[POTN] 3.10 - Christian VIII, Count of Oldenburg

In Copenhagen, King Frederik did genuinely consider an attack on Sweden in 1664, when King Gustav was hiding in Gripsholm with his children and the Swedish administration was dysfunctional.

Nonetheless, disinterest from Berlin, coupled with a rather cold response by Louis XIV, forced Frederik to drop the plan. When he flirted with the idea again the next year, Gustav was already back in charge, and Paris became even less interested in subduing the Swedes.

Nonetheless, Frederik remained eager to retake the Scanian lands lost to Sweden in 1658. Despite external discouragement, Frederik continued putting a large part of the Danish budget, plus the Norwegian taxes, into rebuilding the Danish military.

Stockholm, however, still deemed Denmark as a relatively insignificant threat, and only positioned limited naval forces in the Öresund. In fact, the greater bulk of the naval forces was either sent to monitor the Prussian and Pomeranian coasts, or to protect vessels sailing west to the Colony to Nyfunnenland.

Meanwhile, in Bergen, things had been improving, but Norway, as a whole, had remained in a de facto state of emergency. In order to prevent a famine like in late 1663, many smaller Norwegian cities adopted a form of rationing for the years afterwards, so to make sure everyone would be reasonably well-fed and ready for combat, given the nation's lack of military.

Prince Christian never truly trusted King Frederik, and continuously had his cabinet to prepare against an unprovoked Danish invasion any time. After all, Frederik was the one who picked on him the most during his childhood in Copenhagen, and there was no guarantee that he wouldn't do it all again. The Storting was just as alerted. Everyone knew clearly that it was very much Frederik's high taxes and tariffs that brought economic ruin to Norway. While everyone was extremely unhappy with Copenhagen, they still had to acknowledge the fact that they had no means to wage a war without even a functional military.

Thus, through 1665 and into 1666, Prince Christian focused on rebuilding the Norwegian economy, while also settling some debts with Dutch merchants. Many parts of Norway were still devastated, but were indeed showing signs of recovery. Still, plans to rebuild a meaningful military were repeated scrapped with the continously tight budget. The defense of key Norwegian cities had to keep relying on volunteer units, with even basic supply of these troops being a major concern.

Many members of the Storting were already in favour of declaring independence, with King Frederik apparently uncooperative.

Nonetheless, the Danish armed threat loomed, and it was deemed by Prince Christian and many high officials as perilous to declare independence, which could provoke a Danish offensive. Prince Christian was referred to many as the ideal choice for an independent Norwegian monarch, but he himself stopped many attempts in the Storting that could very well provoke Frederik's rage in Copenhagen.

1666 proved to be an easier year for the Norwegians compared to previous difficult years. The yield was better than before, and merchants from different European nations, barring Denmark, also returned to trade in Norway after a prolonged period of peace and relatively stable administration under Prince Christian.

Prince Christian, prioritising economic recovery, laid out rather generous policies for merchants from all corners of the continent. While heavy tariffs were still collected by Copenhagen, Christian significantly lowered the local Norwegian taxes to ensure it was still profitable for merchants to trade across Norway.

The downsizing of the Swedish army was almost like a gift from the heavens for Frederik, benefitting his plots against Sweden immensely. For that, he asked Norway to follow Denmark's partial mobilisation order, so he could order Norwegian troops to assist the Danes to advance into Scania should a conflict begin.

That sparked a great debate in the Storting. Most believed that Norway should not again be dragged into a Danish war with Sweden, given very unpleasant past experiences in the last two decades.

Yet, there was great division in the Storting concerning how to respond to the Danish order. Radicals believed that it was an opportunity to declare independence, citing Frederik's wish to forcibly utilise Norwegian troops in "foreign" wars.

While the moderate faction, supported by Prince Christian, believed that it still wasn't yet a mature moment to declare independence, especially since Frederik had been partially mobilising, and could very well have that army fight Norway instead of Sweden if independence was declared.

Eventually, with Christian's insistence, the Storting reluctantly passed a bill to declare a "limited" mobilisation in Norway. Still, Bergen kept this small force under direct Norwegian command, refusing to hand the command over to Copenhagen.

Frederik was indeed unamused. But he also understood that the Danish nobles and commoners alike were against a "brotherly war" against Norway. His mobilisation order was supported as it was deemed necessary and meaningful to counter Sweden, not the brotherly nation of Norway.

While the situation between Denmark and Norway was undoubtedly tense, many Danes still saw Norway as a brotherly nation that would forever be ruled by the same monarch, and were against any military actions against Bergen. In Norway, public opinion was vastly different. Many still saw King Frederik's surrender of Norwegian territories in 1658 as high treason, and Norwegians became far less loyal to the union than most Danes. Still, many Norwegians, even supporting independence, did not wish for a war with Denmark, with some of them having different sorts of ties there.

Upon entering 1667, the Norwegian government began spending slightly more on the small military, with financial circumstances improving with the recovery of the economy. With the commencement of the Franco-Spanish War in 1667, an apparent war of aggression by Louis XIV, European politics became even more tense, and Denmark, along with Norway, furthered their mobilisation orders, preparing for war anytime.

On 19th June, 1667, the Count of Oldenburg, Anton Günther, died at 83. By the pact of 1648, Christian would autonomically become Count of Oldenburg, as Frederik already ceded the claim to his line back then. Copenhagen did consider taking the Imperial County by force, but ended up scrapping the plan. After all, the pact in 1648 was public, and it would make Frederik look extremely untrustworthy if he was to backtrack on it so blatantly.

Thus, per Anton Günther's previous agreement with Christian, the former's illegitimate son, Count Anton von Aldenburg, born 1633, became Governor of Oldenburg, with Christian's approval. Anton von Aldenburg formally swore fealty to Christian VIII, Count of Oldenburg, before the end of June, and Christian signed a decree to recognise Aldenburg's authority, representing him throughout the Imperial County of Oldenburg when he was not in the territory.

Christian then assured the Storting that he would not be heading off the Oldenburg and ditch Norway. Instead, by allowing Aldenburg basically full authority in Oldenburg, Christian's focus remained in Norway, amidst the increasingly tense and hostile political environment.

While the borders could not be significantly fortified with the lack of capital, Christian still managed to get volunteer units to continously guard the borders, lest a sudden Swedish or Danish offensive reach the key city of Christiania, near the border, in no time.