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Although neutrality remained 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 Nordic countries non-aggression pacts. To maintain its neutrality, Norway turned down the German offer, as did Sweden and Finland.
Norway is sometimes referred to as "The Neutral Ally". During World War I , while theoretically a neutral country, diplomatic pressure from the British government prompted the government to favour Britain highly in relation to Norway's large shipping fleet and vast fish supplies.
Norway, although neutral, was considered strategically important for both sides for several reasons. First was the importance of iron ore from Sweden – upon which Germany depended – exported through the Norwegian port of Narvik. This route was especially important in the winter months when much of the Baltic Sea was frozen over. [5]
The Norwegian constitution was largely kept intact. Norway legally had the status of an independent state with its own parliament, judiciary, legal system, armed forces, flag, and currency. However, Norway and Sweden shared a common monarch and conducted a common foreign policy through the Swedish ministry of foreign affairs.
The rights and duties of a neutral power are defined in sections 5 [4] and 13 [5] of the Hague Convention of 1907. A permanently neutral power is a sovereign state which is bound by international treaty, or by its own declaration, to be neutral towards the belligerents of all future wars. An example of a permanently neutral power is Switzerland.
Hitler did, however, in an April 1943 meeting, promise Quisling that once the war was over Norway would regain its independence. This is the only known case of Hitler making such a promise to an occupied country. [21] The word Quisling has become synonymous with treachery and collaboration with the enemy. [20]
The church elevated Olaf I to sainthood, and Nidaros (today Trondheim) became the Christian centre of Norway. [31] Within a few years the Danish rule had become sufficiently unpopular that Norway again united under a Norwegian king, Magnus Olavson the Good, in 1035. [32] From the 1040s to 1130 the country was at peace. [33]
Sweden and Norway or Sweden–Norway (Swedish: Svensk-norska unionen; Norwegian: Den svensk-norske union(en)), officially the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, and known as the United Kingdoms, was a personal union of the separate kingdoms of Sweden and Norway under a common monarch and common foreign policy that lasted from 1814 until its peaceful dissolution in 1905.