[POTN] 2.14 - Norwegians Never Yield!

It was already mid-March when Prince Christian, in Bergen with his family, received the news about the peace signed and the Treaty of Roskilde. Needless to say, Prince Christian was less than amused about the fate that was to befall Norway per the Treaty. The city of Bergen also broke into chaos as the news about the peace arrived.

Countless Norwegians, from all professions and locations, took their anger onto the streets, publicly branding King Frederik "a traitor of the nation", calling for his dethronement. Meanwhile, in the areas ceded to Sweden in the Treaty, many Norwegians units in the area refused to submit to Stockholm. Instead, they armed the local civilians and fortified the towns, ready to repel any Swedish attempts to take the areas.

Prince Christian, meanwhile, was remembered for his publishing of the standardised Norwegian orthography a few years back. Many in Trondheim and further north hailed him as their symbolic leader, with some even calling him a better candidate for the Norwegian throne than King Frederik. Receiving the news about his popularity, Christian decided to take the opportunity to save his nation. On 24th March, 1658, Christian left his wife a brief note, before leaving Bergen with two elite horses in the evening.

From there, Christian raced north at full speed, towards the direction of Trondheim, through the endless snow land unfolding before him as he rode. The weather was still freezing in March, but the continous snowfall did not stop Christian's burning wish to lead his nation against the invaders. After two days riding in the snow, utterly alone, Christian finally reached the revolting city of Trondheim, the city already taken over by units and civilians disobeying orders from Copenhagen.

The rebelling Norwegians welcomed Christian with nationalistic fervour, many of them already preparing for a war for the freedom of Norway, a nation to be led by Christian. Meanwhile, after the signing of the Treaty, King Gustav led his troops into Scania and Bohüslan in no time. By late March, both regions were entirely occupied by Swedish forces, with any support for Denmark-Norway virtually wiped out by the Swedish military, perpetrators deported back to mainland Denmark and Norway.

Many Danes in Scania and Norwegians in Bohüslan were forced to swear loyalty to the Swedish crown, and were made to learn the Swedish language. Those refusing to do so were largely deported by the Swedish army. By late April, the Swedes had largely rooted out the Norwegian opposition in Bohüslan, while operations continues in Scania against the Danes. The Danes deported from Scania, along with even more Scanian Danes fleeing Swedish rule, flooded Copenhagen as refugees and caused a population crisis in the capital.

Meanwhile, in Bergen and Christiania, volunteer units were formed in haste to aid their northern compatriots against an imminent Swedish invasion. Thousands of Norwegian young men, many without any combat experience, volunteered to fight for their nation. By late May, King Frederik finally repaid parts of the reparations to Stockholm. As a goodwill gesture, King Gustav agreed to pull troops out of parts of Northern Jutland, redirecting the troops to occupy the ceded parts of Norway.

Nonetheless, many Norwegian towns had already completed important fortifications by then. Under Christian's direction, Trondheim was particularly heavily fortified, with volunteers pouring in from different parts of Norway. The concentration of the defensive effort on Trondheim was largely due to the fact that Trondheim was the city for the coronation of medieval Norwegian monarchs, and it was expected that King Gustav would try everything to take Trondheim to crown himself King of Norway.

Indeed, that was the initial plan of Gustav. However, Karl advised otherwise, prompting the Swedes to eventually take a totally different approach. Firstly, to boost Swedish morale, Karl had Gustav organise a victory parade for both of them, with the entirety of Stockholm celebrating the kingdom's military victory in the past three years.

The parade was carried out in mid-June, and Karl, as the most crucial general in the victory against Denmark, was made the Duke of Öland as a reward for his remarkable service as a royal family member. After that, under Karl's command, the Swedish offensive into Norway started from the North from Swedish-controlled Finnmark, taking advantage of the summer weather to occupy the northern Norwegian districts that would not be possible to march into once winter came.

As the Norwegian defensive effort was mostly concentrated in Trøndelag and Møre, the direction of the Swedish offensive took most volunteers in shock. Indeed, the Swedes marched into Tromsø in early July almost entirely unopposed, with limited civilian resistance. Christian, in Trondheim, was very alerted by the news as it reached him. After all, should the Swedes occupy the north before coming for the south, the Norwegians would have to retreat back to the mainland should they fail against the Swedes, potentially bringing the Swedish threat to all of Norway.

Thus, Christian ordered for some of the volunteering units to be dispatched to the North, resisting the Swedish advance as early as possible, or at least slow down the Swedish offensive. With the Norwegian defense in place, the Swedish advance through Nordland was significantly slowed. Yet, with limited supply and experience, the Norwegian volunteers struggled to contain the Swedes, and the Swedes pushed on at a slower rate than before.

Yet, the Norwegians refused to lay down their arms even after falling under Swedish occupation. Many Norwegian volunteers went into hiding in the countryside, opting for guerilla tactics to disrupt the Swedish supply line to slow any Swedish troop movements. With the Swedish offensive decelerating, King Gustav was running out of patience, and began to plan about waging a second front against the Norwegians to enforce the Treaty as soon as possible.

In mid-September, Gustav issued a heavy-worded public statement for King Frederik, demanding him to order the Norwegians to accept the Treaty of Roskilde. In the meantime, thousands of occupation troops were secretly pulled out of Denmark on Gustav's command, to prepare for another front against the Norwegians. A statement ordering Norwegians to submit to the Swedes, as Gustav demanded, was issued by Frederik on 19th September. Of course, the statement had virtually no effect on the Norwegian resistance, which had not regarded Frederik as their legal monarch for long.

Yet, as Sweden began amassing troops in Jämtland for a second offensive, Prince Christian still refused to denounce Frederik entirely. While disregarding the latter's order for surrender, Christian still maintained his stance that Frederik was the legal monarch of Norway, unwilling to destroy all future prospects of reconciliation with the Danes.