Editing History of Denmark (section)

==== The Enlightenment and Danish nationalism ====
[[Image:Forrige Grev Iohan Frid. Struensee og Grev Enevold Brandt forreffillet og afbildet po hiul og Steyler d. 28 Aprill 1772.jpg|thumb|Denmark's social reformers [[Johann Friedrich Struensee|Struensee]] and [[Enevold Brandt|Brandt]] quartered and displayed on the wheel on 28 April 1772]]
New propriety and [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] ideas became popular among the [[middle class]]es of Denmark, arousing increased interest in [[personal liberty]]. In the last 15 years of the 18th century, the authorities relaxed the censorship which had existed since the beginning of the 17th century. At the same time, a sense of Danish nationalism began to develop. Hostility increased against Germans and Norwegians present at the royal court. Pride in the Danish language and culture increased, and eventually a law banned "foreigners" from holding posts in the government. Antagonism between Germans and Danes increased from the mid-18th century on.

In the 1770s, during the reign of the mentally unstable Christian VII (1766–1808), the queen [[Caroline Matilda of Great Britain|Caroline Matilda's]] lover, a German doctor named [[Johann Friedrich Struensee]], became the real ruler of the country. Filled with the ideas of the Enlightenment, he attempted a number of radical reforms including freedom of the press and religion. But it was short-lived and [[Royal Life Guards' Mutiny|saw open revolt]]. The landlords feared that the reforms were a threat to their power, while the commoners believed that religious freedom was an invitation to atheism.

In 1772, a court faction involving the [[Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel|king's stepmother]] had Struensee arrested, tried, and convicted of crimes against the majesty, his right hand was cut off following his beheading, his remains were quartered and put on display on top of spikes on the commons west of Copenhagen. The next 12 years were a period of unmitigated reaction until a group of reformers gained power in 1784.

=====Reforms=====
Denmark became the model of enlightened despotism, partially influenced by the ideas of the French Revolution. Denmark thus adopted liberalizing reforms in line with those of the French Revolution, with no direct contact. Danes were aware of French ideas and agreed with them, as it moved from Danish absolutism to a liberal constitutional system between 1750 and 1850. The change of government in 1784 was caused by a power vacuum created when King Christian VII took ill, and influence shifted to the crown prince (who later became King Frederick VI) and reform-oriented landowners. Between 1784 and 1815, the abolition of [[serfdom]] made the majority of the peasants into landowners. The government also introduced [[free trade]] and [[universal education]]. In contrast to France under the '''ancien regime''', agricultural reform was intensified in Denmark, civil rights were extended to the peasants, the finances of the Danish state were healthy, and there were no external or internal crises. That is, reform was gradual and the regime itself carried out agrarian reforms that had the effect of weakening absolutism by creating a class of independent peasant freeholders. Much of the initiative came from well-organized liberals who directed political change in the first half of the 19th century.<ref>Henrik Horstboll, and Uffe Ostergård, "Reform and Revolution: The French Revolution and the Case of Denmark, ''Scandinavian Journal of History'' (1990) 15#3 pp 155–179</ref>

=====Newspapers=====
Danish news media first appeared in the 1540s, when handwritten fly sheets reported on the news. In 1666, [[Anders Bording]], the father of Danish journalism, began a state paper. The royal privilege to bring out a newspaper was issued to Joachim Wielandt in 1720. University officials handled the censorship, but in 1770 Denmark became one of the first nations of the world to provide for press freedom; it ended in 1799. In 1795–1814, the press, led by intellectuals and civil servants, called out for a more just and modern society, and spoke out for the oppressed tenant farmers against the power of the old aristocracy.<ref>Thorkild Kjærgaard, "The rise of press and public opinion in eighteenth‐century Denmark—Norway." ''Scandinavian journal of History'' 14.4 (1989): 215–230. He stresses the role</ref>

In 1834, the first liberal newspaper appeared, one that gave much more emphasis to actual news content rather than opinions. The newspapers championed the [[March Revolution (Denmark)|Revolution of 1848]] in Denmark. The new constitution of 1849 liberated the Danish press. Newspapers flourished in the second half of the 19th century, usually tied to one or another political party or labor union. Modernization, bringing in new features and mechanical techniques, appeared after 1900. The total circulation was 500,000 daily in 1901, more than doubling to 1.2 million in 1925. The German occupation brought informal censorship; some offending newspaper buildings were simply blown up by the Nazis. During the war, the underground produced 550 newspapers—small, surreptitiously printed sheets that encouraged sabotage and resistance.<ref>Kenneth E. Olson, ''The history makers: The press of Europe from its beginnings through 1965'' (LSU Press, 1966) pp 50 – 64, 433</ref>