107-453: Eidsiva Energi is a Norwegian energy company based in Hamar with large sections of Oppland and Hedmark as core market, and is the largest producer, distributor and trader of electricity in both counties. The corporation had a revenue of NOK 3.5 billion and market capitalization of NOK 9 billion in 2006. It is owned by Hedmark County as well as by 25 municipalities. The corporation
214-678: A per-capita basis, Norway is the world's largest producer of oil and natural gas outside of the Middle East. The country has the fourth- and eighth-highest per-capita income in the world on the World Bank 's and IMF 's list, respectively. It has the world's largest sovereign wealth fund , with a value of US$ 1.3 trillion. Norway has two official names: Norge in Bokmål and Noreg in Nynorsk . The English name Norway comes from
321-590: A resistance movement which incorporated civil disobedience and armed resistance including the destruction of Norsk Hydro 's heavy water plant and stockpile of heavy water at Vemork , which crippled the German nuclear programme . More important to the Allied war effort, however, was the role of the Norwegian Merchant Marine , the fourth-largest merchant marine fleet in the world. It was led by
428-407: A unitary state with a constitutional monarchy , Norway divides state power between the parliament , the cabinet , and the supreme court , as determined by the 1814 constitution . Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels: counties and municipalities . The Sámi people have a certain amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through
535-620: A 39.6% stake in Moelven Industrier . The company was established in July 2000 when Lillehammer og Gausdal Energiverk and Hamar-regionen Energiverk merged their respective grid- and trade divisions. On June 6, 2001 Eidsiva Energi and Hedmark Energi merged their grid- and trade divisions. On April 15, 2004 the three lower companies merged and thus creating one large corporation called Eidsiva energi Holding AS that included industrial investments and energy production. On April 28, 2005
642-521: A central role in the peaceful separation of Norway from Sweden on 7 June 1905. A national referendum confirmed the people's preference for a monarchy over a republic. However, no Norwegian could legitimately claim the throne, since none of Norway's noble families could claim royal descent . The government then offered the throne of Norway to Prince Carl of Denmark, a prince of the Dano-German royal house of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and
749-458: A conservative society. Life in Norway (especially economic life) was "dominated by the aristocracy of professional men who filled most of the important posts in the central government". There was no strong bourgeois class to demand a breakdown of this aristocratic control. Thus, even while revolution swept over most of the countries of Europe in 1848, Norway was largely unaffected. Marcus Thrane
856-665: A distant relative of Norway's medieval kings. Following the plebiscite, he was unanimously elected king by the Norwegian Parliament ; he took the name Haakon VII . Throughout the First World War , Norway remained neutral; however, diplomatic pressure from the British government meant that it heavily favoured the Allies . During the war, Norway exported fish to both Germany and Britain, until an ultimatum from
963-457: A distinct national character. The movement covered all branches of culture, including literature ( Henrik Wergeland , Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson , Peter Christen Asbjørnsen , Jørgen Moe ), painting ( Hans Gude , Adolph Tidemand ), music ( Edvard Grieg ), and even language policy, where attempts to define a native written language for Norway led to today's two official written forms for Norwegian: Bokmål and Nynorsk . King Charles III John came to
1070-540: A government in support of occupying Germans. Although Hitler remained unreceptive to the idea, he gave orders to draft up plans for the possible military invasion of Norway. Hence, on the first day of invasion, Quisling, using his own initiative, burst into the NRK studios in Oslo on 9 April and made a nationwide broadcast at 7:30 pm declaring himself prime minister and ordering all resistance halted at once. This did not please
1177-448: A largely unified command, something which greatly facilitated the transfer of power in May 1945. A distinction was made between the home front ( Hjemmefronten ) and the external front ( Utefronten ). The home front consisted of sabotage, raids and clandestine operations (as was often performed by members of Milorg ), as well as intelligence gathering (for which XU was founded). Meanwhile,
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#17327976393451284-634: A small group had left Norway following their king to Britain. This group included 13 ships, five aircraft, and 500 men from the Royal Norwegian Navy. By the end of the war, the force had grown to 58 ships and 7,500 men in service in the Royal Norwegian Navy, 5 squadrons of aircraft in the newly formed Norwegian Air Force, and land forces including the Norwegian Independent Company 1 and 5 Troop as well as No. 10 Commandos . During German occupation , Norwegians built
1391-433: A tactical retreat while awaiting reinforcements from Britain. The British Navy cleared the way to Narvik on 13 April, sinking one submarine and eight destroyers in the fjord. British and French troops began to land at Narvik on 14 April. Shortly afterward, British troops landed at Namsos and Åndalsnes , to attack Trondheim from the north and from the south , respectively. The Germans, however, landed fresh troops in
1498-750: A training camp known as " Little Norway " was set up near Toronto , Canada , on 10 November 1940. However, a unified Royal Norwegian Air Force was only founded as a separate branch of the military of Norway on 10 November 1944; until then it operated in two distinct branches—then known as the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service and the Norwegian Army Air Service . The Air Force operated four squadrons in support of Allied forces: A number of Norwegian volunteers also served in British RAF units. Combined,
