99-468: Ringerike refers to various areas and organizations in Norway : Ringerike (municipality) Ringerike (traditional district) Other meanings [ edit ] Ringerikes Blad Ringerike District Court Ringerike GP Ringerike Hospital Ringerike Line Ringerike Panthers Ringerike Prison Ringerike Style Topics referred to by
198-657: A per-capita basis, Norway is the world's largest producer of oil and natural gas outside of the Middle East. The country has the fourth- and eighth-highest per-capita income in the world on the World Bank 's and IMF 's list, respectively. It has the world's largest sovereign wealth fund , with a value of US$ 1.3 trillion. Norway has two official names: Norge in Bokmål and Noreg in Nynorsk . The English name Norway comes from
297-571: A resistance movement which incorporated civil disobedience and armed resistance including the destruction of Norsk Hydro 's heavy water plant and stockpile of heavy water at Vemork , which crippled the German nuclear programme . More important to the Allied war effort, however, was the role of the Norwegian Merchant Marine , the fourth-largest merchant marine fleet in the world. It was led by
396-461: A German invasion of Norwegian territory. After the rapid occupation of Denmark, in which the Danish military was ordered to stand down as Denmark's government did not declare war with Germany, German envoys informed the governments of Denmark and Norway that Germany's forces had come to protect both countries against Anglo-French attacks. Significant differences in geography , location and climate between
495-515: A central role in the peaceful separation of Norway from Sweden on 7 June 1905. A national referendum confirmed the people's preference for a monarchy over a republic. However, no Norwegian could legitimately claim the throne, since none of Norway's noble families could claim royal descent . The government then offered the throne of Norway to Prince Carl of Denmark, a prince of the Dano-German royal house of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and
594-454: A conservative society. Life in Norway (especially economic life) was "dominated by the aristocracy of professional men who filled most of the important posts in the central government". There was no strong bourgeois class to demand a breakdown of this aristocratic control. Thus, even while revolution swept over most of the countries of Europe in 1848, Norway was largely unaffected. Marcus Thrane
693-640: A distant relative of Norway's medieval kings. Following the plebiscite, he was unanimously elected king by the Norwegian Parliament ; he took the name Haakon VII . Throughout the First World War , Norway remained neutral; however, diplomatic pressure from the British government meant that it heavily favoured the Allies . During the war, Norway exported fish to both Germany and Britain, until an ultimatum from
792-457: A distinct national character. The movement covered all branches of culture, including literature ( Henrik Wergeland , Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson , Peter Christen Asbjørnsen , Jørgen Moe ), painting ( Hans Gude , Adolph Tidemand ), music ( Edvard Grieg ), and even language policy, where attempts to define a native written language for Norway led to today's two official written forms for Norwegian: Bokmål and Nynorsk . King Charles III John came to
891-507: A full army corps , including a mountain division, an airborne division , a motorized rifle brigade and two infantry divisions. The target objectives of the force were the Norwegian capital, Oslo , and other population centres: Bergen , Narvik, Tromsø , Trondheim , Kristiansand and Stavanger . The plan also called for the swift capture of the Kings of Denmark and Norway in the hope of triggering
990-616: A legal sense to the Germans, leaving the Quisling government illegitimate. The Norwegian government-in-exile based in London remained, therefore, an Allied nation in the war. At 7:06 pm 5 Norwegian fighters were sent into battle to combat a wave of 70–80 enemy planes. German airborne troops landed at the Oslo airport Fornebu , Kristiansand airport Kjevik , and Sola Air Station – the latter constituting
1089-589: A limited, last-minute alert. Late in the evening of 8 April 1940, Kampfgruppe 5 was spotted by the Norwegian guard vessel Pol III . Pol III was fired at; her captain Leif Welding-Olsen became the first Norwegian killed in action during the invasion. German ships then sailed up the Oslofjord leading to the Norwegian capital, reaching the Drøbak Narrows ( Drøbaksundet ). In the early morning of 9 April,
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#17328527537111188-544: A little over 8,000. The operation's military headquarters was Hotel Esplanade in Hamburg, where orders were given to, among others, the air units involved in the invasion. Norway was important to Germany for two primary reasons: as a base for naval units, including U-boats, to weaken Allied shipping in the North Atlantic, and to secure shipments of iron ore from Sweden through the port of Narvik . The long northern coastline
1287-601: A long eastern border with Sweden , and is bordered by Finland and Russia to the northeast. Norway has an extensive coastline facing the Skagerrak strait, the North Atlantic Ocean, and the Barents Sea . The unified kingdom of Norway was established in 872 as a merger of petty kingdoms and has existed continuously for 1,151–1,152 years. From 1537 to 1814, Norway was part of Denmark–Norway , and, from 1814 to 1905, it
