The Independence of Norway
Cyril Falls describes the dissolution of the union of Norway and Sweden, and the subsequent ascension of a Danish Prince to the Norwegian throne.
Norway over the centuries has been divided among petty kings; it has been an independent kingdom, formed part of a unified Scandinavia, been joined with Denmark alone and with Sweden alone, and, for the past fifty years, been an independent kingdom once again.
Fifty years ago the union with Sweden was dissolved and a prince of the royal Danish house became king by election. The young man who arrived at Christiania (now Oslo) on November 27th, 1905, in the Danish royal yacht Dannebrog is still King of Norway.
Union with Denmark began in 1380. Shortly afterwards, in 1396, the whole of Scandinavia came under the rule of the Danish monarch, and so it generally remained until 1523, when the Vasa dynasty was inaugurated in Sweden. The early association between Norway and Denmark had been almost purely dynastic, and the true Danish period may be dated from 1536.
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