Schleswig–Holstein question
The Schleswig–Holstein question (
Schleswig was part of
The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in 1806. The German Confederation, formed in 1815, included Holstein. By the early 19th century, the population of Holstein, as well as that of much of Southern Schleswig, was almost entirely ethnically German.
Both Schleswig and Holstein had been ruled through institutions separate from the rest of the Kingdom of Denmark. On 27 March 1848,
A second crisis emerged due to a succession dispute. The dukedoms of Holstein and Lauenburg were legally inherited under
The underlying legal dispute over the duchies was seen as complex and somewhat obscure by contemporaries, as evidenced by a quip attributed to British statesman
Constitutional problem
Since 1849, disparate systems of government had co-existed within the Danish state. Denmark proper had become a
This caused a deadlock for practical lawmaking, hardened by ethnic tensions, and a complete inability to govern was imminent. Moreover, Danish opponents of this so-called Unitary State (Helstaten) feared that Holstein's presence in the government and, at the same time, Holstein's membership of the German Confederation would lead to increased German interference with Holstein, or even into purely Danish affairs.
In Copenhagen, the palace and most of the administration supported a strict adherence to the status quo. The same applied to foreign powers such as the United Kingdom, France and Russia, who would not accept a weakened Denmark in favour of a German power, such as Austria or Prussia, acquiring Holstein with the important naval harbour of Kiel or controlling the entrance to the Baltic.
Language and nationality
There was also the national question: both Germany and Denmark wished, characteristically of the nineteenth century, to create and consolidate nationalities from a background of fragmented cultural practices and dialects.
Lastly, there was the international question: the rival ambitions of the German powers involved, and beyond them the interests of other European states, notably that of the United Kingdom in preventing the rise of a German sea-power in the north.[5]
German had been the language of government in
Low German was the language of all of Holstein. During the centuries following the Middle Ages, Low German had come to dominate in Southern Schleswig, which had originally been predominantly Danish-speaking. The Danish language still dominated in Northern Schleswig. Around 1800, German and Danish were spoken in approximately equal proportions throughout what is now Central Schleswig.
The German language had been slowly spreading at the expense of Danish in previous centuries: for example, Danish was still spoken on the peninsula of
The language border in the nineteenth century conformed approximately to the current border between Denmark and Germany [citation needed].
It was clear that Danish dominance in Schleswig was vulnerable and weakening. Through its vigorous economic activity, the ethnically German area to the south expanded its geographic domain. Linguistically Low German immigrants constantly arrived, and previously Danish-speaking families often came to find it convenient to change languages. The Low German language, rather than Danish, had become typical of Holstein and much of south Schleswig.
One solution, which afterwards had the support of
Treaty of Ribe
German Schleswig-Holsteiners often cited a clause from the Treaty of Ribe of 1460, stating that Schleswig and Holstein should "always be together and never partitioned (or separated)". Although this treaty played a minor role at the more formal level of the conflict, its proclamation "Forever Inseparable" (Up ewig ungedeelt) obtained proverbial status during the German nationalist awakening, both among those wishing an independent Schleswig-Holstein, and in the German unification movement in general.
In Denmark it was granted less significance, and the citing widely regarded to be out of context, as it could either hint at the duchies not being separated from each other, or their not being partitioned into smaller shares of inheritance. This had happened many times anyway, leaving a confusing pattern of feudal units. Danes also brought forward rulings of a Danish clerical court and a German Emperor, of 1424 and 1421 respectively, stating that Schleswig rightfully belonged to Denmark, because it was a Danish fief and Holstein was a fief of the Holy Roman Empire, wanting Schleswig and Holstein to separate from each other.
The major powers appear to have given the Treaty of Ribe little notice in comparison to the ethnic conflict and worries about the European balance of power.
Resolution
The Second Schleswig War resolved the Schleswig–Holstein Question violently, by forcing King Christian IX of Denmark to renounce (on 1 August 1864) all his rights in the duchies in favour of Kaiser Franz Joseph I of Austria and King Wilhelm I of Prussia. By Article XIX of the definitive Treaty of Vienna signed on 30 October 1864, a period of six years was allowed during which the inhabitants of the duchies might opt for Danish nationality and transfer themselves and their goods to Denmark; and the rights pertaining to birth in the provinces were guaranteed to all, whether in the kingdom or the duchies, who had been entitled to those rights at the time of the exchange of ratifications of the treaty.[7]
In the
For the effect on the Danes of Schleswig and events afterwards, see History of Schleswig-Holstein.
Following the defeat of the
Literature
Elements of the Schleswig–Holstein question were fictionalised in Royal Flash, the second of George MacDonald Fraser's The Flashman Papers novels.
Its potential solution (or lack thereof) also forms part of the solution to the mystery at the centre of Kim Newman's short story "Tomorrow Town".
Danish author
The question appears in the first volume of the Reminiscences of Carl Schurz[8] as an issue of concern in the Revolutions of 1848, and also as the farcical recollections of his friend Adolf Strodtmann regarding Strodtmann's participation in the conflict (see Chapter 5, pp. 130–132, and Chapter 6, pp. 141–143).
See also
References
- ^ Phillips 1911, p. 337.
- ^ Keith A. P. Sandiford, Great Britain and the Schleswig–Holstein question, 1848–64: a study in diplomacy, politics, and public opinion (University of Toronto Press, 1975).
- ^ Lytton Strachey, Queen Victoria, 1921.
- ^ "Only Three People Understood It: The Prince Consort Who is Dead, a German Professor Who Has Gone Mad, and I Who Have Forgotten All About It". Quote Investigator. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
- ^ Phillips 1911, p. 335.
- ^ La Question de Slesvig, p. 135 seq., Historique de l'idée d'un partage du Slesvig
- ^ a b Phillips 1911, p. 339.
- ^ Carl Schurz, Reminiscences (3 vols.), New York: McClure Publ. Co., 1907
Further reading
- Karsten, Carl (1922). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 32 (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company. pp. 375–376. . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.).
- Müller, Friedrich Max. The Schleswig–Holstein Question and Its Place in History in "Last Essays by the Right Hon. Professor F. Max Müller", 1881, (accessed on-line August 2017).
- Phillips, Walter Alison (1911). . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 335–340.
- Price, Arnold. "Schleswig–Holstein" in Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions (2005) online
- Sandiford, Keith AP. Great Britain and the Schleswig–Holstein question, 1848-64: a study in diplomacy, politics, and public opinion (University of Toronto Press, 1975).
- Steefel, Lawrence D. The Schleswig–Holstein Question. 1863-1864 (Harvard U.P. 1923).
- Thaler, Peter. Of Mind and Matter: The Duality of National Identity in the German-Danish Borderlands (West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 2009).