Chronography of Norway

Page last modified 3 July 2023

 

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For main European events of World War Two see France-Germany

See also Russia for more events of Finland-Russia conflict 1939-40

 

22 July 2011, Anders Behring Brevik shot 77 people on Utoya Island as a protest against immigration to Norway.

22 August 2004, Edvard Munch�s famous painting, The Scream, was stolen at gunpoint from Norway�s Munch Museum, Oslo.

27 August 1997, Norway and Sweden admitted that, between 1934 and 1967, they sterilised thousands of people deemed �substandard�, including the disabled.

 

Norway rejects EU membership

28 November 1994, Norwegians, in a referendum, rejected membership of the EU, for a second time.

16 March 1994, Terms were agreed for Norway to join the European Union, subject to a Norwegian referendum.

1993, Brundtland was re-elected. There was growing antipathy to EU membership.

25 November 1992, Norway began an application to join the EU.

26 September 1972. Norway voted in a referendum against joining the Common Market.

1967, Norway considered, for a second time, joining the Common Market.

1962, Norway unsuccessfully applied to join the Common Market.

1960, Norway joined the European Free Trade Area (EFTA),

 

1992, Norway resumed whaling activities.

17 January 1991. King Olaf V of Norway died, aged 87. He was succeeded by his 53-year-old son, Harald V.

30 October 1990, InNorway, Gro Harlem Brundtland formed a minority Labour government.

29 October 1990, The coalition government in Norway resigned.

1986, Large demonstrations, by over 100,000, for improved worker conditions.

1985, Norway agreed to suspend commercial whaling. However it later allowed fishing for Minke Whale, and the export of whale products.

3 February 1981, Gro Harlem Brundtland became the first woman Prime Minister of Norway.

30/4/1977, Red Adair successfully put out an oil rig fire in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.

1975, Norway met the recommended UN target of 0.7% of GDP each year for international development, and has kept this up since then. Aid is sent to Africa, south and central Asia, and more recently, Eastern Europe.

1 November 1975, 3 died and 6 were injured in an explosion aboard the Ekofisk A oil rig.

17 March 1971, In Norway, Per Borten's Cabinet ended its term in government, replaced by Bratteli's First Cabinet.

30 December 1968, Trygve Lie, Norwegian ambassador and Secretary-General to the UN, 1946 to 1952, died.

13 September 1965, In Norwegian elections, the Labor Party lost power. They had governed for the past 30 years, apart from 3 weeks in 1963.

30 August 1962, Aaslaug Aasland, Norwegian politician, died aged 72

2 September 1960, Kristin Halvorsen, Norwegian politician, was born

21 September 1957, Norway�s King Haakon VII died, aged 85, after a 52-year reign.Born 1872, he became King in 1905. Known as the �People�s King�, he dispensed with much of the pomp and ceremony of royalty. He refused to abdicate when the Nazis invaded Norway in 1940, and carried on the resistance from England when further armed resistance in Norway was impossible. His son, aged 54, succeeded him as King Olav V.

 

World War Two � for more details see France-Germany World War Two

1 September 1952, All rationing ended in Norway. The last foods to be rationed until this date were coffee, sugar, syrup and glucose

1 July 1952. In Norway, cheese came off ration.

1949, Norway became a founder member of NATO.

31 May 1945, The Norwegian Government returned to govern in Oslo, having been in exile in London.King Haakon returned from London a week later.

1942-1945, Norway was under Nazi occupation, during World War Two.

 

20 March 1935, Following elections in Norway, Labour formed a government with Johan Nygaardsvold as Prime Minister.

16 October 1933, In Norway, the Labour Party won the general elections. Labour won 69 seats, Conservatives 30 seats, Liberals 24 seats, Farmers Party 23 seats, Others 4 seats.

25 January 1933, In Norway, a L:iberal Government succeeded the Agrarian Party administration.

8 May 1931, In Norway the Farmers� Party was in power.

13 May 1930, Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian Arctic explorer and subsequently politician, and Nobel Prize winner in 1922, died in Lysaker, Norway.

8 May 1929, Norway formally annexed Jan Mayen island.

17 October 1927, Norway elected its first Labour government.

1925, Norway gained Spitsbergen.

