19th Century
During the First Schleswig War (1848–51), the Crimean War (1854–56) and the Second Schleswig War (1864), belligerents took steps to reduce or eliminate commerce in the North Sea by their enemies. In the first Schleswig War, Denmark was able to halt maritime commerce by Germany in the North Sea and in the second, imposed tolls on ships crossing through the Danish straits between the Baltic and North Seas. The Crimean War saw British and French expeditions sent into the Baltic to prevent Russian ships' egress into the North Sea though they saw little action.
The Austro-Prussian War (1866) resulted in Prussia's gaining full control of the Kiel Canal, allowing their Baltic ports access to the North Sea.
France declared war on Prussia 19 July 1870 which initiated the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871). The French Navy was, at the time far larger and superior to the Norddeutsche Bundesmarine, the Navy of the North German Confederation. Though the French did take a number of merchant ships bound to and from North Germany, shortages of manpower and coal, as well as conflicting orders, made the attempted blockade of Prussian ports ineffective. The French had planned a seaborne assault on the North Sea coast in order to relieve expected pressure on the front in Alsace and Lorraine. However, this coast, which was difficult to navigate to begin with, had been heavily fortified before the war. The ironclads of this time consisted of broadside turret and the new casemate ironclads which protected the revolving turret.
A convention passed in November 1887 came to the aid of fishermen of the North Sea. This law restricted liquor traffic from bum boats. The island of Heligoland was ceded to Germany 1890 when the United Kingdom and Germany signed the Treaty of Heligoland. The Cod War of 1893 erupted between Denmark and Britain over fishing territories. Denmark declared a fishing territory of 13 nautical miles (24 km) around their shores which included Iceland and the Faroe Islands. Britain did not acknowledge this claim.
Read more about this topic: History Of The North Sea
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