The union conflict (1859–1905)

Because the union’s king usually resided in Sweden, he was represented in Norway by a governor-general. This gave rise to the governor-general conflict, which was not resolved until 1873, when Sweden yielded to Norway’s main demands. The result was that in Norway the king was regarded as Swedish, and his right to nominate the government in Norway was considered a danger to the country’s autonomy. The conflict revolved around the question of the Storting’s confidence in the government. During the reign of Oscar II (ruled in Norway 1872–1905), matters came to a head when a Conservative government refused to pass an amendment to the constitution that the Storting had three times accepted. After a trial before the court of impeachment (Riksrett), the government was forced to resign in 1884. The Storting, and not the king, had thus acquired the decisive influence on the government, and Norway became the first country in Scandinavia to be governed by parliamentary means.

Although Norway had won full self-government on the domestic front, the union was still represented externally by the Swedish-Norwegian king, and the country’s foreign policy was conducted by the Swedish foreign minister. From the 1880s, therefore, there was an increasing demand for an independent Norwegian foreign minister. In 1891 Venstre won a convincing majority at the polls with this question, among other things, on its program. In spite of this, the Venstre government headed by Johannes Steen—which the king had appointed after the election—did not take up the question of the foreign minister but raised instead a more limited demand for a Norwegian consular service. Even this was flatly refused by Sweden in 1892 and again the following year. When the Storting attempted to carry out this reform independently, it was forced under threat of military action to negotiate with Sweden on a revision of the whole question of the union. Though Sweden soon showed its readiness to be more compliant, the incompatibilities had become so marked that there was no real chance of a compromise.

The negotiations collapsed in 1898, and Norway at the same time demonstrated its independence by abolishing the union emblem on its merchant flag despite the king’s veto. New negotiations were opened in an attempt to solve the more limited demand for an independent consular service, but when these negotiations also failed Norway took the matter into its own hands; the Storting passed a bill establishing Norway’s own consular service. When the king refused to sanction the bill, the coalition government, under the leadership of Christian Michelsen, resigned. As, under the circumstances, it was impossible for the king to form a new Norwegian government, the Storting declared “the Union with Sweden dissolved as a result of the King ceasing to function as Norwegian King,” on June 7, 1905. The Swedish parliament refused, however, to accept this unilateral Norwegian decision. Under threat of military action and partial mobilization in both countries, Norway entered into negotiations on the conditions for the dissolution of the union. A settlement was reached in Karlstad, Sweden, in September 1905 that embodied concessions from both sides. The Swedish-Norwegian union was thus legally dissolved, and shortly afterward Prince Charles of Denmark was elected in a referendum as Norway’s king and came to the throne under the name of Haakon VII.

Economic and industrial growth

The period from 1905 to 1914 was characterized by rapid economic expansion in Norway. The development of the merchant fleet, which had begun during the second half of the 19th century, continued, and at the outbreak of World War I Norway’s merchant navy was the fourth largest in the world.

From about the beginning of the 20th century Norway’s immense resources of waterpower provided a base for great industrial expansion. The large number of waterfalls bought by Norwegian and foreign companies gave rise to grave concern that the country’s natural resources were falling into foreign hands or becoming monopolized by a small number of capitalists. By 1906 three-fourths of all developed waterpower in Norway was owned by foreign concerns. Venstre and the growing Norwegian Labour Party (DNA) pressed for legislation to protect the natural resources of the country. The bill on concessions (later known as the Concession Laws) played a dominating role in Norwegian politics from 1905 to 1914. It led to a split in Venstre—but the majority of the party supported the bill, which was passed by the Storting in 1909 and remained in force despite continued criticism.

The DNA had been founded in 1887, and universal suffrage was one of the principal points in the party program. In the 1890s Venstre likewise adopted this policy, and in 1898 universal male suffrage was introduced. By reforms in 1907 and 1913 the vote was extended to women. One consequence of industrialization and the introduction of universal suffrage was the growing influence of the DNA. A number of social reforms were enacted: a factory act, which included protection for women and children; accident insurance for seafaring men; health insurance; a 10-hour working day (in 1915); and a 48-hour workweek (1919). A 40-hour workweek was introduced in 1977.