Sweden-Norway

Origins

By the Treaty of Kiel in 1814 Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden, but the Norwegians adopted a constitution at Eidsvoll and elected their own king. After a short war in the summer of 1814, the Convention of Moss allowed Norway to keep its constitution, and the Storting elected Charles XIII of Sweden as king of Norway. The Act of Union of 1815 set the terms.

Rule and society

Each kingdom kept its own parliament, government, laws, army and currency, sharing only the monarch and foreign policy, which was run from Stockholm. The Bernadotte kings, starting with Charles XIV John, tried to strengthen the union, while Norwegian nationalism and parliamentary democracy grew. In 1884 Norway won parliamentary government.

Decline and legacy

A dispute over a separate Norwegian consular service came to a head when the Storting declared on 7 June 1905 that the king had ceased to rule Norway. Norwegians voted overwhelmingly for dissolution, the Karlstad Convention settled terms peacefully, and Prince Carl of Denmark became Haakon VII of the Kingdom of Norway.