The Nost Intricete and Interminable Question That Has Vexed Europe F O R
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The nost intricete and interminable question that has vexed Europe for two centuries end a half. James Yryce. by xhomas Peter Christ ensen for the uegroe of ::astar of Arts, Drr.%e ?r,iversity, , -- - -___ June, 1321. Cont cnt s Preface 1 Denmark and the ~olyHonan Zrnpire Slesvie; and Holstein etcrrally united Yhe entangling Succcssion The -4~;alrenincof the uanieh and the Gerncn Eationelities 14 The A~peslto the Svrord and the Danish Attenpt to *?Ianisizew The Eesurrection of Article 5 and the Plebiscite of 1920 27 AanonAix 32 Dreface The Schles~iSg-~olsteinquestion is said to be proverbial for obscurity. James Bryce calls it tho most intricate and inter- minable problem which has vexed Europe for a century and a half. ?Toat historians agree that it is an exceedingly difficult problem to st~te;and, so far as h~ericantextbook ~ritersof aodern istor7 are concerned, it may be said that they have practicelly 11 failed to state it correotly. Even so accurete and scientific historian as James Harvey Bobinson makes theanazing statement bot1t Slesvig that it was no more a part of Denmark then rannover as a part of England during the Georgcs. (1) In view of these considerations, the ordinary student of istoz-y might well hesitate before he nndertakes, not only to stcte he quest ior, but to e-?lain it es well. Yet this is what has been ttempted in tho Pollomine; pages. mhile the question does involve my intricate detrils, the broad lines of it are comperctively ensy to draw and easy to explain if the great central fact of the -uestion, the union of 9esvi~and Eolstein begiming in 1E26, is onstantlr kept in mind. Vnder the protection of tkis ~nionthe %mans, tho ecnrcely ~ithany set purpose, succeeded in Gernan- lzing obo-~thnlf of Slesvig before 1848, nhen the great national zs well QR politisnl awakening of %rope, occurred- "is awaken- ne nna e~~eoiallgintense in Slesvig *ich became the battle~round f tvro nationalit ios; the Dnnieh and the Gee-an. Backed br tmo 2 empires the Germans won the appeal to the sword in 1864, temporarily tzt least, but the sentinent of the world reversed the decision part- ly in f~-vorof Denmark by the Treaty of Versailles and the Plebiscite of 1920. There were other factors which made the question so "intri- c2te and intcrminsblew: the succession, the August enburgers , the Danish kings, the unscrupulousness of Bismarck, the European situa- tion--but theunion of the duchies with the resulting "peaceful penetrction" of Slesvig by the Germans, remains the central fact and the great determining factor in the final settlement of this th01-1SFind year old dispute. 1. Robinson, Janes Harvey, ?ledieval and rlodern Tines p. 615. Dennark and the Holy Roman Empire. Then Caeser had forced .Iriovistns east across the Rhine, that river became the pern~nentboundary between the Roman ant3 Teuton worlds; it remained so for nearly five hundred years. Often, indeed, did the ?oman armies carry fire and sword into the Teuton forest;.s, but afvays to fa1 1 back upon their safe defenses along the -1th the establishment of the FToly Iiomm mpire the terri- tories on both sidee of the river were united, and, when Charlemagne by fierce, relentless onslau&hts had subdued the equally fierce, relentless, blue-eyed Saxons, his Enpire tonched the bcnks of the 3lbe t keatening the independence of the Danish tribes who at that ti~ehed ?>senunited by the viking Godfred, the first great king to 1009 up in Danish ,",lcmnd h:- the conquests of Ch~rlenagne,Godfred ar,d his kin53 hiirriod to stre~gthenthe natural defenses of their south- n boundnry at a plece mere the f jor2 Sli and the Trene Siver al- 3t cut across the pninsuh of J~itlrnd. "is xas done by throwlrlg R w~11botweon the rive:. md the fjorc? cbont 8 niles long tho onl~ few feet hieh, f orrning the fnmous 3annevirke, (:! 1. 38 cour, D~nnevirke,pp.29-59. 3annevirke is tho Danish form of Dnnnewerk, whizh i~ GerIIlen and a bettor known fom. in the :Inited Strtes. 