Denmark and Sweden compared

Entangled histories

15 events in which either nation’s sourced chronicle names the other — including under earlier names of the same state. Each is the same record, with the same sources, as on its own chronicle; nothing here was written for this page.

1. 1387–1412

   The rule of Margaret I

   Margaret I governed Denmark, Norway and Sweden as their effective ruler from the late 1380s until her death in 1412, the architect and guarantor of the Kalmar Union.

   Politics & Power · from the Denmark chronicle · The Medieval Kingdom and the Kalmar Union · Margaret I, queen of Scandinavia, Denmark: Margaret I and the Kalmar Union

2. Jun 1397

   Formation of the Kalmar Union

   Queen Margaret united Denmark, Norway and Sweden under one monarch, her grandnephew Erik of Pomerania, creating a Scandinavian union intended to resist German power but soon dominated by Denmark.

   Politics & Power · from the Sweden chronicle · The Kalmar Union, the Bloodbath and the War of Liberation · Kalmar Union, Queen Margaret and the Union of Kalmar

3. 1397

   The Kalmar Union

   At Kalmar the magnates of Denmark, Norway and Sweden crowned Erik of Pomerania as common king under the regency of Margaret I, uniting the three Scandinavian kingdoms in a single monarchy.

   Formation · from the Denmark chronicle · The Medieval Kingdom and the Kalmar Union · Kalmar Union, Margaret I, queen of Scandinavia

4. 15th c.

   Swedish revolts and the Sture regents

   Resentment of Danish dominance and of taxes and offices given to royal favourites fuelled recurring Swedish risings, with regents of the Sture family ruling Sweden in defiance of the union crown.

   Politics & Power · from the Sweden chronicle · The Kalmar Union, the Bloodbath and the War of Liberation · Queen Margaret and the Union of Kalmar, Sweden: History

5. 1520

   The Stockholm Bloodbath

   King Christian II's execution of Swedish nobles after his coronation in Stockholm inflamed Swedish resistance and helped precipitate the collapse of the Kalmar Union.

   War & Rupture · from the Denmark chronicle · The Medieval Kingdom and the Kalmar Union · Kalmar Union

6. 8–10 Nov 1520

   The Stockholm Bloodbath

   After capturing Stockholm and breaking his promise of amnesty, King Christian II of Denmark had some eighty-two Swedish nobles, clergy and citizens condemned as heretics and executed, including Gustav Vasa's father.

   War & Rupture · from the Sweden chronicle · The Kalmar Union, the Bloodbath and the War of Liberation · Stockholm Bloodbath, The Stockholm blood bath

7. 1521–1523

   The Swedish War of Liberation

   Gustav Vasa raised Dalarna in revolt against Christian II, leading a peasant army that expelled the Danes and was declared regent of Sweden, ending Danish control of the realm.

   War & Rupture · from the Sweden chronicle · The Kalmar Union, the Bloodbath and the War of Liberation · Gustav I Vasa, Sweden: The early Vasa kings (1523–1611)

8. 1523

   Sweden leaves the union

   Gustav Vasa's rising drove out Danish rule and led to Sweden's secession from the Kalmar Union, leaving Denmark joined to Norway alone.

   Politics & Power · from the Denmark chronicle · The Medieval Kingdom and the Kalmar Union · Kalmar Union, Denmark: Margaret I and the Kalmar Union

9. 1563–1720

   The long wars with Sweden

   From the Northern Seven Years' War onward, Denmark and Sweden fought repeatedly for control of the Baltic and the Sound, a rivalry that steadily eroded Danish power in the region.

   War & Rupture · from the Denmark chronicle · Reformation, Denmark-Norway and the Wars with Sweden · Denmark: Reformation and war, Treaty of Roskilde (1658)

10. 26 Feb 1658

    Treaty of Roskilde

    After Sweden's invasion across the frozen belts, Denmark ceded Scania, Halland, Blekinge, Bornholm and Trondheim; the loss of the eastern provinces was the largest in Danish history.

    War & Rupture · from the Denmark chronicle · Reformation, Denmark-Norway and the Wars with Sweden · Treaty of Roskilde (1658), Treaty of Copenhagen

11. 26 Feb 1658

    Treaty of Roskilde

    After Charles X Gustav's invasion of Denmark, the Treaty of Roskilde forced Denmark to cede Scania, Blekinge, Halland and Bohuslän to Sweden, fixing its southern border and marking the empire's territorial peak.

    War & Rupture · from the Sweden chronicle · Stormaktstiden: The Swedish Empire and Its Fall · Treaty of Roskilde

12. 1660–1661

    The establishment of absolutism

    In the crisis following defeat by Sweden, Frederick III secured a hereditary and absolute monarchy, a system later codified in the Royal Law (Kongeloven) of 1665.

    Politics & Power · from the Denmark chronicle · Reformation, Denmark-Norway and the Wars with Sweden · Denmark: Reformation and war

13. 14 Jan 1814

    Treaty of Kiel and the union with Norway

    Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden by the Treaty of Kiel; Norwegian resistance produced not annexation but a personal union of the two kingdoms under one crown, lasting until 1905.

    Politics & Power · from the Sweden chronicle · Loss of Finland, Union with Norway and the Birth of Neutrality · Treaty of Kiel, Norway: The union conflict, 1859–1905

14. 14 Jan 1814

    Treaty of Kiel: the loss of Norway

    Defeated alongside Napoleon, Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden, ending a four-century union, while keeping Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland.

    War & Rupture · from the Denmark chronicle · The Napoleonic Catastrophe and the Birth of Constitutional Denmark · Treaty of Kiel

15. Oct 1943

    Rescue of the Danish Jews

    Warned of a German round-up, Danes spirited more than 7,000 Jews across the sound to neutral Sweden, saving the great majority of the country's Jewish population from deportation.

    War & Rupture · from the Denmark chronicle · Occupation, the Welfare State and the Modern Realm · German occupation (1940-1945)