The
Viking age (8th
to
11th centuries) was one of national unification and expansion.
The
Norwegian royal line died out in
1387,
and the country entered a long period as the weaker part of a union
with
Denmark. With the forced introduction of Protestantism in
1537,
Norway lost the steady stream of pilgrims to the relics of
Saint Olav at the
Nidaros shrine. With them, ironically, went much of the contact
with the cultural and economical life of the rest of Europe. In
light of national romanticism during the
19th century, this period was by some called the "400-year
night".
After
Denmark-Norway sided with
Napoleon in the
Napoleonic Wars, Norway was ceded to the king of
Sweden
in 1814.
However, Norway declared her independence, adopted her own
constitution and elected the Danish prince Christian Fredrik as king
on 17
May
1814. Norway was forced into a
personal union with
Sweden,
but kept its liberal constitution and independent institutions,
except for the foreign service. Growing Norwegian dissatisfaction
with the union during the late
19th century spawned its dissolution
7 June1905.
The Norwegian government offered the throne of Norway to Danish
Prince Carl. After a
plebiscite confirming the monarchy, the Parliament unanimously
elected him king. He took the name of
Haakon VII, after the medieval kings of independent Norway.
Norway was a neutral country during
World War I. Norway also attempted to claim neutrality during
World War II, but was invaded by German forces on the 9th of
April 1940
(Operation
Weserübung). The Allies also had plans to operate from Norway,
in order to take advantage of her strategically important Atlantic
coast. Armed resistance in Norway went on for two months, but the
King and government continued the fight from exile in Britain. On
the day of the invasion, the collaborative leader of the small
National-Socialist party
Nasjonal Samling –
Vidkun Quisling – tried to seize power, but was forced by the
German occupiers to step aside. Real power was wielded by the leader
of the German occupation authority, Reichskommissar
Josef Terboven. Quisling, as minister president, later
formed a government under German control.
In 1944,
the Germans evacuated the provinces of
Finnmark and northern
Troms,
using a
scorched earth tactic. The
Red
Army moved in shortly after, and peacefully returned the area to
Norwegian control after the war, despite
President Roosevelt having offered them parts of northern
Norway. The Germans in Norway surrendered on
8 May1945.
