Norway
Country in northwest Europe, on the Scandinavian peninsula, bounded
east by Sweden, northeast by Finland and Russia, south by the
North Sea, west by the Atlantic Ocean, and north by the Arctic
Ocean.
Government
Norway's constitution dates from 1814.
The hereditary monarch is the formal head of state, and the
legislature consists of a single-chamber parliament, the Storting.
The monarch appoints a prime minister and state council on the
basis of support in the Storting, to which they are all responsible.
The Storting has 165 members, elected for a four-year term by
universal suffrage through a system of proportional representation.
Once elected, it divides itself into two parts, a quarter of the
members being chosen to form an upper house, the Lagting, and
the remainder a lower house, the Odelsting. All legislation must
be first introduced in the Odelsting and then passed to the Lagting
for approval, amendment, or rejection. Once a bill has had parliamentary
approval it must receive the royal assent.
History
Evidence for some of the earliest settlers in Scandinavia has been
found in the far north of Norway, dating from around the end of
the last ice age (c. 8000 BC). The first known inhabitants were
the Saami (Lapps) and other nomads, and Norway was later gradually
invaded by Goths, who brought their Germanic language and gods.
The Vikings abroad
The Vikings play a prominent part in the early history of Norway, which
is closely linked with that of other Scandinavian countries. During
the Viking period (8th-11th centuries), Vikings from Norway raided
and later settled in the Orkney and Shetland Islands, and the
Hebrides, and on the west coast of Scotland, and the east coast
of Ireland. They also discovered and colonized the Faeroes, Iceland
and Greenland, and even reached North America.
The era of Viking raids and colonization ended in the 11th century,
with more settled conditions in Norway and its conversion to Christianity.
The Viking raiders were, moreover, never more than a fraction
of the people, most of whom were peaceable farmers and fishermen.
Unification under Harald I
In the early part of the Viking era Norway was ruled by local chieftains.
It was not until the later 9th century that all the settled parts
of Norway were brought under one rule by Harald I Hårfager (Fairhair
or Finehair; ruled c. 872-c. 933), who introduced a form of feudalism.
Harald was descended from the kings of Vestfold, a district
west of the Oslofjord, and was the son of Halfdan the Black who
ruled further north. When his own inherited kingdoms were secure,
Harald marched into and subdued the Trondheim territories. But
it was only after several more years that he routed the chiefs
of the west coast in a great battle at Hafrsfjord near Stavanger.
Harald left his kingdom to be divided among his many sons, making
Eric, his favourite son, a sort of suzerain or overlord. Eric
at once tried to secure the whole country for himself, and murdered
seven of his eight half- brothers - hence his nickname, Eric Bloodaxe.
Haakon I and Olaf I
In 934 Haakon (I) the Good, a younger son of Harald, returned from
England, where he had been raised, and drove Eric from Norway.
Haakon restored to the Norwegians the rights and liberties of
which they had been deprived, but his attempts to convert his
subjects to Christianity failed.
In 961 Haakon was killed in combat with Danish invaders led
by the sons of Eric Bloodaxe, and the ensuing years were turbulent
until the arrival in 995 of Olaf (I) Tryggvesson, grandson of
one of the murdered half -brothers of Eric. Olaf, who had been
a well-known Viking leader, was the founder of Nidaros (later
called Trondheim), for many years the Norwegian capital. After
a reign of only five years he perished (1000) in a sea fight with
Danish and Swedish ships under Earl Eric, son of Haakon, and the
kingdom was then divided between the Swedish and Danish kings
and Earl Eric.
Olaf II and the establishment of the church Olaf Haraldsson,
a descendant of Harald I Hårfager, came to the throne as Olaf
II in around 1015. Olaf II's policy was a dual one of establishing
both the royal power and the Christian church on a national basis
in opposition to the claims of the local chieftains. But though
he gave Norway comparative stability, he too died at the hands
of his enemies. The chieftains rebelled, and, with the aid of
King Canute of Denmark, they defeated and killed Olaf at the Battle
of Stiklestad (1030). Olaf II came to be regarded as Norway's
first great national champion, and he later became the patron
saint of Norway.
Magnus I and Harald Hardrade
The victory at Stiklestad increased the influence of Denmark, and Canute
sent Svend Knutson to rule as viceroy. On Canute's death in 1035
Knutson was expelled and Magnus (I) the Good, son of Olaf II,
was brought from exile in Russia. On the death of Canute's son
Hardicanute in 1042 Magnus inherited the crown of Denmark.