1386-401: A man lost overboard, was sunk by Kriegsmarine heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper and two destroyers belonging to the German invasion fleet. On 9 April, the German invasion was under way, and the execution of Plan R 4 was promptly started. Strategically, Denmark's importance to Germany was as a staging area for operations in Norway. Considering its status as a minor nation bordering Germany, it
1485-520: A rapid surrender. On 21 February 1940, command of the operation was given to General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst . He had fought in Finland during the First World War and was familiar with Arctic warfare , but he would have command of only the ground forces, despite Hitler's desire to have a unified command. The final plan was codenamed "Operation Weserübung" on 27 January 1940. The ground forces would be
1584-613: A small group had left Norway following their king to Britain. This group included 13 ships, five aircraft, and 500 men from the Royal Norwegian Navy. By the end of the war, the force had grown to 58 ships and 7,500 men in service in the Royal Norwegian Navy, 5 squadrons of aircraft in the newly formed Norwegian Air Force, and land forces including the Norwegian Independent Company 1 and 5 Troop as well as No. 10 Commandos . During German occupation , Norwegians built
1683-617: A union between the two countries. In 1397, under Margaret I , the Kalmar Union was created between the three Scandinavian countries. She waged war against the Germans, resulting in a trade blockade and higher taxation on Norwegian goods, which led to a rebellion . However, the Norwegian Council of State was too weak to pull out of the union. Margaret pursued a centralising policy which inevitably favoured Denmark because of its greater population. Margaret also granted trade privileges to
1782-618: A united Norway. Harald's realm was mainly a South Norwegian coastal state. Fairhair ruled with a strong hand and according to the sagas, many Norwegians left the country to live in Iceland, the Faroe Islands , Greenland , and parts of Britain and Ireland. Haakon I the Good was Norway's first Christian king, in the mid-10th century, though his attempt to introduce the religion was rejected. Norse traditions were replaced slowly by Christian ones in
1881-644: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Norway in Europe (green and dark grey) Norway ( Bokmål : Norge , Nynorsk : Noreg ), officially the Kingdom of Norway , is a Nordic country in Northern Europe , situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula with a population of 5.5 million as of 2024. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and
1980-454: Is little archaeological evidence dating to the early Iron Age (the last 500 years BC). The dead were cremated, and their graves contained few goods. During the first four centuries AD, the people of Norway were in contact with Roman-occupied Gaul ; about 70 Roman bronze cauldrons, often used as burial urns, have been found. Contact with countries farther south brought a knowledge of runes ; the oldest known Norwegian runic inscription dates from
2079-672: The Malmbanan railway line from Narvik to Luleå in Sweden on the shore of the Gulf of Bothnia . This would also allow Allied forces to occupy Swedish iron mines in Norrland. The plan received the support of both Chamberlain and Halifax. They were counting on the co-operation of Norway, which would alleviate some of the legal issues, but stern warnings issued to both Norway and Sweden by Germany resulted in strongly negative reactions in both countries. Planning for
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#17328527537112178-1039: The European Union and the United States . Norway is a founding member of the United Nations , NATO , the European Free Trade Association , the Council of Europe , the Antarctic Treaty , and the Nordic Council ; a member of the European Economic Area , the WTO , and the OECD ; and a part of the Schengen Area . The Norwegian dialects share mutual intelligibility with Danish and Swedish . Norway maintains
2277-470: The German invasion of France . King Haakon and the Norwegian government escaped to Rotherhithe in London. Throughout the war they sent radio speeches and supported clandestine military actions against the Germans. On the day of the invasion, the leader of the small National-Socialist party Nasjonal Samling , Vidkun Quisling , tried to seize power, but was forced by the German occupiers to step aside. Real power
2376-479: The Labour Party held an absolute majority in the parliament. The government, led by prime minister Einar Gerhardsen , embarked on a programme inspired by Keynesian economics , emphasising state financed industrialisation and co-operation between trade unions and employers' organisations . Many measures of state control of the economy imposed during the war were continued, although the rationing of dairy products
2475-479: The Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system, and its values are rooted in egalitarian ideals. The Norwegian state has large ownership positions in key industrial sectors, having extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, and fresh water. The petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). On
