[POTN] 3.12 - Norwegian Independence!

With a new round of French subsidies arriving in Denmark in early March, 1668, King Frederik believed that his kingdom was ready for a "holy" war to retake the lands unjustly lost to Sweden in the previous war.

The Elector in Berlin was very hesitant about joining Copenhagen in this rather sudden war against Sweden. He wrote back to Frederik, claiming that the previous mutual defense pact was only for defensive actions, and Brandenburg-Prussia would not join Denmark in a war of aggression. Frederik, nonetheless, already expected this, and had included this in his plans. He responded politely, claiming that Denmark was not interested in a war of aggression, and would only defense necessarily if a war was waged by hostile powers.

Meanwhile, the Dano-Swedish maritime borders remained on high alert. Both Danish and Swedish ships were patrolling the Øresund, with both sides expecting a war soon.

On 5th March, two Swedish ships suddenly left the Øresund, claiming that they had orders from Stockholm to guard Göteborg. It was not doubted by fellow Swedish Navy officers, as Göteborg's defense was indeed lacking on manpower.

On 7th March, those two Swedish ships, out of nowhere. suddenly bombed the Danish city of Aalborg, on Jutland, and attempted to make a landing right afterwards. The crews were soon "captured" by the Danes, who sent them straight to Copenhagen.

Frederik gave a public speech in Copenhagen almost immediately after receiving the news, rallying the Danes to defend themselves against the Swedish invasion. He promised that Swedish aggression would undoubtedly be punished, with Denmark acting as God's sword. In fact, the entire act, from the "transferring to Göteborg" to "capturing", was totally planned and directed by King Frederik himself. The captains of the two concerned Swedish ships were bribed by Frederik with much gold, and they agreed to play along with Frederik's plans.

After making the ships sail to near Jutland, Frederik had Danish soldiers board the ships secretly on 6th March. The Danish soldiers then directed the ships to bomb Aalborg, where Danish units were already positioned to "capture" the Swedes - who offered no resistance - they were waiting to go to Copenhagen to receive the remaining half of promised gold. That gave Frederik a pretext to invade Sweden. Diplomatically, Denmark continued playing victim, insisting that it was Sweden's unprovoked aggression that caused the war, all while Stockholm wasn't even aware what happened that fateful night.

Everyone in Stockholm was extremely confused for several days, until the Danish attacks meant they could no longer waste time thinking about what happened. In fact, what Frederik did wouldn't even be clearly known in Stockholm until many, many months later.

France, among other nations allied with France, soon condemned Sweden's "invasion", and all issued statements supporting King Frederik to defend his kingdom from foreign aggression. Stockholm, before what would become known as the "Aalborg Incident", was still basking in joy. Maria, the Princess Consort, gave birth to a son on 27th January, 1668, signifying the renewed energy and fertility of the House of Vasa after the tragic passing of the late Queen.

Prince Magnus Vilhelm Vasa, an energetic and large boy, was made the Prince of Västergötland by King Gustav after he was baptised. For many, Maria giving birth merely slightly over a year after marriage was the evidence that fertility was returning to the royal family after a period of pregnancies being relatively rare.

When the incident occurred at Aalborg, most in Stockholm weren't even war could be coming. While the border situation was indeed tense, King Gustav repeatedly signalled to the Riksdag that he had no intent to wage a war, and merely wished to keep the Baltic in peace, assuring the nobles. Many, even Swedes, believed Frederik's narrative and thought it was Gustav, Prince Karl, and their administration launching a preemptive strike against Denmark, but ended up failing. Gustav himself was extremely shocked when he was suddenly, out of nowhere, told that he had invaded Denmark.

Berlin, after receiving the news, was put in a difficult position. Many in the court who knew about the defensive pact urged the Elector to attack Pomerania immediately to distract Swedish forces and save their Danish allies.

Friedrich Wilhelm himself, nonetheless, while having no reason not to believe Frederik's narrative, was still very hesitant to attack the Swedes. He had serious doubts about the Brandenburger capability to occupy all Pomerania in such a sudden war, and after much consideration, chose not to respond to Frederik's calling to join the war.

