Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
SCHLESWIG (Dan. Slesvig)
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: SAR-SCY
del.icio.us it!
|
See also:SCHLESWIG (See also:Dan. Slesvig) , a See also:town of See also:Germany,- See also:capital of the Prussian See also:province of Schleswig-See also:Holstein. It is situated at the See also:west end of the See also:long narrow See also:arm of the See also:sea called the Schlei, 30 M. to the N.W. of See also:Kiel on the railway from See also:Hamburg to Vamdrup, on the Danish frontier. Pop. (1905) 19,032. The town consists mainly of a single See also:street, 31 m. long, forming a semicircle See also:round the Schlei, and is divided into the old town (Altstadt), Holm, Lollfuss, and Friedrichsberg. The See also: The first See also:Christian church in this See also:district was built here by Ansgarius (d. 865), and it became the seat of a See also:bishop about a century later. The town, which obtained civic rights in 1200, also became the seat of the See also:dukes of Schleswig, but its See also:commerce gradually dwindled owing to the rivalry of See also:Lubeck, the numerous See also:wars in which the district was involved, and the silting up of the Schlei. At the See also:partition of 1544 the old chateau of Gottorp, originally built in 116o for the bishop, became the See also:residence of the Gottorp See also:line of the Schleswig-Holstein See also:family, which remained here till expelled by the Danish See also: Schleswig-Holstein belongs to the See also:great North-See also:German See also:plain, of the characteristic features of which it affords a faithful See also:reproduction in See also:miniature, down to the continuation of the Baltic See also:ridge or See also:plateau by a range of See also:low wooded hills skirting its eastern See also:coast and culminating in the Bungsberg (538 ft.), a little to the north of See also:Eutin. This hilly district contains the most productive See also:land in the province, the See also:soil consisting of diluvial See also:drift or See also:boulder See also:clay. The central See also:part of the province forms practically a continuation of the great See also:Luneburg See also:Heath, and its thin sandy soil is of little use for cultivation. Along the west coast extends the " Marshland," a See also:belt of See also:rich alluvial soil formed by the deposits of the North Sea, and varying in breadth from 5 to 15 m. It is seldom more than a few feet above the sea-level, while at places it is below it, and it has consequently to be defended by an extensive See also:system of dykes or embankments resembling those of See also: The See also:climate of Schleswig-Holstein is mainly determined by the proximity of the sea, and the mean See also:annual temperature, varying from 450 F. in the north to 490 F. in the south, is rather higher than is usual in the same See also:latitude. See also:Rain and See also:fog are frequent, but the climate is on the whole healthy. The Elbe forms the southern boundary of Holstein for 65 m., but the only See also:river of importance within the province is the Eider, which rises in Holstein, and after a course of lao M. falls into the North Sea, forming an estuary 3 to 12 M. in breadth. It is navigable from its mouth as far as See also:Rendsburg, which is on the Kaiser Wilhelm (Kiel-Elbe) See also:canal, which intersects Holstein. There are numerous lakes in north-See also:east Holstein, the largest of which are the Ploner See (I2 sq. m.) and the Selenter See (9 sq. m.). Of the total area of the province 57 % is occupied by tilled land, 22 % by meadows and pastures, and barely 7 % by forests. The See also:ordinary cereals are all cultivated with success and there is generally a considerable surplus for export. See also:Rape is grown in the See also:marsh lands and See also:flax on the east coast, while large quantities of apples and other See also:fruit are raised near See also:Altona for the Hamburg and See also:English markets. The marsh lands afford admirable pasture, and a greater proportion of See also:cattle (65 per too inhabitants) is reared in Schleswig-Holstein, mainly by small owners, than in any other Prussian province. Great See also:numbers of cattle are exported to See also:England. The Holstein horses are also in See also:request, but See also:sheep-farming is comparatively neglected. See also:Bee-keeping is a productive See also:industry. The hills skirting the bays of the Baltic coast are generally pleasantly wooded, but the forests are nowhere of great extent except in Lauenburg. The fishing in the Baltic is productive; Eckernforde is the chief fishing station in Prussia. The oysters from the beds on the west coast of Schleswig are widely known under the misnomer of " Holstein natives." The See also:mineral resources are almost confined to a few layers of See also:rock-See also:salt near Segeberg. The more important See also:industrial establishments, such as See also:iron foundries, See also:machine See also:works, See also:tobacco and See also:cloth factories, are mainly confined to the large towns, such as Altona, Kiel and Flensburg. The See also:shipbuilding of Kiel and other seaports, however, is important; and See also:lace is made by the peasants of north Schleswig. The commerce and See also:shipping of Schleswig-Holstein, stimulated by its position between two seas, as well as by its excellent harbours and waterways, are much more prominent than its manufactures. Kiel is one of the chief seaports of Prussia, while oversea See also:trade is also carried on by Altona and Flensburg. The See also:main exports are See also:grain, cattle, horses, See also:fish and oysters, in return for which come See also:timber, See also:coal, salt, See also:wine and colonial produce. The See also:population of the province in 1905 was 1,504,248, comprising 1,454,526 Protestants, 41,227 See also:Roman Catholics and 3270 See also:Jews. The See also:urban and rural communities are in the proportion of 4 to 6. The great bulk of the Holsteiners and a