Editing Greenland (section)

===Treaty of Kiel to World War II (1814–1945)===
{{See also|Denmark expedition|Greenland in World War II}}
{{Multiple image
| image1            = Legende børn, ca. 1878 (8473597948).jpg
| image2            = Billeder fra Grønland 11441.tif
| caption1          = Godthåb in Greenland, {{circa|1878}}
| caption2          = Pictures of Greenland, {{circa|1863}}
}}
When the union between the crowns of Denmark and Norway was dissolved in 1814, the [[Treaty of Kiel]] severed Norway's former colonies and left them under the control of the Danish monarch. Norway occupied then-uninhabited eastern Greenland as [[Erik the Red's Land]] in July 1931, claiming that it constituted ''[[terra nullius]]''. Norway and Denmark agreed to submit the matter in 1933 to the [[Permanent Court of International Justice]], which decided against Norway.<ref>[http://www.icj-cij.org/pcij/serie_AB/AB_53/01_Groenland_Oriental_Arret.pdf ''Legal Status of Eastern Greenland''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511135249/http://www.icj-cij.org/pcij/serie_AB/AB_53/01_Groenland_Oriental_Arret.pdf |date=11 May 2011 }}, PCIJ Series A/B No. 53 (1933)</ref>

Greenland's connection to Denmark was severed on 9 April 1940, early in [[History of Greenland during World War II|World War&nbsp;II]], after Denmark was occupied by [[Nazi Germany]]. On 8 April 1941, the United States occupied Greenland to defend it against a possible invasion by Germany.<ref>{{Cite book |author=America First Committee |editor-last=Doenecke |editor-first=Justus D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bhnf0fxI260C |title=In Danger Undaunted: The Anti-Interventionist Movement of 1940–1941 |date=1990 |orig-date=8 July 1941 |publisher=Hoover Institution Press |isbn=0-8179-8841-6 |access-date=18 September 2022 |archive-date=30 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630095753/https://books.google.com/books?id=Bhnf0fxI260C |url-status=live}}</ref> The United States' occupation of Greenland continued until 1945. Greenland was able to buy goods from the United States and Canada by selling [[cryolite]] from the mine at [[Ivittuut]]. [[Greenland in World War II|In World War II]], the United States military used {{lang|en-US|[[Bluie]]|italics=yes}} as a code name for Greenland, where they kept several bases named "Bluie (East or West) (sequential numeral)".<ref name="sem">{{cite book |last=Morison |first=Samuel Eliot |year=1975 |title=History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Volume 1: The Battle of the Atlantic September 1939&nbsp;– May 1943 |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |location=Boston |page=62}}</ref> The major air bases were [[Bluie West-1]] at [[Narsarsuaq Airport|Narsarsuaq]] and [[Bluie West-8]] at [[Kangerlussuaq Airport|Søndre Strømfjord]] (Kangerlussuaq), both of which are still used as Greenland's major international airports.

During this war, the system of government changed: [[List of governors of Greenland|Governor]] [[Eske Brun]] ruled the island under a law of 1925 that allowed governors to take control under extreme circumstances; Governor Aksel Svane was transferred to the United States to lead the commission to supply Greenland. The Danish [[Slædepatruljen Sirius|Sirius Patrol]] guarded the northeastern shores of Greenland in 1942 using dog sleds. They detected several German [[weather station]]s and alerted American troops, who destroyed the facilities. After the collapse of the Third Reich, [[Albert Speer]] briefly considered escaping in a small aeroplane to hide out in Greenland, but changed his mind and decided to surrender to the [[United States Armed Forces]].<ref>[[Albert Speer|Speer, Albert]]. ''Inside the Third Reich,'' 1971.</ref>

Greenland had been a protected and very isolated society until 1940. The [[Politics of Denmark|Danish government]] had maintained a strict monopoly of [[Economy of Greenland|Greenlandic trade]], allowing no more than small scale [[troaking|barter trading]] with British whalers. In wartime Greenland developed a sense of self-reliance through self-government and independent communication with the outside world. Despite this change, in 1946 a commission including the highest Greenlandic council, the ''[[Greenland Provincial Council|Landsrådene]]'', recommended patience and no radical reform of the system. Two years later, the first step towards a change of government was initiated when a grand commission was established. A final report (G-50) was presented in 1950, which recommended the introduction of a modern [[welfare state]] with Denmark's development as sponsor and model. In 1953, Greenland was made an equal part of the Danish Kingdom. Home rule was granted in 1979.