Conference on War and Nationalism – Copenhagen - Abstract
Construing National Identities during Times of War:
Norwegian Perspectives on the Second Schleswig War of 1864
Jon Teistung
Doctoral Student in History
European University Institute Florence
My contribution to the NATWARDEFCON 2023 is an historical piece; an historical analysis of the Norwegian nation’s reaction to – and understanding of – the Second Schleswig War of 1864. The paper discusses how a nation uses a war between two foreign belligerents as a vehicle to reflect on different matters of national identity – both outward and inward – in the 19th century. The war was fought amid the age of fervorous romantic nationalism in Europe, when concepts surrounding national identity, history, and geopolitics all were at the forefront of intellectual thought. Even though a non-belligerent, the ideas and concepts present in the contemporary Norwegian public discourse surrounding the war, gives many interesting perspectives on the influence such an event can have on the world around it.
The central source-materials are Norway’s dominant newspapers of the time. Newspapers were one of the most important arenas of public discussion on a national level in 19th century Europe, and as most of the papers at the same time were written and edited by some of the most influential and central actors in the active nation-building process in Norway , the themes discussed and the perspectives given are especially interesting as they in effect constitute central elements of the national “consciousness” as a whole.
The paper presents two specific focal points in relation to the war’s influence in Norway: Firstly, an inward perspective – how the Norwegian public reflects about its position as a relatively young nation on the world stage. The war between Denmark and Germany is presented as a national-historical crossroads for Norway, in where the destiny of the nation hangs in the balance, and discussions of “national character” and the perception of what decisions are right and wrong in the face of war – a serious national crisis – are central aspects analyzed. Especially important in this perspective is the understanding of the national pasts, and a central element in this is the use of real or not-so-real historical narratives used to substantiate the Norwegian understanding of the central themes of the discourse.
The second perspective is how the war not only makes Norway look inward towards the national self – but how the discourse handles what Claudia Lenz calls “the other” – in this case the perceived aggressors – the German nation. With these hostilities as a backdrop, which conditions the discourse, the article discusses how the media of the nation depicts the war and its relation to the German nation and national character as well as how the differences between the nations are perceived. The presentation of Germany in the press during the war is an interesting object of study as it’s one of the first times media-depictions of a larger scale were available and presented to the Norwegian public, which consequently shaped the idea of the nation in the public eye.
The paper argues that the two perspectives discussed in relation to the war give important historical insight into the active creation of different aspects of national identity both inward and outward. The use of historical narratives and allegories in face of war, and the discourse surrounding ideas of the war as a national-historical crossroads in which the nation must show its character both contribute to the advancement of the collective national “consciousness”. Similarly, the depictions and discussions surrounding the German nation construe a collective “idea” of the nation in the public eye – which again contributes in further development of the self-image of the Norwegian nation itself.
Through the war’s function as a national-discursive “looking glass”, this paper presents and discusses how a nation views itself and its relation to another, giving several interesting perspectives not only on 19th century national identity in meeting with war as a concept, but also on how these events contribute to developing inter-national understandings and relations.
Although the nation in focus – Norway – is not directly involved in the war, the ramifications of the conflict are apparent in Norway. The paper thematizes how war not only affect the belligerents directly but also contributes to the defining of meaning and creation of ideas in places outside themselves. The Norwegian reaction to the war in 1864 is a perfect example of how the concepts of nationalism, ideology, and the world of ideas and the relationship between these, are affected by conflict and fear outside the nation’s borders.