KINGDOM OF DENMARK

INHERITORS OF THE VIKINGS

The Kingdom of Denmark is one of Europes
oldest nations. As the southernmost of the Nordic
territories, Denmark has cultural links with both
the North Prussian provinces and the other Nordic
nations further north. Earliest records make note of
raiders from Denmark making their presence felt all
across Northern Europe, both as conquerors but also
as settlers and traders.
Emerging as a unified and settled medieval fief as
early as the 10th Century, the nation was marked
by its naval power, especially in the Baltic. The
Danish Kings ruled the Kalmar Union from the 14th
Century, a unified Medieval empire incorporating
what is now Denmark, but also Norway and Sweden.
The latter achieved independence in 1523, ending
the Kalmar Union but leaving Norway and Denmark
united under a single crown, and in possession of a
multitude of islands and other colonial possessions
in the Northern Hemisphere.
Continuing to wage naval warfare and politics to
secure control of the Baltic for much of its existence,
Denmark emerged as an important player in Europe
thanks to its control of the Danish straits, the only
route from the German (or North Sea) into the wider
waters of the Baltic.
Throughout its long existence, Denmark engaged in
warfare not only with independent Sweden, but also
Russia, the United Netherlands and Britannia. These
inconclusive engagements ensured that control over
the Baltic never rested with a single power. In the
end, however, it was events beyond the control of
the Danish Kings that spelt the end of this glorious
history.
THE PRUSSIAN WARS
The inexorable rise of the Prussian Empire put
the Kingdom of Denmark in an awkward position.
Whilst its traditional rivals were Britannia and
Russia, Denmark also had very little to gain from
a strong Prussian naval presence in the Baltic. As

Napoleon rose in France in the late 1700s, therefore,

it was to France that Denmark looked in the hope of
securing a Great Power ally to counter its potential
enemies. Denmark was useful to France thanks to its
powerful ironclad navy, a modern force fully capable
of meeting Britannian vessels on equal terms.
Indeed, during the battle of Copenhagen in 1801,
the Royal Navy under Admiral Parker attempted
to attack the Danish-Norwegian Navy in harbour,
and place the guns of the fleet over the city in an
attempt to force Danish compliance. The battle was
inconclusive, with the Royal Navy losing twelve
battleships to the Danish nine, and forcing the young
Horatio Nelson to beat a hasty retreat. This failed
operation only served to hasten Denmark's alliance
with France.
When Napoleon was crowned Emperor in 1804,
Danish emissaries were present for the ceremony,
and rumours swirled that they were prepared to sign
a military alliance. The sudden death of the French
Emperor that same year, however, dramatically reordered the European landscape. French Imperialists
and Republicans began to fight a brutal Civil War,
and French power faded dramatically. Denmark
attempted to intervene on three separate occasions,
both by blockading French ports to support the
Imperialist faction and by sending troops into the
Low Countries. At sea, Danish fleets continued to
encounter and engage Britannian vessels, but by
1807 the situation dramatically changed for the
worse.

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Alas for Denmark, the Royal Navy struck first once

again, and in another surprise attack sent the entire
Danish navy to the bottom of the sea before it could
even raise steam.
Known as the Second Battle of Copenhagen, this
engagement in 1807 saw the first naval use of aerial
power and the first deployment (as far as records go)
of a Dreadnought class vessel. Lacking the firepower
to damage the dreadnought, the Danish fleet attacked
the smaller vessels and inflicted massive losses on
the Britannian forces. Nonetheless, the majority of
the fleet was destroyed outright in the following
naval engagement.
This shocking assault, having occurred in the midst
of preliminary peace negotiations, was poorly
received in Britannia, let alone Denmark, but once
done it fundamentally re-ordered Danish priorities.
Without its naval force, Denmark lost its ability to
intervene in the French Civil War. It also became
increasingly vulnerable to the designs of the other
major powers.

In 1810 the Kingdom successfully repelled an

amphibious landing by Britannian soldiers in the
Danish straits, foiled in part by the immense build
up of new fortifications in the area after the near
destruction of the Danish fleet. This bought the
kingdom small respite, as they subsequently faced
aggressive moves from the Prussian Empire as
well, which sought to capitalize on the Kingdom's
weakness.
In 1811 Prussian troops seized the Germanic
territories of Shleswig-Holstein, after a short brutal
engagement with nearby soldiers. Luckily, Emperor
Heinrich Otto was distracted by his invasion of
Russian in 1812, which prevented him from finishing
the complete conquest of the peninsula.
As the Prussian Wars drew to a close, Denmark
found itself increasingly isolated. In an effort to
keep its borders secure, the nominally neutral Danes
funnelled information and resources to Prussia
at discount prices, giving it crucial information
on Russian shipping and troop movements. As
Prussian troops advanced into France in 1814, the

