Denmark, being a monarchy, has had plenty of dictators. For some reason though the term dictator is often understood not to include monarchs and you can argue where the exact line should be drawn between a leader being a dictator or just a really big asshole. Here are some candidates for the title of “last dictator of Denmark”:
Johann Friedrich Struensee (1770-1772): Prussian court physician who gained the trust of the absolute monarch Christian VII who was suffering from severe mental illness. Struensee also gained the trust of the queen to such as extent that he is widely considered to be the father of one of her children. He was appointed de facto regent by the king who was too unwell to govern and given a blanket authorisation to issue decrees. He embarked on an ambitious programme of modernisation and sensible liberal reforms such as banning torture and the slave trade, fighting corruption, enacting meritocratic hiring policies, land reforms giving land to peasants and abolishing censorship. People hated him for it and the newly freed press vilified him. Eventually Struensee was toppled in a reactionary coup centered around the queen dowager and executed by public beheading.
Frederik VIII (1848): The last absolute monarch. As heir apparent he had led a tumultuous life, he possessed no talents speak of and he showed little interest in matters of state. In 1848 at the age of 38 he became king when his father died as the result of bloodletting-induced sepsis. Liberals had long pushed for a modern constitution that would introduce democratic elements to the government and revolutionary waves were sweeping Europe. The work-shy failson king welcomed the idea of not having the bother that goes with being an active dictator and shortly after gaining power he signed a draft constitution, ending the absolute monarchy.
Jacob Brønnum Scavenius Estrup (1875-1894): Conservative prime minister. When the conservatives were defeated in the general elections of 1884 he simply refused to resign. The king and the largely unelected upper house backed him up. When the liberal majority in the lower house refused to pass Estrup’s annual budget in 1885 he made up the concept of “provisional budgets” which he used nine years in a row. The budgets were mostly concerned with spending on the military and the police state. The same year he survived a point-blank assassination attempt which came as a convenient excuse for restricting the freedom of the press, increasing the powers of the police and creating “the blue gendarms”, his own special police force that he used to suppress dissent. In 1894 liberals and conservatives finally agreed to pass a budget and Estrup resigned shortly after. He holds the record af the longest-serving prime minister and to this day his portrait is hung in the must prominent position in parliament’s gallery of prime ministers.
Christian X (1920): Honorary mention for attempting to be a dictator and failing. In 1864 Denmark had lost Schleswig-Holstein in the second Schleswig war. Following the end of WWI referenda were held in 1920 in Schleswig and the northern part voted to rejoin Denmark. The social-liberal government, backed by the social democrats, accepted the result of the referenda but the reactionary forces such as the liberal and conservative parties, king Christian X and several powerful oligarchs wanted more. The king, described by some as “a dim-witted officer type” and “a Mercurial psychopath”, summoned prime minister Zahle and ordered him to call for snap elections. Zahle who was backed by a majority in parliament refused and the king dismissed him on the spot. Instead he appointed Otto Liebe, his personal lawyer who had never been politically active, as prime minister. Strikes and massive protests erupted led by the social democrats and after a few days the king, faced with the threat of a general strike, folded and fired Liebe whose administration has been nicknamed “the administration that never slept”. The king and the reactionaries got their elections shortly after though where they won bigly but they never got any more of Schleswig back. The crisis put the fear of Jesus into the royals who have ever since kept their big mouths shut about anything that could be perceived as “political”.
Nazi occupation (1940-1945): When occupying Denmark in 1940 the Nazis didn’t want to have too much trouble out of it so they aimed for a “peaceful occupation”, allowing civil government to continue mostly uninterrupted. However, political power grows from the barrel of a gun and the Nazis had all the guns, giving them significant influence. Although German soldiers referred to Denmark as “the whipped cream front” and although the occupation of Denmark was arguably among the least brutal nazi occupations the nazis were still nazis, a gang of murderous psychos. The Gestapo hunted freedom fighters with all the barbarism you would expect and gangs of Nazi terrorists carried out terror bombings against random civilians in retaliation for resistance activity.
The dictatorship of the bourgeoisie (now): Do I need to say more?
He embarked on an ambitious programme of modernisation and sensible liberal reforms such as banning torture and the slave trade, fighting corruption, enacting meritocratic hiring policies, land reforms giving land to peasants and abolishing censorship. People hated him for it and the newly freed press vilified him.
They hated him because Denmark basically had a regal cult and Struense was more or less openly cuckolding the king. While the reason for the aristocratic resistance to his rule was his liberal reform spree, he was convicted of lese majeste and that was what the press was mostly mad about. One of the big accusations was that he had beaten the king, which was somewhere between unthinkable and heretical.
Somewhat ironically the king’s son would later take power by actually beating the person behind the arrest of struense who had installed himself as regent.
The dictatorship period of Denmark is either the scavenius prime ministership per 1942 or the rule by department chiefs per 1943, it is not the entire occupation as Denmark was allowed to maintain their government
and to this day his portrait is hung in the must prominent position in parliament’s gallery of prime ministers.