3ru- out +A is mono~raphthe hninh f orns of 3azish hi~toricalnmes hnve been used. "he Goclfrod built the first mall, "ueen "~n, tho !vi re of Corm, ia popalp-rly knm n in 3aniak higtorq ns the first b-ail?.er of 3~anevirke. All thnt 'luson ~hyrndid, w,cta to strongthen the w::ll of t;ocifrod. which mas lat or strengthened bg successive 3anieh queens adkings and served for a thousand years ao a bulVlark seainst southern foes of Denmark. Godfred's Dannevirke was built in 808. In 810 he was killed by one of his nen di~ringan expedition against Charlemagne. A period of disorder in Dermrk follovied. A snccessor of God- fred concluded an .armistice with Charlemagne in 810 and the next year Danish andTrenkish chiefs, twelve of each, met on the bznh of the Zider and by oath declared that henceforth the Siaer should be the boundary between the Emnire and 3enmark. So it remined over a thousand years, until Yruesio. in 1864 conquered Slesvig as far as King's Creek, which +-r-? the boundary between Denmork and the Gemrn 3npire then unt il the ?aty of versailles, 1919, provided for a plebiscite which moved the le south, tho not more than halfway to~arpsthe EiZer. The disorder that follcm ed the death of Godfred naturally &ened the defensive strength of Dennark end invited attack. Thrn 3 in~tirrti_,-n of n flyit ive Llanieh zhief at the court of Bneror ri3 the ?ious, m i~~.rorialarng of $r.wm ad .'.botrites, (~levs) ; R15, ir.vn+..ad cTutlr.r,tl, croesecl Soc3freZ1s S)~rr_eTrlrker.rd m-rched 7 ~~thfor seven aay~dthout effecting aw defeat of the 3enish c~Ic?~s, I;.' o, avnri nf, thnt time, wore strms or, t'le sea. 3eving rezed the mtr:-, ;onla' arnr returned. The emvcror vgns won nt log~erhe~~.dswith tho Ahotrite~. :hi5 once nride then nllies of the 9mes and both inv~dedthe ir.?er izl fitor:. in 817, tko ver:? little v:ns ~.cco~~lished.(1) ~58~ in nnrk continnoil d71rin&the ninth centurr hut tko weak Ccrolin~lms m ra not nhk to tn'm ndv:.ntego of it. ~qe?,id or continue6 to be hotintlrtq, tho the enrthen defenses of Godfred rere netlectod. 1. fin Cour, Ynnnevfrjm, p. G3. In the first half of the tenth centuly , Dennark again became a etrora md united country under Gorn the Elder, and Dannevirke was greatly strengthened by his Queen Thpra Dannebod, or "Denar*rks Bod", who has ever since been adored in Danish song and story. The wsll of Thyra was built on Goafredts wall; unlike the latter it was nade of granite bowlders. It r~csnot quite so long, but higher and wider. The circumstance that mde the rebuilding of Dannevirke im~erative must hvs been the reorganizatior, of the =oly Romn Empire 3er Otto I. There was, hoi~ever,no inmediete danger of a Saxon vasion for the son of Gorm, liarold Sluetooth, raided the country slstein) south of the EiOer &a ruled it until Tmpemr Otto I1 led am.y aa,~ainstTarold, who had to take refuge behind the Dannevirks. to, in '374, either forced a passage of the mall itself or marched 3 army to the eastern end of it and crossed the Sli, and, cttacking ,ldr~rear, defeated him. (1) (1). Srzce, The Voly ?o?nm En~ire,Tote 3,p. 553,sap th~tLlecrg the 'FoT...ler and 3tto ths Great slrbdced tho Om ish kings early in the ninth centuq. "idunking sap that qenq concpcred Dan- .. regem eorun nonine Chnuben, etc. In the old Reichnow annel, this Danish kine; is called "rex ITordmmnom". The Scm.dinavian schola~~s,Storn, Stoenstmp, "'imer ~.ndLaCcur h ave ~aaeit quite cer- tain that Chnub~ as not Xing of Demark but perha9s of Jnst the olii Danish ci tg Sliestorp, Slesvi E; or Pedeby (it is known under various runes. Todq it is the $crmn cit~EchlesVf~. ) "eib~zll rnil S~ahheve reached similar conclue ions. Otto the Great, v&o died 973, did not rnslre aw raid into 3enmark. Yia son Ctto 11. raided Tenmark in 974 without paraanent result s. The locat ion of the czstle he built "in his Finibusn is not knm~. It is a much-mooted question as it becrs on the wolitical ~tntusaf Slasvif: in the tenth century. The ?oichnor-~nnelcivas 931 8s the dote of tk. 2s raid. It; iP not c onsi derod SE! oorrect ns mid~&ingwho @ves 974. During these troubled centuries Slavic tribes, notably the ~ds,pressed farther west along the Baltic, burning and plundering f~reast as Xoletein. They remained a nmace to the peace of both :ony and Demark for more thm tmo centuries. They pm hably des- ~yedthe oldest important comrcial tom in Denmark, viz., Slesvie; ,, I-Tedeby on the Sli. In 1043 they sv-ffered a severe reverse in the great battle on Zyrskov Reath north of Drinnevirke . The Slavic invasion destroyed whp-tever shadoxy imperial claims .t may have recained to t errit ori es north or south of the Eider, tho ry mere not officislly relinquished until 1028, en Conrad I1 and cte of Denmark and England agreed that the Eider again should be tk ~ndarybetween tho Empire and Denlaark. The Holy Eiornm %per ors, however, may have retained a certain shn~dovfy supremacy over the DaniPh monarchy. In tho twelfth centuq~ !era1 of the Danbh kings dl d homage to than.