1605-686: A union between the two countries. In 1397, under Margaret I , the Kalmar Union was created between the three Scandinavian countries. She waged war against the Germans, resulting in a trade blockade and higher taxation on Norwegian goods, which led to a rebellion . However, the Norwegian Council of State was too weak to pull out of the union. Margaret pursued a centralising policy which inevitably favoured Denmark because of its greater population. Margaret also granted trade privileges to
1712-634: A united Norway. Harald's realm was mainly a South Norwegian coastal state. Fairhair ruled with a strong hand and according to the sagas, many Norwegians left the country to live in Iceland, the Faroe Islands , Greenland , and parts of Britain and Ireland. Haakon I the Good was Norway's first Christian king, in the mid-10th century, though his attempt to introduce the religion was rejected. Norse traditions were replaced slowly by Christian ones in
1819-459: A wide variety of purposes, ranging from fuel to coffee, tea, and tobacco. At the beginning of the occupation, there were at least 2,173 Jews in Norway . At least 775 of these were arrested, detained, and/or deported. 742 were killed in concentration camps , 23 died as a result of extrajudicial execution, murder, and suicide during the war; bringing the total of Jewish Norwegian dead to at least 765, comprising 230 complete households. In addition to
1926-677: Is Oslo . Norway has a total area of 385,207 square kilometres (148,729 sq mi). The country shares a long eastern border with Sweden , and is bordered by Finland and Russia to the northeast. Norway has an extensive coastline facing the Skagerrak strait, the North Atlantic Ocean, and the Barents Sea . The unified kingdom of Norway was established in 872 as a merger of petty kingdoms and has existed continuously for 1,151–1,152 years. From 1537 to 1814, Norway
2033-521: Is decentralised and has ten division offices in the two counties, while the head office is located in downtown Hamar, while the customer centre is located in Kongsvinger . It has 163,000 power- and grid customers as well as an electricity production of 3.2 TWh , all hydroelectricity , from 20 wholly owned and 24 partially owned power plants . It also operates 20,000 kilometers of power grid including 10,000 net stations and transformers . It also holds
2140-454: Is little archaeological evidence dating to the early Iron Age (the last 500 years BC). The dead were cremated, and their graves contained few goods. During the first four centuries AD, the people of Norway were in contact with Roman-occupied Gaul ; about 70 Roman bronze cauldrons, often used as burial urns, have been found. Contact with countries farther south brought a knowledge of runes ; the oldest known Norwegian runic inscription dates from
2247-574: The Allgemeine-SS established the 127th SS- Standarte , which was the last command of the General-SS ever created. The battleship Tirpitz was stationed in Norway for most of the war, acting as a fleet in being in her own right and tying up considerable Allied resources until she was eventually sunk in the last of many attacks. The economic consequences of the German occupation were severe. Norway lost all its major trading partners
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#17327976393452354-936: The Eastern Front . The Schutzstaffel (SS) maintained a strength of six thousand in Norway during the Second World War, under the command of Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Rediess , the Higher SS and Police Leader (HSSPF) from June 1940 to the end of the war. Most of these troops were under the authority of the Waffen-SS and the SS and Police Leader hierarchy. In November 1944, three SS and Police Leaders (SSPF) subordinate to Rediess were appointed: SS- Oberführer Heinz Roch for Northern Norway, Oberführer Richard Kaaserer for Central Norway and Gruppenführer Jakob Sporrenberg for Southern Norway. Also in 1944,
2461-584: The German invasion of France . King Haakon and the Norwegian government escaped to Rotherhithe in London. Throughout the war they sent radio speeches and supported clandestine military actions against the Germans. On the day of the invasion, the leader of the small National-Socialist party Nasjonal Samling , Vidkun Quisling , tried to seize power, but was forced by the German occupiers to step aside. Real power
2568-635: The German nuclear energy project . Prominent resistance members, among them Max Manus and Gunnar Sønsteby , destroyed several ships and supplies of the Kriegsmarine . Radical organizations such as the Osvald Group sabotaged a number of trains and railways. However most organizations opted for passive resistance . Illegal newspapers were distributed, including Friheten , Vårt Land , Fritt Land . Illegal trade union periodicals included Fri Fagbevegelse . About 80,000 Norwegian citizens fled
2675-485: The Labour Party held an absolute majority in the parliament. The government, led by prime minister Einar Gerhardsen , embarked on a programme inspired by Keynesian economics , emphasising state financed industrialisation and co-operation between trade unions and employers' organisations . Many measures of state control of the economy imposed during the war were continued, although the rationing of dairy products
2782-958: The Nasjonal Samling did increase slightly in the first few years of the occupation, but never reached significant levels, and eroded towards the end of the war. Military forces such as the Army Norway ( Heer ) and Luftwaffe remained under direct command of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht in Germany throughout the war, but all other authority was vested in the Reich commissioner. The Nazi authorities made attempts to enact legislation that supported its actions and policies; it therefore banned all political parties except NS, appointed local leaders top down and forced labour unions and other organizations to accept NS leaders. Although there