large See also:pro-portion of the Schleswigers are of genuine German stock, but of the 148,000 inhabitants in the north part of Schleswig 139,000 are Danish-speaking. Among the Germans the prevalent See also:tongue is Low German, but the North See also:Frisians on the west coast of Schleswig and the North Sea islands (about 19,000 in all) still speak a Frisian See also:dialect, which, however, is dying out. The peninsula of Angeln, between the Gulf of Flensburg and the Schlei, is supposed to have been the See also:original seat of the English, and observers profess to see a striking resemblance between this district and the counties of See also:Kent and See also:Surrey. The peasants of See also:Dithmarschen in the south-west also retain many of their ancient peculiarities. The boundary between the Danish and German See also:languages is approximately a line See also:running from Flensburg south-west to Joldelund and thence north-west to See also:Tondern and the North Sea coast; not more than 15% of the entire population of the province speak Danish as their See also:mother-tongue, but the proportion is far larger for Schleswig alone, where there is also a considerable bilingual population. The chief educational institution in Schleswig-Holstein is the university of Kiel. Schleswig is the See also:official capital of the province, but Altona and Kiel are the largest towns, the latter being the chief See also:naval station of Germany. Kiel and Friedrichsort are fortified, but the old lines of See also:Duppel have been dismantled. The province sends ro members to the Reichstag and 19 to the Prussian Abgeordnetenhaus (See also:house of deputies). The provincial estates meet in Rendsburg. For the See also:history of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein see SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN QUESTION below. SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN QUESTION, the name given to the whole complex of See also:diplomatic and other issues arising in the 19th century out of the relations of the two " Elbe duchies," Schleswig and Holstein, to the Danish See also:crown on the one See also:hand and the German See also:Confederation on the other, which came to a crisis with the extinction of the male line of the reigning house of Denmark by the See also:death of King Frederick VII. on the 15th of See also:November 1863. The central question was whether the two duchies did or did not constitute an integral part of the dominions of the Danish crown, with which they had been more or less intimately associated for centuries. This involved the purely legal questibn,in the See also:practical See also:political question. Though the designation of Schleswig-Holstein, implying the See also:fusion of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein in a single Prussian province, only See also:dates from 1866, the history of the duchies Bariyhishas since the 14th century been so closely interwoven to' oftho that it is impossible to treat them separately. Some- duchies.
thing must, however, be said about their origins and
their See also:separate history up to the See also:time of their first See also:union under the Holstein See also:counts.
When it first appears in history South Jutland was inhabited by mingled See also:Cimbri, Angles, See also:Jutes and Frisians, upon whom the Danes exercised an unceasing pressure from the north. To See also:Mark
the south of Schleswig what is now Holstein was in- Schles of
f habited mainly by See also:Saxons, pressed upon from the east
See also:wig-
by the See also:Wends and other See also:Slavonic races. These Saxons were the last of their nation to submit to See also:Charlemagne (804);. who put their See also:country under Frankish counts, the limits of the See also:Empire being pushed in 810 as far as the Schlei in Schleswig. Then began the See also:secular struggle between the Danish See also:kings and the German emperors, and in 934 the German king See also: (1128-1164), succeeded in recon- quering the Slavonic Wagri and founded the See also:city and see of Lubeck to hold them in check. Adolf III. (d. 1225), his successor, received Dithmarschen in See also:fee from the emperor Frederick I., but in 1203 the fortunes of See also:war compelled him to surrender Holstein to Valdemar II. of Denmark, the cession being confirmed by the emperor Frederick II. in 1214 and the See also:pope in 1217. Valdemar appointed See also:Albert of Orlamunde his See also:lieutenant in Holstein, and the Schleswig-Holstein question might have been thus early settled but for Valdemar's See also:ill See also:fortune in being taken prisoner in 1223. During his captivity Albert of Orlamunde was beaten at Molln by See also:Count Adolf III., to whom Valdemar restored his countship as the See also:price of his own See also:release. A papal See also:dispensation from oaths taken. under See also:duress excused a new war; but Valdemar himself was beaten at Bornhovede on the 22nd of See also:July 1227, and Holstein was permanently secured to the house of Schauenburg. After the death of Adolf IV. 1I.e. place-names according to popular usage, not the official names given in German maps (e.g. Haderslev for See also:Hadersleben). See La Question du Slesvig, p. 61 seq., " Noms de lieux.'' 