Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/103

Rh Krogh and Schlepegrell, was at the battle of Idsted (July 23). Near this small village, protected by lakes and bogs, Willisen lay encamped with his centre, his right wing at Wedelspung, extending along the Lake Langsö, his left spreading along the Arnholtz lake. The Danes, approach ing on the high road from Flensburg to Schleswig, attacked the enemy on all sides; and, after having been repeatedly repulsed, they succeeded in driving the Schleswig-Holsteiners from all their positions. The forces engaged on each side were about 30,000; the number of killed and wounded on both sides was upwards of 7000.

After the victory of Idsted, the Danes could hardly expect to meet with any serious resistance, and the confidence of the court of Copenhagen was further increased by the peace which was concluded with Prussia (July 1850), by which the latter abandoned the duchies to their own fate, and soon afterwards aided in their subjection. The sole question of importance which now awaited its solution was the order of succession, which the European powers thought to be of such importance as to delay its final settlement till 1852.

The extinction of the male line in King Frederick was an event foreseen by the king, the people, and the foreign powers. After protracted negotiations between the different courts, the representatives of England, France, Austria, Russia, Prussia, and Sweden, a treaty relative to the succession was signed in London, May 8, 1852. According to this protocol, in case of default of male issue in the direct line of Frederick VII., the crown was to pass to Prince Christian of Glücksburg, and his wife the Princess Louisa of Hesse, who, through her mother, Princess Charlotte of Denmark, was the niece of King Christian VIII.

The treaty of London did not fulfil the expectations of the signitaries as to a settlement of the agitation in the duchies. The duke of Augustenburg had accepted the pardon held out to him on condition that his family resigned all claim to the sovereignty of the duchies, but he continued to stir up foreign nations about his rights, and when he died his son Frederick maintained the family pretensions. At last, in the autumn of 1863, Frederick VII. died very suddenly at the castle of Glücksburg, in Schleswig, the seat of his appointed successor. As soon as the ministry in Copenhagen received news of his death, Prince Christian of Glücksburg was proclaimed king as Christian IX., and the young duke of Augustenburg appeared in Schleswig, assuming the title of Frederick VIII. The claims of the pretender were supported by Prussia, Austria, and other German states, and before the year was out Generals Gablenz and Wrangel occupied the duchies in command of Austrian and Prussian troops. The attitude of Germany was in the highest degree peremptory, and Denmark was called upon to give up Schleswig-Holstein to military occupation by Prussia and Austria until the claims of the duke of Augustenburg were settled. In its dilemma the Danish Government applied to England and to France, and receiving from these powers what it rightly or wrongly considered as encouragement, it declared war with Germany in the early part of 1864. The Danes sent their general, De Meza, with 40,000 men to defend the Dannewerk, the ancient line of defences stretching right across the peninsula from the North Sea to the Baltic. The movements of General De Meza were not, however, successful; the Dannewerk, popularly supposed to be impregnable, was first outflanked and then stormed, and the Danish army fell back on the heights of Dybbol, near Flensborg, which was strongly fortified, and took up a position behind it, across the Little Belt, in the island of Alsen. This defeat caused almost a panic in the country, and, finding

that England and France had no intention of aiding them, the Danes felt the danger of annihilation close upon them. The courage of the little nation, however, was heroic, and they made a splendid stand against their countless opponents. General Gerlach was sent to replace the unlucky De Meza; the heights of Dybbol were harder to take than the Germans had supposed, but they fell at last, and with them the strong position of Sonderburg, in the island of Alsen. The Germans pushed northwards until they overran every part of the mainland, as far as the extreme north of Jutland. It seemed as though Denmark must cease to exist among the nations of Europe; but the Danes at last gave way, and were content to accept the terms of the Peace of Vienna, in October 1864, by which Christian IX. renounced all claim to Lauenburg, Holstein, and Schleswig, and agreed to have no voice in the final disposal of those provinces.

For the next two years Europe waited to see Prussia restore North Schleswig and Alsen, in which Danish is the popular language, and which Austria had demanded should be restored to Denmark in case the inhabitants should express that as their wish by a plebiscite. When the war broke out between Austria and Prussia in 1866, and resulted in the humiliation of Austria, the chances of restoration passed away; and the duchies have remained an integral part of Prussia. Notwithstanding her dismemberment, Denmark has prospered to an astonishing degree, and her material fortunes have been constantly in the ascendant. Her only trouble within the last decade has arisen from the dissensions in the two houses of assembly, and in the spread of dangerous communistic opinions.

The following is a list of the monarchs of Denmark since the unification of the kingdom under Gorm the Old, with the dates of their accession:

The present language of Denmark is derived directly from the same source as that of Sweden, and the parent of both is the old Scandinavian, or Icelandic. In Iceland this original tongue, with some modifications, has remained in use, and until about 1100 it was the literary language of the whole of Scandinavia. The influence of Low German first, and High German afterwards, has had the effect of drawing modern Danish constantly further from this early type. The difference began to show itself in the 12th century. Rask, and after him Petersen, have  VII. —