2889-483: The Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system, and its values are rooted in egalitarian ideals. The Norwegian state has large ownership positions in key industrial sectors, having extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, and fresh water. The petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). On
2996-774: The North Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean , as Norway had to prepare, not only to protect its neutrality, but indeed to fight for its freedom and independence. Efforts to improve military readiness and capability and to sustain an extended blockade were intensified between September 1939 and April 1940. Several incidents in Norwegian maritime waters, notably the Altmark incident in Jøssingfjord , put great strains on Norway's ability to assert its neutrality. Norway managed to negotiate favorable trade treaties both with
3103-707: The Norwegian government-in-exile . Fighting continued in Northern Norway until 10 June, when the Norwegian 6th Division surrendered shortly after Allied forces had been evacuated against the background of looming defeat in France. Among German-occupied territories in Western Europe , this made Norway the country to withstand the German invasion for the longest period of time – approximately two months. About 300,000 Germans were garrisoned in Norway for
3210-592: The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ordering the entire 20th Mountain Army out of Finland to take up new defensive positions around Lyngen and Skibotn just to the north of Tromsø —a new operation which came to be called " Operation Nordlicht " (Operation Northern Light). This proved to be a huge logistical undertaking. General Lothar Rendulic , replacing General Eduard Dietl , who had been killed in an air crash, set about evacuating supplies by sea through Petsamo and
3317-593: The Old English word Norþweg mentioned in 880, meaning "northern way" or "way leading to the north", which is how the Anglo-Saxons referred to the coastline of Atlantic Norway. The Anglo-Saxons of Britain also referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land . There is some disagreement about whether the native name of Norway originally had the same etymology as the English form. According to
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3424-578: The Oslofjord , but were stopped when the Krupp -built artillery and torpedoes of Oscarsborg Fortress sank the German flagship Blücher and sank or damaged the other ships in the German task force. Blücher transported the forces that would ensure control of the political apparatus in Norway, and the sinking and death of over 1,000 soldiers and crew delayed the Germans, so that the King and government had
3531-518: The Royal Norwegian Navy , including their 500 operating personnel, followed the King and parliament to Britain. Throughout the war, some 118 ships served the Royal Norwegian Navy, of which 58 were in active service at the end of the war. By then the Royal Norwegian Navy had continuously and actively served Allied forces since the summer of 1940, and had suffered the loss of 27 ships and 650 men. In order to develop and train an Air Force,
3638-667: The Scandinavian Peninsula with a population of 5.5 million as of 2024. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of Norway. Bouvet Island , located in the Subantarctic , is a dependency , and not a part of the Kingdom; Norway also claims the Antarctic territories of Peter I Island and Queen Maud Land . The capital and largest city in Norway
3745-532: The Syttende mai (Seventeenth of May) holiday. Norwegian opposition to the decision to link Norway with Sweden caused the Norwegian–Swedish War to break out as Sweden tried to subdue Norway by military means. As Sweden's military was not strong enough to defeat the Norwegian forces outright, and Norway's treasury was not large enough to support a protracted war, and as British and Russian navies blockaded
3852-1322: The Sámi Parliament and the Finnmark Act . Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States . Norway is a founding member of the United Nations , NATO , the European Free Trade Association , the Council of Europe , the Antarctic Treaty , and the Nordic Council ; a member of the European Economic Area , the WTO , and the OECD ; and a part of the Schengen Area . The Norwegian dialects share mutual intelligibility with Danish and Swedish . Norway maintains
3959-656: The capitulation of German forces in Europe on 8 May 1945 . Throughout this period, a pro-German government named Den nasjonale regjering ('the National Government') ruled Norway, while the Norwegian king Haakon VII and the prewar government escaped to London , where they formed a government in exile . Civil rule was effectively assumed by the Reichskommissariat Norwegen (Reich Commissariat of Norway), which acted in collaboration with
4066-587: The introduction of Protestantism in 1536, the archbishopric in Trondheim was dissolved; Norway lost its independence and effectually became a colony of Denmark. The Church's incomes and possessions were instead redirected to the court in Copenhagen. Norway lost the steady stream of pilgrims to the relics of St. Olav at the Nidaros shrine, and with them, much of the contact with cultural and economic life in
4173-474: The union with Sweden . Under this arrangement, Norway kept its liberal constitution and its own independent institutions, though it shared a monarch and foreign policy with Sweden. Following the recession caused by the Napoleonic Wars , economic development of Norway remained slow until 1830. This period also saw the rise of Norwegian romantic nationalism , as Norwegians sought to define and express
