The Scandinavian countries today form a security-community for economic cooperation and the settlement of international controversy by peaceful methods rather than by war. This status was achieved not while Norway and Sweden were amalgamated in a political union from 1814 to 1905, but only after separation. In this book Dr. Lindgren analyzes some of the forces underlying the failure and dissolution of the Norway-Sweden union. Originally published in 1959. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Excerpt from Norway and the Union With Sweden In order to understand the differences, which, especially of late, have reached a critical point in the political relations between Norway and Sweden, it is necessary to know something of the earlier history of the two peoples, and the circumstances under which the Union between them came to be established and under which it has developed. The purpose of this little book is to give readers abroad, who know little about the early history of the Norwegians, a concise and authentic account of the most important circumstances and events, which, with almost logical consistency, have led up to the present crisis. The book does not in any way claim to contain anything new or original. It treats of matters about which a great deal has been and will still be written. I have tried, rather, to the best of my ability to state everything on the basis of the most trustworthy and most recognised authorities, and have obtained the counsel and assistance of leading men of the most divergent general political views. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

H. Arnold Barton investigates Norwegian political and cultural influences in Sweden during the period of the Swedish-Norwegian dynastic union from 1814 to 1905. Although closely related in origins, indigenous culture, language, and religion, Sweden and Norway had very different histories, resulting in strongly contrasting societies and forms of government before 1814. After a proud medieval past, Norway had come under the Danish crown in the fourteenth century and had been reduced to virtually a Danish province by the sixteenth. In 1814, as a spin-off of the Napoleonic Wars, Denmark relinquished Norway, which became a separate kingdom, dynastically united with Sweden with its own government under a constitution independently framed that year. Disputes during the next ninety-one years caused Norway unilaterally to dissolve the tie. Seeing the union a failure, most historians have concentrated on its conflicts. Barton, however, examines the impact of the union on internal developments, particularly in Sweden. Prior to 1814, Norway, unlike Sweden, had no constitution and only the rudiments of higher culture, yet paradoxically, Norway exerted a greater direct influence on Sweden than vice versa. Reflecting a society lacking a native nobility, Norway's 1814 constitution was--with the exception of that of the United States--the most democratic in the world. It became the guiding star of Swedish liberals and radicals striving to reform the antiquated system of representation in their parliament. Norway's cultural void was filled with a stellar array of artists, writers, and musicians, led by Bj rnsjerne B rnson, Henrik Ibsen, and Edvard Grieg. From the 1850s through the late 1880s, this wave of Norwegian creativity had an immense impact on literature, art, and music in Sweden. By the 1880s, however, August Strindberg led a revolt against an exaggerated "Norvegomania" in Sweden. Barton sees this reaction as a fundamental inspiration to Sweden's intense search for its own cultural character in the highly creative Swedish National Romanticism of the 1890s and early twentieth century. Thirty-three illustrations of art and architecture enhance Sweden and Visions of Norway.