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Kingdom permitted them free movement across

Danish territory, although they never took part in
any offensive operations against their neighbours. At
this point, the Kingdom realized that only by having
a friendly Prussian neighbour could they hope to
survive in the new European order.
The final defeat of Prussian military might at Waterloo
in 1815 was a blow to Danish hopes, however, in
many respects this proved their salvation. With all
other European Great Powers exhausted by years of
warfare, there was little stomach on either side to
now turn their attention to Denmark. Nonetheless,
Denmarks political independence was achieved at a
high price.
In a Danish-Prussian peace treaty that following year,
the Empire formally annexed all of the Kingdoms
Germanic territories they had seized in 1811, as well
as absorbing Sweden and Norway to become the
Teutonic Order administrated provinces of Prussian
Scandinavia. The Kingdom was also forced to grant
independence to Greenland, a sparsely populated
island that, many years later, would become the de
facto territory of the Black Wolf Mercenary company.

THE QUIET YEARS 1815-1863

A lone independent political force in a region
dominated by Prussian influence, Denmark remained
sovereign in the following years thanks once again to
its strategic location. If Prussia were to make a move
to seize the Danish straits, the country would have
recourse to either the Russian Coalition or Britannia
in response, and vice versa. Thus balanced between
the Great Powers, the kingdom avoided the fate of
the Prussian Free Netherlands Union and was able
to pursue its own path.
Without colonial possessions to distract the
central government, Denmark embarked on a
comprehensive program of internal improvements
that rapidly industrialized the country. Millions were
employed in new factories and workshops, with the
biggest single employers being the shipyards where
new trading vessels were laid down for new seminationalised trading concerns. These carried goods,
on behalf of many nations, throughout the Baltic Sea,
bringing back raw materials, money and information
to their home country.

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The return on these investments and projects was

invested in the construction of some of the most
powerful fortifications outside of the Wolfgangs
throughout the Danish straits. Constructed of
Sturginium reinforced concrete, sheathed in armour
plating, these fortifications mount an array of guns
and generators under which Baltic trade must pass.

Since the destruction of the first Svrnet in 1807,

the Kingdom had relied on ships built at foreign
yards on commission, with most coming from the
Prussian Yards at Kiel. The first home-built vessels
entered service under Frederick VII, and were
of frigate class only. Many of these still serve as
inspection and coastguard vessels even today.

Further innovations included the largest sea gates

ever constructed. These booms of Sturginium steel
and deep-sea nets can be levered across the straits at
Nyborg-Korsor and Kastrup-Malmo in the South and
Helsingor-Helsingborg in the North. An even greater
gate was planned, stretching from Kalundborg to
Kerteminde can be closed, but as of the beginning of
1873, work on it was still not completed.

Under Christian IX, however, military production

was rapidly expanded and developed, and export
models of Prussian design thoroughly examined
and reverse engineered. Denmark proceeded to
begin the construction of a formidable naval force
that incorporated lessons learned from a hundred
sources. In particular, Danish vessels were produced
to fulfil a dual role of defensive and offensive ships.
With high speed engines and hydrodynamic hulls,
the new vessels could reach a staggering rate of knots
if they were willing to expend the fuel, but thanks to
advanced mine laying devices, could lay thick nets
of explosives to block any channel at short notice.

As these fortifications were erected, the Danish

government began to exact tolls from all ships
passing through, scaled to the friendliness of the
home nation in question. This served to antagonise
several powers, who independently launched several
attempts to force the Danish government to give
them freedom of the straits.
In 1848 Britannian vessels attempted to force passage
but were driven back by gunfire with minimal
casualties. In 1850 the Russian Coalition attempted
the same, but fell victim to swiftly laid minefields.
Prussian sabre rattling diminished after these two
Great Powers failed in their objectives, and it was
the Prussian Empire that first broached the notion
of paying a subscription fee, and soon all Prussian
vessels passed through the gates uninspected and
unmolested, as the government yearly contributed a
flat fee to the Danish coffers.

These capabilities were the ones most mentioned

to alarmed foreign observers, but privately the
government had already begun referring to the navy
as the Kalmar Navy. Whilst not under any illusion
of contesting the Great Powers for dominance
in the Baltic, the Danish government began to
consider ways to exert further control over the
Baltic as arbiters and enforcers. To that end, in 1868,
designers turned to the creation of an integrated air
service that would extend the reach of their military
force. The Naval Air Service, employing fixed wing
aircraft and airships, soon became a familiar sight
over the Danish straits.
In the end, events once again intervened.