4280-479: The Army consisted of the following units: Throughout the war, Allied planners remained wary of the strategic significance of Norway. Commando raids were carried out in several locations; some with the intention of deceiving German commanders as part of Operation Fortitude North , others with the explicit aim of disrupting German military and scientific capabilities, such as sabotaging the German nuclear energy project . Many of these allied raids were achieved with
4387-602: The British government and anti-German sentiments as a result of German submarines targeting Norwegian merchantmen led to a termination of trade with Germany. 436 Norwegian merchantmen were sunk by the Kaiserliche Marine , with 1,150 Norwegian sailors killed. Norway once more proclaimed its neutrality during the Second World War , but was invaded by German forces on 9 April 1940. Although Norway
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4494-503: The British. On 5 May, the last Norwegian resistance pockets remaining in South and Central Norway were defeated at Vinjesvingen and Hegra Fortress . In the north, German troops engaged in a bitter fight at the Battle of Narvik . Holding out against five times as many British and French troops, they were close to surrender before finally slipping out from Narvik on 28 May. Moving east,
4601-464: The Danish kingdom was on the losing side in 1814, it was forced by the Treaty of Kiel to cede Norway to Sweden, while the old Norwegian provinces of Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands remained with the Danish crown. Norway took this opportunity to declare independence, adopted a constitution based on American and French models, and elected the Crown Prince of Denmark and Norway, Christian Frederick , as king on 17 May 1814 – celebrated as
4708-441: The German authorities, who initially wanted the legitimate government to remain in place. Nevertheless, when it became obvious that the Storting would not surrender, the Germans quickly came to recognise Quisling. Hitler not being aware of anyone better, supported him from the evening of 9 April. They demanded that King Haakon formally appoint him as prime minister and return his government to Oslo; in effect, giving legal sanction to
4815-482: The German invasion of Norway to begin on 9 April; on 8 April, while the Norwegian government was preoccupied with earnest protest about the British mine-laying, the German expeditions were already mobilizing. Soon after British and French mined the Norwegian coast to disrupt iron shipments, Germany invaded Norway for several reasons: Through neglect both on the part of the Norwegian foreign minister Halvdan Koht and Minister of Defence Birger Ljungberg , Norway
4922-440: The Germans were surprised when the British started to abandon Narvik on 3 June. By that time the German offensive in France had progressed to such an extent that the British could no longer afford any commitment in Norway, and the 25,000 Britons and Frenchmen were evacuated from Narvik only 10 days after their victory. King Haakon VII and part of his government left for England on the British cruiser HMS Glasgow to establish
5029-403: The Hanseatic merchants of Lübeck in Bergen in return for recognition of her rule, and these hurt the Norwegian economy. The Hanseatic merchants formed a state within a state in Bergen for generations. The " Victual Brothers " launched three devastating pirate raids on the port (the last in 1427). Norway slipped ever more to the background under the Oldenburg dynasty (established 1448). There
5136-416: The Norwegian coast, the belligerents were forced to negotiate the Convention of Moss . Christian Frederik abdicated the Norwegian throne and authorised the Parliament of Norway to make the necessary constitutional amendments to allow for the personal union that Norway was forced to accept. On 4 November 1814, the Parliament (Storting) elected Charles XIII of Sweden as king of Norway, thereby establishing
5243-463: The Norwegian fighter squadrons (No. 331 and 332) and Norwegian fighters operating in RAF service accounted for a total of 247 enemy aircraft destroyed, 42 assumed destroyed and 142 damaged. By the war's end, the Norwegian Air Force had a total of 2,700 personnel and had suffered a total of 228 losses. The Norwegian Army was given the lowest priority of all the exiled Norwegian forces; it never exceeded 4,000 men. Following its last reorganisation in 1942,
5350-406: The Norwegian resistance, hence managing to capture and murder many of its members. Other collaborators were Statspolitiet (STAPO), a police force that operated independently of the regular police. Statspolitiet was closely related to the Quisling regime and took also orders directly from the German Sicherheitspolizei . Hirden was a fascist paramilitary force with party members subordinate to
5457-445: The Norwegian shipping company Nortraship under the Allies throughout the war and took part in every war operation from the evacuation of Dunkirk to the Normandy landings . Every December Norway gives a Christmas tree to the United Kingdom as thanks for the British assistance during the war. Svalbard was not occupied by German troops, but Germany secretly established a meteorological station there in 1944. From 1945 to 1962,
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#17327976393455564-475: The Norwegian town of Kirkenes . In early October 1944, some 53,000 men of the German 19th Mountain Corps were still 45 mi (72 km) inside Russia along the Litsa River and the neck of the Rybachy Peninsula . The plan was for them to reach Lakselv in Norway, 160 mi (260 km) west, by 15 November. By 7 October however, the combined Soviet 14th Army and Northern fleet , consisting of 133,500 men under Field Marshal Kirill Meretskov , attacked
5671-447: The United Kingdom and Germany under these conditions, but it became increasingly clear that both countries had a strategic interest in denying the other warring power access to Norway and its coastline. The government was also increasingly pressured by Britain to direct ever larger parts of its massive merchant fleet to transport British goods at low rates as well as to join the trade blockade against Germany. In March and April 1940, on
