First war of Schleswig

The First war of Schleswig (1848 – 1850), known in Denmark as the Three Years' War (Treårskrigen), was a military conflict in southern Denmark, contesting the issue of who should control the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. The war also involved troops from Prussia and Sweden.

Related Topics:
1848 - 1850 - Denmark - Schleswig - Holstein - Prussia - Sweden

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Napoleonic Wars had awakened German national feeling, and the political bonds that had historically existed between Schleswig and Holstein suggested that the two regions should form a single country within a united Germany. The childlessness of the Danish king worked in favor of the Germans, as did the ancient Treaty of Ribe, which stipulated that the two duchies must not be separated. A counter-movement developed among the Danish population in northern Schleswig and (from 1838) in Denmark itself, where the Liberals insisted that Schleswig had belonged to Denmark for centuries and that the Eider River, the historic border between Schleswig and Holstein, should mark the frontier between Germany and Denmark. The Danish nationalists thus aspired to incorporate Schleswig into Denmark, in the process detaching it from Holstein. German nationalists conversely sought to confirm Schleswig's association with Holstein, in the process detaching the former from Denmark.

Related Topics:
Napoleonic Wars - German - National feeling - Schleswig - Holstein - Danish king - Treaty of Ribe - 1838 - Eider River

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

These differences led in March 1848 to an open uprising by Schleswig-Holstein's German majority in support of independence from Denmark and of close association with the German Confederation. The military intervention of Prussia helped the rising: the Prussian army drove Denmark's troops from Schleswig-Holstein.

Related Topics:
1848 - Schleswig-Holstein - German Confederation

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This war between Denmark and Prussia lasted three years (1848–1850) and only ended when the Great Powers pressured Prussia into accepting the London Convention of 1852. Under the terms of this peace agreement, the German Confederation returned Schleswig-Holstein to Denmark. In an agreement with Prussia under the London Protocol of 1852, the Danish government in return undertook not to tie Schleswig more closely to Denmark than to its sister duchy of Holstein.

Related Topics:
1848 - 1850 - Great Power - 1852

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This settlement did not resolve the issue, and only fifteen years passed before the Second War of Schleswig resulted in the incorporation of both duchies into the German Empire. After World War I, Northern Schleswig was allowed to secede, and voted to be reunited with Denmark.

Related Topics:
Second War of Schleswig - German Empire - World War I - Northern Schleswig - Secede

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The revolutionary year 1848 brought matters to a head. On January 28, Christian VIII of Denmark issued a rescript proclaiming a new constitution which, while preserving the autonomy of the different parts of the country, incorporated them for common purposes in a single organization. The estates of the duchies replied by demanding the incorporation of Schleswig-Holstein, as a single constitutional state, in the German Confederation. Frederick VII, who had succeeded his father at the end of January, declared (March 4) that he had no right to deal in this way with Schleswig, and, yielding to the importunity of the Eider-Danish party, withdrew the rescript of January (April 4) and announced to the people of Schleswig (March 27) the promulgation of a liberal constitution under which the duchy, while preserving its local autonomy, would become an integral part of Denmark.

Related Topics:
January 28 - Christian VIII of Denmark - Frederick VII - March 27

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After the Napoleonic wars most of Europe experienced a national awakening. Not the least in the German speaking parts of Europe (as Germany was very fragmented into bigger and smaller states), as for instance in Schleswig and Holstein. 1806-1815 the government of Denmark had claimed Slesvig and Holstein to be parts of Denmark, which wasn't popular among the Germans.

Related Topics:
Napoleonic war - National awakening - 1806 - 1815

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The revolutions in 1848 all over Europe led in Schleswig and Holstein to a failed separatist rebellion (First War of Schleswig), and nationalist circles in Denmark advocated danification of Schleswig (but not of Holstein) as Danish national culture had risen much in past decades.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1848, the duchies had broken out into open insurrection; a provisional government had been established at Kiel; and the duke of Augustenborg had hurried to Berlin to secure the assistance of Prussia in asserting around 1848 his rights. This was at the very crisis of the revolution in Berlin, and the Prussian government saw in the proposed intervention in Denmark in a popular cause an excellent opportunity for restoring its damaged prestige. Prussian troops were accordingly marched into Holstein; and, the diet having on the 12th of April recognized the provisional government of Schleswig and commissioned Prussia to enforce its decrees, General Wrangel was ordered to occupy Schleswig also.