2574-576: The Old English word Norþweg mentioned in 880, meaning "northern way" or "way leading to the north", which is how the Anglo-Saxons referred to the coastline of Atlantic Norway. The Anglo-Saxons of Britain also referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land . There is some disagreement about whether the native name of Norway originally had the same etymology as the English form. According to
2673-569: The Storstrøm Bridge as well as the fortress of Masnedø , the latter being the first recorded attack in the world made by paratroopers. At 04:20 local time, a reinforced battalion of German infantrymen from the 308th Regiment landed in Copenhagen harbour from the minelayer Hansestadt Danzig , quickly capturing the Danish garrison at the Citadel without encountering resistance. From the harbour,
2772-527: The Syttende mai (Seventeenth of May) holiday. Norwegian opposition to the decision to link Norway with Sweden caused the Norwegian–Swedish War to break out as Sweden tried to subdue Norway by military means. As Sweden's military was not strong enough to defeat the Norwegian forces outright, and Norway's treasury was not large enough to support a protracted war, and as British and Russian navies blockaded
2871-681: The Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland in November 1939 changed the strategic situation. Churchill again proposed his mining scheme but once again was denied. In December 1939, the United Kingdom and France began serious planning for sending aid to Finland. Their plan called for a force to land in Narvik, in northern Norway, the main port for Swedish iron ore exports and then to take control of
2970-569: The archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of Norway. Bouvet Island , located in the Subantarctic , is a dependency , and not a part of the Kingdom; Norway also claims the Antarctic territories of Peter I Island and Queen Maud Land . The capital and largest city in Norway is Oslo . Norway has a total area of 385,207 square kilometres (148,729 sq mi). The country shares
3069-468: The first opposed paratrooper attack in history ; coincidentally, among the Luftwaffe pilots landing at Kjevik was Reinhard Heydrich . Vidkun Quisling's radio-effected coup d'etat at 7:30 pm on 9 April was another first. At 8:30 pm the Norwegian destroyer Æger was attacked and sunk outside Stavanger by ten Junkers Ju 88 bombers, after it sank the German cargo ship MS Roda . Roda
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3168-518: The introduction of Protestantism in 1536, the archbishopric in Trondheim was dissolved; Norway lost its independence and effectually became a colony of Denmark. The Church's incomes and possessions were instead redirected to the court in Copenhagen. Norway lost the steady stream of pilgrims to the relics of St. Olav at the Nidaros shrine, and with them, much of the contact with cultural and economic life in
3267-510: The parliament , the cabinet , and the supreme court , as determined by the 1814 constitution . Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels: counties and municipalities . The Sámi people have a certain amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament and the Finnmark Act . Norway maintains close ties with
3366-467: The union with Sweden . Under this arrangement, Norway kept its liberal constitution and its own independent institutions, though it shared a monarch and foreign policy with Sweden. Following the recession caused by the Napoleonic Wars , economic development of Norway remained slow until 1830. This period also saw the rise of Norwegian romantic nationalism , as Norwegians sought to define and express
3465-828: The Allies evacuated from Åndalsnes on 1 May. Resistance in Southern Norway then came to an end. Hegra Fortress continued to resist German attacks until 5 May – it was of Allied propaganda importance, like Narvik. King Haakon VII , Crown Prince Olav , and the Cabinet Nygaardsvold left from Tromsø 7 June aboard the British cruiser HMS Devonshire to represent Norway in exile. The King would return to Oslo on that exact date five years later. Crown Princess Märtha and children, denied asylum in her native Sweden, later left from Petsamo , Finland, to live in exile in
3564-484: The Atlantic were to be stopped for the submarines to aid in the operation. All available submarines, including some training boats, were used as part of Operation Hartmut in support of Operation Weserübung. Initially, the plan was to invade Norway and to gain control of Danish airfields by diplomatic means. However, Hitler issued a new directive on 1 March that called for the invasion of both Norway and Denmark. That came at
3663-518: The British decided to send an expeditionary force to Norway just as the Winter War was winding down. The force began boarding on 13 March, but it was recalled and the operation cancelled because of the end of the Winter War. Instead, the Chamberlain war ministry voted to proceed with the mining operation in Norwegian waters, followed by troop landings. On 5 April 1940, the long-planned Operation Wilfred
3762-531: The British government and anti-German sentiments as a result of German submarines targeting Norwegian merchantmen led to a termination of trade with Germany. 436 Norwegian merchantmen were sunk by the Kaiserliche Marine , with 1,150 Norwegian sailors killed. Norway once more proclaimed its neutrality during the Second World War , but was invaded by German forces on 9 April 1940. Although Norway