1 January 1925. Norway�s capital, Christiana, reverted to its historic name ofOslo.

9 February 1920, By a treaty signed in Paris, Norway was given sovereignty over Svalbard (Spitsbergen).

6 October 1919. Norway adopted alcohol Prohibition.

25 September 1919, The Paris Peace Convention awarded sovereignty of the Spitzbergen Islands to Norway.

15 May 1912, Crown Prince Christian, brother of King Haakon VII of Norway, was proclaimed as King Christian X of Denmark.

8 December 1907, King Oscar II of Sweden died, aged 78, after a 35-year reign; he also ruled Norway until 1905. His eldest son, Gustav V, 49, became King, and ruled until 1950.

 

Norway achieves independence from Sweden 1905

25 November 1905, King Haakon VII arrived in Oslo.

18 November 1905. Prince Carl of Denmark was chosen to be King Haakon VII of Norway.

26 October 1905. Norway and Sweden ended their union. King Oscar II of Sweden formally abdicated the crown of Norway.

13 August 1905, A referendum in Norway found 80% agreed with the separation from Sweden.

7 June 1905. Norway declared independence from Sweden (see 4 November 1814).Since the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Norway had been a self-governing subject of the Swedish Crown. In 1905 the provincial parliament voted to cut off relations with Sweden, and a plebiscite backed the move by 386,208 to 184 votes. In 1397 Margaret I succeeded in uniting Denmark, Norway and Sweden. In 1527 Gustav I cancelled that union, and Norway was ruled by Denmark until 1814, when it was ceded to Sweden under the Treaty of Kiel. Calls for Norwegian independence grew, especially after the adoption of universal suffrage in 1898.

 

22 January 1904, The Norwegian city of Alesund burned down, leaving 12,000 homeless.

23 September 1896, Ivar Aaasen, Norwegian philosopher, died in Christiania, (born in Sondmore, 5 August 1813).

16 July 1896, Trygve Lie, Norwegian politician and Secretary General at the United Nations, was born in Oslo.

1884, The Norwegian Labour Party was founded, as Norway began to transition from an agricultural to an industrial society.

27 March 1882, Peter Asbjornsen, Norwegian folklorist, died in Christiansand.

3 August 1872, King Haakon VII of Norway was born in Charlottenlund. He refused to surrender to the Germans in World War Two.

21 January 1829, Oscar II, King of Sweden and Norway, was born.

30 July 1816, Johan Sverdrup, Norwegian statesman, was born in Jarlsberg (died 17 February 1892 in Christiania.

 

Norway separates from Denmark, unites with Sweden, 1813-14

4 November 1814, Norway united with Sweden, see 7 June 1905.

17 May 1814, The independence of Norway (from Denmark) was proclaimed.

8 April 1814, The National Assembly in Norway met to discuss a Constitution. Norway had declared itself independent, in defiance of the Treaty of Kiel. The Assembly decided on a limited monarchy.

3 March 1813, Britain agreed with Sweden that it would not oppose a union of Sweden and Norway.

 

15 January 1812, Peter Asbjornsen, Norwegian folklorist, was born in Christiania.

13 March 1808, King Christian VII of Norway and Denmark died (born 1749).

18 September 1786, Christian VIII, King of Norway and Denmark, was born (died 20 January 1848).

11 May 1775, Caroline Matilda, former wife of King Christian VII of Norway and Denmark, died.

24 December 1715, Swedish troops occupied Norway.

25 August 1699, Christian V, King of Norway and Denmark, died (born 15/4/1646).

15/4/1646, Christian V, King of Norway and Denmark, was born (died 25 August 1699).

1 January 1559, Christian III, King of Denmark and Norway, died aged 55 after a reign of nearly 24 years. He was succeeded by his 24-year-old son as Frederick II, who reigned for 29 years.

1533, King Frederick I of Denmark died aged 62. He was succeeded as King of Denmark and Norway by his 30-tear-old son, who ruled as King Christian III until 1559.

1513, King John I of Denmark (who was also King John II of Sweden, 1497-1501), died after a 32-year reign. He was succeeded by his 32-year-old son as King Christian II of Denmark and Norway, but Sweden refused to accept his rule.

