Wank off Denmark after 1600

Can...can we just wank Denmark and not wank it off? I mean, if that's what you're really after there's always Axis Powers Hetalia and the like.... ;)

Off the top of my head, a Prussia screw can lead to Denmark having Schleswig-Holstein.
 
I like that the last two threads I've seen from you have been under the formula of "Wank off X Country". Feels almost like an Oprah thing. "YOU get a wank! And YOU get a wank!"

Anyway, I have nothing useful to contribute. Cheers.
 
Can...can we just wank Denmark and not wank it off
What was Denmark's population in 1600? We could split the population in pairs and then do one of those mutual things (impolite to explicitly state it). If anything people would view it as a sort of welfare initiative.
 
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I don't have much information about Denmark during most of the 1600s, but during the Great Northern War you could have Denmark, not Brünswick-Lüneburg, getting Bremen-Verden, maybe have Queen Anne and Prince George having kids and the British Oldenburgs supports their coursins.

That's a start.
 
I like that the last two threads I've seen from you have been under the formula of "Wank off X Country". Feels almost like an Oprah thing. "YOU get a wank! And YOU get a wank!"

Anyway, I have nothing useful to contribute. Cheers.
I thought I was doing too much, but who doesn't enjoy a cheeky wank??
 
In 1660, Denmark-Norway had a population of around 1.1 million. Sweden had a population of around 2.2-2.5 million.

Yes but that was after the loss of Scania and the harrowing of Denmark. If we look at before the war Denmark had 1,5 million and Sweden 2 millions, and if we goes back before the 30YW the two countries had the same population size.

So while a post-loss of Scania wank are possible (there was support for a union with Denmark in the 1730ties), I think before are significant easier.

Let's start one place Christian IV oldest Christian the Chosen Prince was pretty useless, his next son Frederik III was intelligent, but his personality was pretty much a political disaster, the third son seem to have been talented but he died to young for us to find out anything about him. So let's change the first son, let's say for some reason he's more talented and a good ruler.

Next in OTL Christian IV wasted a lot of money on setting up a colony in India, and his search for north west passage failed. Let's say that someone convince Christian IV that it's a better idea to set up settlement in North America and take a short cut to India over land. Denmark found a colony in North America, maybe they buy Canada from France, maybe they settle in New York, the important part are that Denmark have set up a precense here. Beside that Christian IV invest in some African trading forts.

Next Christian end up more tolerant toward Reformed and he allow Reformed refugees to settle in Denmark.

Christian also set up a agricultural academy in attempt to introduce new crops and agricultural methods to Denmark.

When he fall off his horse in the 1620ties and dies.

He leave his crown to a more competent heir, who as a young king decides to stay out of the 30YW.

The Swedes still intervene and the kings two brothers (who are German bishop-princes) fight on the Swedish side. Denmark also end up supporting Sweden after the engagement, The youngest Ulrik becomes engaged to Christina of Sweden. Gustav II Adolf survive long enough to see Ulrik and Christina married in 1640. The Danish king on the other hand as a childless king end up making the Danish estate recognised Frederik III as his heir. As such Frederik III the bishop and later duke of Bremen-Verden end up Danish king, while Ulrik bishop of Schwerin end up king of Sweden.

The 30YW end up much as OTL except that Denmark gain Bremen-Verden, Hamburg, Bremen and the right to raise customs on the Elbe and Weser, while Sweden get all of Pomerania plus Wismar, Schwerin and the right to raise customs on the Oder. With the same dynasty in power in both states, they decides that Denmark accept everything east of Lübeck as Swedish sphere of interest and Sweden accept that everything west of Mecklenburg as as Danish sphere of interest.

With this Sweden and Denmark can pretty much ignore each other, Sweden can get away with its war with Russia and Poland, while Denmark can focus west and south. Later we can see a dynastic union as the two kingdom will keep intermarry.
 