2 I.e. the party at See also:Copenhagen which aimed at making the Eider, the southern boundary of Schleswig, the frontier of the Danish See also:kingdom proper. raised by the death of the last See also:common male See also:heir to both Denmark and the duchies, as to the proper See also:succession in the latter, and the constitutional questions arising out of the. relations of the duchies to the Danish crown, to each other, and of Holstein to the German Confederation. There was also the See also:national question: the ancient racial antagonism between German and Dane, intensified by the tendency, characteristic of the 19th century, to the consolidation of nationalities. Lastly, there was the inter-national question: the See also:rival ambitions of the German See also:powers involved, and beyond them the interests of other See also:European states, notably that of Great See also:Britain in preventing the rise of a German sea-See also:power in the north. To take the racial question first, from time immemorial the country north of the Elbe had been the See also:battle-ground of Danes and Germans. Danish scholars point to the prevalence of Danish place-names' far southward into the German-speaking districts as See also:evidence that at least the whole of Schleswig was at one time Danish; German scholars claim it, on the other,hand, as essentially German. That the duchy of Schleswig, or South Jutland (Sonderjylland), had been from time immemorial a Danish See also:fief was, indeed, not in dispute, nor was the fact that Holstein had been from the first a fief of the Germano-Roman Empire. The controversy in the r9th century raged round the ancient "in-dissoluble " union of the two duchies, and the inferences to be See also:drawn from it; the " Eider Danes "2 claimed Schleswig as an integral part of the Danish See also:monarchy, which, on the principle of the union, involved the retention of Holstein also; the Germans claimed Holstein as a part of Germany and, therefore, on the same historic principle, Schleswig also. The history of the relations of Schleswig and Holstein thus became of importance in 1261, Holstein was split up into several countships by his sons and grandsons: the lines of Kiel, Plon, Schauenburg-Pinneberg and Rendsburg. In 1232 King Valdemar II., who had retained the former German Mark north of the Eider, erected South Jutland (Schleswig) into a duchy for his second son, See also:Abel. On the death of the Sch esw/g Tatter's descendant, Duke See also:Eric, in 1319, See also:Christopher II. or South of Denmark attempted to seize the duchy, the heir of which, Jutland. Valdemar V., was a See also:minor; but Valdemar's See also:guardian and See also:uncle, See also:Gerhard III. of Holstein-Rendsburg (1304– 1340), surnamed " the Great " and a notable See also:warrior, drove back the Danes and, Christopher having been expelled, succeeded in procuring the See also:election of Valdemar to the Danish See also:throne. His See also:reward was the duchy of Schleswig and the famous See also:charter, known as the Constitulio Valdemariana, which laid down the principle The See also:Con- that the duchy of South Jutland was never to be incor- 'The Co porated in the kingdom of Denmark or ruled by the same t l t utl See also:sovereign (7 See also:June 1326). Thus Schleswig and Holstein See also:mariana, were for the first time See also:united. The union was, indeed, as See also:Valdes 1326. yet See also:precarious. In 1330 Christopher II. was restored to his throne and Valdemar V. to his duchy, Gerhard having to be content with the reversion in the See also:case of the duke dying without issue. Gerhard, however, was assassinated in 1340 by a Dane, and it was not till 1375, when the male lines both in the kingdom and the duchy became See also:extinct by the deaths of King Valdemar IV. and Duke Valdemar V., that the counts of Holstein seized on their See also:inheritance, assuming at the same time the style of " lords of utland." In 1386 See also:Queen See also:Margaret allowed their claim in return for or the usual See also:homage and promise of feudal service, and directed that Union of one of their number should be elected duke of Schleswig. Union fg The choice See also:fell on Gerhard VI., See also:grandson of Gerhard III. Sahlesw and of Rendsburg, who after the extinction of the line of Kiel Holstein. (1390) obtained in 1403 the whole of the countship of Holstein, except the small Schauenburg territories. With this begins the history of the union of Schleswig and Holstein. Gerhard VI. died in 1404, and soon afterwards war See also:broke out between his sons and Eric of See also:Pomerania, Margaret's successor on the throne of Denmark, who claimed South Jutland as an integral part of the Danish monarchy, a claim formally recognized by the emperor See also:Sigismund in 1424.1 It was not till 1440 that the struggle ended with the See also:investiture of Count Adolf VIII., Gerhard's son, with the hereditary duchy of Schleswig by Christopher III. of Denmark. On the death of Christopher eight years later, Adolf's See also:influence secured the election of his See also:nephew Count Christian of See also:Oldenburg to the vacant throne. On the death of Adolf in 1459 without issue, King Christian I., though he had been forced to swear to the Constitulio Valdemariana, King- succeeded in asserting his claim to Schleswig in right of dukes of his mother, Adolf's See also:sister. Instead of incorporating the Olden- South Jutland with the Danish kingdom, however, he buntline. preferred to take See also:advantage of the feeling of the estates
in Schleswig and Holstein in favour of union to secure both countries. On Schleswig the Schauenburg counts had no claim ; their election in Holstein would have separated the countries; and it was easy therefore for Christian to secure his election both as Charter of duke of Schleswig and count of Holstein (5 See also: In 1581 a further partition was made, by a compact signed at Flensburg, between King Frederick II. and his uncle Duke Adolphus I., under
i Question du Slesvig, p. 78.
'The Church (Lutheran) was organized under a Probst (See also:provost) and See also:consistory, the king himself assuming the See also:jurisdiction of summus episco pus.which the rights of overlordship in the various towns and territories of Schleswig were divided between them; the estates, however, remained undivided, and the king and duke ruled the country alternately. To make confusion worse confounded, Frederick II. in 1582 ceded certain lands in Hardersleben to his See also:brother See also: Holstein was restored to him by the See also:peace of Frederiksborg in 1720, but in the following See also:year Frederick IV. was recognized as sovereign of Schleswig by the estates and by the princes of the Augustenburg and Glucksburg lines.
