Pan-Scandinavianism

Pan-Scandinavianism, an unsuccessful 19th-century movement for Scandinavian unity that enflamed passions during the Schleswig-Holstein crises. Like similar movements, Scandinavianism received its main impetus from philological and archaeological discoveries of the late 18th and the 19th century, which pointed to an early unity. It was also spurred by the rise of Pan-Germanism and by a general fear of Russian expansion. Generally a middle-class and student movement calling for varying forms of cultural and political unity, Scandinavianism was a significant force from 1845 to 1864. It clashed with Pan-Germanism over the Schleswig-Holstein question, and Swedish and Norwegian volunteers joined the Danes during the Schleswig War (1848–50). When Sweden-Norway refused to join Denmark after hostilities over the duchies again erupted in 1864, however, Scandinavianism became bankrupt. Thereafter it remained strong only among the Swedish minority in Finland. There has been a resurgence of Pan-Scandinavian sentiment in the latter part of the 20th century.