King Frederik was increasingly impatient about Brandenburg-Prussia's inaction. After all, in Danish war plans, Brandenburg-Prussia must distract the elite Swedish land forces in order to allow Danish troops to land on Scania and stir up a local rebellion against Swedisn oppression. On 17th March, Frederik released the Secret Accords of Odense to the public. Indeed, according to the Accords, Brandenburg-Prussia had the join the war against the aggressor when Denmark was invaded, and thus, Frederik claimed it mandated Berlin to fight against Sweden.

In Stockholm, the royals and the Riksdag had all calmed down somewhat after several days. Prince Karl, after reading the released Accords, knew that Friedrich Wilhelm practically had no choice but to declare war at Sweden, so to save his international reputation. Karl thus decided to sail from Stockholm to Riga, by the eastern coast of the Baltic, free from Danish bombardment. Then, he would go through Polish territory by bribing local nobles, and reach Stettin to take command of the elite Swedish forces there.

Just as Karl expected, the Elector of Brandenburg was left without much choices. Internally, many were aware of the existence of the Secret Accords, which he thus could not simply deny, Failing to adhere to the Accords would greatly reduce Brandenburg-Prussia's trustworthiness diplomatically, potentially leading to isolation.

Since Pomerania was indeed the greatest possible prize for Friedrich Wilhelm, who expected a war with Sweden to come sooner or later anyway, he officially declared war on Sweden on 21st March, with total mobilisation following, eager to seize this precious opportunity to wrestle Pomerania away from Stockholm.

In the meantime, Danish forces were trying to occupy a bridgehead in Scania. Yet, Swedish forces in Malmö managed to repel a Danish attack, but the Danes were everywhere by the Scanian coast. Some Scanian villages, still populated by Danes, were already rising up in revolt, emboldened by the Danish offensive. In less well-defended areas, Danish bridgeheads were successfully established by the end of March 1668.

In order to draft more manpower to aid the Scanian offensive, Frederik gave Prince Christian a choice on 19th March. He had to either start a second front against Sweden in Bohüslan to aid the Danish war effort, or plainly send all available Norwegian manpower to Scania to assist the Danes.

The entire Storting was rather unwilling to once again be dragged into a war against Sweden, when the prospects were not yet clear. After all, in the past decades, Norway suffered a lot simply from being dragged into Danish wars against many Norwegians' will. This time, even Prince Christian was hesitating. After all, he did declare mobilisation to counter a potential Swedish threat - but now Sweden apparently had no intention to invade Norway, focusing on Denmark entirely, he had little reason to fight Sweden.

The borders around Bohüslan were still reasonably well-fortified, and Christian had little faith in the inexperienced, conscripted Norwegian army. He knew that, if a Norwegian offensive caused a Swedish revenge, it could bring much trouble to Norway. Skirmishes did occur near the Swedish-Norwegian border, with some Norwegians, especially the minority still loyal to King Frederik, believing it would only be a matter of time for Norway to be dragged into the war.

Still, Christian was extremely unwilling to begin an all-out actions against Sweden. He had seen the utter prowess of Prince Karl when the latter conquered Jutland in 1658, and definitely did not wish for the disaster to be repeated on Norway. Of course, he did not yet know Karl had already been heading towards Pomerania.

On 27th March, the Storting had a long session. Most of the members agreed with Prince Christian's belief that Denmark was totally invested in the war against Denmark, and King Frederik probably held no capability to do anything to "punish" Norway even if his orders were to be disobeyed.

On 31st March, Prince Christian, on behalf of the Storting, officially replied to King Frederik. He stated that Norway, as an independent Kingdom under a mere personal union with Denmark, had the right to independently decide strategies in case of hostility.

As a concession, the Storting did declare war against Sweden on 2nd April, recognising Frederik's previous declaration of war as King of both Denmark and Norway. Yet, Norway remained staunch in refusing to join Frederik's offensive operations, claiming that Norwegian's security was the Storting's foremost concern.

Frederik was less than amused. While Danish bridgeheads were established in Scania, the Danes failed to push deep into Scania to stir even more Danish revolts. He was hoping that a large, even inexperienced, Norwegian army would be able to provide his side with numerical advantage at least, but Norway's refusal to comply ruined his plans.

Meanwhile, in Scania, the Danes began making steady but slow progress as the weather warmed in April. The intensity of Danish revolts proved to be less than what Copenhagen hoped for, and the Danes also had to deal with the local resistance by Swedes moved into Scania by Stockholm in the past decade. After all, many Swedes who moved into the region in the past decade were military veterans or armed gentry who bought much land with low costs. These Swedes were often able to stage meaningful resistances, heavily slowing Danish advance.