THE KALMAR NAVY 1863-1870

As tensions rose in the latter years of the 19th
Century, Denmark turned once again to the issue
of military projection. King Christian IX made it a
point of personal pride to rebuild the Svrnet, the
Royal Danish Navy. Whereas his predecessors had
invested in large Royal Forts along the straits, such
as the mighty Frederick Tarn or the Ingrid Faestning,
Christian IX wished instead to bequeath a legacy of
powerful warships to his Kingdom one that could
potentially re-assert Danish control of more than just
the straits.

THE WORLD WAR 1870

The outbreak of the World War caught the Kingdom
of Denmark by surprise, and had a somewhat
disastrous effect on its economy. With the Baltic
now an open warzone, and the German Sea also
aggressively patrolled by the combatants, trade all
but dried up through the straits. Soon, only Prussian
vessels passed through the straits, either on their way
into the German Sea or returning from operations.
Most other vessels passing through either carried
war materiel on behalf of the Prussian Empire or the
Teutonic Order.

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Denmark very quickly had a choice. Either it

closed the gates to the Prussian Empire, sealing
the High Seas Fleet into the Baltic and earning the
gratitude of Britannia and Russia or it kept watch
on the gates on behalf of the Empire. This quickly
became apparent to the Great Powers involved, and
deputations from both the Grand Coalition and the
Imperial Bond made plain their interest in having
Denmark join their side.
In the end, the decision came down to two factors:
which alliance was willing to pay the most in
reparations to cover the loss of trade, and which
side was the least capable of taking reprisals. In the
former case, both Britannia and Prussia offered a
sizeable sum both in monetary terms and in goodsin-kind. In the latter instance, however, it was
Prussia that could prove the most dangerous. Whilst
the straits were undoubtedly strong enough to resist
an attack by the Iron Fleets, Denmark itself could not
prevent a land invasion (short or inviting Britannian
Land Fleets onto its soil, a politically unthinkable
solution). Once France became a signatory of the
Imperial Bond, the situation became all the clearer.
Indeed, it was the success of the Prussian raid on the
Caribbean that finally convinced the King Christian
IX that even if Britannia was willing to contribute,
it did not have the capability to deliver its promises.
In late 1871, the Kingdom of Denmark signed the
Imperial Bond for an undisclosed sum from the
Prussian Empire, and preferential treatment for its
trading concerns with all member nations. In one
stroke, the Bond acquired not only secure access
to the Baltic but also the powerful new navy that
Christian IX had built.
THE FIRES OF BATTLE 1871-1873
The first test for the new navy came in late 1871
when Russian Coalition vessels attacked the oil
fields off the Danish coast. This assault, part of the
supporting naval operations for the Storm of Steel in
the Low Countries, saw Danish vessels engaged in
open combat with a Great Power on the High Seas
for the first time since 1807.
The vessels acquitted themselves well, and at
the request of the Prussian Empire, continued to
function in the theatre as operations continued.
Throughout that year and the next, the Kingdom's

military force made its presence felt in the North Sea

and the Baltic by raiding enemy shipping (which was
generally impounded to the benefit of the Kingdom)
or by sowing confusion. On several occasions
Danish vessels infiltrated close to Britannian
ports or Russian Baltic harbours under cover of
darkness, laying mines along the channels. In a more
controversial move in early 1872, Danish air units
indiscriminately laid mines throughout the North
Sea without anchors.
By late 1872, the build-up of Danish Naval power
had reached its zenith. Vast resources had been spent
on the creation of vessels, and more and more of
the population had been drafted to serve aboard the
ships. Nonetheless, there had been few opportunities
for the new Svrnet to sail in force. The only
occasion which saw a full fleet sail was during the
Britannian evacuation of the Low Countries after the
destruction of the Army of Flanders in late 1872. On
this occasion, fast Danish vessels made a mockery of
the Britannian Naval Pickets and exacted a fearsome
toll on the retreating vessels. Indeed, many saw it
as suitable revenge for the Battles of Copenhagen
nearly seventy years before.
In 1873, the 'Kalmar Navy' reached the limits of its
expansion. The Kingdom could not draft more of its
limited population into service, and the government
despaired of achieving their unstated aim of
reasserting Danish supremacy in the Baltic without
a dramatic change. Thankfully, history appeared to
be on the Kingdom's side. Subtle feelers from the
Prussian Empire indicated that major operations
were soon to be afoot in the Baltic requiring the
co-operation of 'all Scandinavian peoples'.
Dizzy with excitement, Danish officials quickly
arranged a meeting between the Prussian Ambassador
and Christian IX. During those closeted discussions,
the Danish monarch learned that the Prussian
Emperor was willing to allow his Norwegian and
Swedish subjects to emigrate to the Kingdom of
Denmark for the first time; and in return, desperately
needed Danish help in a great battle to come.
All the Danish need do was use their new fleet in
battle. And drive the Russians from as much of the
Baltic as possible.

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