21 May 1481, Christian I, King of Denmark and Norway, died (born 1426) and was succeeded by his son John (1481-1513).

28 October 1412, Margaret, Queen of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, died.

20 June 1397. The Union of Kalmar united Denmark, Norway, and Sweden under one monarch. See 1380.

1380, Hakon, King of Norway, died. His surviving wife was Queen Margaret (born 1353, married 1363, and daughter of Waldemar III, King of Denmark). Her son Olaf died in 1387, which meant she became ruler of Denmark also. She defeated Albert, King of Sweden, thereby gaining that country too. Margaret then instituted the Union of Kalmar, 1397, to permanently unite these three countries. Margaret died in 1412.

8 July 1319, Three-year-old Magnus Eriksson was elected king of Sweden, thus uniting it with Norway. His mother Ingeborg of Norway was given a place in the regency in both Sweden and Norway.

31 August 1314, King Hakon V Magnusson moved the capital of Norway from Bergen to Oslo, where he built Akershus Fortress. Norway ws ruled from this fortress the next 500 years.

1280, Magnus VI, King of Norway, The Lawmender, died. The code of Law he introduced in 1274 remained in use for over 400 years.

 

King Haakon IV

15 December 1263, Haakon IV, King of Norway, died aged 56, after the Battle of Largs (2 October 1263), in which Scotland took the Hebrides from Norway, see Scotland.

1262, King Haakon IV united Iceland and Greenland with Norway.

1217, Eric X Cnutsson was now succeeded by the 13-year-old bastard son of Haakon III Sveresson, and ruled for 46 years as Haakon IV Haakonsson. Earl Skule initially acted as Regent.

 

1216, King Eric X Cnutsson died after an 8-year reign.

1202, Haakon III Sveresson acceded, and ruled briefly intil 1204.

1070, Bergen, Norway, was founded by Olaf Kyrre.

1063, Haakon the Old, King of Norway from 1217, born 1204, died.

1048, Oslo was founded by Harold Haadraade.

25 October 1047, Magnus I died after 12 years rule as King of Norway and five years as King of Denmark. He was succeeded I Norway by Harald Haadraade, 32, who ruled until 1066 as Harald II. In Denmark he was succeeded by Sweyn Estrithson, grandson of Sweyn Forkbeard, who ruled until 1075 as Sweyn II.

10161035, Under King Canute the Great, all of Scandinavia and England were united.

9 September 1000, Alarmed by the growing power of Olaf Tryggvason, King of Norway, King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark, King Olaf Eriksson of Sweden and Earl Eirik Hakonarson of Lade united to eliminate him. Olaf travelled to Wendland to seek allies,but his fleet was caught by the three allies off Svolder Island (probably, modern Rugen). Most of Olaf�s mercenary fleet abandoned him, and he was drowned when he jumped ship and his men surrendered. However the allied affort was in vain, because within 35 years Norway was a united Christian Kingdom under Olaf�s son Magnus.

961, Haakon the Good, King of Norway from ca. 945 (born ca. 914), died.

907, The city of Trondheim,Norway, was founded.

872, For a few centuries earlier, the Kings of Vestfold had been consolidating their power, uniting the small statelets of south-eastern Norway by war, marriage and diplomacy. This process alarmed neighbouring rulers, who resolved to eradicate the current monarch, King Harald Fairhair. To achieve this, King Erik of Hordeland, King Sulke of Rogaland, King Kjotve the Rich of Agder and Earl Sote united and formed a fleet which sailed south to find Harald. Harald was with his fleet in Hafrsfjotd, a large bay near Stavanger that had a narrow entrance Hardald�s ships met the invading fleet at this entrance and despatched them one at a time; however ome famous warrior, Thor Haklang, managed to get alongside Harald�s ship and actually board it. Nevertheless, Thor was killed, and his loss demoralised the allies, who retreated back north. Harald�s position was strengthened and he was able now to extract tribute from the areas of northern Norway which he did not actually rule. This date is considered by some to be the origin of the State of Norway.

526, Olaf Tratelia, expelled from Sweden, founded an early Norwegian colony in Vermeland.

517, The first documented Viking raid on Gaul. The Viking King Hygelac was killed and his fleet defeated.

8,000 BCE, Start of hunter-gatherer peoples in Scandinavia, as the climate warmed.

 

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