3861-623: The Danish kingdom was on the losing side in 1814, it was forced by the Treaty of Kiel to cede Norway to Sweden, while the old Norwegian provinces of Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands remained with the Danish crown. Norway took this opportunity to declare independence, adopted a constitution based on American and French models, and elected the Crown Prince of Denmark and Norway, Christian Frederick , as king on 17 May 1814 – celebrated as
3960-543: The German tanker Altmark in Norwegian waters. The crew of Cossack overpowered the tanker's crew and rescued British prisoners of war onboard the ship, whose presence Norwegian authorities had repeatedly ignored. Both the attack and the transportation of prisoners of war into Norwegian waters by Altmark violated Norway's neutrality. Hitler regarded the incident as a clear sign that the Allies were also willing to violate Norwegian neutrality, which made him become even more strongly committed to invading Norway. On 12 March,
4059-426: The Germans during the war. The rapid Danish capitulation resulted in the uniquely-lenient occupation of Denmark , particularly until the summer of 1943, and in postponing the arrest and deportation of Danish Jews until nearly all of them were warned and on their way to refuge in neutral Sweden . In the end, 477 Danish Jews were deported, and 70 of them lost their lives, out of a pre-war total of Jews and half-Jews at
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4158-500: The Germans moved toward Amalienborg Palace to capture the Danish royal family. By the time the invasion forces arrived at the king's residence, the King's Royal Guard had been alerted and other reinforcements were on their way to the palace. The first German attack on Amalienborg was repulsed, giving Christian X and his ministers time to confer with the Danish Army chief General Prior . As
4257-556: The Germans recaptured Narvik, which was also now abandoned by civilians because of massive Luftwaffe bombing. Operation Weserübung did not include a military assault on neutral Sweden because there was no strategic reason. By holding Norway, the Danish straits and most of the shores of the Baltic Sea, the Third Reich encircled Sweden from the north, the west and the south. In the east, there
4356-555: The Hanseatic merchants of Lübeck in Bergen in return for recognition of her rule, and these hurt the Norwegian economy. The Hanseatic merchants formed a state within a state in Bergen for generations. The " Victual Brothers " launched three devastating pirate raids on the port (the last in 1427). Norway slipped ever more to the background under the Oldenburg dynasty (established 1448). There
4455-416: The Norwegian coast, the belligerents were forced to negotiate the Convention of Moss . Christian Frederik abdicated the Norwegian throne and authorised the Parliament of Norway to make the necessary constitutional amendments to allow for the personal union that Norway was forced to accept. On 4 November 1814, the Parliament (Storting) elected Charles XIII of Sweden as king of Norway, thereby establishing
4554-445: The Norwegian shipping company Nortraship under the Allies throughout the war and took part in every war operation from the evacuation of Dunkirk to the Normandy landings . Every December Norway gives a Christmas tree to the United Kingdom as thanks for the British assistance during the war. Svalbard was not occupied by German troops, but Germany secretly established a meteorological station there in 1944. From 1945 to 1962,
4653-724: The Royal Navy and the landing force of ten destroyers of the Kriegsmarine. Both parties lost two destroyers, but on 13 April a British attack by the battleship HMS Warspite and a flotilla of destroyers succeeded in sinking the remaining eight German destroyers, which were trapped in Narvik because of lack of fuel. The towns Nybergsund, Elverum, Åndalsnes , Molde , Kristiansund N , Steinkjer , Namsos , Bodø , and Narvik were devastated by German bombing; some of them were tactically bombed, others terror-bombed. The main German land campaign advanced northward from Oslo with superior equipment; Norwegian soldiers with turn-of-the-century weapons, along with some British and French troops, stopped
4752-433: The United States. The Norwegian Army in mainland Norway capitulated on 10 June 1940, two months after Wesertag. That made Norway the occupied country that had withstood a German invasion for the longest time before succumbing. Despite the surrender of the main Norwegian forces, the Royal Norwegian Navy and other armed forces continued fighting the Germans abroad and at home until the German capitulation on 8 May 1945. In
4851-426: The XXI Army Corps, including the 3rd Mountain Division and five infantry divisions; none of the latter had yet been tested in battle. The first phase would consist of three divisions for the assault, with the remainder to follow in the next wave. Three companies of fallschirmjagers would be used to seize airfields. The decision to also send the 2nd Mountain Division was made later. Almost all U-boat operations in
4950-449: The belief that it would repeat World War I . Therefore, the British began to consider naval blockades against Germany if war broke out. German industry was heavily dependent on the import of iron ore from Swedish mines in Norrland , and much of that ore was shipped through the Norwegian port of Narvik during the winter months. Control of the Norwegian coast would serve to tighten a potential blockade against Germany. In October 1939,