5778-480: The airfield entered the city. The first troops to occupy Oslo entered the city brazenly, marching behind a German military brass band. Just 1,500 paratroopers were involved in taking over the Norwegian capital. On establishing footholds in Oslo and Trondheim, the Germans launched a ground offensive against scattered resistance inland in Norway. Allied forces attempted several counterattacks, but all failed. While resistance in Norway had little military success, it had
5885-589: The best equipment to the Germans in the first 24 hours of the invasion, the unclear mobilisation order by the government, and the general confusion caused by the tremendous psychological shock of the German surprise attack. The Norwegian Army rallied after the initial confusion and on several occasions managed to put up a stiff fight, delaying the German advance. However, the Germans, quickly reinforced by Panzer and motorised machine gun battalions, proved unstoppable due to their superior numbers, training, and equipment. The Norwegian Army therefore planned its campaign as
5992-479: The chance to escape from Oslo . In the other cities that were attacked, the Germans faced only weak or no resistance. The surprise and the lack of preparedness of Norway for a large-scale invasion of this kind gave the German forces their initial success. The major Norwegian ports from Oslo northward to Narvik (more than 1,200 mi (1,900 km) away from Germany's naval bases) were occupied by advance detachments of German troops, transported on destroyers. At
6099-536: The coast, where the huge ice shelf of the last ice age first melted between 11,000 and 8000 BC. The oldest finds are stone tools dating from 9500 to 6000 BC, discovered in Finnmark ( Komsa culture ) in the north and Rogaland ( Fosna culture ) in the southwest. Theories about the two cultures being separate were deemed obsolete in the 1970s. Between 3000 and 2500 BC, new settlers ( Corded Ware culture ) arrived in eastern Norway . They were Indo-European farmers who grew grain and kept livestock, and gradually replaced
6206-419: The company bought Mjøskraft and Mjøskraft Strøm from Hafslund and changed its name to Eidsiva Energi AS in December. In September 2006 it took over the power plants from Vannkraft Øst and Oppland Energi . Norway in Europe (green and dark grey) Norway ( Bokmål : Norge , Nynorsk : Noreg ), officially the Kingdom of Norway , is a Nordic country in Northern Europe , situated on
6313-428: The control of Queen Margaret when the country entered into the Kalmar Union . After Sweden broke out of the Kalmar Union in 1521, Norway tried to follow suit, but the subsequent rebellion was defeated, and Norway remained in a union with Denmark until 1814. This period was by some referred to as the "400-Year Night", since all of the kingdom's intellectual and administrative power was centred in Copenhagen . With
6420-516: The country during the course of the war; apart from political and military forces they included intellectuals such as Sigrid Undset . Since the Norwegian parliament continued to operate in exile in Britain, many of these exiles voluntarily came to serve in the Allied military forces, often forming their own distinct Norwegian units in accordance with the Allied Forces Act . By the end of the war, these forces consisted of some 28,000 enlisted men and women. In June 1940, some 13 warships and 5 aircraft of
6527-476: The death of Haakon in 1379, his 10-year-old son Olaf IV acceded to the throne. As Olaf had already been elected to the throne of Denmark in 1376, Denmark and Norway entered a personal union . Olaf's mother and Haakon's widow, Queen Margaret, managed the foreign affairs of Denmark and Norway during Olaf's minority. Margaret was on the verge of achieving a union of Sweden with Denmark and Norway when Olaf IV suddenly died. Denmark made Margaret temporary ruler on
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#17327976393456634-434: The death of Olaf. On 2 February 1388, Norway followed suit and crowned Margaret. Queen Margaret knew that her power would be more secure if she were able to find a king to rule in her place. She settled on Eric of Pomerania , grandson of her sister. Thus at an all-Scandinavian meeting held at Kalmar, Erik of Pomerania was crowned king of all three Scandinavian countries, bringing the thrones of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden under
6741-438: The economy, because of the loans the Hansa had made to the royals and the large debt the kings were carrying. The League's monopolistic control over the economy of Norway put pressure on all classes, especially the peasantry, to the degree that no real burgher class existed in Norway. From the 1040s to 1130, the country was at peace. In 1130, the civil war era broke out on the basis of unclear succession laws , which allowed
6848-500: The end of the century. Throughout the High Middle Ages , the king established Norway as a sovereign state with a central administration and local representatives. In 1349, the Black Death spread to Norway and within a year killed a third of the population. Later plagues reduced the population to half the starting point by 1400. Many communities were entirely wiped out, resulting in an abundance of land, allowing farmers to switch to more animal husbandry . The reduction in taxes weakened
6955-423: The expense of Sweden and Russia. The famine of 1695–1696 killed roughly 10% of Norway's population. The harvest failed in Scandinavia at least nine times between 1740 and 1800, with great loss of life. After Denmark–Norway was attacked by the United Kingdom at the 1807 Battle of Copenhagen , it entered into an alliance with Napoleon , with the war leading to dire conditions and mass starvation in 1812. As