The situation was ultimately simplified by the See also:marriage of Duke Charles Frederick with the tsarevna See also:Anna Pavlovna, and the recognition in 1742 of their son Charles Peter See also:Ulrich as See also:Russia cesarevitch by the empress See also: The political See also:atmosphere, however, had changed at Copenhagen also; and their demands were met by the Danes with a nationalist See also:temper as intractable as their own. Affairs were ripe for a crisis, which the threatened failure of the common male heirs to the kingdom and the duchies precipitated. 'The king by a convention of the same date secured the full sovereignty for his own particular appanage in Schleswig. The See also:attempt of the dukes of Gottorp to partition the actual government of the duchy broke on the opposition of the estates. 'Adolphus Frederick had renounced his rights in Schleswig by an agreement with the Danish king signed on the 25th of See also:April 1750. 'The best See also:solution, which afterwards had the support of See also:Napoleon III., would have been to partition Schleswig on the lines of See also:nationality, assigning the Danish part to Denmark, the German to Holstein. This See also:idea, which subsequently had supporters both among Danes and Germans, proved impracticable later owing to the intractable temper of the See also:majority on both sides. See La Question de Slesvig, p. 135 seq., " Historique de l'idee d'un partage du Slesvig." Duchy of Holstein, 1472. and proposed that, at least, any treaty concluded should be presented for ratification to the See also:Frankfort government. This the Danes refused; and negotiations were broken off. Prussia was now confronted on the one See also:side by the German nation urging her clamorously to action, on the other side by the European powers with one See also:voice threatening the After painful Convenworst consequences should she persist. When Christian VIII. succeeded his See also:father Frederick VI. in 1839 the elder male line of the house of Oldenburg was obviously on the point of extinction, the king's only son and heir Question having no See also:children. Ever since 1834, when See also:joint of the succession. consultative estates had been re-established for the duchies, the question of the succession had been debated in this See also:assembly. To German See also:opinion the solution seemed clear enough. The crown of Denmark could be inherited by See also:female heirs; in the duchies the Salic law had never been repealed and, in the event of a failure of male heirs to Christian VIII., the succession would pass to the dukes of Augustenburg.' Danish opinion, on the other hand, clamoured for a royal pronouncement proclaiming the principle of the indivisibility of the monarchy and its transmission intact to a single heir, in accordance with the royal law. To this Christian VIII. yielded so far as to issue in 1846 letters patent declaring that the royal law in the See also:matter of the succession was in full force so far as Schleswig was concerned, in accordance with the letters patent of See also:August 22, 1721, the See also:oath of fidelity of See also:September 3, 1721, the guarantees given by See also:France and Great Britain in the same year and the See also:treaties of 1767 and 1773 with Russia. As to Holstein, he stated that certain circumstances prevented him from giving, in regard to some parts of the duchy, so clear a decision as in the case of Schleswig. The principle of the independence of Schleswig and of its union with Holstein were expressly reaffirmed. An See also:appeal against this by the estates of Holstein to the German See also:diet received no See also:attention. The revolutionary year 1848 brought matters to a See also:head. On the 28th of See also:January, Christian VIII. issued a rescript proclaiming a new constitution which, while preserving the See also:autonomy of the different parts of the country, incorporated them for common purposes in a single organization. The estates of the duchies replied by demanding the incorporation of Schleswig-Holstein, as a single constitutional See also:state, in the German Confederation. Frederick VII., who had succeeded his father at the end of January, declared (March 4) that he had no right to See also:deal in this way with Schleswig, and, yielding to the importunity of the Eider-Danish party, withdrew the rescript of January (April 4) and announced to the See also:people of Schleswig (March 27) the promulgation of a liberal constitution under which the duchy, while preserving its See also:local autonomy, would become an integral part of Denmark.
Meanwhile, however, the duchies had broken out into open insurrection; a provisional government had been established
at Kiel; and the duke of Augustenburg had hurried Prussian to See also:Berlin to secure the assistance of Prussia in asserting tionis4 his rights. This was at the very crisis of the revolution
in Berlin, and the Prussian government saw in the proposed intervention in Denmark in a popular cause an excellent opportunity for restoring its damaged See also:prestige. Prussian troops were accordingly marched into Holstein; and, the diet having on the 12th of April recognized the provisional government of Schleswig and commissioned Prussia to enforce its decrees, See also:General See also:Wrangel was ordered to occupy Schleswig also.
