.
Queen Margrethe was present at the celebration of Denmark's Nationalbank's 200th anniversary in Copenhagen this afternoon, July 4:
**
BB: Dronning Margrethe til fest i banken **
translation **
Yes, the Danish National Bank came about as a direct consequence of the Danish state bankruptcy in 1813.
As a major trading nation that between 1720-1801 (really 1807) managed to stay neutral and outside the European wars Denmark became a prosperous country. And since everyone were interested in maintaining at least some trade, a neutral country with a large merchant fleet, protected by an equally large navy, came in handy.
Denmark sailed everything for everyone everywhere. Including slaves BTW. DK was the seventh largest slave-transporting nation and it has been estimated that some 100.000 Africans were transported (and survived) to the Americas between the mid 1600's to 1792.
In 1792 Denmark became the first country to abolish slave trade. Partly as a consequence the Enlightenment, but mainly because slave transport became less and less profitable.
Slavery had already been outlawed in the Danish realm for centuries, also for Africans who happened to end up here. However, slavery persisted in the Danish colonies in African and especially the West Indies until 1848.
But back to the bankruptcy.
By the year 1800 Britain was under severe economic pressure, because Napoleon had managed to persuade, goad and pressure practically the whole of the European continent to block British merchants from trading. That included Denmark which at the time was a part of an armed neutrality league with Russia and Sweden, effectively keeping British merchant out of the Baltic, while having a combined navy strong enough to be able to secure our own merchant ships from a counter-blockade by the British.
Okay by 1801 Britain decided a bit of gunboat diplomacy was the answer. The a navy was shipped to Copenhagen in the early spring to pressure the Danish king to leave the neutrality league and do it before the Danish, Swedish and Russian navies had been tackled and armed after the winter.
That led to the Battle of Copenhagen 2nd April 1801 - where Nelson put the spyglass before his blind eye, meaning he couldn't see the signal from his superior to break off the battle and retreat.
We can discuss the outcome of the battle, but politically the British succeeded. DK left the Neutrality League - and around the same time the Russian Tsar died, changing the political situation dramatically.
Despite the battle a fragile peace continued between DK and UK. But during the first years of the 1800's Napoleon de facto took control of central and southern Europe and now Britain was under economic as well an military pressure. - And Denmark had one of the largest navies in Europe...
The nightmare scenario in the British Admiralty was that Denmark would either be defeated by Napoleon or more or less "persuaded" to become an ally of Napoleon - and that meant the Danish navy would be under the control of Napoleon.
So the British issued an ultimatum to DK. The Danish navy should be handed over to Britain and be under British control for the duration of the war with Napoleon. In return UK would guarantee Danish ships and protect the Danish coast, reimburse DK for using the Danish navy and return the Danish warships fully equipped and in working order after the war. - That was of course a totally unacceptable proposal for a sovereign nation!
So Britain launched what was one of the best executed combined operations in military history. A fleet and an army corps was send to Copenhagen, surrounded the city in order to put pressure on the Danish king to comply with the demands and hand over the navy.
The army corps tasked with surrounding Copenhagen and protecting the artillery batteries were under the command of a general Wellesley, later Duke of Wellington.
What happened next in 1807 was nothing short of an atrocity, which is why this episode is not covered much in British history books. Copenhagen was bombarded for three days and nights by artillery and incendiary rockets. Setting fire to large parts of Copenhagen and killing several hundred civilians.
The Danish king was at the time in Schleswig-Holstein with the main Danish army. In fact to guard against an incursion by Napoleon, so Copenhagen was under the command of a military governor, who with large parts of the city in flames decided to surrender and comply with the British demands. - So to the endless humiliation of a proud sea-nation practically the whole of the danish navy was taken away.
Of course that infuriated the Danes to no end! And the result became a kind of guerilla warfare at sea against any British ship entering Danish waters. Small gunboats by the hundreds were constructed and were a genuine menace for British shipping, even major ships of the line were sometimes in trouble!
In fact Denmark ended up being Napoleon's last ally when he surrendered for the first time in 1814. - But since Denmark was a war with Britain and had no navy left, Danish trade abroad broke down. That resulted in the state bankruptcy in 1813.
On top of that our old enemy, the Swedes decided to side with the British and invaded Norway in 1814, because after Napoleon had left for Elba, the spoils where shared among the European states, and while Denmark was treated fairly mildly, it was decided that Norway should be ceded to Sweden.
The Norwegians were not interested! They wanted independence. No way, was the reply from Sweden, so they invaded. The Norwegians fought gallantly and hard, but without support from Denmark it was a forlorn hope. It led to Sweden and Norway becoming a union under the Swedish crown. In reality Norway became a Swedish province until 1905.
But to avoid future economic chaos (and to some extent also keeping the financial dispositions of the king under control) after what happened after the bankruptcy in 1813, the Danish National Bank was established in 1818.
And as a little curiosum: When Copenhagen surrendered after the bombardment in 1807 the good citizens of Copenhagen strolled outside the ramparts to have a look at the British camps. Especially the Scottish regiments "with their naked legs" were particular exotic.
It may sound strange to us today, but in an age where news reporting was slow, people went out to see "the news" with their own eyes when possible.