The Danish Peace Academy

This article is a rough outline of some of the major features af the history of military conscription and conscientious objection in Denmark. From the early medieval periode to the 20^th century, with emphasize on the latest centuries.

Summary

Already in the late viking-age and the beginning of the Middle-Ages a form of conscription in Denmark emerged. Conscription was based only on the rural population either personally or finacially. This form of conscription was maintained until personal conscription in principle for every man was introduced in mid-19^th century. Hereafter general conscription has been the rule of the danish defence, with greater og lesser emphasy on professional soldiers. Today conscriptions seems unnecessary in the eyes of the young generation. Denmark has no enemy. In addition the danish military are engaged in tasks under UN, NATO or EU in the future, outside danish territory, which are carried out by professional soldiers.

Objection to military service has been a feature in danish history of conscription, and resistance can be traced back as early as 1600s. In 1917 Denmark got its first civil service law. Before that time people objected to military service in three major ways, either by articulated objection on religious or political grounds, or more commonly by draft-resistance or desertion.

The numbers after 1917 has been influenced by many factors peaking in 1953 and 1970s. Especially the 1970s saw a great number of conscientious objectors.

The geography of objection to military service based on religious grounds and draft-resistance before 1917 seems to be a rural phenomenon. However this tendency are not conclusive. Political motivated objection and conscientious objection after 1917, especially in contemporary CO-hisory, seems to be associated with urban areas. Also these studies are not conclusive.

First known conscription

The development of conscription and the armed forces in Denmark has always been closely connected with the powerstructures through time.

Around the years 800-1000, great peasants, chiefs, kings and vikings roamd the land present called Denmark, and they fought a constant struggle for power. Due to the geographical conditions, the rough landscabe in Scandinavia and dense forest, most transport was based upon shipping. And so was the first armies. Fleets of armed men either defending or attacking. In the beginning participation in these armies was more or less on volunteer basis, but soon some kind of conscription emerged.

Soon after the viking-age around 1050, the first known form of conscription in Denmark emerged when the so-called leding, was established.¹ The danish word leding can be translated to something like ‘on the road’ or ‘on expedition’, and therefor ‘to go to leding’, meant ‘to go to war’. This leding was based on viking-traditions . Thus already in the late viking-age and the beginning of the Middle-Ages a form of conscription based upon the Vikings traditions of gathering people for armed expeditions can be traced.

Medieval time

Throughout the Middle Ages the everpresent struggle between the lordship and the Kingdom intensified and resulted in the power being centralised around the Kingdom on behalf of the rest of the feudal society. The arms-race throughout the medieval period was characterized by increasing professionalism. Thus partly rented armies was an increasingly common feature throughout the medieval period. However the balance between conscription and professionalism was not static. The balance between conscription and rented armies shifted and developed all the time according to needs, powerstructures and technological development.

Jydske-Law from 1241 by Valdemar Sejr says, that every harbour should provide the army with one man. This was the first law of conscription. And the principle of conscription based on land was introduced in the lawbooks. But soon due to technological advance, weaponry-innovation and geographical changes in the landscape - less forest and more agriculture - the need for armed horsemen increased. Thus Parallel to providing persons to the army, based on a certain area of land, the state also collected money to finance an increasing professionalisation of the army. Again the power got increasingly centralised and monopolized during the medieval periode. Later instead of harbours the land got divided into lægder. The size of the lægd changed through time, according to the needs for more men or finance, but eventually it became more or less equal to that of the parish-divisions.

In the 1500s the army was mainly based on rented personel instead of drafted personel.

In short conscription was based on the rural population - the peasants, either personally or finacially. This conscription based on a certain land-area division was introduced during the medieval periode, and was maintained until personal conscription in principle for every man was introduced in mid-19^th century. (See later).

But not everybody rushed to meet the call ups. As early as 1428 during an attack on Sjælland and Skåne the danish king Erik of Pommern emphasized if a person stayed at home when the enemy attacked, he should be hanged.² This human feature - the dislike of participating in war - has been recognized in the militarylaws ever since. The penalty of desertion or any kind of objection to the military service has been servere trough time. Nevertheless desertion and other kinds of objection occured.