The principles which Prussia was commissioned to enforce as the mandatory of Germany were: (1) that they were inde-
pendent states, (2) that their union was indissoluble, attitude (3) that they were hereditary only in the male line.
of the
powers. But the Germans had reckoned without the European
powers, which were united in opposing any dismember-
ment of Denmark, even See also:Austria refusing to assist in enforcing
the German view. See also:Swedish troops landed to assist the Danes;
See also:Nicholas I. of Russia, speaking with authority as representing
the elder Gottorp line, pointed out to King Frederick See also: The convention was only in the nature of a truce establishing a temporary modus vivendi, and the main issues, See also:left unsettled, continued to be hotly debated. At a See also:conference held in See also:London in See also:October, Denmark suggested an arrangement on the basis of a separation of Schleswig from Holstein, which was about to become a member of the new German empire, Schleswig to have a separate constitution under the Danish crown. This was supported by Great Britain and Russia and accepted by Prussia and the German government (27th January 1849). The negotiations broke down, however, on the refusal of Denmark to yield the principle of the indissoluble union with the Danish crown; on the 23rd of See also:February the truce was at an end, and on the 3rd of April the war was renewed. At this point the See also:tsar intervened in favour of peace; and Prussia, conscious of her restored strength and weary of the intractable temper of the Frankfort government, determined to take matters into her own hands. On the loth of July 1849 another truce was signed; Schleswig, until the peace, was to be administered separately, under a mixed See also:commission, Holstein was to be governed by a vicegerent of the German empire—an arrangement equally offensive to German and Danish sentiment. A settlement seemed as far off as ever; the Danes still clamoured for the principle of succession in the female line and union with Denmark, the Germans for that of succession in the male line and union with Holstein. In utter weariness Prussia proposed, in April 185o, a definitive peace on the basis of the status quo ante bellum and the postponement of all questions as to mutual rights. To See also:Palmerston the basis seemed meaningless, the proposed settlement to See also:settle nothing. The emperor Nicholas, openly disgusted with Frederick William's weak-kneed truckling to the Revolution, again intervened. To him the duke of Augustenburg was a See also:rebel; Russia had guaranteed Schleswig to the Danish crown by the treaties of 1767 and 1773; as for Holstein, if the king of Denmark was unable to deal with the rebels there, he himself would intervene as he had done in See also:Hungary. The See also:threat was reinforced by the menace of the European situation. Austria and Prussia were on the See also:verge of war, and the See also:sole See also:hope of preventing Russia from throwing her See also:sword into the See also:scale of Austria See also:lay in settling the Schleswig-Holstein question in the sense desired by her. The only alternative, an See also:alliance with " the See also:devil's nephew," See also: The protocol of London, while consecrating the principle of the integrity of Denmark, stipulated that the rights of the German Confederation in Holstein and Lauenburg should remain unaffected. It was, in fact, a See also:compromise, and left the fundamental issues unsettled. The German federal diet had been unrepresented in London, and the terms of the. protocol were regarded in Germany as a humiliation. As for the Danes, they were far from being satisfied with the settlement, which they approved only in so far as it gave them a basis for a more vigorous See also:prosecution of their unionist schemes. On the 15th of February and the rth of June 1854 the king of Denmark, after consulting the estates, promulgated See also:special constitutions for Schleswig and Holstein respectively, under which the provincial assemblies received certain very limited powers. On the 26th of July 1854 he published a common constitution Danish for the whole monarchy; this, which was little more unitary than a veiled See also:absolutism, was superseded on the 2nd Constitn- of October 1855 by a parliamentary constitution of See also:Lion of a modified type. The legality of this constitution 18 was disputed by the two German great powers, on the ground that the estates of the duchies had not been consulted as promised in the royal letter of the 6th of December 1851; the diet of the Confederation refused to admit its validity so far as Holstein and Lauenburg were concerned (Iith February 1858). The question was now once more the subject of lively inter-national debate; but the European situation was no longer so favourable as it had been to the Danish view. The See also:Crimean War had crippled the power of Russia, and Nicholas I. was dead. France was prepared to sell the interests of Denmark in the duchies to Prussia in return for " compensations " to herself elsewhere. Great Britain alone sided with the Danes; but the action of See also:British ministers, who realized the danger to British supremacy at sea of the growth of German sea-power in the Baltic, was hampered by the natural sympathy of Queen See also:Victoria and the prince See also:consort with the German point of view? The result was that the German diet, on the See also:motion of See also:Bismarck, having threatened federal intervention (July 29), King Frederick VII. issued a proclamation abolishing the general constitution so far as it affected Holstein and Lauenburg, while retaining it for Denmark and Schleswig (November 6). 1 Hertslet, See also:Man of Europe, ii. 1151. 