There are five sovereign States in northern Europe: Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland, which form the Nordic Council Alliance to safeguard common interests and strengthen and expand cooperation among the Nordic countries.
Historically, these five countries once belonged to a commonwealth: the Kalmar Union, and the entire Union can be regarded as a country. Today, Xiaobian will briefly introduce the past and present lives of the Kalmar Alliance and analyze the reasons for the division of the Nordic continent.
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > a political alliance of women</h1>
When it comes to the Kalmar League, it is necessary to mention Margaret I. She was a princess of the King of Denmark and married King Haakon VI of Norway as queen. Their son Olaf became the heir to the Danish and Norwegian thrones, Denmark and Norway became a co-lord confederation, and Margaret became regent.
Later, the Swedish nobility invited Margaret to be the regent, and all three Nordic states were under the leadership of a regent. In 1397, representatives of Denmark, Sweden and Norway signed the Treaty of Kalmar, in which the three kingdoms jointly supported the same monarch and established the eternal Kalmar Alliance.
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > loose co-sovereign federation</h1>
The Kalmar Confederacy elected Margaret's nephew Eric as co-lord of the Commonwealth, but the real power was in the hands of Margaret I. The Kingdom of Denmark was dominant, while Sweden and Norway were relatively inferior.
In the Kalmar League, although the three countries jointly honored Eric as king, Denmark, Sweden and Norway all had their own independent status and interests. Thus the Kalmar Union is not a complete state, but a loose co-sovereign federation.
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > betrayal of the Swedish royal family</h1>
The Kalmar League was able to form largely thanks to Margaret's contribution. When Margaret I died, the internal contradictions of the Alliance immediately became apparent. With the rise of the Swedish royal family, posing a great challenge to the centralization of power in the Danish royal family, the Kalmar Union was in danger of splitting.
At the end of the 15th century, the contradictions between the Danish royal family and the Swedish nobility intensified, and wars broke out within the alliance. Eventually, the Danish army was defeated, the Kingdom of Sweden regained its independence, and the Kalmar Alliance quickly disintegrated.
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > the final outcome of the Kalmar League</h1>
Sweden stolen Norway from Denmark after independence until 1905, when Norway peacefully became independent from Sweden. At this point, the three countries of the Kalmar Union have become three sovereign independent states from the commonwealth.
The main reason for the eventual split of the Kalmar Alliance was also the rise of the Swedish royal family and the Danish royal family's perennial manipulation of the alliance to wage foreign wars. Sweden had to rebel against Danish rule in order to protect its own economic interests.
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > the division of the Nordic continent</h1>
After the collapse of the Kalmar Union, Sweden replaced Denmark as the nordic power. The Kingdom of Denmark was once allied with Napoleon to counter Sweden and Great Britain. After Napoleon's defeat, the Kingdom of Denmark declined further, and Iceland became independent of Denmark in 1944.
In the early 19th century, Tsarist Russia expanded into Northern Europe, stealing Finland from Sweden. When the October Revolution broke out in Russia, Finland seized the opportunity to gain independence. As a result, the Nordic continent was completely divided into five countries: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Finland.
It can be seen from the above that the division of the Nordic continent is mainly due to the disintegration of the Kalmar Alliance. If Sweden had not pursued the interests of the kingdom one-sidedly and maintained the unity of the Kalmar Alliance, perhaps a powerful state would emerge in Northern Europe, and thus the history of Europe might have been rewritten.