| |||||
| Capital | Lejre | ||||
| Largest city | Lejre | ||||
| Other cities | Odense, Ringsted, Köge, Nakskov, Traveborg, Rerik, Jomsborg | ||||
| Language | Danish | ||||
| Religion | none (57 %), Germanic cult (30 %), others (13 %) | ||||
| Ethnic Group | Danish (99 %) | ||||
| Government | parliamentary democracy | ||||
| Legislature | Folketing | ||||
| President | Jens Kjerregaard | ||||
| Förste Minister | Maren Jensen | ||||
| Area | 21,397 m² | ||||
| Population | 1,614,000 | ||||
| Established | 861 CE | ||||
| Currency | 1 Dansk Krone = 100 Öre | ||||
Denmark is a middle-sized republic on the archipelago between the Cimbric and the Scandinavian peninsulas as well as along the Southern shore of the Baltic Sea (OTL Mecklenburg).
Its capital is Lejre and its population 2.1 million.
Denmark is a member of the World Council and has observer status in the Germanic Alliance. It was among the initial signatories of the Tlacopan International Climate Protocol in 1656.
History[]
The area of present-day Denmark has been inhabited by North and Elbe Germanic groups for at least three millennia. Large groups have left these territories behind during the Germanic migrations.
After the Roman Revolution and the breakaway of the Gallo-Roman Empire, Denmark has come into relatively close contact with the latter. Among all North Germanic groups, the Danes experienced the greatest amount of Gallo-Roman and later Celtic imperial pressure. The Gallo-Roman / Celtic Empire undertook two campaigns to conquer Denmark, both of which failed. After the second successful defense, which Western Danes achieved in an alliance with the Saxon leader Widukind, the Danes from the Isle of Fyn knit a close alliance with the short-lived First Saxon Kingdom in the 6th century. They remained influential in North-Eastern Saxony and its neighbouring West Slavic coastlands. When first Traveborg, then Reric and a handful of smaller port towns required protection against Saxon and Obodritic nobles, for many inhabitants of these towns were considered indentured servants by these nobles (ethelinga and voivods), the Kings of Gudme were able to provide it. In exchange, they granted taxation rights and unlimited staple rights to Danish merchants from Fyn.
Thus strengthened, Kings of Gudme conducted several wars against the Eastern Danish Kings of Lejre, at the heart of which were mostly trade disputes. In 861, Lejre decided the last of these wars in their advantage, owed to the use of a military innovation: powerful, mobile and precisely maneuvrable cannons, obtained by the Celts, with which Lejre now also had forged an agreement. King Ragnvald of Lejre was able to unite all Danish isles as well as Skåne in the South of OTL Sweden under his leadership. The three Things of Fyn, Sjælland and Skåne remained and kept their different laws, though. In 911, the towns on the Southern coast of the Baltic Sea (OTL Mecklenburg) and their hinterland, which had become known as "Jom", successfully struggled for and achieved their own legal autonomy and self-administration in the Jomting.
The United Kingdom of Denmark began to use its cannons also to oversee the Øresund and collected customs for the king from all ships who passed the sund. This enormous source of income triggered a fast process of modernisation in Denmark, which brought modern manufacturing, banking and other recent innovations to the Danish lands. Further territorial expansions were attempted at the cost of the Gautar, whose confederacy was able to repel them, though.
When Olavism became virulent in Norway, there were a few isolated Olavist uprisings in Denmark, too. Overall, the Danish Kingdom remained polytheistic throughout the 11th-13th centuries, though. The Norwegian Republic attempted to invade and conquer Sjaelland, but was repelled. At the height of the conflicts with Norway, Denmark forged an alliance with Sweden, which broke apart in the 13th century, when Sweden annexed Skåne and Bornholm, which had been Danish lands. From then on, Denmark`s alliances focussed on the Baltic and Finnic nations (Prussia, Courland, Livonia, Vessia, Votia, Karelia, Galindia).
At the height of the industrial age class conflicts, a socialist revolution abolished the monarchy and aristocracy, collectivised the land and nationalised the industry in the 14th century. Conflicts with the Celtic Empire ensued, and Denmark joined the Roman Bloc. After the dissolution of the Roman Bloc and the transition to the Third Roman Republic, Denmark`s socialist government folded, too, and a liberal parliamentary democracy after the Celtic model was installed.