Related Topics:
Duke of Augustenborg - General Wrangel

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

But the Germans had reckoned without the European powers, which were united in opposing any dismemberment of Denmark, even Austria refusing to assist in enforcing the German view. Swedish troops landed to assist the Danes; Nicholas I of Russia, speaking with authority as Head of the elder Gottorp line, pointed out to King Frederick William IV the risks of a collision; Great Britain, though the Danes rejected her mediation, threatened to send her fleet to assist in preserving the status quo. Frederick William new ordered Wrangel to withdraw his troops from the duchies; but the general refused to obey, on the plea that he was under the command not of the king of Prussia but of the regent of Germany, and proposed that, at least, any treaty concluded should be presented for ratification to the Frankfort government. This the Danes refused; and negotiations were broken off. Prussia was now confronted on the one side by the German nation urging her clamorously to action, on the other side by the European powers with one voice threatening the worst consequences should she persist. After painful hesitation, Frederick William chose what seemed the lesser of two evils and, on August 26 1848, Prussia signed at Malmö a convention which yielded practically all the Danish demands. The Holstein estates appealed to the German parliament, which hotly took up their cause; but it was soon clear that the central government had no means of enforcing its views, and in the end the convention was ratified at Frankfort.

Related Topics:
Nicholas I of Russia - Gottorp - King Frederick William IV - August 26 - 1848 - Malmö

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The convention was only in the nature of a truce establishing a temporary modus vivendi, and the main issues, left unsettled, continued to be hotly debated. At a conference held in London in October, Denmark suggested an arrangement on the basis of a separation of Schleswig from Holstein, which was about to become a member of the new German empire, Schleswig to have a separate constitution under the Danish crown. This was supported by Great Britain and Russia and accepted by Prussia and the German government (January 27 1849). The negotiations broke down, however, on the refusal of Denmark to yield the principle of the indissoluble union with the Danish crown; on February 23 the truce was at an end, and on April 3, the war was renewed.

Related Topics:
January 27 - 1849 - February 23 - April 3

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

At this point the tsar intervened in favour of peace; and Prussia, conscious of her restored strength and weary of the intractable temper of the Frankfort government, determined to take matters into her own hands. On July 10, 1849 another truce was signed; Schleswig, until the peace, was to be administered separately, under a mixed commission, Holstein was to be governed by a vicegerent of the German empirean arrangement equally offensive to German and Danish sentiment. A settlement seemed as far off as ever; the Danes still clamoured for the principle of succession in the female line and union with Denmark, the Germans for that of succession in the male line and union with Holstein.

Related Topics:
July 10 - 1849

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In utter weariness Prussia proposed, in April 1850, a definitive peace on the basis of the status quo ante bellum and the postponement of all questions as to mutual rights. To Palmerston the basis seemed meaningless, the proposed settlement to settle nothing. The emperor Nicholas, openly disgusted with Frederick William's weak-kneed truckling to the Revolution, again intervened. To him the duke of Augustenborg was a rebel; Russia had guaranteed Schleswig to the Danish crown by the treaties of 1767 and 1773; as for Holstein, if the king of Denmark was unable to deal with the rebels there, he himself would intervene as he had done in Hungary. The threat was reinforced by the menace of the European situation. Austria and Prussia were on the verge of war, and the sole hope of preventing Russia from throwing her sword into the scale of Austria lay in settling the Schleswig-Holstein question in the sense desired by her. The only alternative, an alliance with the devil's nephew, Louis Napoleon, who already dreamed of acquiring the Rhine frontier for France at the price of his aid in establishing German sea-power by the cession of the duchies, was abhorrent to Frederick William.

Related Topics:
1850 - Palmerston - Duke of Augustenborg - Louis Napoleon

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On July 2, 1850 was signed at Berlin a treaty of peace between Prussia and Denmark. Both parties 1850. reserved all their antecedent rights; but for Denmark it was enough, since it empowered the king-duke to restore his authority in Holstein with or without the consent of the German Confederation.

Related Topics:
July 2 - 1850 - Berlin

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Danish troops now marched in to coerce the refractory duchies; but while the fighting went on negotiations among the powers continued, and on August 2, 1850 Great Britain, France, Russia and Norway-Sweden signed a protocol, to which Austria subsequently adhered, approving the principle of restoring the integrity of the Danish monarchy. The Copenhagen government. which in May 1851 made an abortive attempt to come to an understanding with the inhabitants of the duchies by convening an assembly of notables at Flensburg, issued on December 6 1851 a project for the future organization of the monarchy on the basis of the equality of its constituent states, with a common ministry; and on January 28, 1852 a royal letter announced the institution of a unitary state which, while maintaining the fundamental constitution of Denmark, would increase the parliamentary powers of the estates of the two duchies. This proclamation was approved by Prussia and Austria, and by the German federal diet in so far as it affected Holstein and Lauenburg. The question of the succession was The next approached. Only the question of the Augustenburg succession made an agreement between the powers impossible, and on March 31, 1852 the duke of Augustenburg resigned his claim in return for a money payment. Further adjustments followed.

Related Topics:
August 2 - 1850 - Norway-Sweden - Flensburg - December 6 - 1851 - January 28 - 1852 - March 31

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~