7062-407: The external front included Norway's merchant fleet , the Royal Norwegian Navy (which had evacuated many of its ships to Britain), Norwegian squadrons under the British Royal Air Force command and several commando groups operating out of Great Britain and Shetland . One of the most successful actions undertaken by the Norwegian resistance was the Norwegian heavy water sabotage , which crippled
7169-435: The few who survived concentration camps, some also survived by fleeing the country, mostly to Sweden , but some also to the United Kingdom . Of the Norwegians who supported the Nasjonal Samling party, relatively few were active collaborators . Most notorious among these was Henry Rinnan , the leader of the Sonderabteilung Lola (locally known as Rinnanbanden or "the Rinnan gang"), a group of informants who infiltrated
7276-458: The help of exiled Norwegian forces. However, Churchill was obsessed with an invasion of Norway and kept badgering Alanbrooke ; see Operation Jupiter (Norway) . Notable military operations in Norway include: With the beginning of the German withdrawal from Lapland , the initial German plan was to retain the essential nickel mines around Petsamo in the far North held by the 19th Mountain Corps under General Ferdinand Jodl , but events led to
7383-458: The highest priority, it was known throughout the government that Norway, above all, did not want to be at war with Britain. On 28 April 1939, Nazi Germany offered Norway and several other Scandinavian countries non-aggression pacts. To maintain its neutrality, Norway turned down the German offer, as did Sweden and Finland . By the autumn of 1939 there was an increasing sense of urgency because of its long western coastline facing access routes into
7490-438: The hunting-fishing population of the west coast. From about 1500 BC, bronze was gradually introduced. Burial cairns built close to the sea as far north as Harstad and also inland in the south are characteristic of this period, with rock carving motifs that differ from those of the Stone Age , depicting ships resembling the Hjortspring boat , while large stone burial monuments known as stone ships were also erected. There
7597-406: The invasion. When the German ambassador to Norway, Curt Bräuer , presented his government's demands to Haakon, the king let it be known he would abdicate before appointing Quisling prime minister. The Germans reacted by bombing the village they believed the king was occupying. He had been, but had left the village when the sound of bombers was heard. Standing in the snow in a nearby wood, he watched
7704-485: The king's position, and many aristocrats lost the basis for their surplus. High tithes to church made it increasingly powerful and the archbishop became a member of the Council of State . The Hanseatic League took control over Norwegian trade during the 14th century and established a trading centre in Bergen . In 1380, Olaf Haakonsson inherited both the Norwegian (as Olaf IV) and Danish thrones (as Olaf II), creating
7811-419: The king's sons to rule jointly. The Archdiocese of Nidaros was created in 1152 and attempted to control the appointment of kings. The church inevitably had to take sides in the conflicts. The wars ended in 1217 with the appointment of Håkon IV Håkonsson , who introduced clear laws of succession. From 1000 to 1300, the population increased from 150,000 to 400,000, resulting both in more land being cleared and
7918-496: The kings of Sweden and of Denmark were elected to the throne by their respective nobles. Thus Sweden and Norway were united under King Magnus VII. In 1349, the Black Death killed between 50% and 60% of Norway's population and led to a period of social and economic decline. Although the death rate was comparable with the rest of Europe, economic recovery took much longer because of the small, scattered population. Even before
8025-464: The landing of troops at four Norwegian ports: Narvik , Trondheim , Bergen and Stavanger . It was hoped that the mining would trigger German agitation, thereby necessitating an immediate response from the Allies. However, because of Anglo-French arguments, the date of the mining was postponed from 5 April to 8 April. The postponement was catastrophic. On 1 April, German führer Adolf Hitler had ordered
8132-516: The late 10th and early 11th centuries. This is largely attributed to the missionary kings Olaf I Tryggvasson and Olaf II Haraldsson (St. Olaf). Olaf Tryggvasson conducted raids in England, including attacking London. Arriving back in Norway in 995, Olaf landed in Moster where he built a church which became the first Christian church in Norway. From Moster, Olaf sailed north to Trondheim where he
8239-489: The mainstream political establishment and, it has since come to light, by the monarch, King Haakon VII, behind the scenes. By the late 1930s, the Norwegian parliament (the Storting ) had accepted the need for a strengthened military and expanded the budget accordingly, even by assuming national debt. As it turned out, most of the plans enabled by the budgetary expansion were not completed in time. Although neutrality remained
8346-441: The moment it was occupied. Germany became the main trading partner, but could not make up for the lost import and export business. While production capacity largely remained intact, the German authorities confiscated a very large part of the output, leaving Norway only 43% of its production. Combined with a general drop in productivity, Norwegians were quickly confronted with a scarcity of basic commodities, including food. There
8453-519: The ninth century when heading for the Faroe Islands , and eventually came across Vinland , known today as Newfoundland , in Canada. The Vikings from Norway were most active in the northern and western British Isles and eastern North America isles . According to tradition, Harald Fairhair unified them into one in 872 after the Battle of Hafrsfjord in Stavanger , thus becoming the first king of
8560-440: The plague, the population was only about 500,000. After the plague, many farms lay idle while the population slowly increased. However, the few surviving farms' tenants found their bargaining positions with their landlords greatly strengthened. King Magnus VII ruled Norway until 1350, when his son, Haakon, was placed on the throne as Haakon VI . In 1363, Haakon married Margaret , daughter of King Valdemar IV of Denmark . Upon