5049-405: The chief of the Kriegsmarine , Grand-Admiral Erich Raeder , discussed with Adolf Hitler the danger posed by potential Allied bases in Norway and the possibility of Germany pre-emptively seizing those location. The Kriegsmarine argued that a German occupation of Norway would allow control of the nearby seas and serve as a platform for staging submarine operations against the Allies. However,
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#17328527537115148-536: The coast, where the huge ice shelf of the last ice age first melted between 11,000 and 8000 BC. The oldest finds are stone tools dating from 9500 to 6000 BC, discovered in Finnmark ( Komsa culture ) in the north and Rogaland ( Fosna culture ) in the southwest. Theories about the two cultures being separate were deemed obsolete in the 1970s. Between 3000 and 2500 BC, new settlers ( Corded Ware culture ) arrived in eastern Norway . They were Indo-European farmers who grew grain and kept livestock, and gradually replaced
5247-428: The control of Queen Margaret when the country entered into the Kalmar Union . After Sweden broke out of the Kalmar Union in 1521, Norway tried to follow suit, but the subsequent rebellion was defeated, and Norway remained in a union with Denmark until 1814. This period was by some referred to as the "400-Year Night", since all of the kingdom's intellectual and administrative power was centred in Copenhagen . With
5346-568: The country from Anglo-French attacks. The German ambassador demanded that Danish resistance cease immediately and that contact be made between Danish authorities and the German armed forces. If the demands were not met, the Luftwaffe would bomb the capital, Copenhagen . As the German demands were communicated, the first German advances had already been made, with forces landing on a regular commercial ferry in Gedser at 03:55 and moving north. German Fallschirmjäger (paratrooper) units had made unopposed landings and taken two airfields at Aalborg ,
5445-476: The death of Haakon in 1379, his 10-year-old son Olaf IV acceded to the throne. As Olaf had already been elected to the throne of Denmark in 1376, Denmark and Norway entered a personal union . Olaf's mother and Haakon's widow, Queen Margaret, managed the foreign affairs of Denmark and Norway during Olaf's minority. Margaret was on the verge of achieving a union of Sweden with Denmark and Norway when Olaf IV suddenly died. Denmark made Margaret temporary ruler on
5544-434: The death of Olaf. On 2 February 1388, Norway followed suit and crowned Margaret. Queen Margaret knew that her power would be more secure if she were able to find a king to rule in her place. She settled on Eric of Pomerania , grandson of her sister. Thus at an all-Scandinavian meeting held at Kalmar, Erik of Pomerania was crowned king of all three Scandinavian countries, bringing the thrones of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden under
5643-497: The discussions were ongoing, several formations of Heinkel He 111 and Dornier Do 17 bombers roared over the city dropping leaflets headed, in Danish, OPROP! (proclamation). At 05:25, two squadrons of German Messerschmitt Bf 110s attacked Værløse airfield on Zealand and neutralised the Danish Army Air Service by strafing . Despite Danish anti-aircraft fire , the German fighters destroyed ten Danish aircraft and seriously damaged another fourteen, thereby wiping out half of
5742-438: The economy, because of the loans the Hansa had made to the royals and the large debt the kings were carrying. The League's monopolistic control over the economy of Norway put pressure on all classes, especially the peasantry, to the degree that no real burgher class existed in Norway. From the 1040s to 1130, the country was at peace. In 1130, the civil war era broke out on the basis of unclear succession laws , which allowed
5841-500: The end of the century. Throughout the High Middle Ages , the king established Norway as a sovereign state with a central administration and local representatives. In 1349, the Black Death spread to Norway and within a year killed a third of the population. Later plagues reduced the population to half the starting point by 1400. Many communities were entirely wiped out, resulting in an abundance of land, allowing farmers to switch to more animal husbandry . The reduction in taxes weakened
5940-442: The entire Army Air Service. Faced with the explicit threat of the Luftwaffe bombing the civilian population of Copenhagen, and with only General Prior in favour of fighting on, King Christian and the entire Danish government capitulated at approximately 06:00, in exchange for retaining political independence in domestic matters. The invasion of Denmark lasted less than six hours and was the shortest military campaign conducted by
6039-505: The expedition continued, but the justification for it was removed after the Moscow Peace Treaty between Finland and the Soviet Union had been signed in March 1940 and ended the Winter War. Following a meeting with Vidkun Quisling from Norway on 14 December, Hitler turned his attention to Scandinavia. Convinced of the threat posed by the Allies to the iron ore supply, Hitler ordered the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht to begin preliminary planning for an invasion of Norway. The preliminary plan
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#17328527537116138-423: The expense of Sweden and Russia. The famine of 1695–1696 killed roughly 10% of Norway's population. The harvest failed in Scandinavia at least nine times between 1740 and 1800, with great loss of life. After Denmark–Norway was attacked by the United Kingdom at the 1807 Battle of Copenhagen , it entered into an alliance with Napoleon , with the war leading to dire conditions and mass starvation in 1812. As
