Norway and 1905: Stuart Burch considers the significance to Norway--both in terms of the past and the present--of the anniversary of 1905, when the country at last won its independence from Sweden.

EXACTLY ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO the people of Norway were going through a momentous period in their history. The dramatic events pivoted around June 7th, 1905. On that day the parliament in Kristiana (Oslo) instigated what might be termed a revolution when they voted to dissolve the union with Sweden that had been forced upon Norway by the Treaty of Kid (1814).

A plebiscite later that summer confirmed massive public support for independence and, following successful negotiations in the Swedish town of Karlstad, military conflict was averted. When a rueful Oscar II abdicated the ...

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