8667-515: The pretext of German aggression, British plans for an invasion of Norway were prepared, mainly in order to reach and destroy the Swedish iron ore mines in Gällivare . It was hoped that this would divert German forces away from France and open a war front in south Sweden . The British plan was to place mines in Norwegian waters ( Operation Wilfred ) and that the mining should be followed by
8774-522: The pro-German puppet government. This period of military occupation is, in Norway, referred to as the "war years", "occupation period" or simply "the war". Having maintained its neutrality during the First World War (1914–1918), Norwegian foreign and military policy since 1933 was largely influenced by three factors: These three factors met resistance as tensions grew in Europe in the 1930s, initially from Norwegian military staff and right-wing political groups, but increasingly also from individuals within
8881-508: The rear of the British at Namsos and advanced up the Gudbrandsdal from Oslo against the force at Åndalsnes. By this time, the Germans had about 25,000 men in Norway. By 23 April, there was open discussion about evacuating Allied troops, and on 24 April Norwegian troops, supported by French soldiers, failed to stop a Panzer advance. On 26 April the British decided to evacuate Norway. By 2 May, both Namsos and Åndalsnes were evacuated by
8988-489: The reign of Charles III John brought some significant social and political reforms. In 1854, women won the right to inherit property. In 1863, the last trace of keeping unmarried women in the status of minors was removed. Furthermore, women were eligible for different occupations, particularly the common school teacher. By mid-century, Norway's democracy was limited; voting was limited to officials, property owners, leaseholders and burghers of incorporated towns. Norway remained
9095-418: The rest of Europe. Eventually restored as a kingdom (albeit in legislative union with Denmark) in 1661, Norway saw its land area decrease in the 17th century with the loss of the provinces Båhuslen , Jemtland , and Herjedalen to Sweden, as the result of a number of disastrous wars with Sweden. In the north, its territory was increased by the acquisition of the northern provinces of Troms and Finnmark , at
9202-472: The rest of the war. By occupying Norway, Hitler had ensured the protection of Germany's supply of iron ore from Sweden and had obtained naval and air bases with which to strike at Britain. Prior to the invasion, on 14 and 18 December 1939, Vidkun Quisling , the leader of Norway's fascist party, the Nasjonal Samling ("National Gathering"), had tried to persuade Adolf Hitler that he would form
9309-573: The ruling party. Hirden had a broad mandate that included the use of violence. Furthermore, about 15,000 Norwegians volunteered for combat duty on the Nazi side; of the 6,000 sent into action as part of the Germanic SS , most were sent to the Eastern front. Over time, an organized armed resistance movement, known as Milorg and numbering some 40,000 armed men at the end of the war, was formed under
9416-413: The same time, a single parachute battalion took the Oslo and Stavanger airfields, and 800 operational aircraft overwhelmed the Norwegian population. Norwegian resistance at Narvik, Trondheim (Norway's second city and the strategic key to Norway), Bergen , Stavanger, and Kristiansand was overcome very quickly, and Oslo's effective resistance to the seaborne forces was nullified when German troops from
9523-465: The significant political effect of allowing the Norwegian government, including the royal family , to escape. The Blücher , which carried the main forces to occupy the capital, was sunk in the Oslofjord on the first day of the invasion. An improvised defence at Midtskogen also prevented a German raid from capturing the king and government. Norwegian mobilisation was hampered by the loss of much of
9630-420: The sole means to use violence as a political tool, which he did on several occasions (e.g. by imposing martial law in Trondheim and ordering the destruction of the village of Telavåg ). Quisling believed that by ensuring economic stability and mediating between the Norwegian civilian society and the German occupiers, his party would gradually win the trust and confidence of the Norwegian population. Membership in
9737-543: The subdivision of farms. While in the Viking Age farmers owned their own land, by 1300, seventy per cent of the land was owned by the king, the church, or the aristocracy, and about twenty per cent of yields went to these landowners. The 14th century is described as Norway's golden age , with peace and increase in trade, especially with the British Islands, although Germany became increasingly important towards
9844-582: The third century. By the time of the first historical records of Scandinavia, about the 8th century, several small political entities existed in Norway. It has been estimated that there were nine petty realms in Western Norway during the early Viking Age . Archaeologist Bergljot Solberg on this basis estimates that there would have been at least 20 in the whole country. In the Viking period, Norwegian Viking explorers discovered Iceland by accident in
9951-452: The throne of Norway and Sweden in 1818 and reigned to 1844. He protected the constitution and liberties of Norway and Sweden during the age of Metternich . As such, he was regarded as a liberal monarch. However, he was ruthless in his use of paid informers, secret police and restrictions on the freedom of the press to put down public movements for reform—especially the Norwegian national independence movement. The Romantic Era that followed