6237-425: The far north, Norwegian, French and Polish troops, supported by the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force (RAF), fought against the Germans over the control of the Norwegian harbour Narvik, important for the year-round export of Swedish iron ore. The Germans were driven out of Narvik on 28 May, but the deteriorating situation on the European continent made the Allied troops withdraw in Operation Alphabet , and on 9 June,
6336-489: The fortress (and the mistaken belief that mines had contributed to the sinking) delayed the rest of the naval invasion group long enough for the Royal Family , the Cabinet and members of Parliament to be evacuated, along with the national treasury . On their flight northward by special train, the court encountered the Battle of Midtskogen and bombs at Elverum and Nybergsund . As the Norwegian king and his legitimate government were not captured, Norway never surrendered in
6435-469: The gunners at Oscarsborg Fortress fired on the leading ship, Blücher , which had been illuminated by spotlights at about 04:15. Two of the fortress guns were 48-year-old German-made Krupp guns (nicknamed Moses and Aron ) of 280 mm (11 in) caliber. Within two hours, the badly damaged ship, unable to manoeuvre in the narrow fjord from multiple artillery and torpedo hits , sank with very heavy loss of life totalling 600–1,000 men. The threat from
6534-438: The hunting-fishing population of the west coast. From about 1500 BC, bronze was gradually introduced. Burial cairns built close to the sea as far north as Harstad and also inland in the south are characteristic of this period, with rock carving motifs that differ from those of the Stone Age , depicting ships resembling the Hjortspring boat , while large stone burial monuments known as stone ships were also erected. There
6633-407: The insistence of the Luftwaffe to capture fighter bases and sites for air warning stations. The XXXI Corps , formed for the invasion of Denmark, consisted of two infantry divisions and the 11th motorized brigade. The entire operation would be supported by the X Air Corps, which consisted of some 1,000 aircraft of various types. In February, the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Cossack boarded
6732-437: The invaders for a time before yielding; this was the first land combat between the British Army and the Wehrmacht in World War II. In land battles at Narvik, Norwegian and Allied forces under General Carl Gustav Fleischer achieved the first major tactical victory against the Wehrmacht in WWII. German forces then overpowered Norwegian troops at Gratangen. The King and his cabinet evacuated from Molde to Tromsø on 29 April, and
6831-433: The king's position, and many aristocrats lost the basis for their surplus. High tithes to church made it increasingly powerful and the archbishop became a member of the Council of State . The Hanseatic League took control over Norwegian trade during the 14th century and established a trading centre in Bergen . In 1380, Olaf Haakonsson inherited both the Norwegian (as Olaf IV) and Danish thrones (as Olaf II), creating
6930-419: The king's sons to rule jointly. The Archdiocese of Nidaros was created in 1152 and attempted to control the appointment of kings. The church inevitably had to take sides in the conflicts. The wars ended in 1217 with the appointment of Håkon IV Håkonsson , who introduced clear laws of succession. From 1000 to 1300, the population increased from 150,000 to 400,000, resulting both in more land being cleared and
7029-437: The kings of Sweden and of Denmark were elected to the throne by their respective nobles. Thus Sweden and Norway were united under King Magnus VII. In 1349, the Black Death killed between 50% and 60% of Norway's population and led to a period of social and economic decline. Although the death rate was comparable with the rest of Europe, economic recovery took much longer because of the small, scattered population. Even before
7128-507: The late 10th and early 11th centuries. This is largely attributed to the missionary kings Olaf I Tryggvasson and Olaf II Haraldsson (St. Olaf). Olaf Tryggvasson conducted raids in England, including attacking London. Arriving back in Norway in 995, Olaf landed in Moster where he built a church which became the first Christian church in Norway. From Moster, Olaf sailed north to Trondheim where he
7227-558: The ninth century when heading for the Faroe Islands , and eventually came across Vinland , known today as Newfoundland , in Canada. The Vikings from Norway were most active in the northern and western British Isles and eastern North America isles . According to tradition, Harald Fairhair unified them into one in 872 after the Battle of Hafrsfjord in Stavanger , thus becoming the first king of
7326-578: The open waters of the North Sea , where the Royal Navy could intercept them. Churchill assumed that Wilfred would provoke a German response and that the Allies would then implement Plan R 4 and occupy Norway. Though later implemented, Operation Wilfred was initially rejected by Neville Chamberlain and Lord Halifax for fear of an adverse reaction among neutral nations such as the United States. The start of
