Talk:Second War of Schleswig

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Fascinating Article but how do i submit it for cleanup? It really needs it! The last 4 paragrpahs could be merged into one, or at least be more concise... :) other than that...?

Never heard that Schleswig had a Danish majority; that was regionally the case for Northern Schleswig (the area that opted for Denmark in 1919 but even then the towns Åbenrå, Sønderborg, Tinglev and Tønder had opted for Germany) but not for the southern part.
Considering the (admittedly a bit complicated) history of the duchy there is no real point of talking of "reincorporation" of Schleswig into Denmark. --Kipala 13:26, 23 July 2006 (UTC)
To reply to the second issue first; What I meant with "reincorporation" is that the Duchy was not subject to laws passed by the Danish parliament, so I am thinking of in the context of the Danish Consitution. If you have a better term, I'm all ears. Regarding your first point; the language "border" between Danish and German was during the Middle Ages located near Dannevirke and the similar wall in the south of Schwansen (I can't remember the name at the moment. Korte Kovirke ???), so in Denmark this would be considered the original border between Danish and German settlement. The change of colloquial language in southern Schleswig began already before the rise of nationalism, but accellerated during the early nineteenth century. The language of Schwansen changed to German during the eighteenth century. During the early nineteenth century, the language of Angeln changed as well, and by 1864, the transfer in this region must have been mostly complete. However, the maps I've seen of the area from the late 1830s still show parts of northern Angeln marked as "mixed". The language of central southern Schleswig (in Danish: Midtsletten) changed later than the rest, but the transfer was probably complete around the 1890s - c. 1900. The language border didn't become identical to the modern border before the 1930s-40s when it changed in a few settlements west of Frøslev.
The loyalties of most of the people in southern Schleswig had become pro-German around the 1840s but I've always heard that the venacular catched up slower. By 1864, the towns in Northern Schleswig were (all in all) mixed but with a Danish majority (not Tønder, naturally). AFAIK this was the case in both Aabenraa, Haderslev and Sønderborg. Flensburg seems to have been devided more evenly, both linguistically and according to loyalties. But if the election of 1867 is any guide, it voted predominantly Danish in that election (so did Hanved / Handewitt, btw.). From an "ethnic" point of view, the matter is pretty straightforward since the language changed without any massive influx of people from e.g. Holstein. But I agree, that the situation is a bit more complex if we go by language. Hmm, do you know of any good compilation of census results? Valentinian (talk) 14:19, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

Update: I've gone through a description of Denmark from 1862 (August Baggesen (1862), Den danske Stat, Copenhagen: C.A. Reitzel). Pages 140-141 describe the population of the population of the different provinces. Baggesen lists the population of the Duchy of Schleswig thus:

  • 134,000 lived in a region in which Danish is both used in churches and schools
  • 84,000 lived in a mixed region
  • 192,000 lived in a region in which German is used in both churches and schools (including 63,000 Frisians).

- - - - -
= 410,000 (total). (409,907, of these 72,374 lived in towns, p. 162.)

Unfortunately, Baggesen doesn't break down the numbers from the mixed zone (probably because the data were either not available or because an unknown portion of these data had been tampered with (e.g. the priest in Bov seems to have reported in 1840 that the ratio for Danish and German in his parish is 1:64 in favour of German (the correct figure would have been 90%+ for Danish. I just came across this one scanning through Claus Eskildsen's Grænselære. Eskildsen's book is not a source I'd normally rely on but this example looks kosher. A similar example from Nørre Haksted is even worse.) I'll try to dig deeper into this issue when I get the time, but from an "ethnic" point of view, the Danish roots of the vast majority of the province is beyond doubt. If there'd been a massive immigration of Holsteiners to Schleswig, it would have been recorded in Danish history books, but they don't mention any migrations. I'll rewrite the paragraph and look for a more conclusive source. Valentinian (talk) 21:06, 23 July 2006 (UTC)


It is all correct what you describe here, but have in mind that there was no link between ethnical feeling and language, something that makes the Slesvig conflict very complex. A few spoke German and opted for Denmark, many spoke Danish and preferred a German Schleswigholstein. Some were nationally indifferent or had sympathies for both sides, though this group has always been overshadowed by the others.
Also, I think this article should focus on the war, not everything else. Maybe another article should be dedicated to the conflict in general terms, describing the ethnical, linguistic, historical, political point of views, as well as analysing background reasons of military, European power-balance, constitional etc. nature.
About your calculation of how many people lived in areas with German and Danish curch and school language, respectively: This might be the reason why there were two opinions about what was the 'majority' language in Slesvig. If you count citizens with German school and church language, German would be in majority. If you count citizens who spoke Danish as mother tongue, Danish would be in majority. The peasantry were not asked or allowed to choose, German was school and church language in the southern half, and Danish in the northern. Moreover, German was administration and judiciary language in all of Slesvig. With the "language rescripts" of 1851, the Danish government forced a change to Danish school and mixed German/Danish church language in the still Danish-speaking areas in Central Slesvig, but also in some areas where only the oldest generation spoke Danish, and in some areas where Danish had practically died out. This only created anger in areas where people were used to German as the 'holy language' and Danish had a low social status (they were not used to Standard Danish either, since the South Jutland dialect is rather different).
I think the factual information in Claus Eskildsen's book is reliable enough, it is his way of reasoning that is a problem. But remember, he wrote it during WW II and his aim was to refute nazi views with their own way of 'volkstum' reasoning. So it focuses a lot on use of clogs, agricultural tools, last names, and even blue vs. brown eyes. I don't think he was a racist himself, though. --Sasper 23:40, 22 November 2006 (UTC)
We don't disagree at all and I can easily agree with your observations. Language, loyalties and ethnicity often didn't correspond and the result was one giant mess. I'm afraid Lord Palmerston was all too right on his observation that this region can drive people nuts. :) I own a copy of Baggesen's "Den Danske Stat" from 1840 (before the worst mess started) and I am pretty sure both this and "Hof- og Statskalenderen" from around the same time has more information. If you don't know it already, I can warmly recommend Baggesen's description of Denmark. I haven't seen any other good descriptions of the entire Helstat written before the two wars. I'll try to check these books for better figures one of the coming days. Btw, the first edition of Eskildsen's book was published in 1936, so slightly before the war. However, I prefer not to use him as a source if it can be avoided, for the exact reason you cite above. I agree that it is unlikely that he invented his actual figures, but his line of thought is rather problematic. Regards. Valentinian (talk) / (contribs) 23:56, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] WP:MILHIST Assessment

Needs references. LordAmeth 20:05, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Casualty rates needs checking

I'm somewhat puzzled by the casualty figures added today. The page quoted [1] mentions Danish losses of almost 3,000 dead, wounded and captured just in the battle of Als (Kampen om øen havde kostet den danske hær næsten 3000 mand i døde, sårede og tilfangetagne.) and a similar figure for the fighting at Dybbøl as almost 5,000 (De danske tab var næsten 5000 mand i døde, sårede og tilfangetagne. De preussiske tab var omkring 1200 mand.) Do anybody have some good references for such figures? Valentinian (talk) / (contribs) 22:23, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Timeline

Anthony Appleyard, please note that "Schleswig-Holstein" didn't exist yet, only Schleswig and Holstein. I think it is a good idea to use the present tense in the timeline, but there is still some past tense left. Maybe we should move the timeline should be a separate article? Many articles use such a solution so the main article won't be too long. --Sasper 16:18, 23 November 2006 (UTC)