Christian IV wasn't all that bad to be honest, he was just really, really, really unlucky. And rather OCD-ish when it came to managing his kingdom. His greatest asset in my opinion was that he realised how antique the constitutional set-up of the elective/aristocratic monarchy was and that reform needed to happen. He trumped the Council of the Realm in 1611 and ignored it when entering the TYW which is what gave him a rather bad name vis-a-vis the aristocracy for posterity (basically his whole reign was one long struggle for supremacy with the councilar opposition).

However, let's say he's got hard proof that England and France would subsidise his intervention (they promised to in OTL, but didn't - as the council rightly guessed) and the Council of the Realm for some reason (promises of fiefs in Germany - unlikely, but hey - or further financial assistance from the king) decides to sanction the Danish entry into the continental war. This means that Christian has the full support of his kingdom AND a lot of money from the western powers. To make the Danish/protestant army even more impressive, let's have the members of the Lower Saxon Circle cough up with a few more troops than they did OTL. The next important change involves Christian himself. In OTL he fell off his horse and hit his head quite severely just prior to the Battle of Lutter and some historians speculate that this influenced some rather 'original' tactical decisions by the king which in turn led to the ignominious defeat at the hands of Tilly. Let's say that doesn't happen either.

Thus at Lutter we now have a stronger protestant army commanded by a more competent general, and given the fact that the battle in OTL was pretty even-sided for a time, this could tip the scales in favour of the protestants. However, a lot depends on how massive a victory it is, but let's call it a reverse Lutter - just for the sake of the wank - and say the catholic army is completely annihilated. If that's the case, there's still some way to go before we reach Gustavus Adolphus levels of fame, but Christian is most surely on his way to become the greatest Danish monarch since Margaret the 1st.

I'm much more uncertain about what would transpire after a victory at Lutter, but one of the reasons Christian gave for intervening was the restitution of the Palatinate to Frederick V, so my guess is that he would head there before turning east towards Vienna (IIRC there is some evidence that Christian planned a pincer offensive against the Habsburg capital). One thing is pretty certain though - Sweden would react. The two northern powers had been rivals for the past century and the humiliation of the Kalmar War was still fresh with Gustavus who was campaigning in Poland at the time. Let's say the Swedes are emboldened by the Danish success and launch their own intervention and swing into the HRE from the Polish domains. Then the emperor would really be caught between the hammer and the anvil. What would the consequences of such developments be?



Some notes on the points of @Jürgen

Christian was a diehard Lutheran orthodox and absolutely not a fan of other protestant confessions. We would need a pre-1600 POD to change that.
The rivalry with Sweden wouldn't just go away if Christian decided not to intervene in the continental war (besides the Swedes only intervened because the Danes failed). One of the reasons Christian decided to intervene in the TYW at all was because he feared Swedish encroachment on his sphere of influence in the Lower Saxon Circle. Besides, one of Sweden's main policy objectives was to break the encirclement of the Oldenburg state and take over the dominium of the Baltic. So there's still quite some potential for conflict. However, this could be countered by installing a stronger council of the realm in both kingdoms, since the Peace of Stettin (re-affirmed in 1613) stipulated that any further border-conflict should be resolved between delegates representing the nobility (who had a clear interest in continued peace and cross-border trade).
 
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Another possible POD could centre on the Scanian War.

Have the policy of rapprochement with France proposed by Griffenfeld made into royal policy and have the outcome of the Battle of Lund turn out differently and you have the basis for a Danish reconquest of Scania within sight since it was that loss coupled with the intervention of Louis XIV on behalf of his Swedish statrap that determined the war should end status quo ante bellum. The strength of the new absolutist state coupled with the reclamation of the eastern provinces would REALLY improve the position of Denmark-Norway vis-a-vis Sweden. However, it's difficult to say whether or not this would foster a comparative feeling of revanchism in Stockholm or pave the way for an earlier lasting peace between the two nations. If events follow a more or less similar development, Denmark could very well be forced to cede the provinces to Sweden alongside Norway once the Napoleonic Wars end. But, meh, butterflies.
 
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