7425-617: The other branches of the Wehrmacht were not interested, and Hitler issued a directive stating that the main effort would be a land offensive through the Low Countries . Toward the end of November 1939, Winston Churchill , as a new member of the Chamberlain war ministry , proposed the mining of Norwegian waters in Operation Wilfred . This would force the ore transports to travel through
7524-440: The plague, the population was only about 500,000. After the plague, many farms lay idle while the population slowly increased. However, the few surviving farms' tenants found their bargaining positions with their landlords greatly strengthened. King Magnus VII ruled Norway until 1350, when his son, Haakon, was placed on the throne as Haakon VI . In 1363, Haakon married Margaret , daughter of King Valdemar IV of Denmark . Upon
7623-489: The reign of Charles III John brought some significant social and political reforms. In 1854, women won the right to inherit property. In 1863, the last trace of keeping unmarried women in the status of minors was removed. Furthermore, women were eligible for different occupations, particularly the common school teacher. By mid-century, Norway's democracy was limited; voting was limited to officials, property owners, leaseholders and burghers of incorporated towns. Norway remained
7722-418: The rest of Europe. Eventually restored as a kingdom (albeit in legislative union with Denmark) in 1661, Norway saw its land area decrease in the 17th century with the loss of the provinces Båhuslen , Jemtland , and Herjedalen to Sweden, as the result of a number of disastrous wars with Sweden. In the north, its territory was increased by the acquisition of the northern provinces of Troms and Finnmark , at
7821-453: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Ringerike . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ringerike&oldid=895939908 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Place name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
7920-530: The subdivision of farms. While in the Viking Age farmers owned their own land, by 1300, seventy per cent of the land was owned by the king, the church, or the aristocracy, and about twenty per cent of yields went to these landowners. The 14th century is described as Norway's golden age , with peace and increase in trade, especially with the British Islands, although Germany became increasingly important towards
8019-571: The third century. By the time of the first historical records of Scandinavia, about the 8th century, several small political entities existed in Norway. It has been estimated that there were nine petty realms in Western Norway during the early Viking Age . Archaeologist Bergljot Solberg on this basis estimates that there would have been at least 20 in the whole country. In the Viking period, Norwegian Viking explorers discovered Iceland by accident in
8118-452: The throne of Norway and Sweden in 1818 and reigned to 1844. He protected the constitution and liberties of Norway and Sweden during the age of Metternich . As such, he was regarded as a liberal monarch. However, he was ruthless in his use of paid informers, secret police and restrictions on the freedom of the press to put down public movements for reform—especially the Norwegian national independence movement. The Romantic Era that followed
8217-494: The traditional dominant view, the first component was originally norðr , a cognate of English north , so the full name was Norðr vegr , "the way northwards", referring to the sailing route along the Norwegian coast, and contrasting with suðrvegar "southern way" (from Old Norse suðr ) for (Germany), and austrvegr "eastern way" (from austr ) for the Baltic . The earliest traces of human occupation in Norway are found along
8316-473: The two nations made the actual military operations very dissimilar. The invasion fleet's nominal landing time, Weserzeit (Weser Time), was set to 05:15. By the spring of 1939, the British Admiralty began to view Scandinavia as a potential theatre of war in a future conflict with Nazi Germany . However, the British government was reluctant to engage in another land conflict on the continent in
8415-626: Was a Utopian socialist who in 1848 organised a labour society in Drammen . In just a few months, this society had a membership of 500 and was publishing its own newspaper. Within two years, 300 societies had been organised all over Norway, with a total membership of 20,000 drawn from the lower classes of both urban and rural areas. In the end, the revolt was easily crushed; Thrane was captured and jailed. In 1898, all men were granted universal suffrage , followed by all women in 1913. Christian Michelsen , Prime Minister of Norway from 1905 to 1907, played
8514-655: Was also seen as a country that would have to fall at some point. Given Denmark's position on the Baltic Sea , the country was also crucial for the control of naval and shipping access to major German and Soviet harbours. At 04:00 on 9 April 1940, the German ambassador to Denmark, Cecil von Renthe-Fink , called the Danish Foreign Minister Peter Munch and requested a meeting with him. When the two men met 20 minutes later, Renthe-Fink declared that German troops were then moving in to occupy Denmark to protect
8613-510: Was an excellent place to launch U-boat operations into the North Atlantic to attack British commerce. Germany was dependent on iron ore from Sweden and was worried, with justification, that the Allies would attempt to disrupt those shipments, 90% of which originating from Narvik. The invasion of Norway was given to the XXI Army Corps under General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst and consisted of the following main units: The initial invasion force
