The Rise and Fall of the Danish Empire

Kurt Villads Jensen is Professor in Medieval History and Director of the Centre for Medieval Studies at Stockholm University, Sweden.

Michael Bregnsbo is Associate Professor of Early Modern History at the Department of History at the University of Southern Denmark at Odense, Denmark.

This book examines the Danish Empire, which for over four hundred years stretched from Northern Norway to Hamburg and was feared by small German principalities to the South. Evolving over time, it has included most of Scandinavia and the North Atlantic, has shifted from a Western orientation under the Vikings to an Eastern one in the Middle Ages, and from a North Sea Empire to a Baltic Empire. From the seventeenth to the early twentieth century, it comprised small overseas colonies in India, Africa and the Caribbean. Exploring the rise and fall of Denmark's Kingdom, from 9 AD to the present, this textbook considers how such vast empires were kept together through ideology and symbols, military force, transport systems and networks of civil servants. The authors demonstrate how the lands under Danish rule included a variety of religious groups, social and economic structures, law systems, and ethnic and linguistic groups. They also consider the economic and ideological benefit of an empire structure in comparison to a nation state. Providing a detailed overview of the long history of the Danish Empire, whilst also confronting current debate and providing novel interpretations, this book offers an original, imperial and multi-territorial perspective on the history of the Danish state, providing essential reading for students of Danish or Scandinavian history and European or Global empires.

Provides a detailed overview of Danish history from 9AD to the 21st Century

1. Introduction2. The Empire in Himlingøje3. The Christian Empire of the North Sea4. Crusade Empires in the Baltic5. The Union Empire6. The Princely State: The Decline of Baltic Power 1536-17207. From the Conglomerate state to the Unitary State 1720-18148. 1814-64: From United Monarchy to Nation-State9. The Empire After 186410. The Empire during the Cold War, International Integration, and the Welfare State11. The Danish Empire Through the Ages12. The Danish Legacy