LECTURE 1

KEY DATES IN SCANDINAVIAN HISTORY

C8th - C10th Viking era
874Settlement of Iceland
c. 900 - 1000 Formation of kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden
c. 985 Expedition of Eric the Red to Greenland
C. 1000 Expedition of Leif Ericsson to 'Vinland' (N. America)
C9th - C10th Conversion to Christianity
1030-5 Empire of Cnut the Great (Denmark, England, Norway)
1066Death of Harald Hardrada of Norway at Stamfordbridge
By C13th Orkneys, Shetlands, Hebrides, Iceland and Greenland under Norwegian rule
1397Union of Kalmar (Denmark, Norway, Sweden)
1520'Stockholm bloodbath'
1523 Gustav Vasa elected king of Sweden
1520s - '40s Lutheranism introduced into the Scandinavian countries
1600Swedish invasion of Livonia
1611Gustavus Adolphus king of Sweden
1630Swedish intervention in Thirty Years War
1632Death of Gustavus Adolphus
1654Abdication of Queen Christina of Sweden
1658-60 Denmark loses province of Skåne to Sweden
Late C17th Establishment of royal absolutism - Frederick III of Denmark; Charles XI of Sweden
1697-1718 Charles XII (last great Swedish military king)
1709Charles XII defeated at Poltava
1721Peace of Nystad - end of Sweden's Baltic empire
1718-72 Swedish 'age of freedom'
1788Abolition of serfdom in Denmark
1772Coup by Gustavus III of Sweden, re-establishing royal absolutism
1792Assassination of Gustavus III
1801Battle of Copenhagen - Nelson
1807British bombardment of Copenhagen and seizure of Danish fleet
1809Sweden loses Finland to Russia. Diet of Porvoo confirms Finnish liberties
1810French Marshal Bernadotte elected Swedish crown prince
1814Treaty of Kiel: Sweden gains Norway from Denmark; 17 May: Norwegian constitution
1818Bernadotte becomes King Karl XIV Johan of Sweden
1848-9 Danish-German wars over Schleswig-Holstein
1864Danish-German war: loss of Schleswig-Holstein
1905End of Swedish-Norwegian union
1917Finland becomes independent
1939-40 Soviet-Finnish Winter War
1940-5 Denmark and Norway under German occupation
1944Iceland becomes independent
1948Finnish-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Cooperation
1949Denmark and Norway join NATO
1973Denmark joins EEC
1991Collapse of USSR; end of Finnish-Soviet Treaty
1995Sweden and Finland join EU; Norway stays out