This book explores the impact of the Napoleonic wars on Danish-Norwegian society and accounts for war experiences and the transformation of identities among the popular classes and educated elites alike. The united kingdoms of Denmark-Norway may appear to have been Napoleon's most loyal ally, but, as this study shows, this was only because they had nowhere else to go. Finding itself at war with Britain after the British attack on Copenhagen in 1807 and twice at war with Sweden, the Danish-Norwegian government clung to Napoleon in defense of the territorial integrity of the multi-national Danish state. Conversely, this only served to compromise its unity as war, blockade, economic disruption and famine bred resentment in Denmark proper, Norway and the predominantly German duchies of Schleswig and Holstein.

This book explores the impact of the Napoleonic wars on Danish-Norwegian society and accounts for war experiences and the transformation of identities among the popular classes and educated elites alike.