Denmark - Army - History
The Danish army was composed of peasants accustomed to hard work, from the great exertions which their climate imposes on the husbandman to get his seed into the ground in due season. Wet and cold and night work, hardship, and labour, are familiar to them; and the Jutlanders, in particular, are men of greater physical powers, and more roughly bred and fed, and hardier than the peasantry of Holstein, or of the south of Schleswig.
The starting signal for the army fired on Nov. 17, 1614, when King Christian 4. decided to create two infantry companies in Skåne and Jyske Regiment. Now there should be regular officer corps and paid special taxes to the defense of Denmark. At the same time the soldiers of the future educated and trained in special training grounds.
The forces of Denmark in the 18th Century consisted of regular troops and of militia. The number of the former varies according to circumstances, and is composed partly of natives and partly of foreigners, chiefly Germans. Every person who possessed 360 acres of land was obliged to furnish one man for the militia, and to pay half the expence of a man for the corps of reserve. In 1788 this faulty system was abolished, and the militia was raised in the following manner. Every peasant at his birth was enrolled in the militia lists. The age during which they were liable to be called upon to serve, is from twenty-one to thirty-six; and when vacancies take place, the oldest on the roll of the district must supply them.
The Danish soldiery, and the classes from which they were drawn, were men of the same character as the peasantry of the feudal ages. They had the same implicit confidence in, and personal attachment to, their leaders. Their captains, lieutenants, and under-officers are to them what the baron, his standard-bearers, squires, and pages were to their forefathers. Their relation was preserved in the army from the men and officers growing up together in the same regiment, and becoming known to each other. Officers were rarely shifted from the regiment in which they have begun their service, and regiments were rarely removed, in time ot peace, from the province in which they have been first raised or quartered.
The Danish soldier was a quiet, hard-working man, who went about the peasant's farmyard like one of his own farm servants, put up with the same fare and lodging, looked after the cattle, fed the pigs, and made himself useful.
Danish service was notorious for the barbarity of its discipline. The slightest error in observing the most absurd regulations in dress and drill incurred the most severe corporal punishment. The under-officer was incessantly at work on the shoulders of the wretched soldier. It was not uncommon in 1800 for the men to sit up all night previous to a grand review, to tie their queues, powder their hair, and save it from being deranged by lying down; as the slightest derangement or want of uniformity in pigtails or sidelocks brought down severe punishment. Suicide was frequent; and officers as well as men were brutalized by the cruelties they had to witness, inflict, and suffer.
King Christian VIII abolished entirely, and at once, the infliction of corporal punishment at the discretion of officers and under-officers. The minor military transgressions could only be punished by arrest, extra duty; flogging and caning were abolished. The officers of the old school of military discipline and dress, the martinets of the paradeground, predicted the entire ruin of their well-drilled, well-cudgelled little army, by these innovations.
The men were no longer enlisted for life. They served only three years, after which, those who wished to become under-officers, served two years in a military school, and three years afterwards as under-officers; and eight years concluded their term of military service, unless they chose to re-engage. The clothing, dress, drill, were simplified; and the Danish soldier was scarcely distinguishable from the Prussian or other German soldiers.
By 1860 the Danish army consisted of rather more than 30,000 men, with a reserve of about 14,000. Of this force 2157 were divided throughout the kingdom of Denmark, and 9655 stationed in the duchies; while the remainder were employed in garrison, or occupied cantonments in the vicinity of the capital. The whole was composed of a staff of 23 officers; a corps of engineers of 32; an artillery corps of 3202 men, divided into 22 companies; 6126 cavalry, divided into ten regiments, one of which was a regiment of guards; 13,412 infantry, divided into thirteen regiments of two battalions each, one of which is also a regiment of guards; 2753 chasseurs, divided into five battalions of four companies each; and, lastly, a rocket corps, amounting to 156 men. The two regiments of guards were composed of very fine men, and have a noble appearance. The artillery consisted of twenty batteries of eight pieces each; besides a company of sappers and miners, one of pontoon men and pioneers, with a detachment of artificers, and a laboratory establishment.
In the War of the Duchies (1864), the question of the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein, opened in 1848, and closed by the powers' decision in 1852, was reopened by the extinction of the Danish dynasty in 1863. The German states supported the Duke of Augustenburg; the European powers defended the integrity of the Danish monarchy; Austria and Prussia took an intermediate position, accepting the Gliicksburg succession guaranteed by Europe, but rejecting the new Danish constitution (January, 1864). There were then three parties: 1. Denmark, supported by the great non-German powers; 2. the Duke of Augustenburg, supported by the States of Germany; 3. Prussia and Austria.
The Danish army of 35,000 men, intrenched behind the lines of the Danewerk, had received orders that the operations should be dragged out long enough to give Europe time to intervene, but not to expose itself to defeat, for it was the only Danish army. The Austro-Prussian army, of 70,000 men, was instructed to destroy the Danish army without giving it time to reach the lines of retreat in case of an attempt to retire to Jutland. It attacked the Danewerk, but the Danish army, without waiting to be forced, withdrew by night and escaped. The allies took possession of the whole of Schleswig in January and February, 1864.
In a dark winter night the Danish army operated in despair its painful retreat, which the biting cold, the frost, and hunger and thirst rendered still more difficult. The Danish nation was struck to the earth by the news of this movement to the rear. The court of Copenhagen entered into negotiations, and by 04 August 1864 the preliminaries of peace were signed at Vienna; the final treaty was concluded on 30 October. Denmark surrendered to Prussia and Austria the duchies of Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg, and undertook to recognise as valid the dispositions which those two powers might make relative to their conquests. One of the oldest monarchies of Europe had been humiliated and dismembered, while none held out a hand to sustain her.