2 See Queen Victoria to See also:Lord See also:Malmesbury, 1st of Mav 1858, in Letters (pop. ed., 1908), iii. 280. Compare the letters to Palmerston of 21st of June 1849, ii. 222, and 22nd of June 1850, ii. 279, with Palmerston to See also:Russell, 23rd of June 1850, and Queen Victoria to Russell, ii. 250. Though even this concession violated the principle of the " indissoluble union " of the duchies, the German diet, fully occupied at See also:home, determined to refrain from further action till the Danish parliament should make another effort to pass a law or See also:budget affecting the whole kingdom without consulting the estates of the duchies. This contingency arose in July 186o, and in the See also:spring of the following year the estates were once more at open odds with the Danish government. The German diet now prepared for armed intervention; but it was in no See also:condition to carry out its threats, and Denmark decided, on the See also:advice of Great Britain, to ignore it and open negotiations directly with Prussia and Austria as See also:independent powers. These demanded the restoration of the union between the duchies, a question beyond the competence of the Confederation. Denmark replied with a refusal to recognize the right of any See also:foreign power to interfere in her relations with Schleswig; to which Austria, anxious to conciliate the smaller German princes, responded with a vigorous protest against Danish infringements of the compact of 1852. Lord John Russell now intervened, on behalf of Great Britain, with a proposal for a settlement of the whole question on the basis of the independence of the duchies under the Danish crown, with a decennial budget for common expenses to be agreed on by the four assemblies, and a supreme council of state consisting in relative proportion of Danes and Germans.3 This was accepted by Russia and by the German great powers, and Denmark found herself isolated in Europe. The international situation, however, favoured a bold attitude, and she met the representations of the powers with a flat See also:defiance. The retention of Schleswig as an integral part of the monarchy was to her a matter of See also:life and death; the German Confederation had made the terms of the protocol of 1852, defining the intimate Denmark relations between the duchies, the excuse for un- repudiates warrantable interference in the internal affairs of the
Denmark; and on the 3oth of March 1863 a royal ofisssts proclamation was published at Copenhagen repudia-
ting the compacts of 1852, and, by defining the separate position of Holstein in the Danish monarchy, negativing once for all the claims of Germany upon Schleswig'
The reply of the German diet to this move was to forward a See also:note to Copenhagen (July 9) demanding, on See also:pain of federal See also:execution, the withdrawal of the proclamation and the Danish See also: The See also:news was received in Germany with violent manifestations of excitement and anger. Frederick, duke of Augustenburg, son of the prince who in 1852 had renounced the succession to the duchies, now claimed his rights on the ground that he had had no See also:share in the renunciation. In Holstein an agitation in his favour had begun from the first, and this was extended to Schleswig on the terms of the new Danish constitution becoming known. His claim was enthusiastically 3 Note of See also:Sept. 24, 1862. For the diplomatic See also:correspondence on the duchies see Parl. Papers, lxxiv. (1863). * For this and later correspondence see Parl. Papers, Ixiv. (1864), p. 40 seq. supported by the German princes and people, and in spite of the negative attitude of Austria and Prussia the federal diet decided to occupy Holstein " pending the settlement of the See also:Decree' of succession." On the 24th of December Saxon and feder execution. Hanoverian troops marched into the duchy in the name of the German Confederation, and supported by their presence and by the See also:loyalty of the Holsteiners the duke of Augustenburg assumed the government under the style of Duke Frederick VIII. With this "folly "—as Bismarck roundly termed it—Austria and Prussia, in the See also:teeth of violent public opinion, would have nothing to do, for neither wished to See also:risk Attitude a European war. It was clear to Bismarck that the of Austria two powers, as parties to the protocol of 1852, must and uphold the succession as fixed by it, and that any Prussia. action they might take in consequence of the violation of that compact by Denmark must be so " correct " as to deprive Europe of all excuse for interference. The publication of the new constitution by Christian IX. was in itself sufficient to justify a See also:declaration of war by the two powers as parties to the See also:signature of the protocol. As to the ultimate outcome of their effective intervention, that could be left to the future to decide. Austria had no clear views. King William wavered between his Prussian feeling and a sentimental sympathy with the duke of Augustenburg. Bismarck alone knew exactly what he wanted, and how to attain it. " From the beginning," he said later (Reflections, ii. Io), " I kept See also:annexation steadily before my eyes." The protests of Great Britain and Russia against the action of the German diet, together with the proposal of Count Beust, on behalf of Saxony, that See also:Bavaria should bring forward in that assembly a formal motion for the recognition of Duke Frederick's claims, helped Bismarck to persuade Austria that immediate action must be taken. On the 28th of December a motion was introduced in the diet by Austria and Prussia, calling on the Confederation to occupy Schleswig as a See also:pledge for the observance by Denmark of the compacts of .1852. This implied the recognition of the rights of Christian IX., and was indignantly rejected; whereupon the diet was informed that the See also:Austrian and Prussian governments would act in the matter as independent European powers. The agreement between them was signed on the 16th of January 1864. An See also:article drafted by Austria, intended to safeguard the settlement of 1852, was replaced at Bismarck's instance by another which stated that the two powers would decide only in See also:concert on the relations of the duchies, and that they would in no case determine the question of the succession See also:save by mutual consent. - At this See also:stage, had the Danes yielded to the necessities of the situation and withdrawn from Schleswig under protest, the Austria European powers would probably have intervened, a and congress would have restored Schleswig to the Danish Prussia crown, and Austria and Prussia, as European powers, occupy the would have had no choice but to prevent any attempt See also:dw^hies. upon it by the duke of Holstein. To prevent this possibility Bismarck made the Copenhagen government believe that Great Britain had threatened Prussia with intervention should hostilities be opened, " though, as a matter of fact, England did nothing of the See also:kind." The cynical stratagem succeeded; Denmark remained defiant; and on the 1st of February 1864 the Austrian and Prussian forces crossed