1600-1849

Also the period 1600-1849, especially the period up to 1788, was charachterised by the army shifting between being based mainly on rented personel and drafted conscripts. Especially during war-periods, conscription was re-introduced.

After a war with Sweden (1657-60) absolutism was introduced in Denmark in 1660. The king regained power over the lordship and put more emphasize on conscription. Also the drafting-rules changes. It was now the landowners and the lords who was in charge of implementing the conscriptions system. During this time it was difficult to resist drafting, primarily because the local authorities headed by the lord and the landowners was in charge of the conscription and they new about almost every young man. Nevertheless there was a considerable amount of antagonism among the rural population towards the miltary service. ‘Most people among the rural population saw the military service as a threat, and many young peasants fleet the country to Amtserdam or other free-hold places’.³ Desertion was a common feature. Not only among drafted peasants but also among volunteer soldiers. Examples of soldiers seeking refuge among priest and farmers is described in Hans Henrik Appels book Tinget, Magten og æren⁴.

Again in 1701 conscription and especially the militia-system got a revival. The Medical Board got introduced by law 27. September. Again the nobility gained power over the local young male rural population. However the young men still tried to escape military service, so the noblemen got introduced that no young man was to move from his native town. In 1733 adscription was introduced.

But desertion and escaping military service in the 18^th century, by running away for example to Norway, Slesvig and Holland was still a common feature, as described in Birgit Løgstrups Bundet til Jorden - stavnsbåndet i praksis 1733-1788.⁵

During this period with adscription in Denmark (1733-1788) a comprehensive antagonism towards the military service arose, especially amongst the rural population, and running away to the cities or other countries was a well known and well used way of escaping military service. Another known way to escape military duty was by self-inflicted injuries. An example is known from 1787 were one of the royal ministers, Bolle Luxdorph, noted in his diary: “in Cronborg District 14 peasants had cut off there own thumb” and one of his officials added: “on there right hand to escape military service” - one of his officials added.⁶

When adscription finally was disbanded in 1788, the landowners primary responsibility for drafting disappeared. After 1788 the draft examination was re-centralized and a new bureaucratic system was introduced. This system proved easier to escape. Many young men simply stayed away from the draft board, or escaped through a medical statement from a local doctor or priest.

In 1788 the conscription shifted from being based on land to be based on persons. Rural persons that is. Every young male person from the countryside was now liable to military service. In those days - and during most of the 19^th century in fact - the rural population exceeded between 80 and 90 % of the total population.

In 1803 the amount of rented personel in the army decreased significantly. The part of the armt which was professionalised got more or less dismantled, and according to the rising liberal movement troughout Europe, the peasants in Denmark in 1830s and 1840s started questioning the conscription being based only on the rural population. The rising power of the peasants and there alliance with the rising liberal movement in the cities and among students and academics put pressure on the Absolutism. Especially the liberal movement felt there time had come. And together with the peasant-movement they were a strong opposition to the King.

1849

During the war with Preussia (1848-1850) the need for more soldiers increased dramatically and the state issued a preliminary conscription for all young men (with some exceptions though). This law was later written into the first danish constitution in june the 5^th 1849. Denmark got its first democratic free constitution here in 1849. This constitution also layed down the structure of the military conscription which more or less kept the same up till today.

In principle conscription was now based upon all young men. Only in principle though. You could get an exeption if you were a priest or teacher, or you could pay somebody else to serve the military instead of you. So the rich got off. Also other minor humanitarian exeptions was written into the law.

From 1849 to the First World War

With the free constitution in 1849 came general conscription. In principle conscription was now resting on every young mans shoulders. But did all young Danish men, which wasn’t included te exeptions in the law, join the army? Whar happend for instance with conscientious objectors - young men who objected to join the military system either based on religious or other grounds?

There are several dimensions to the early CO-history in the second half of the 19^th centuryand the beginning of the 20^th. This article will in this period focus on three ways of rejecting the military service. Firstly articulated conscientious objection. Secondly desertion and thirdly draft-resistance.

Articulated conscientious objections as one dimension

In the period from the introduction of general conscription in 1849 to the first civil service law, which was passed in 1917, articulated conscientious objectors objected primarily on religious grounds. However few and scattered they were, they did exist. Several examples can be described. Recent studies shows religious objection to military service in Denmark as early as 1850s and 1860s and troughout the period, increasing in numbers up to First World War.