Magnus made his nephew Svend Estridson his viceroy, but the
latter, with the aid of Harald (III) Hardrada, tried to secure
his own independence. Harald Hardrada, who was a half-brother
of Olaf II and a great warrior, came to terms with Magnus and
from 1045 they ruled Norway jointly. Harald attempted to conquer
England in 1066, but was killed at Stamford Bridge.
From Olaf III to Haakon V
Under Hardrade's son Olaf III (Olaf Kyrre; ruled 1066-93), Norway enjoyed
peace and prosperity. He was succeeded by Magnus (III) the Barefooted
(ruled 1093-1103), who in turn was succeeded by his three sons,
who ruled jointly. Sigurd, the longest-surviving son, was the
last of the line of Harald Hårfager to wield undisputed sway over
Norway, and his death in 1130 ended what has been called the classic
period of Norwegian history. After the death of Sigurd there followed
a long period of internecine strife over rival claims to the throne,
and the power of the aristocracy and the political influence of
the church both tended to grow at the expense of the king.
In 1184 Magnus V - who had been chosen as king in 1161 - was
defeated and killed on the Sognefjord by the Birkebeinar (`Birchlegs´),
the armed followers of a priest from the Faeroes called Sverre
(or Sverrir), who (unlike Magnus) claimed to be of royal descent.
Sverre, an able and strong ruler, set out to make the royal power
supreme; but after his death (1202) anarchy resumed.
Order was restored following the accession of Haakon IV (1217),
who ruled until 1263. It was during his long reign that Iceland
and Greenland became directly dependent on Norway. Haakon also
established the authority of the crown over the nobles and the
church, and made the monarchy hereditary. Haakon died while on
an expedition to defend the Hebrides and Isle of Man against the
Scots. The Norwegians were defeated at the Battle of Largs (1263),
and Haakon's successor, Magnus the Lawgiver (ruled 1263- 80),
ceded the Hebrides and the Isle of Man to Scotland by the Treaty
of Perth (1266).
Eric, Magnus's son and successor, died in 1299. His only child,
Margaret, the `Maid of Norway´, was also the granddaughter of
Alexander III of Scotland, but she had been drowned in 1290 on
her way to accept the Scottish crown (see also Scotland: history
to 1513). The crown of Norway then passed to Haakon Magnusson
(Haakon V), Eric's brother. Haakon V left no son and the crown
passed through his daughter to the reigning house of Sweden (1319).
Union with Sweden and Denmark
In 1319 Haakon's young grandson, Magnus Eriksson, became king of Norway
by hereditary right, and was also elected king of Sweden, so that
the two kingdoms became nominally united. From that time until
the 20th century the history of Norway is dependent on that of
other parts of Scandinavia.
The union, accidental in its origin, was so unsuccessful that
it was arranged that Haakon, younger son of Magnus, should reign
over Norway. Haakon VI died in 1380 and Margaret, his wife, and
daughter of Waldemar IV of Denmark, acted as regent in both countries,
even after her son Olaf's death in 1387. In Sweden Albert, Prince
of Mecklenburg, who had been chosen to replace the deposed Magnus,
became so unpopular with his nobles that they asked Margaret to
assume power, and in 1389 Albert was defeated by her army at Falköping.
Margaret was now de facto mistress over all Scandinavia, and in
1397, by the Union of Kalmar, the three countries were declared
to be ` eternally united under one sovereign´.
Danish rule
The Danish hegemony in this union led to frequent conflicts between
the Swedish and Danish nobility, while Norwegian interests were
largely neglected. Under Christian I, who reigned 1450-81, Norwegian
trade was monopolized by the Hanseatic League, while the administration
became increasingly Danish. Christian pawned (and never redeemed)
the Norwegian possessions of the Orkneys and Shetlands to the
king of Scotland as security for a dowry.
Under John, king 1483-1513, the abuses of the Hanseatic League
were checked, but the Danicization of the administration continued,
as it did under Christian II, who came to the throne in 1513 and
was overthrown in 1523 by his uncle, Frederick I. During Frederick's
reign (1524-33) Christian II returned from exile and began a revolt
in Norway, but the revolt was crushed. After Frederick's death
Archbishop Olaf Engelbrektsson attempted to gain independence
for Norway but was defeated. Norway was made a province of Denmark
(1536), forced to accept Christian III as king (ruled 1535-59),
and compelled to adopt the Lutheran faith.
Norway suffered considerably in the constant wars between Sweden
and Denmark (the former having seceded from the union in the early
16th century), losing the provinces of Hä rjedalen and Jämtland
in 1645 and Bohuslän in 1658. In 1718 Norway was only saved from
further invasion by the death of the expansionist Swedish king
Charles XII.
