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“Denmark Avenged”
Denmark. "Fight it out, gentlemen! I've the pleasure to look on!
In
this cartoon, the personification of Denmark watches contentedly as
Austria and Prussia fight the Seven Weeks' (or Austro-Prussian) War,
while Prussia's ally, Italy (in the guise of King Victor Emanuel),
enters the scene with sword unsheathed. Denmark's cession of
Schleswig and Holstein to both Austria and Prussia jointly following the Danish
War (1864) served as the immediate cause of the Seven Weeks' War two
years later.
Schleswig lies north of
Holstein and south of Denmark, with which it shares the Jutland
peninsula surrounded by the North Sea. Over the centuries, various
political entities claimed control of Schleswig-Holstein, including
Denmark, Prussia, Austria, Sweden, and the Holy Roman Empire. The
dominant population of Schleswig shifted between Danes and Germans, but
most Holstein residents were ethnic Germans. While Schleswig was a
quasi-independent duchy over which Danish monarchs exerted some
authority, the duchy of Holstein became part of the first German
federation of states in 1815. In the nineteenth century, the
Danish-Prussian dispute over the region was known as the
Schleswig-Holstein question.
As nationalist sentiment spread
in nineteenth-century Europe, Danes desired to solidify Schleswig's
historic association with Denmark, while Germans wanted to reaffirm its
connection with Holstein. When liberal uprisings broke out across
the European continent in 1848, the ruling liberal regime in Denmark
proclaimed the annexation of Schleswig. The move provoked a
rebellion by Germans in Schleswig-Holstein, supported by the Prussian
army, leading to Denmark's defeat in 1850. The Great Powers of
Europe then forced a settlement on the two countries, the London
Protocol (1852), in which Schleswig remained nominally part of Denmark,
but the latter was prevented from extending its authority over the
former.
The Danish nationalist yearning
for Schleswig did not dissipate, however, and in 1863 Denmark broke its
pledge by approving a joint constitution with the duchy. In early
1864, Prussia and its ally, Austria, quickly crushed the Danish
military, forcing Denmark to sign the Treaty of Vienna in which it gave
up claims to Schleswig and Holstein.
Prussia and Austria bickered
over their dual control of Schleswig-Holstein, but the larger issue
culminating in the Seven Weeks' War in June 1866 was Prussia's plan to
unify the German states under its control. The Austrian army was
forced to fight with its German allies, such as Bavaria and Hanover,
against Prussia, at the same time that it resisted Victor Emanuel's plan
to incorporate Venetia (northeast province containing Venice) into a united
Italy .
Following its loss, Austria signed
the Treaty of Prague in August 1866, granting Prussia sovereignty over
Schleswig-Holstein and facilitating the establishment of the North
German Confederation. In October 1866, Austria signed the Peace of
Vienna, ceding Venetia to Italy. In 1920, in the wake of Germany's
defeat in World War I, voters in the northern half of Schleswig decided
to become part of Denmark, while the electorate in the southern half
chose to remain part of Germany.
Robert C. Kennedy
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