A couple of examples can illustrate early religios conscientious objection.

For example Ove Petersen from Horsens. During the war in 1864 between Preussia and Denmark he got called up but refused based on religious objection to military service, and got sentenced to jail.⁷ Also Jens Andersen from Saltum refused repeatedly in the period 1865-66 on basis of religious objection, and got sentenced to jail.⁸

Another example is Julius Stevnsborg from Copenhagen which july 1871 refused to meet his call up, due to conscientious objection based on religious grounds. He got sentenced to 3 years in jail.⁹

These and many other cases can be seen in the Danish National Archive.

The CO-question was brought up on official level by the jewish community around 1884 when prof. A.A. Wolf complained to the ministry of war, about the lack of consideration towards jewish conscripts serving during jewish festivals. This question brought about the problems with religious objection to the military service.¹⁰

Later 7-days adventists refused to serve from friday to saturday, and got punished for objection.¹¹

From late 19^th century the demand for a possibility to serve an alternative service grew in strenght - especially from religious communities.

From then on numerious religious objections to military service can be found during the last period of the 19^th century and the beginning of the 20^th century.

The geography of these religious objectors are interesting. They did not come solumnly from distinct geographical areas, but appeared more or less widespread troughtout the hole of the country. However religious conscientious objectors seem to be connected more to rural areas than cities.¹²

Desertion - as another dimension

Articulated objection was only one in many ways to escape or reject military service during the period 1849-1917. Another possibility was desertions during peace and war time.

Desertions was a common feature also in this period. Hundreds of cases of desertions in this period are to be found in the Danish National Archive. ¹³

The top of the ice-berg

During the period from 1854 to 1906 there were at least 54 cases of desertion and absentation from the army.¹⁴ This can be concluded by studying documents from the judge advocate general, and this is only the top of the ice-berg. Not all deserters are liable to pass the desk of the judge advocate general. Most of them did only pass the judge advocates, and in these files. Also From the regional archive of Fyn in Odense is preserved some documents from the period 1890-1903 which enables us to get another glimse of the military criminals records. These records are full of desertions and absentations.¹⁵

It must be emphasised however, that not all deserters are to be categorised as conscientious objectors in a modern sense.

Draft resisters - a third dimension

Another dimension is when the young men simply did not turn up to the draft board. This method was well known and perhaps te most popular way to escape military service. Some young men and families emigrated simply to escape military service.¹⁶ Not all emigrated young men emigrated to escape military sevice of course - but emigration was a well known and efficient method to escape military service.

Figure 1

Source: Danish The National Archive. Sessions-protokoller: Justitsministeriets 2. kontor. Diverse akter vedr. session. Arkivnr. 05.

Figure 2

Source: The Danish National Archive. Sessions-protokoller: Justitsministeriets 2. kontor. Diverse akter vedr. session. Arkivnr. 05. Og Ministerialtidende B.

Figure 3

Source: The Danish National Archive. Ministerialtidende B.

The figures above indicate some major fluctuations. It is possible to recognize the war in 1864 (see figure 1). Also the emigration from Denmark to primarily America in the late 19^th is recognizable. Another peak occurs during the First World War (see figure 2). In the 20^th century a notable rise in draft absence occurs during the Second World War. (See figure 3).

It is more than likely that these fluctuations - especially the fluctuations during wars - can be explained partly by a objection military service. How big the amount of draft-resistance based on objection to military service alone was, is impossible to say. It must be emphasized that draft-resistance was primarily a combination of young mens eager or need to immigrate to a supposedly better world often in America, and the young mens antagonism towards the military service. This combination led many young en to flee the country before military service.

Geographical studies shows that draft-resistance in this period occured relatively slightly more in rural areas than in cities. And geographical studies carried out from Fyn underline this tendency.¹⁷

Other dimensions

Another possibility which have to be thouroghly investigated is the transfersion of critical people from armed-service to non-armed service like the “work-force” within the army. (Dreier)

A legal method was by payment to present another person in your place instead of your self, or to switch numbers. Undoubtely “CO’s” used this method. This however was a legal method.

The last category were “CO’s” could hide was during medical examinations. Rejection of people during the draft examination if they articulated a kind of objection did happen.