Denmark had not forgotten the Germanic onslaught of 1864, nor the English desertion of her in the face of it. It was impossible for them to forget that they had gone into the struggle against what were then obviously two of the strongest Powers in Europe in the firm belief that the British Government were coming to their aid.
The Danish army, though small in numbers, had always been of excellent material, and the gallant stand made in 1864 against the overpowering forces of Austria and Prussia deservedly won the admiration of Europe. Since then she reorganised her army on the principle of universal service; but applied that principle in a manner peculiar to herself, and intermediate between the militia system of Switzerland and the three-years' system of Germany.
By the law of 1867 every Danish citizen is liable to serve in the army or navy. Those who have been brought up as sailors, and have served at least eighteen months as such, are inscribed on the reserve lists of the navy; the rest serve in the army. Service commences at 22, except in the case of volunteers, who are allowed to join at 18. The period of service is fixed at eight years in the army, aud eight years in the reserve or "reinforcement" (forsiaerhning). The actual service with the colours is very short, and is divided into two periods.
The first or recruit's course of instruction, which all must go through, lasts for six months in the infantry, five in the guard, field artillery, and engineers, and nine and a half in the cavalry. The second course lasts for nine months in the infantry, eleven in the cavalry, and one year in the artillery and engineers, and is confined to those who are considered insufficiently trained, to non-commissioned officers selected for promotion, and to a certain number, selected by lot, who are retained to complete the cadres and carry on garrison duties. In the infantry the bulk of the recruits are sent home after the first six months, about one-third to one-fourth remaining for the second term.
New defense laws appearing 1909 showed strong resolve to defend Denmark’s status as a neutral power. The Great War proved that these laws provided an adequate tool to be wielded by the politicians actually in office during that conflict.
By 1914 the Danes regard war — excepting, of course, the repulse of an invader, and that as distinct from preventive war — as stupid, and any ideas such as imperialism, besides being an incorrigible nuisance in those who profess them, as a relic of a bygone age that allowed itself to be gulled by the few to whom such things were at best amusements, or at worst occupations. This little nucleus of 3,000,000 has actually got to the point of throwing overboard the mere idea of war.
The peace strength of the Danish army was only about 14,000 men and officers, but a national militia system in which exemptions were very rare, somewhat after the Swiss style, was in vogue. Immediate mobilisation would bring the number within a few days to about 150,000; eventually 250,000 might be raised. The enemy would probably be allowed to overrun the mainland; Fiinen, Langeland, and Laaland, and finally nearly all Zealand, would have to be abandoned to him. The -strategic value of holding them would not be great, for the reason that their strategic importance to the enemy would not be either.
Denmark survived the Great War unscathed by maintaining military and naval forces at a level commensurate with her policy of balanced neutrality. This, however, had incurred substantial costs. Though Denmark stayed neutral during most of the Great War, many Danes from Southern Jutland were drafted by the German army.
Many Danish politicians on the Left believed that war was a feat of the past, and as ideology and economic concerns combine to compete with defence for public funding, the development of society takes precedence over defensive measures. In order to accelerate peaceful development, and because their armed forces were seen rather as harmful than conducive to security, pacifist politicians believed that small states should set an example and disarm to a level just adequate for monitoring the borders so as to live up to generally accepted norms for neutrality assertion.
Like Norway, Denmark mistakenly hoped for peace through neutrality, and when Nazi Germany invaded Poland on 01 September 1939 she halved her already modest forces to less than 15,000 men 'to avoid provoking Hitler'. On 29 April 1940 these were crushed in less than four hours by a German invasion force, which permitted them a shadowy survival until final disbandment on 29 August 1943.
Hardly was World War II over end before the army - with the limited resources that were available in 1945 - engaged in various missions related to foreign affairs. Denmark was liberated in May 1945. An extremely difficult reconstruction of the army launched. Army organization and training was neglected and materially stood to scratch. The Nordic countries negotiated unsuccessfully for a defense union. Instead, they Denmark and Norway chose in 1949 to join the Western alliance. Sadder but wiser, Denmark joined NATO in 1949; sent Red Cross teams to Korea in 1950; and supported the United Nations in peacekeeping operations (Gaza, Congo, Cyprus) and as Truce Observers (Kashmir, Israel, Lebanon, Yemen).
Furthermore came in a few years other international commitments: since 1948 in the form of participation in UN missions. Most of these through the deployment of UN observers, but also as sending units. Already attached to Danish politicians the importance that Denmark was engaged in UN activities, but participation was also valuable as a superstructure on military training and for officers' professional development.
After the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc collapse broke several of cold war "frozen" conflicts out. A bloody civil war broke out in Yugoslavia. Denmark contributed troops to UN peacekeeping and peacemaking in the Balkans. Some of the most serious events took place in 1995, when the Danish UN soldiers without a robust mandate, several times was caught between the warring parties, without being able to do other than to protect themselves, observing and melde.Begivenhederne in 1995 was instrumental in NATO gradually took over responsibility for operations in the former Yugoslavia with a considerably more robust mandate.
After 1990, participation in international operations has been increasing, and seized a substantial part of the army's resources. The reason for this was that the Defence tasks after the cessation of the Cold War changed radically. At the same time the geographic aspect in Denmark's international engagement much broader. The reason was a political desire to use the country's resources, including the army, to better managing Denmark's security policy interests proactively include by countering the threats identified in the areas where they occur.
The terrorist attack on the US on 11 September 2001 set a new agenda of wars in distant parts of the world. The new agenda has meant that the army after 2001 have participated in the "distant wars" in eg Iraq and Afghanistan but also helped in the construction of a new national total defense. Especially effort in Afghanistan has seen the fiercest fighting in the Army's recent history.
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