Desperate for Norwegian men to, in Frederik's own, private words to advisors, be "cannon fodders" on the Scanian front, he chose to take a harsh stance against the Bergen government which he deemed uncooperative, in an attempt to force them to concede and send their men to the front.

On 14th April, Frederik sent an ambassador to Bergen, carrying his message. There, he, as King of Norway, threatened to sack Christian as Governor and disband the Storting outright, if they would not obey their King's demands.

The Storting broke into a large debate after receiving the message. Certain factions suggested "freezing" Frederik's rights as King of Norway, given his acts against Norwegian interests. Nonetheless, others believed that the rights meant for the Crown of Norway was holy, and freezing them would set an unpleasant precedent for future rulers. Some even began to propose that the throne of Norway should be left vacant after Frederik's "transgressions", and his relentless attempts to surrender Norwegian lands to Sweden to save Denmark in 1658.

On 21th April, Frederik sent an ultimatum to Bergen, demanding Norway to send 4000 men to the Scanian front to "expel the invaders" by 15th May 1668. Frederik warned of a "total liquidation of the governing institutions in Bergen" if Prince Christian and the Storting would not yield his demand before the set deadline. That sparked a renewed wave of anger at Frederik in Bergen. Many, whether in the Storting or out on the streets, could not believe their own King would issue an ultimatum against his own realm to a governor he himself appointed.

There was increasing support in the Storting to declare Frederik's reign "illegitimate" after committing "high treason" against the Kingdom of Norway. Prince Christian largely stayed silent, but had also had enough of his half-brother's blatant favouritism against Norway.

On 29th April, Prince Christian gave a speech to the public in Bergen. He stressed the importance of the Norwegian identity, and called for the people to prepare for war. It was worth noting that Christian, throughout his speech, did not mention "the King" even once, but called for "loyalty to our Parliament" several times.

Hardliners in the Storting took this as a sign, and began publicly campaigning to oust Frederik from the Norwegian throne. Many in Bergen, Christiania, Trondheim, and beyond, believed that it was time for Norwegians to cease being ruled from Copenhagen.

Frederik, in Copenhagen, was already stressed about the slow Danish advance in Scania. That was compounded when he received the news that Prince Karl had arrived in Stettin and took control of the elite Swedish units. When Frederik received news about the campaigns against him in Bergen, he was outraged. After a few days of calling the Norwegians "traitors" committing "high treason", he officially decreed, on 7th May, to relieve Prince Christian of his duty as Governor. He was also ordered to return to Copemhagen right away.

On 8th May, Frederik, as King of Norway, ordered for the Storting to be dissolved. He also promised safety for Christian if the latter would forgo his post in Bergen and travel to Copenhagen to "assist the war effort" as soon as possible.

It was 9th May when Christian received the decrees. After some contemplation, Christian, again, gave a speech to the people of Bergen that evening. He criticised Frederik's actions, calling the Storting "the representatives of Norwegians", and could not be dissolved at will from Copenhagen.

He then declared his determination to stay and protect Norwegians. He declared:

"If the man in Copenhagen would come for our nation, let my blood be your last frontier!" His popularity thus reached new heights in Bergen, and elsewhere in Norway as his speech was reported. Thousands of Norwegians took it onto the streets, chanting Christian's name and holding his portraits, calling for all Norwegians to stand up.

Militia units were formed in a matter of days, most of them pledging allegiance to "Prince Christian and the Storting", no longer recognising Frederik's power in Norway practically.

A few days of intense debates in the Storting followed, With clearer and clearer opinion from the people, many in the Storting were also swayed. The faction supporting Prince Christian to be crowned King grew rapidly, many believing he was the only one who could bring stability back to Norway.

Christian himself did not speak about a potential proclamation as King, but repeatedly stated to the Storting that he was ready to serve and lead Norway "in the best way as determined by the Storting".

After much passionate debates, the Storting finally quieted down at night on 16th May. The bills that mattered would be voted on the next day, and Christian told everyone to "get a good night of sleep, and be ready to witness a historic moment for the nation" the next day.

