Could Norway have been integrated into Sweden?

As we know, the personal union of Sweden and Norway after 1814 was very loose basically they had the same foreign policy but were pretty much independent in everything else. Would there be any possible opportunities for Sweden to make Norway an integral part of Sweden ie abolish the Norwegian legislature and somewhat erase their national identity? Would any great powers object or feel strongly enough to intervene?
 
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Part of Sweden? No, way too far gone for that. Norwegian identity was too strong.
A united kingdom of equals could be possible however.
 
Assuming PoD in 1814? Too late I think, however if we have some thing like Sweden bites off most of the important parts earlier on it might be possible to integrate the rest later.
 
given that Sweden was given Norway after Treaty of Kiel (preliminary of Concert of Vienna) was very much against the wants of Norway (they tried everything including declaring independence with one of the Danish Kings' 'spare' children as King), any attempt to neutralize Norwegian identity would be a surefire way to get a huge revolt on your hands.

And thats before discussing how bloody hard Norway is to get around in with an army, given pre-modern infrastructure ... other than the lowlands in the southeast, which might well be occupied well enough to win a quick war (since it socially and politically were the central core), its practially impossible to get armies around fast enough in enough numbers to fight a war against an asymmetric opponent.

Add to that, that Denmark would very willing to aid the norwegian elite (which would surely join a revolt, likely leading it) with everything just short of declaring on Sweden themselves, I don't see any plausible way to do what you suggest ...

Best shot would probably be a much harsher 1648 peace giving Sweden Norway instead of Scania, and then handle the population with velvet gloves so they don't revolt (the occupation they did in Scania and tried on Bornholm, is not plausible as earlier noted).

Together with the British bombing of Copenhagen (at the time neutral in Napoleonic wars) the Swedish grab at Norway, explicitly against the Norwegian population who would rather have independence or stay with Denmark, is certainly up there in most dickish moves doing the Napoleonic wars
 
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One of the reasons Norway had a special identity was that there was no Norwegian nobility - it ceased to exist as a class due to the plague in the 1340s and 1350s.

The plague hit Norway very hard - death toll estimaes range between 50 and 75%. Combined with the alodement law, which allowed people to squat on land, and if no-one claimed it in three generations (before the plague shortened to 30 years), the squatter became the formal owner. The tenants of the nobility simply moved to vacated free land to take it over, and the nobility had to revert to farm their own land to survive.

The Norwegian elite consisted either of gone native Danish noblemen (very few in numbers), civil servants and shipping and fishing magnates.

The Norwegian elite, as it was, was very nationalistic, very liberal and strongly pro-British.

Combined with a very liberal and strong Norwegian entity that it is far too late to surpress from 1814 onwards is the fact that Sweden and Norway had completely different security and economical needs.

Sweden had her arch-enemy in the east in the form of Russia, close ties to Prussia and later Germany and historically close ties to France. A strong army and a focus on the Baltic Sea was necessary for the security of Sweden.

Norway on the other hand was more or less an island - it was posible to invade from a few points in Sweden, but for all purposes it was an island. The Norwegians only needed good relations with Great Britain to be safe. If the British did not approve, it was hard or close to impossible to invade Norway.

Economically, Sweden has dependent on iron and copper exports and had a tradition of proto-industry in cannon and iron tools production, which eventually would result in a strong industrial revolution. Sweden wanted tolls and protectionism for its industry and focused on the trade with Europe.

Norway, on the other hand, focused on fishing and shipping and never really had a large industrial revolution.

In my timeline "A different Finnish War" I have Sweden, still in Gustavian absolutism, annex Norway 1809-1810 and whisk off the Eidsvold assembly to become the Norwegian representatives at the estates parliament in Stockholm. The Norwegians are pissed, but in no position to resist and Sweden will in that timeline be much closer aligned to Great Britain, which benefits Norway and her needs immensly, which will make things better.
 
If Karl Johan had been more secure of power in Sweden, and not feared to be murdered like the previous crownprince and the next-to-last king, or deposed like the last king, we could have had a different scenario playing out. OTL he was nice to the Norwegians so he could retreat to Norway if Sweden was lost.

Say instead that the Swedish campaign in Norway is completed, and all military resistance is crushed. Norway then becomes fully integrated into the Swedish administrative system without any special reservations.

Sweden has a new and fairly modern constitution with a strong parliament, which means that the upper crust of the Norwegian population will be able to have some influence on the future political decisions.

There was no Norwegian standard language at this time. Rural people spoke country dialects, while urban people spoke a norwegianised Danish. OTL these two modes of speech became the basis for Ivar Aasen's and Knud Knudsen's ambitions of creating the Norwegian language. ATL we instead force Swedish upon the Norwegians, and the differences are not that huge to begin with, and as the basic school system develops everyone is trained in Standard Swedish. Since there is no Norwegian state or administration, neither Aasen nor Knudsen feel any inclination to develop any new language, and the Norwegian dialects fare the same as the Swedish dialects, and are gradually replaced by Standard Swedish.

The Swedish system is very much centralised to Stockholm, with only small regional power, and the Norwegians adapt to this just like the rest of the country.

Since we do not have two administrations with different outlooks, but only one, the overall tensions would not be as outspoken as OTL, and things could be settled in Stockholm.

I wonder if the Norwegian church will joined to the Swedish church, or if they are to be separate. If so, this might be a national rallying point, so it might be better for the Swedes to have it united.

In OTL, Norway could develop institutions under the protection of the Union, and have a fully developed administration when independent in 1905. Here everything is part of the Swedish administration, and since the Swedish government, unlike OTL, has a strong Norwegian influence, why should there even be any Norwegian separatist feelings?

Perhaps the Swedish language keeps the three genders in this timeline. Many in Sweden still use them, and with added support from Norway it might be enough to avoid their abolition in 1900.

After democratisation in 1920, would the Norwegian people really care about independence? It is often claimed that nationalism is strong, and such is hard to comprehend from a Swedish perspective, since we are indoctrinated into non-nationalism. In this case, there has not been a Norwegian state for five hundred years, and the current state speaks the same language and has the same religion and is not geographically separated and there are no Norwegian institutions to rally around, and Norwegians are not discriminated or singled out in any way. Could they really care that much that they would feel it necessary to leave the Swedish realm? We have no lost war, such as broke Austria-Hungary, involved here.
 
If Charles X had taken Copenhagen by storm after marching over the ice and then had peace Norway could have been part of the package along with Skane just to have him leave Copenhagen.

Then have him die going to Goteborg to get new funds for a war to completly smash Denmark and no second war and losing the peace
 
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