1905: Days of Decision
1905: Days of Decision is the third game in The Scandinavian Wars Trilogy from Pantero Games.
The game is a strategic level analysis of potential war that could have happened when the union between Norway and Sweden was dissolved in 1905.
Scenario:
The war of 1814 had put a serious dent in Norwegian nationalistic aspirations, and the country had been forced to accept a union with Sweden, albeit as an equal partner with a separate constitution, parliament and government. During the 1800, and especially after 1880, the displeasure with the union grew in Norway,mainly due to three main issues;
- Norway was more reliant on foreign trade (especially with the UK) and the Norwegian economy suffered under Swedish protectionist measures to restrict foreign trade.
- Norway had close links to the UK, whereas Sweden maintained had close links to Germany. In the time leading up towards 1900, this became more of an issue between the two states.
- Because of shipping and trade interests, Norway had more interests outside of Europe than Sweden did.
When Sweden also restricted free trade between the two countries in 1850, the economic reasons for the union were also diminished. The issues came to a head when Norwegian governments insisted that Norway should be allowed to establish their own consulates around the world, partly because the existing foreign embassies and consulates were almost exclusively staffed with Swedes (foreign policy being the prerogative of the King) that were seen by the Norwegians as having little understanding for Norwegian trade concerns / and partly because Norway needed consular representation in areas of the world that the Swedes were not very interested in. The demand was rejected and resisted by the King and Swedish governments, and became an issue that Norwegian nationalists rallied behind.
During the late 1800's, both countries heavily modernised and expanded their armed forces with Norway building new, and modern. border fortresses towards Sweden - something the Swedes took as an insult. The Norwegian army also invested heavily in modern weaponry, including modern artillery and machine guns.
In 1905, the Norwegian government resigned their positions, and the Norwegian parliament declared Norway to be independent, based on the King not being able to find a new Norwegian government willing to serve.
The Swedish King and government declared this an act of rebellion, but indicated that they were willing to negotiate on the issue of consular representation. On August 31st, 1905, negotiators met in Karlstad to try to reach an agreement. Meanwhile, bot countries had mobilised their armed forces and these were now deployed on the borders, in some areas only 2 km apart from each other. For a few tense weeks, the armies watched each other, and prepared to go to war should the negotiations fail. In Norway, the mood was decidedly in favour of fighting, despite the Swedish numerical superiority. In Sweden, the mood was mixed, and especially in the growing labour movement in the cities, the attitude was that Norway should be allowed to leave the union without a fight.
Historically, the negotiations succeeded, and no shots were fired, but for three weeks in September 1905, it would only take a match to ignite a war that both sides had prepared heavily for.