Thorvald Stauning

Thorvald August Marinus Stauning (26 October 1873 - 3 May 1942) was the first Social Democrat Prime Minister of Denmark.

Assessment

Like many other workers' leaders of his generation, such as Hjalmar Branting in Sweden, Stauning was a charismatic leader who played an important role in integrating Danish society after the social changes following the Industrial Revolution and common suffrage. His campaign slogan, "Stauning or Chaos," resonated in a nation not untouched by the economic, social and political turmoil of its neighbors and trading partners. For example, throughout the 1920s, Denmark's chief trading partner Germany was in a state of penury, due to exhaustion from World War I and vanquishment by the terms of the Versailles Treaty; and economic depression in the United States had become the world-wide Great Depression, following the failure, in 1931, of the Kreditanstalt, Austria's largest bank. This period of widespread social malaise was fertile ground for populist leaders like Roosevelt, Hitler and Mussolini, who could communicate a confident and coherent vision to the masses. Stauning was such a man for Denmark.

Related Topics:
Hjalmar Branting - Sweden - Industrial Revolution - Common suffrage - 1920s - Germany - World War I - Versailles Treaty - Depression - United States - Great Depression - Kreditanstalt - Austria's - Roosevelt - Hitler - Mussolini

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Though many of his ambitions for Social Democracy were ultimately thwarted, in his lifetime, by events beyond his control, his leadership through grave times places Thovald Stauning among the most admired of twentieth-century Danish statesmen.

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