the Eider. An invasion of Denmark itself had not been part of the original See also:programme of the See also:allies; but on the 18th of February some Prussian hussars, in the excitement of a See also:cavalry skirmish, crossed the frontier and occupied the See also:village of See also:Kolding. Bismarck determined to use this circum- stance to revise the whole situation. He urged upon Austria the See also:necessity for a strong policy, so as to settle once for all not only the question of the duchies but the wider question of the German Confederation; and Austria reluctantly consented to See also:press the war. On the 5th of March a fresh agreement was signed between the powers, under which the compacts of 1852 were declared to be no longer valid, and the position of the duchies within the Danish monarchy as a whole was to be made the subject of a friendly understanding. Meanwhile, however, Lord John Russell on behalf of Great Britain, supported by Russia, France and Sweden, had intervened with a proposal that the whole question should once more be submitted to a European conference.' The German powers agreed on condition that the compacts of 1852 should not be taken as a basis, and that the duchies should be See also:bound to Den-mark by a See also:personal tie only. But the proceedings of the conference, which opened at London on the 25th of April, only revealed the inextricable tangle of the issues involved. Beust, on behalf of the Confederation, demanded the recognition of the Augustenburg claimant; Austria leaned to a settlement on the lines of that of 1852; Prussia, it was increasingly clear, aimed at the acquisition of the duchies. The first step towards the realization of this latter ambition was to secure the recognition of the See also:absolute independence of the duchies, and this Austria could only oppose at the risk of forfeiting her whole influence in Germany. The two powers, then, agreed to demand the See also:complete political independence of the duchies bound together by common institutions. The next move was uncertain. As to the question of annexation Prussia would leave that open, but made it clear that any settlement must involve the complete military sub-ordination of Schleswig-Holstein to herself. This alarmed Austria, which had no wish to see a further See also:extension of Prussia's The already overgrown power, and she began to champion powers the claims of the duke of Augustenburg. This con- and tingency, however, Bismarck had foreseen and himself Augustenoffered to support the claims of the duke at the con- burg. ference if he would undertake to subordinate himself in all naval and military matters to Prussia, surrender Kiel for the purposes of a Prussian war-See also:harbour, give Prussia the See also:control of the projected North Sea Canal, and enter the Prussian Customs Union. On this basis, with Austria's support, the whole matter might have been arranged without—as Beust pointed out (Mem. i. 272) —the increase of Prussia's power beyond the Elbe being any serious menace to Austrian influence in Germany. Fortunately, however, for Bismarck's plans, Austria's distrust and See also:jealousy of Prussia led her to oppose this settlement and at her instigation the duke of Augustenburg rejected it. On the 25th of June the London conference broke up without having arrived at any conclusion. On the 24th, in view of the end of the truce, Austria and Prussia had arrived at a new agreement, the See also:object of the war being now Treaty of declared to be the complete separation of the duchies Vienna, 1864. from Denmark. As the result of the See also:short See also:campaign that followed, the preliminaries of a treaty of peace were signed on the 1st of August, the king of Denmark renouncing all his rights in tilt duchies in favour of the emperor of Austria and the king of Prussia. The definitive treaty was signed at Vienna on the 3oth of October 1864. By Article XIX., a period of six years was allowed during which the inhabitants of the duchies might " opt " for Danish nationality and See also:transfer themselves and their goods to Denmark; and the right of " indigenacy " was guaranteed to all, whether in the kingdom or the duchies, who enjoyed it at the time of the See also:exchange of ratifications of the treaty? The Schleswig-Holstein Question from this time onward became merged in the larger question of the general relations of Austria and Prussia, and its later developments are The last sketched in the article GERMANY: History. So far as phase of Europe was concerned it was settled by the decisive the result of the war of 1866. It survived, however, as question. between Danes and Germans, though narrowed down to the question of the See also:fate of the Danish population of the See also:northern duchy. This question is of great interest to students of inter-national law and as illustrating the practical problems involved in the assertion of the See also:modern principle of " nationality." ' Part. Papers (1864), lxv. 124 seq. Beust (Mem. i. 252) says that Queen Victoria personally intervened to prevent British action in favour of Denmark. 2 The full See also:text of the treaty is in La Question du Sle2vig, p. 173 et seq. Diplomatic develop- ments during the Danish war. The position of the Danes in Schleswig after the cession was determined, so far as treaty rights are concerned, by two See also:instruments —the Treaty of Vienna (October 30, 1864) and the Treaty of See also:Prague (August 23, 1866). By Article XIX. of the former treaty The Danish subjects domiciled in the ceded territories had the right, op, within six years of the exchange of ratifications, of opting err.., for the Danish nationality and t ransferring themselves, their families and their personal See also:property to Denmark, while keeping their landed property in the duchies. The last See also:paragraph of the Article ran: " Le See also:droit d'indigenat, tant dans le royaume de Danemark que dans See also:les Duches, est conserve a tous les individus qui le possedent a 1'epoque de l'echange See also:des ratifications du See also:present Traite." By Article V. of the Treaty of Prague Schleswig was ceded by Austria to Prussia with the See also:reservation that " the populations of the North of Schleswig shall be again united with Denmark in the event of their expressing a See also:desire so to be by a See also:vote freely exercised." Taking advantage of the terms of these treaties, about 50,000 Danes from North Schleswig (out