Early in the morning of 17th May, 1668, the Storting unanimously passed the "Verdict concerning King Frederik III". Frederik III, as King of Norway, was found guilty of high treason against the Norwegian state and people, with "relentless, unapologetic acts to intentionally harm Norwegians".

efore noon, the historic "Dethronement Act" was passed with unanimous agreement in the Storting. King Frederik III's reign as King of Norway from 1648 to 1668 was recognised as rightful and legitimate, but it was immediately terminated after the Act was passed, as Frederik's guilt of high treason against Norway already disqualified him automatically in the line of successor to the Norwegian throne, which was thus, left vacant.

After lunch, the Storting, again unanimously, passed the "Independence Act". The Act reasserted the political independence of the Kingdom of Norway, without any legal relations to the Kingdom of Denmark. Thus, the Act also declared Frederik's reforms for the Danish monarchy in 1660 not applicable for the Norwegian throne, as it was never approved by the Storting. The Norwegian monarchy remained an elective monarchy, with the King only elected by the Storting with a majority vote, and bloodlines were not considered when determining whether one was qualified for the Norwegian throne - that right shall lie solely within the Storting.

In the evening, the Storting held the first-ever election of an independent Norwegian monarch on Norwegian soil since 1343 when Håkon VI was elected King. Prince Christian, Count of Oldenburg and Governor of Norway under Danish rule, was unanimously elected, at 7:05pm, 17th May, 1668, as King Christian V of Norway, the first independent Norwegian monarch in three centuries.

Prince Christian, now King Christian, reportedly remained silent for moments after the election, slightly overwhelmed by the duty ahead of him, before he was drowned by the round of loud applause given to him by the entire Storting.

The proclamation ceremony took place that night in Bergen's city square, where the Prince Christian Frederik, Count Christian VIII of Oldenburg, was officially, before thousands of Bergen residents, proclaimed Christian V, by the Grace of God, King of Norway.

Christian, along with his family, were cheered by thousands of Norwegians in the streets of Bergen that night. Many Norwegians celebrated till dawn the next day, rejoicing in the hard-fought independence, once lost for so many centuries, that had finally returned.

The next day, Christian announced to delay the coronation "slightly", until the situation became stable enough for such a celebratory occasion to take place. Christian insisted to be crowned with his wife, now Queen Maren, in the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, so to maintain the precious Norwegian traditions.

17th May would be celebrated as the Norwegian National Day by countless generations of Norwegians to come. Christian, and the Storting of 1668, would forever be remembered as the symbols of an independent Norway free from Danish oppression, a proud and mighty people to carve out their own way in the tumultuous politics of the continent.

King Frederik, after receiving the news, was utterly outraged. He could not accept a realm that he, at least nominally, ruled for two decades suddenly declaring him a traitor and dethroned him with a simple bill in the Parliament. For him, it was totally against his narrative that his monarchial powers were given by God himself.

On 19th May, Frederik issued a statement, saying that the existence of the Storting was already illegal, as he, as rightful King, already dissolved the Storting on 8th May. He referred to Christian as an usurper, and that he would not hesitate to restore Norway under his rightful rule.

Nonetheless, in practice, all of Frederik's units had been fighting in Scania for over two months. The Danish advance was so slow that Frederik had to deploy all available units onto that front to prevent the Swedes from retaking Danish bridgeheads and occupied settlements. He could hardly muster a thousand men to sail to Norway to restore his power.

No nations immediately recognised Christian as King of Norway, with even Sweden more hesitant than expected. For King Gustav, Christian was a man who defeated his Swedish army outside Trondheim a mere decade ago, and he did not trust that this independent Norway would be friendly towards Sweden.

Still, most nations stayed silent and did not condemn Christian. The only exceptions were Brandenburg-Prussia and France, both of whom recognised Frederik as the rightful King of Norway, but neither provided Copenhagen with any means to allow Frederik to invade Norway.

Stockholm, meanwhile, was actually afraid that Christian, seeking to consolidate his power, could attack the Swedish-annexed former Norwegian territories of Northern Nordland and Tromsø as the Swedish defense at the time was rather weak. Gustav thus ordered for a fortification of those areas, while also continuously preparing for the possibility of a war with Norway, so Stockholm wouldn't be caught in shock again like in March should a conflict do begin between them and Bergen.