Denmark 1918-1920 Denmark in World War II






Denmark, 1920-1939



Post-war Denmark, with a Liberal government, experienced an economic crisis, unemployment soaring in 1922-23 and 1925-28. In 1924, the first Social Democratic cabinet, lead by Th. Stauning, took over, unsuccessful in trying to solve the economic crisis by STATE INTERVENTION. His successor, Liberal Th. Madsen-Mygdal pursued an economic policy of AUSTERITY.
The crisis was not that severe as in Germany or other countries of central and eastern central Europe, for Denmark had not participated in WW I, and it was industrialized to a lesser extent. During the 1920es, despite the ongoing crisis, Denmark's industry and agriculture were modernized. Ford set up a plant in Denmark.
From 1929 onward, a coalition of Social Democrats and Social Liberals (Venstrereformpartiet) governed, which during the aggravating crisis (unemployment reached a staggering 40% in 1932) agrred on a policy of STATE INTERVENTION and on Social Reforms. Social democratic policy moved away from socialist ideology, and, as Stauning's 1934 programme Denmark for the People expresses, toward serving the interests of the people.
Denmark, like it's Scandinavian neighbours, pursued a policy of neutrality, attempting to stay out of the coming conflict.





EXTERNAL
FILES 		From Liberalism to State Intervention, 1920-1929, in : History of Denmark, from Dan. Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Economic Crisis and Political Stability, 1929-1940, in : History of Denmark, from Dan. Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Project Mellankrigstiden (Project Interbellum, in Danish)
DOCUMENTS Historical Population Statistics : Denmark, from Population Statistics at Univ. Utrecht
World Statesmen : Denmark, by Ben Cahoon
Til det Danske Folk ! (1934; To the People of Denmark); Social Democratic Party Program, posted by ABA (Arbejderbevægelsens Bibliothek og Arkiv), in Danish
Socialdemokratiets arbejder- og bondestævne, 2-3 juli 1938, Odense; poster & text (by T. Stauning), from Socialdemokratiet i Odense 1. Kreds, in Danish
Sources on Danish History 1920-1939, from Skræp, in Danish
REFRENCE Knud J.V. Jespersen, A History of Denmark, Basingstoke : Palgrave MacMillan 2004, KMLA Lib.Sign. 948.9 J58h
Chapter XXXV : The Notable Neutrals, pp.496-506 in : John Gunther, Inside Europe, 1940 war edition, NY : Harper & Bros. 1940 [G]
Article : Denmark, in : Statesman's Yearbook 1924 pp.799-803, 1925 pp.801-814, 1926 pp.777-790, 1928 pp.789-802, 1929 pp.781-793, 1932 pp.789-800, 1937 pp.828-840 [G]
Article : Denmark, in : Americana Annual 1927 pp.248-250, 1928 pp.223-225, 1930 pp.242-243, 1931 pp.250-251, 1932 pp.212-214, 1933 pp.227-228, 1934 pp.189-190, 1935 pp.206-207, 1936 pp.206-207, 1937 pp.192-193, 1938 pp.202-203, 1939 pp.232-233 [G]
Article : Denmark, in : New International Year Book 1921 pp.188-191, 1923 pp.199-201, 1925 pp.200-201, 1928 pp.213-215, 1930 pp.222-224, 1932 pp.236-237, 1933 pp.214-216, 1934 pp.188-189, 1935 pp.189-190, 1938 pp.209-210, 1939 pp.193-195 [G]
Article : Denmark, in : Funk & Wagnall's New International Year Book 1932 pp.213-214, 1933 pp.164-165, 1934 pp.186-187, 1935 pp.176-178, 1936 pp.155-157, 1937 pp.160-162, 1938 pp.164-166, 1939 pp.149-152 [G]
M. Pearson Thomson, Denmark (Peeps at Many Lands, 1921), posted online by Gutenberg Library Online


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2000, last revised on October 16th 2007

Click here to go Home
Click here to go to Information about KMLA, WHKMLA, the author and webmaster
Click here to go to Statistics