of a total population of some 150,000) opted for Denmark and migrated over the frontier, pending the See also:plebiscite which was to restore their country to them. But the plebiscite never came. Its inclusion in the treaty had been no more than a diplomatic See also:device to save the See also:face of the emperor Napoleon III.; Prussia had from the first no intention of surrendering an See also:inch of the territory she had conquered; the out-come of the Franco-German War made it unnecessary for her even to pretend that she might do so; and by the Treaty of Vienna of October II, 1878, the clause See also:relating to the plebiscite was formally abrogated with the assent of Austria. Meanwhile the Danish " optants," disappointed of their hopes, had begun to stream back over the frontier into Schleswig. By doing so they lost, under the Danish law, their rights as Danish citizens, without acquiring those of Prussian subjects; and this See also:disability was transmitted to their children. By subjects; XIX. of the Treaty of 1864, indeed, they should have been secured the rights of " indigenacy," which, while falling short of complete citizenship, implied, according to Danish law, all the essential guarantees for See also:civil See also:liberty. But in German law the right of Indigenat is not clearly differentiated from the status of a subject; and the supreme court at Kiel decided in several cases that those who had opted for Danish nationality had forfeited their rights under the Indigenat paragraph of the Treaty of Vienna. There was thus created in the Frontier districts a large and increasing class of people who dwelt in a sort of political limbo, having lost their Danish citizenship through ceasing to be domiciled in Denmark, and unable to acquire Prussian citizenship because they had failed to apply for it within the six years stipulated in the Treaty of 1864. Their exclusion from the rights of Prussian subjects was due, however, to causes other than the letter of the treaty. The Danes, in spite of every discouragement, never ceased to strive for the preservation and extension of their national traditions and language; the Germans were equally See also:bent on effectually absorbing these recalcitrant " Teutons into the general life of the German empire; and to this end the uncertain status of the Danish optants was a useful means. Danish See also:agitators of German nationality could not be touched so long as they were careful to keep within the limits of the law; pro-Danish See also:newspapers owned and staffed by German subjects enjoyed See also:immunity in accordance with the constitution, which guarantees the liberty of the press. The case of the " optants " was far other. These unfortunates, who numbered a large proportion of the population, were subject to domiciliary visits, and to arbitrary perquisitions, See also:arrest and See also:expulsion. When the pro-Danish newspapers, after the expulsion of several "optant ' editors, were careful to appoint none but German subjects, the vengeance of the authorities fell upon " optant " type-setters, printers and printers' devils. The Prussian See also:police, indeed, See also:developed an almost superhuman- capacity for detecting optants: and since these pariahs were mingled indistinguishably with the See also:mass of the people, no See also:household and no business was safe from official See also:inquisition. One instance out of many may serve to illustrate the type of offence that served as excuse for this systematic official persecution. On the 27th of April 1896 the second See also:volume for 1895 of the Sonderjyske Aarboger was confiscated for having used the historic See also:term Sonderjylland (South Jutland) for Schleswig. To add to the misery, the Danish government refused to allow the Danish optants expelled by Prussia to settle in Denmark, though this rule was modified by the Danish Nationality Law of 1898 in favour of the children of optants See also:born after the passing of the law. It was not till the signature of the treaty between Prussia and Denmark on the 11th of January 1907 that these intolerable Treaty of conditions were ended. By this treaty the German January, government undertook to allow all children born of ii, 1907. Danish optants before the passing of the new Danish Nationality Law of 1898 to acquire Prussian nationality on the usual conditions and on their own application. This See also:provision was not to affect the ordinary legal rights of expulsion as exercised by either power, but the Danish government undertook not to refuse to the children of Schleswig optants who should not seek to acquire or who could not legally acquire Prussian nationality per-See also:mission to reside in Denmark. The provisions of the treaty apply not only to the children of Schleswig optants, but to their See also:direct descendants in all degrees. This See also:adjustment, brought about by the friendly intercourse between the courts of Berlin and Copenhagen, seemed to See also:close the last phase of the Schleswig question. Yet, so far from allaying, it apparently only served to embitter the inter-racial See also:feud. The autochthonous Germans of the Northern See also:Marches " regarded the new treaty as a betrayal, and refused " to give the See also:kiss of peace " to their hereditary enemies. For See also:forty years Germanism, backed by all the See also:weight of the empire and imposed with all the weapons of official persecution, had barely held its own in North Schleswig; in spite of an enormous See also:emigration, in 1905, of the 148,000 in-habitants of North Schleswig 139,000 spoke Danish, while of the German-speaking immigrants it was found that more than a third spoke Danish in the first See also:generation; and this in spite of the fact that, from 1864 onward, German had gradually been substituted for Danish in the churches, the See also:schools, and even in the playground. But the scattered outposts of Germanism could hardly be expected to acquiesce without a struggle in a situation that threatened them with social and economic extinction. Forty years of dominance, secured by official favour, had filled them with a See also:double measure of aggressive See also:pride of See also:race, and the question of the rival nationalities in Schleswig, like that in See also:Poland, remained a source of trouble and weakness within the frontiers of the German empire. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] SCHLEIZ |
[next] SCHLETTSTADT |