Norway comes under Swedish rule
In the ensuing century of peace Norway prospered, despite the lack
of interest shown in the province by the Danish kings. In the
Napoleonic Wars, Norway suffered catastrophic damage from Denmark's
support of Napoleon and the consequent British blockade of the
country, while the effective ruler of Sweden, Marshal Bernadotte
(later Charles XIV), determined to attach Norway to Sweden as
compensation for Sweden's loss of Finland to the Russians. Under
the Treaty of Kiel (14 January 1814) Frederick VI of Denmark renounced
his sovereignty over Norway (but not the former Norwegian territories
of Greenland, Iceland, or the Faeroes) in favour of Bernadotte.
However, the Norwegians under their viceroy, Christian Frederick
(later Christian VIII of Denmark), refused to accept the legality
of the treaty. An elected constitutional assembly met at Eidsvoll
and adopted a new liberal constitution for Norway (17 May 1814),
electing Christian Frederick as king. When the overwhelmingly
superior forces of Bernadotte invaded Norway, the Norwegians entered
into negotiations. Bernadotte agreed to recognize the new constitution
and Norway's independence on condition that he was elected king.
Christian Frederick abdicated, and the union of the two thrones
of Norway and Sweden was ratified by the Norwegian parliament
in November 1814.
The growth of nationalism
The union was never successful, since the Norwegians regarded it as
a union between two equal states, while the Swedes looked on Norway
as a conquered territory. The Norwegians pressed their claims
through legislation in the Storting (parliament), while the king
protected Sweden's supremacy through his veto.
Initially the Storting was dominated by the professional classes,
but the peasantry became increasingly involved in politics, particularly
after the introduction of elected local government in 1837. In
the 1860s a powerful democratic and anti-union alliance was formed
between the peasants and a group of radical professional people
under Johan Sverdrup (1816-92).
In 1872 this alliance (the Venstre, or `Left´, which came to
be the Liberal Party) carried a bill proposing that the king's
ministers in Norway should attend the Storting. The bill was vetoed
by the king, as were subsequent similar bills. Finally, in 1883,
the Liberals had the ministers impeached for not attending the
Storting. The king, Oscar II, was forced to yield, and Sverdrup
became prime minister in 1884.
Norway gains its independence
Further friction occurred over the question of separate diplomatic
- particularly consular - representation for Norway. After some
years of fruitless negotiation, an all-party government under
Christian Michelsen passed a law on 27 May 1905 establishing a
separate consular service.
When Oscar II refused to approve the law the government resigned,
and the king was unable to form a new one. The Storting then claimed
that Oscar had abjured his constitutional functions and ceased
to be king of Norway, and that the union with Sweden was at an
end. This was confirmed by a Norwegian referendum and a treaty
was signed at Karlstad, on 6 October 1905, defining the terms
of separation.
In another referendum the Norwegians voted for a monarchy rather
than a republic. The Storting chose Prince Charles, second son
of the then Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark, to be king. He
was crowned as Haakon VII of Norway on 22 June 1906 in Trondheim
Cathedral.
The early 20th century
In World War I Norway was neutral, but its timber and mining industries
suffered heavy losses, and the national debt increased enormously.
The first Labour government was formed in 1928, but its plans
for complete disarmament, combined with great financial difficulties,
soon brought it down. In the worldwide depression that followed,
unemployment reached its highest point under a Liberal government
(1933). When this government was defeated it was succeeded in
1935 by an all-Labour government; but the Labour Party had learned
its lesson and increased the vote for defence in 1937.
In 1920 Norwegian sovereignty over the Spitsbergen Archipelago
(known as Svalbard) was affirmed by international treaty. A long-standing
dispute over Greenland came before the International Court of
Justice at The Hague, but the court upheld Denmark's claim (1933).
In 1939 Norway annexed part of the Antarctic coast between 20º
west and 45º east, the land within, and its territorial waters.
Norway in World War II
On the outbreak of World War II Norway declared itself neutral, but
on 9 April 1940 German troops invaded Norway. Germany, anxious
to ensure the supply of Swedish iron ore via the northern Norwegian
port of Narvik, demanded that the Norwegians place themselves
under German protection, but Norway refused to submit to the German
demands.
Naval and military operations were carried on against overwhelming
odds by the Norwegian army, assisted by British and French forces
until 10 June. After the Germans opened their offensive on the
Western Front, the Allies gave notice that they must withdraw
their forces from northern Norway. The Norwegian government decided,
therefore, on 7 June to end the defence of northern Norway two
days later at midnight, and to continue the fight outside Norway.
