“The Miraculous Year” by Nils Ivar Agøy
The Battle of Alvøen was a sea battle of the Gunboat War between Denmark-Norway and the United Kingdom. It was fought on May 16, 1808, in Vatlestraumen, outside Bergen in Norway, between the British frigate HMS Tartar and a Norwegian force consisting of four kanonjolles and one kanonsjalupps, collectively known as gunboats. Wikipedia Commons, public domain.
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he adoption of the Constitution on May 17, 1814, is probably the historical event that Norwegians are most frequently and insistently reminded of today. May 17 is a national holiday enjoying practically universal support. The Bicentennial of the Constitution will be celebrated throughout all of 2014 with hundreds of events, including seminars, concerts, plays, book-launchings, meetings, symposia, festivals, ballet and theatre performances, exhibitions, re-enactments, church services, and even memorial cruises. There are good reasons for this. The 1814 Constitution not only provided the basis on which a modern political system could be built, but it also became, as we shall see, the main symbol of national unity and national values. And 1814 was an annus mirabilis. When it started, Norway was part of the Kingdom of DenmarkNorway, one of the strictest absolutist states in Europe, and ruled from Copenhagen. When it ended, Norway was a self-governing country sharing a king with Sweden, possessing possibly the most democratic constitution of the day—not granted as a favor from a prince, but written by elected representatives of the people. For five stormy months in between, Norway had presented itself to the world as an independent state with a king of its own. A classic debate among students of Norwegian history has been whether the dramatic changes of 1814 are to be understood mainly as the victorious outcome of mounting popular yearnings for liberty, or rather as an accidental gift of political circumstance. All agree, however, that it was Great Power politics that produced the opportunity for independence, and that it was eagerly grasped by the Norwegians. 28
Background In 1807, the British government demanded the surrender of the Danish-Norwegian naval fleet to prevent it falling into the hands of the emperor Napoleon, Great Britain’s enemy. Denmark-Norway, a neutral country, understandably declined. Copenhagen was then bombed into submission by a strong British force, and the fleet seized. These events forced Denmark-Norway into an alliance with Napoleon and thus into war with Great Britain. The war proved a disaster for Norway. Britain ruled the waves and used her power to blockade Norway. The two great export trades, timber and fishing, were both severely hit, as was the all-important import of grain and other foodstuffs from Denmark. Norway could not feed itself even in normal years, and crops in both 1808 and 1809 were far below average. The poorer people starved as a result of royal policy, and the export merchants faced financial ruin. Communications between Denmark and Norway also became very difficult and so, to avoid anarchy, the central government was forced to establish a series of emergency institutions in Norway. In a small way, Norway was governed as a separate unit again, for the first time in many generations. In May 1813, after crop failures in 1812 had led to widespread famine and riots, King Frederick VI sent the heir to the throne—his own cousin Christian Frederick—to lead the provisional Norwegian government. In 1809, Sweden lost its entire eastern half, Finland, to Russia. Recapturing it seemed unrealistic, and so it became a political goal for the Swedish rulers to win a sort Vesterheim