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Demograhics[]
99 % of Denmark´s population are ethnic Danes. After the peak of global mobility in the 19th century, migration has declined and work immigrants from those days are considered Danes today.
The country`s only and official language is Danish, one of the three Northern Germanic languages.
Similar to Norwegian, Danish words not only for scientific and philosophical terms are derived from Latin and Greek as in OTL, but also most words for professions, technologies and social structures imported from the Mediterranean. Therefore, more than 90 % of Danish words are of Latin or Greek origin, although the most widely used words and the grammar are still of Northern Germanic origin. Like Swedish, Danish is written in Nordic runes.
With a birth rate of 1.7 (60 % natural births) and no significant emigration, Denmark´s population is stable and even slightly increasing. The Danes´ life expectancy of 78 years is higher than that of most other Germanic peoples.
55 % of Denmark`s population lives in towns.
Constitution and politics[]
Denmark is a parliamentary democracy. The lasting legacy of its experiment with socialism is a rational and modern constitution without the great amount of traditionalist baggage other Germanic nations carry.
Legislative power lies with the parliament (Folketing), whose members are elected every three years according to proportional representation with nation-wide lists. The Folketing also nominates the supreme judges and elects the head of government (Förste Minister) and the head of state (President). Its major parties are (from right to left): Conservatives, Liberals, Democrats, Social Democrats, Socialists, Anarchists. The current government is based on a coalition majority formed by Liberals, Democrats and Social Democrats.
Denmark´s foreign policy is marked by its difficult relations with Saxony and Sweden, which both claim that Denmark supports revolutionary and separatist groups (they call them terrorists) in their countries, and its long-standing alliance with Venedia and the Baltic countries. Recently, Denmark has also built close and friendly relations with Norway. Denmark has also acted as an advocate of self-determination of the Ugro-Finnic nations. Beyond Europe, Denmark has friendly relationships with China, whom they allow to station troops on their territory, and close ties with Bangladesh, Eran, the Union of Atlantic Nations and the Imaziyen.
Economy[]
Denmark has industrialised and modernised itself under difficult conditions: overwhelming Celtic economic power, disruptions from Saxony and Sweden, trade boycotts against a temporarily socialist Denmark... The key to Denmark`s relative economic success (it cannot compare itself with the Mediterranean Empires, but its population is clearly better off than the Saxons or Swedes, even without a wealth in natural resources like Norway has) has been good education for everyone. Denmark`s small but skilled workforce can produce a great array of industrial and consumer goods and adapt quickly to changes.
Danish agriculture faces difficult conditions since the Gulf Stream does not reach Europe anymore. It produces beef and dairy products as well as rye and barley.
Culture[]
Perhaps due to Denmark`s flirt with socialism, the country is among the culturally more liberal ones in Germania and education levels are comparatively high.
Religion[]
Denmark is a secular state, i.e. the government does not interfere in religious issues. The majority of its citizens consider themselves religiously unaffiliated. Those following traditional Germanic cult have established cultural associations (in some way similar to Christian churches), which select and pay their priests according to members` contributions and decisions. Most of the priests are educated at the Swedish theological academies in Uppåkra and Mora. Different Christian churches as well as adherents of traditional Sami and Finnish cults live and pray without restrictions, difficulties or social discrimination in Denmark, too.
Social structure[]
Denmark is not a mass culture like Rome, but in comparison to other Germanic nations, family structures in Denmark are relatively small and open. Most Danes live in nuclear families. Harmonic families and monogamous love are strong cultural models, but promiscuity and divorce are not frowned upon and marginalised, and even homosexuality is accepted. Differences between town and country culture are not as pronounced as elsewhere in Germania.
Education[]
Denmark has a high-quality comprehensive school system. Primary and secondary schooling to the age of 18 is compulsory and provided by the state. Curricula are nationally defined, but schools and students have far-reaching options to choose between elements and pursue specialised schooling. International comparative studies have shown that Danish pupils fare better than those in any other Germanic country and even better than young Romans and Celts.
Six out of ten young Danes pursue undergraduate studies at the University of Lejre or one of the three academies for applied sciences.
Salvador79 (talk) 12:10, May 5, 2014 (UTC)