History of Norway - Independence

Independence

With the four-party Michelsen's Cabinet appointed in 1905, Parliament voted to establish a Norwegian consular service. This was rejected by the king and on 7 June Parliament unanimously approved the dissolution of the union. In the following dissolution referendum, only 184 people voted in favor of a union. The government offered the Norwegian crown to Denmark's Prince Carl, who after a plebiscite became Haakon VII. The following ten years, Parliament passed a series of social reforms, such as sick pay, factory inspection, a ten-hour working day and worker protection laws. Waterfalls for hydroelectricity became an important resource in this period and the government secured laws to hinder foreigners from controlling waterfalls, mines and forests. Large industrial companies established in these years were Elkem, Norsk Hydro and Sydvaranger. The Bergen Line was completed in 1909, the Norwegian Institute of Technology was established the following year and women's suffrage was introduced in 1913—as the second country in the world. From the 1880s to the 1920s, Norwegians carried out a series of polar expeditions. The most important explorers were Fridtjof Nansen, Roald Amundsen and Otto Sverdrup. Amundsen's expedition in 1911 became the first to reach the South Pole.

Norway adopted a policy of neutrality from 1905; during World War I the Norwegian merchant marine was largely used in support of the British, resulting in Norway being classified as The Neutral Ally. Half the Norwegian fleet and 2,000 seamen were killed by the German Atlantic U-boat Campaign. Some merchants made huge profits from trade and shipping during the war, resulting in an increased division between the classes. The interwar period was dominated by economic instability caused among other by strikes, lock-outs and the monetary policy causing deflation to compensate for too much money having been issued during the war and thus hindering investments. Especially fishermen were hit hard in the period, while farmers retained market prices through organizing regulations. Unemployment peaked at ten percent between 1931 and 1933. Although industrial production increased by eighty percent from 1915 to 1939, the number of jobs remained stable. The Norwegian School of Economics was established in 1936.

Norway had nine governments between 1918 and 1935, nearly all minority and lasting an average eighteen months. The Agrarian Party was established in 1920, although this period saw a rise of support for the Conservatives. The Labor Party split in 1921, with the left wing establishing the Communist Party. Although strong during the 1920s, they were marginalized through the 1930s. A short-lived Labor Government reigned in 1928, but did not establish a sound parliamentary support until the 1935 Nygaardsvold's Cabinet, based on an alliance with the Agrarian Party. During the 1920s and 1930s, Norway established three dependencies, Bouvetøya, Peter I Island and Queen Maud Land, annexed Jan Mayen and secured sovereignty of Svalbard through the Svalbard Treaty. Norway's three first primary airports, Oslo, Kristiansand and Stavanger, opened in 1939.