was largely kept intact. Norway legally had the status of an independent state with its own parliament, judiciary, legal system, armed forces, flag, and currency. However, Norway and Sweden shared a common monarch and conducted a common foreign policy through the Swedish ministry of foreign affairs. There largely existed feelings of goodwill between the two peoples, and the King generally tried to act in the interest of both Kingdoms.
However, over the years, a divergence of Norwegian and Swedish interests became apparent. In particular, Norwegians felt that their foreign policy interests were inadequately served by Sweden's ministry of foreign affairs. There were several driving factors behind the growing conflict:
In addition, Norwegian politics were increasingly dominated by liberal tendencies characterised by the extension of parliamentary democracy, while Swedish politics tended to be more conservative. Under the Norwegian Constitution, the Norwegian Parliament, the Storting, was the most powerful legislature on the continent. The king only had a suspensive veto in Norway, and the Storting resisted numerous royal attempts to be granted the absolute veto that the monarchy had in Sweden. Additionally, by 1884, the Storting's power had grown to the point that a king could no longer appoint a Norwegian government entirely of his own choosing or keep it in office against the will of the Storting. In contrast, the king remained a near-autocrat in his Swedish domains until 1905, just before the end of the union.
When free trade between the two countries was restricted in 1895 by the abolition of the "Interstate laws", the economic reasons for the continued union were also diminished.

Consul affair

The conflict came to a head over the so-called "consul affair" in which successive Norwegian governments insisted that Norway should establish its own consular offices abroad rather than rely on the common consulates appointed by the Swedish foreign minister. The criticism in Norway was manifold. First, several consuls were neither Norwegian nor Swedish but from the country in which they resided. Although they were supposed to represent Norway, they knew little about Norwegian needs and conditions. Second, there was also criticism that the existing network of consulates in Europe prioritised Swedish interests over Norwegian trade. Third, although Norway had expanded its trading areas from Europe to North and South America, the West Indies, Africa and Asia, none of these areas were particularly well-covered by the existing consular network.
Furthermore, while in most other Western countries it was common practice for good consuls to become diplomats, it was the opposite for Sweden. Diplomats with no experience as consuls were often used as such. Thus, they had a more diplomatic than commercial approach. A further problem was that while the international trend was that industrialisation and free trade needed larger markets, and consulates thus had a large trade-oriented task, the Swedish Parliament was dominated by protectionist trade policy. The consulates thus had to respond to both Norwegian offensive trade interests and Swedish skepticism on trade.

Preparations for independence

While Norway's Liberal Party had initially pioneered an uncompromising position through the so-called "fist policy," the Conservative Party also came to adopt a strong policy in favour of at least de facto independence and equality within the personal union. Although both parties made efforts to resolve the issue through negotiations, Norwegian public opinion gradually became more entrenched.
Both Sweden and Norway increased their military expenditure; Norway not only modernised the frontier forts at Kongsvinger and Fredriksten, but also built a series of new military strongholds along its border with Sweden.

Prelude to dissolution

In early 1905, Norwegian Prime Minister Christian Michelsen formed a coalition government consisting of liberals and conservatives, whose only stated objective was to establish a separate Norwegian corps of consuls. The law was passed by the Norwegian parliament. As expected and probably as planned, King Oscar II vetoed the laws, and the Michelsen government tendered its resignation.
However, Oscar refused to accept the resignations. In turn, Michelsen and his ministers refused to countersign Oscar's decision and returned to Christiania on 7 June 1905, triggering a constitutional crisis. Later that day, the Storting voted unanimously to dissolve the union with Sweden, taking the line that Oscar had effectively abandoned his role as King of Norway by refusing to appoint a replacement government. It also empowered the Michelsen cabinet to act as a caretaker government until further notice, vesting it with the executive authority normally vested in the crown.
The text of the unanimous declaration, remarkable for the fact that the declaration of the dissolution was an aside to the main clause, read:

Plebiscite

Initially reacting to this declaration as a rebellious act, the Swedish government indicated an openness to a negotiated end to the union, insisting among other things on a Norwegian plebiscite. However, the Norwegian government had anticipated this, and had already scheduled a plebiscite for 13 August—thus avoiding the appearance that it had been called in response to demands from Sweden.
In one of the most lopsided referendum results in history, the plebiscite was held on 13 August and resulted in an overwhelming 368,208 votes in favor of confirming the dissolution of the union against only 184 opposed.
The government thereby had confirmation of the dissolution. 85 percent of Norwegian men had cast their votes, but no women as universal suffrage was not extended to women at the time. Norwegian activists did, however, collect 279,878 women's signatures in favor of dissolution.

Reactions outside Norway

Besides internal changes within Norway, a key factor that allowed Norway to break from Sweden was the emerging Swedish social democratic movement. In the early years of the 20th century, the head of the Swedish Social Democrats, Hjalmar Branting, led his party in opposing a war to keep Norway united with Sweden. When the crisis of 1905 occurred, he coined the slogan "Hands off Norway, King!" The Social Democrats organized both resistance to a call-up of reserves and a general strike against a war. The majority of the Swedish people were supportive of a fully separate Norway.
Polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen weighed in heavily for dissolving the union, and personally traveled to the United Kingdom, where he successfully lobbied for British support for Norway's independence movement.

Karlstad negotiations

On 31 August, Norwegian and Swedish delegates met in the Swedish city of Karlstad to negotiate the terms of the dissolution. Although many prominent right-wing Swedish politicians favored a hardline approach to the issue, historical scholars have found that the Swedish King had determined early on that it would be better to lose the union than risk a war with Norway. The overwhelming public support among Norwegians for independence had convinced the major European powers that the independence movement was legitimate, and Sweden feared it would be isolated by suppressing it; furthermore, there was little appetite for creating additional ill-will between the two countries.
Even as the negotiations made progress, military forces, though separated by 2 kilometers, were quietly deployed on both sides of the border between Sweden and Norway. Public opinion among Norwegian leftists favored a war of independence if necessary, regardless of Sweden's numerical superiority.
On 23 September, the negotiations concluded. On 9 October the Norwegian parliament voted to accept the terms of the dissolution; on 13 October the Swedish parliament followed suit. Although Norway had considered the union with Sweden ended as of 7 June, Sweden formally recognized Norwegian independence on 26 October when King Oscar II renounced his and any of his descendants' claims to the Norwegian throne.

Choosing a Norwegian king

The "Bernadotte Offer"

In its resolution of 7 June, the Storting had made what is called the "Bernadotte Offer", which invited King Oscar II to allow one of his younger sons to assume the Norwegian throne. The offer was at one level an attempt by the Norwegian government to demonstrate goodwill towards Sweden and its royal house, notwithstanding the separation of the two countries. At another, more significant level, it was also intended to reassure the other European powers that the secession of Norway was not a radical revolutionary project, despite the influence of socialists. The continuation of the monarchical system would signal that tradition, continuity and order would be cherished as before in the new country. In this way, Norway aimed to gather support from the other large European countries which, with the exception of France, were all hereditary monarchies.
Unlike the declaration of independence, the Bernadotte Offer was a matter of contention and controversy within the Norwegian government. Five socialists in the Parliament voted against the idea of having a monarchy, and the Finance Minister Gunnar Knudsen, a republican member of the Cabinet, resigned over this issue. It was known that King Oscar II was not amenable to accepting the offer, but the issue remained unsettled until the offer was formally declined by the king when he renounced his claim on 26 October.