8712-496: Was carrying a clandestine cargo of anti-aircraft artillery and ammunition for the German invasion force. Bergen, Stavanger, Egersund , Kristiansand, Arendal , Horten , Trondheim and Narvik were attacked and occupied within 24 hours. Ineffective resistance by the Norwegian armoured coastal defence ships Norge and Eidsvold took place at Narvik. Both ships were torpedoed and sunk with great loss of life. On 10 April The First Battle of Narvik took place between five destroyers of
8811-496: Was in a personal union with Sweden. Norway was neutral during the First World War , and in the Second World War until April 1940 when it was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany until the end of the war. Harald V of the House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway . Jonas Gahr Støre has been Prime Minister of Norway since 2021. As a unitary state with a constitutional monarchy , Norway divides state power between
8910-495: Was lifted in 1949, while price controls and rationing of housing and cars continued until 1960. Operation Weser%C3%BCbung Asia-Pacific Mediterranean and Middle East Other campaigns Coups Finland Iceland Norway 1941 1942 1943 1944 1942 1943 1944 1945 Operation Weserübung ( German : Unternehmen Weserübung [ˈveːzɐˌʔyːbʊŋ] , transl. Operation Weser Exercise , 9 April – 10 June 1940)
9009-568: Was named Studie Nord and called for only one division of German troops carry out the invasion. Between 14 and 19 January, the Kriegsmarine developed an expanded version of this plan. It decided upon two key factors: surprise was essential to reduce the threat of Norwegian resistance (and Allied intervention), and faster German warships, rather than comparatively slow merchant ships, should be used as troop transports. That would allow all targets to be occupied simultaneously. The new plan called for
9108-408: Was one revolt under Knut Alvsson in 1502. Norway took no part in the events which led to Swedish independence from Denmark in the 1520s. Upon the death of King Haakon V in 1319, Magnus Eriksson , at just three years old, inherited the throne as King Magnus VII. A simultaneous movement to make Magnus King of Sweden proved successful (he was a grandson of King Magnus Ladulås of Sweden), and both
9207-623: Was proclaimed King of Norway by the Eyrathing in 995. One of the most important sources for the history of the 11th century Vikings is the treaty between the Icelanders and Olaf II Haraldsson, king of Norway circa 1015 to 1028. Feudalism never really developed in Norway or Sweden, as it did in the rest of Europe. However, the administration of government took on a very conservative feudal character. The Hanseatic League forced royalty to cede to them greater and greater concessions over foreign trade and
9306-478: Was put into action, and a Royal Navy squadron led by the battlecruiser HMS Renown left Scapa Flow to mine Norwegian waters. The first German ships set sail for the invasion on 7 April 1940 at 3:00 a.m. The mine fields were laid in the Vestfjorden in the early morning of 8 April. Operation Wilfred was over, but later that day, the destroyer HMS Glowworm , which detached on 7 April to search for
9405-638: Was the Soviet Union, the successor of Sweden's and Finland's archenemy, Russia, on friendly terms with Hitler under the terms of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact . A small number of Finnish volunteers helped the Norwegian Army against Germans in an ambulance unit. Swedish and Finnish trade was dependent on the Kriegsmarine , and Germany put pressure on neutral Sweden to permit transit of military goods and soldiers on leave . On 18 June 1940, an agreement
9504-466: Was the invasion of Denmark and Norway by Nazi Germany during World War II . It was the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign . In the early morning of 9 April 1940 ( Wesertag , "Weser Day"), German forces occupied Denmark and invaded Norway, ostensibly as a preventive manoeuvre against a planned Anglo-French occupation of Norway known as Plan R 4 , which developed as a response to
9603-553: Was transported in several groups by ships of the Kriegsmarine : Shortly after noon on 8 April, the clandestine German troopship SS Rio de Janeiro was sunk off Lillesand by the Polish submarine ORP Orzeł , part of the Royal Navy's 2nd Submarine Flotilla. However, the news of the sinking reached the appropriate levels of officialdom in Oslo too late to do much more than trigger
9702-450: Was unprepared for the German surprise attack (see: Battle of Drøbak Sound , Norwegian Campaign , and Invasion of Norway ), military and naval resistance lasted for two months. Norwegian armed forces in the north launched an offensive against the German forces in the Battles of Narvik , but were forced to surrender on 10 June after losing British support which had been diverted to France during
9801-564: Was wielded by the leader of the German occupation authority, Josef Terboven . Quisling, as minister president , later formed a collaborationist government under German control . Up to 15,000 Norwegians volunteered to fight in German units, including the Waffen-SS . Many Norwegians and persons of Norwegian descent joined the Allied forces as well as the Free Norwegian Forces . In June 1940,
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