Denmark, being a monarchy, has had plenty of dictators. For some reason though the term dictator is often understood not to include monarchs and you can argue where the exact line should be drawn between a leader being a dictator or just a really big asshole. Here are some candidates for the title of “last dictator of Denmark”:
Johann Friedrich Struensee (1770-1772): Prussian court physician who gained the trust of the absolute monarch Christian VII who was suffering from severe mental illness. Struensee also gained the trust of the queen to such as extent that he is widely considered to be the father of one of her children. He was appointed de facto regent by the king who was too unwell to govern and given a blanket authorisation to issue decrees. He embarked on an ambitious programme of modernisation and sensible liberal reforms such as banning torture and the slave trade, fighting corruption, enacting meritocratic hiring policies, land reforms giving land to peasants and abolishing censorship. People hated him for it and the newly freed press vilified him. Eventually Struensee was toppled in a reactionary coup centered around the queen dowager and executed by public beheading.
Frederik VIII (1848): The last absolute monarch. As heir apparent he had led a tumultuous life, he possessed no talents speak of and he showed little interest in matters of state. In 1848 at the age of 38 he became king when his father died as the result of bloodletting-induced sepsis. Liberals had long pushed for a modern constitution that would introduce democratic elements to the government and revolutionary waves were sweeping Europe. The work-shy failson king welcomed the idea of not having the bother that goes with being an active dictator and shortly after gaining power he signed a draft constitution, ending the absolute monarchy.
Jacob Brønnum Scavenius Estrup (1875-1894): Conservative prime minister. When the conservatives were defeated in the general elections of 1884 he simply refused to resign. The king and the largely unelected upper house backed him up. When the liberal majority in the lower house refused to pass Estrup’s annual budget in 1885 he made up the concept of “provisional budgets” which he used nine years in a row. The budgets were mostly concerned with spending on the military and the police state. The same year he survived a point-blank assassination attempt which came as a convenient excuse for restricting the freedom of the press, increasing the powers of the police and creating “the blue gendarms”, his own special police force that he used to suppress dissent. In 1894 liberals and conservatives finally agreed to pass a budget and Estrup resigned shortly after. He holds the record af the longest-serving prime minister and to this day his portrait is hung in the must prominent position in parliament’s gallery of prime ministers.
Christian X (1920): Honorary mention for attempting to be a dictator and failing. In 1864 Denmark had lost Schleswig-Holstein in the second Schleswig war. Following the end of WWI referenda were held in 1920 in Schleswig and the northern part voted to rejoin Denmark. The social-liberal government, backed by the social democrats, accepted the result of the referenda but the reactionary forces such as the liberal and conservative parties, king Christian X and several powerful oligarchs wanted more. The king, described by some as “a dim-witted officer type” and “a Mercurial psychopath”, summoned prime minister Zahle and ordered him to call for snap elections. Zahle who was backed by a majority in parliament refused and the king dismissed him on the spot. Instead he appointed Otto Liebe, his personal lawyer who had never been politically active, as prime minister. Strikes and massive protests erupted led by the social democrats and after a few days the king, faced with the threat of a general strike, folded and fired Liebe whose administration has been nicknamed “the administration that never slept”. The king and the reactionaries got their elections shortly after though where they won bigly but they never got any more of Schleswig back. The crisis put the fear of Jesus into the royals who have ever since kept their big mouths shut about anything that could be perceived as “political”.
Nazi occupation (1940-1945): When occupying Denmark in 1940 the Nazis didn’t want to have too much trouble out of it so they aimed for a “peaceful occupation”, allowing civil government to continue mostly uninterrupted. However, political power grows from the barrel of a gun and the Nazis had all the guns, giving them significant influence. Although German soldiers referred to Denmark as “the whipped cream front” and although the occupation of Denmark was arguably among the least brutal nazi occupations the nazis were still nazis, a gang of murderous psychos. The Gestapo hunted freedom fighters with all the barbarism you would expect and gangs of Nazi terrorists carried out terror bombings against random civilians in retaliation for resistance activity.
The dictatorship of the bourgeoisie (now): Do I need to say more?
Least reactionary e*ro country
a realistic take on what would happen to time traveling lib isekai protagonists
That’s why you keep the censorship.
They hated him because Denmark basically had a regal cult and Struense was more or less openly cuckolding the king. While the reason for the aristocratic resistance to his rule was his liberal reform spree, he was convicted of lese majeste and that was what the press was mostly mad about. One of the big accusations was that he had beaten the king, which was somewhere between unthinkable and heretical.
Somewhat ironically the king’s son would later take power by actually beating the person behind the arrest of struense who had installed himself as regent.
The dictatorship period of Denmark is either the scavenius prime ministership per 1942 or the rule by department chiefs per 1943, it is not the entire occupation as Denmark was allowed to maintain their government
Helle Thorning has a wall to herself.