Schleswig-Holsteinische Frage

The political status of the two northern duchies came in the middle of the 19th c. to a crisis, which was resolved in 1867 by Prussian annexation. The following is an outline of their complex historical background.

Although Schleswig and Holstein were originally separate duchies, an agreement was made in the 14th c. that, while retaining their separate identities, they should remain permanently in union. Over the centuries they underwent a series of changes of sovereignty through inheritance, and the union at times was only nominal. In 1806 the Danes claimed the whole of both duchies. The situation was not helped by the language question (the northern part of Schleswig being Danish-speaking) and by the fact that the Danish court was almost as much German as it was Danish. In the settlement made in 1815, Holstein was included in the German Confederation (see Deutscher Bund), but not Schleswig. Difficulties of succession arose in the 1830s and 1840s with the imminent extinction of the Danish male line, and the impossibility, in accordance with the Salic law (see Salisches Gesetz) of a woman ruling over a German state. In 1848, at the time of the Revolution (see Revolutionen, 1848-9), the Danish hold on the duchies was strengthened, and Schleswig virtually incorporated in Denmark. This led one of the German claimants to the ducal thrones, the Duke of Augustenburg (see Augustenburg, Herzog von), to ask for Prussian help. The German Confederation ordered federal execution (Bundesexecution) and Prussian troops marched in. The great powers, however, threatened war, and the Prussian troops marched out again. In the Punctation of Olmütz (see Olmützer Punktation) Prussia gave way to Austria. In the London protocols of 1850 and 1852 the integrity of Danish possessions was affirmed and the claim of Prince Christian von Glücksburg to the crown and adjoining lands recognized, in spite of his descent through the female line. The matter was now further bedevilled by the rapid rise in Europe of aggressive nationalism. In 1863 Frederick VII of Denmark published a new constitution which strengthened the Danish hold on Schleswig, without relinquishing his claims on Holstein. At this time Bismarck was in firm control of Prussian policy and he immediately perceived possibilities favourable to Prussia. Disregarding the machinery of the German Confederation, he made an agreement with Austria to take military action to settle the Schleswig-Holstein question, and an ultimatum was sent to Denmark on 16 January 1864, which was rejected. The ensuing campaign ended in the defeat of the Danes, though heavy losses were sustained by the Prussians at Düppel. Jutland was invaded and Denmark sued for terms.

In the Peace of Vienna, Denmark abandoned all claims to the duchies and, by the Convention of Gastein, Prussia and Austria set up a joint rule, Bismarck arranging for Prussian occupation of Schleswig and Austrian occupation of Holstein, so that in any future war the Austrian garrison of Holstein would have to fight on two fronts. War did ensue (see Deutscher Krieg), and the incorporation of Schleswig-Holstein in Prussia was one of Bismarck's aims.

The Austrian defeat in Bohemia in 1866 led to the Peace of Prague (23 August 1866), and included an article, effective from 24 January 1867, annexing Schleswig-Holstein to Prussia. The claim of the Duke of Augustenburg, to whom Prussia was committed, was rejected by Bismarck, in spite of remonstrance by his sovereign. Prussia, and eventually the German Empire of 1871, acquired a territory containing a Danish minority, which the treaty disregarded. By the Treaty of Versailles (1919) a plebiscite was held, and the northern part of Schleswig as far south as Tondern and Düppel was included in Denmark.

The stresses and conflicts involved in this matter are particularly perceptible in the life and work of Th. Storm.