On 1 February 1942 the German commissar appointed Vidkun Quisling,
leader of the Norwegian Fascist Party, as `minister president´
of a puppet government, an appointment at once repudiated by the
de jure Norwegian government in London. Quisling's attempts to
coerce the teaching profession, the Lutheran clergy, and the trade
unions to support his regime all failed abysmally. Repressive
measures followed in 1943 in the shape of concentration camps,
labour conscription, and police purges.
From outside Norway, the Norwegian government continued to direct
the growing participation of Norway in the Allied war effort.
The Norwegian navy was strengthened by an increase in its personnel
to over 5,000 men. Corvettes carried out much convoy work; Norwegian
fighter planes had shot down 137 German planes by the end of 1942;
and the Norwegian army continued its intensive training. There
was also an active resistance movement within Norway itself.
In the years of the German occupation the financial burden on
Norway was very heavy; it was higher in proportion to the population
than in any other occupied country. In October 1944 the Soviet
Red Army, pursuing the retreating Germans from northern Finland,
crossed the Norwegian border and took Kirkenes, the vital base
from which the Germans had directed their attacks against the
Allied Arctic convoys to Murmansk in the northern USSR. By the
close of the year nearly half of the northern province of Finnmark
was liberated. Norwegian forces all through 1944 helped not only
in preparations for the liberation of Norway, but also in the
general Allied offensives against Germany.
On 7 May 1945 Gen Bohme, German commander in chief in Norway,
broadcast Germany's surrender, and the Norwegian home forces took
over strategic points all over the country. The Soviet forces
in northern Norway returned home in September, while US and British
forces left before the end of the year. King Haakon returned to
Oslo on 7 June. After the liberation the collaborators were brought
to justice, and Quisling and his colleagues were executed. Reconstruction
was soon started. Hydroelectric and industrial development was
undertaken on a scale never before attempted in Norway; agriculture
was mechanized; and the merchant, whaling, and fishing fleets
were rebuilt after heavy wartime losses.
The end of Norwegian neutrality
Clearly, however, Norway could not plan in isolation, and the main
problems lay in the field of collaboration with Scandinavia and
the Western nations.
Norway had been a member of the United Nations Organization
from its inception, and a Norwegian, Trygve Lie, became first
secretary general of the UN in February 1946. In February 1948
Norway announced its agreement with the aims of the Marshall Plan,
by which US aid was channelled into the war-torn countries of
Europe, and undertook to participate in the economic cooperation
of the 16 Marshall Plan countries.
World War II had shattered Norwegian isolationism. Unlike its
neighbour, Sweden, it became a founder-member of NATO in 1949,
although during the Cold War it succeeded in maintaining good
relations with the USSR without damaging its commitments to the
West. In May 1949 Norway joined the Council of Europe, and has
been a member of the Nordic Council since its inception in 1952.
Norway joined the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in 1960
as a founder-member.
Haakon VII died in 1957, and was succeeded by his son Olaf V.
Norway since the 1960s
Economically, the 1960s were a period of unprecedented growth and prosperity,
and the discovery of North Sea oil in 1968 augured well for the
future. Norway's subsequent exploitation of North Sea oil and
gas resources has given it a higher income per head of population
than most of its European neighbours.
Norwegian politics since 1945 have largely been dominated by
the Labour Party, which was in office almost continuously for
30 years up to its defeat in the 1965 election. The right-centre
coalition that took power then collapsed in 1971 over internal
disagreements over the issue of Norway's possible membership of
the European Community (EC; the predecessor of the European Union).
A referendum on EC membership held in 1972 resulted in 53.5% against
membership and 46.5% in favour.
The Brundtland era
In 1981 Gro Harlem Brundtland became leader of the Labour Party and
prime minister, and was re- elected in 1986. Following a vote
of no confidence in October 1989 she resigned and was succeeded
by the Conservative Jan P Syse (1931-97). In October 1990 the
Syse coalition collapsed and Brundtland returned to power, leading
a minority Labour government. In January 1992 Norway joined Iceland
in defying a worldwide ban on whaling in order to resume its own
whaling industry. In November Brundtland relinquished leadership
of the Labour Party. In the same month, the Norwegian government
made a second application to join the European Community (EC).
Brundtland was re-elected for a further term in September 1993,
but there was evidence of growing support for anti-EC parties.
In May 1994 member states of the European Union (formerly the
EC) agreed to Norway's accession, but this was rejected in a national
referendum in November 1994. Brundtland resigned in October 1996
and was replaced by Thorbjoern Jagland.
In October 1997 Kjell Magne Bondevik, an ordained priest, took
charge of Norway's first centrist government for a quarter of
a century. His three-party minority coalition had just 42 seats
in the 165- member parliament.
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