10058-498: The traditional dominant view, the first component was originally norðr , a cognate of English north , so the full name was Norðr vegr , "the way northwards", referring to the sailing route along the Norwegian coast, and contrasting with suðrvegar "southern way" (from Old Norse suðr ) for (Germany), and austrvegr "eastern way" (from austr ) for the Baltic . The earliest traces of human occupation in Norway are found along
10165-452: The village of Nybergsund be destroyed. This prompted the Norwegian government to unanimously advise him not to appoint any government headed by Quisling. The invaders realised Quisling's party could not muster any significant support, and quickly pushed him aside. An administrative council led by Ingolf Elster Christensen was therefore established on 15 April to administer those areas which had so far come under German control. The council
10272-612: The weakest point of the German line, the junction between the 2nd and 6th Mountain Divisions. A Soviet Naval Brigade also made an amphibious landing to the west of Rybachy, thereby outflanking the Germans. Rendulic, fearing an encirclement of his forces, ordered the 19th Mountain Corps to fall back into Norway. With the Soviets hard on their heels, the Corps reached Kirkenes by 20 October. The German High Command ordered Rendulic to hold
10379-631: Was a Utopian socialist who in 1848 organised a labour society in Drammen . In just a few months, this society had a membership of 500 and was publishing its own newspaper. Within two years, 300 societies had been organised all over Norway, with a total membership of 20,000 drawn from the lower classes of both urban and rural areas. In the end, the revolt was easily crushed; Thrane was captured and jailed. In 1898, all men were granted universal suffrage , followed by all women in 1913. Christian Michelsen , Prime Minister of Norway from 1905 to 1907, played
10486-461: Was a real risk of famine. Many, if not most, Norwegians started growing their own crops and keeping their own livestock. City parks were divided among inhabitants, who grew potatoes, cabbage, and other hardy vegetables. People kept pigs, rabbits, chicken and other poultry in their houses and out-buildings. Fishing and hunting became more widespread. Gray and black market provided for flow of goods. Norwegians also learned to use ersatz products for
10593-416: Was abolished on 20 September 1940, when Reichskommissar Josef Terboven took over power by forming his own cabinet. Terboven attempted to negotiate an arrangement with the remaining members of the Norwegian parliament that would give a Nazi cabinet the semblance of legitimacy, but these talks failed. Quisling was consequently re-instituted as head of state on 20 February 1942, although Terboven retained
10700-502: Was largely unprepared for the German military invasion when it came on the night of 8–9 April 1940. A major storm on 7 April resulted in the British Navy failing to make material contact with the German invasion fleet. Consistent with Blitzkrieg warfare, German forces attacked Norway by sea and air as Operation Weserübung was put into action. The first wave of German attackers counted only about 10,000 men. German ships came into
10807-424: Was lifted in 1949, while price controls and rationing of housing and cars continued until 1960. German occupation of Norway Finland Iceland Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung . Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until
10914-496: Was much resistance against most of the Nazi government's policies, there was considerable cooperation in ensuring economic activity and social welfare programs. Norway was the most heavily fortified country during the war: several hundred thousand German soldiers were stationed in Norway, in a ratio of one German soldier for every eight Norwegians. Most German soldiers considered themselves fortunate to be in Norway, particularly in comparison with those experiencing savage combat duty on
11021-408: Was one revolt under Knut Alvsson in 1502. Norway took no part in the events which led to Swedish independence from Denmark in the 1520s. Upon the death of King Haakon V in 1319, Magnus Eriksson , at just three years old, inherited the throne as King Magnus VII. A simultaneous movement to make Magnus King of Sweden proved successful (he was a grandson of King Magnus Ladulås of Sweden), and both
11128-468: Was part of Denmark–Norway , and, from 1814 to 1905, it was in a personal union with Sweden. Norway was neutral during the First World War , and in the Second World War until April 1940 when it was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany until the end of the war. Harald V of the House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway . Jonas Gahr Støre has been Prime Minister of Norway since 2021. As
11235-634: Was proclaimed King of Norway by the Eyrathing in 995. One of the most important sources for the history of the 11th century Vikings is the treaty between the Icelanders and Olaf II Haraldsson, king of Norway circa 1015 to 1028. Feudalism never really developed in Norway or Sweden, as it did in the rest of Europe. However, the administration of government took on a very conservative feudal character. The Hanseatic League forced royalty to cede to them greater and greater concessions over foreign trade and
11342-455: Was unprepared for the German surprise attack (see: Battle of Drøbak Sound , Norwegian Campaign , and Invasion of Norway ), military and naval resistance lasted for two months. Norwegian armed forces in the north launched an offensive against the German forces in the Battles of Narvik , but were forced to surrender on 10 June after losing British support which had been diverted to France during
11449-526: Was wielded by the leader of the German occupation authority, Josef Terboven . Quisling, as minister president , later formed a collaborationist government under German control . Up to 15,000 Norwegians volunteered to fight in German units, including the Waffen-SS . Many Norwegians and persons of Norwegian descent joined the Allied forces as well as the Free Norwegian Forces . In June 1940,
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