The war in 1864 was the first war fought by general conscripts. In 1869 the conscription-law got rejusted and some of the early exeptions was removed from the law. In 1894 a lottery-system was introduced. The army did not need all the young men. During the drafting session at The Medical Board drawing lottery was introduced. The highest numbers got free.

First World War

The first two decades of the 20^th century saw a rise in objection to the army. A new and strong articulated objection was linked together with socialism and ever larger groups of the growing working class saw the military as a tool for capitalism and surpression.

The left wing got ever more fractionated, and a left-winged opposition to the Socialdemocrats adopted conscientious objection in there political fight against the capitalist society. A group of young working class men went on hungerstrejks in direct actions against the military. They refused the army on a political basis. The authorities answered back with servere punishment, but the CO-movement grew in strenght and in 1915 they organized themselves in the organisation “Foreningen for konsekvente Antimilitarister”. The people which broke with the socialdemocrat were more or less synonymous with the syndicalist-movement - a union based socialist revolutionary movement.

This was probably the first major non-religious CO-movement in Danish history. They published a magazine and according to different archives and sources between 50 to several hundreds of young men refused the army those years.

Geographical studies of these political motivated objectors shows some differencies from the gepography of the previous religious objectors. The religious objectors were scattered all over the country, perhaps mainly in rural areas. In the case of the political motivated objectors, there seem to be a tendency towrads the geography of these people being a urban phenomenen rather than a rural phenomenen. This could be explained by the political motivated objection being primarily rooted in the working class, which again was based in industrialised and urbanised areas.¹⁸ However the material is scarce, and further studies need to be caried out.

Civil service law in 1917

The emerging of revolutionary socialists, the German revolution, the Russian revolution, the Russian-Japanese War and the Norway-Sweden union-crisis where the Swedish government hesitated to use the army, worried the Danish establishment, especially the capitalist society with leading right-winged newspapers and parliamentarians.

Parallel to the socialists antimilitarism and there strong opposition to conscription grew from religious communities a demand for a civil service. Eventually the parliament passed a CO-law in 1917.

In short there are probably three major explanations why Denmark so early got a CO-law.

First of all because of the political climate. Denmark had a Liberal Socialdemocratic government.

Secondly, closely related to the first point of view, because several parlamentarians including ministers, not at least the minister of War P. Munch, had relations with the Danish peacemovement, which again largely was related to middleclass christian and liberal values. A peacemovement which - late though - recommended a CO-law.

And thirdly because a CO-law could be used to contain the strong antimilitaristic propaganda from the revolutionary socialist.

Many of the young men in the CO-organisation got arrested for other political offences and the authorities cracked down on revolutionary tendencies. The CO-movement disappeared more or less.

Between first and second world war

Soon after the First World War Denmark joined The League of Nations. The governments faith in the League of Nations and neutrality policy resulted in extensive disarmament, including cut-backs in conscription. Few young men were drafted in this period. Only 25% of the potential youn male annual-population got drafted.¹⁹

Although it was possible to serve a kind of civil service after 1917, not many used the possibillity in the beginning. Public informations about the CO-law were almost non-existent, and also the low numbers of drafted young men resulted in few objectors.

In 1926 a Danish quaker went to England, and when he came back he organised the pacifist peacemovement Aldrig mere Krig (AMK “Never ever War Again”). To be a member you had to support conscientious objection. Later AMK became a branch of War resisters International (WRI).²⁰

In 1932 the politicians underlined the neutrality by further cutbacks in the army. On the other hand the army got more professionalised and increased and decreased the amount of conscripted personel. Eventually the army in the 1930s was mostly based on volunteer soldiers.

Numbers of COs between the wars was peaking in 1935 with over 500 CO’s.²¹ The civil service was still a kind of punishment. The duty was longer and the facilities not much better than in the real army. The CO’s had to work and live in camps. And in charge of the COs was the ministry of war.

2. World War

During the second world war Denmark was occupied by Nazi-Germany. In the very beginning of the year of 1940, before the occupation, the number of CO’s in Denmark increased, but as soon as the country got occupied and the country went in a state of occupation - the number of official applications for civil service decreased. As soon as the war ended, the number of CO-applications increased ones more - steadily reaching a new maximum in 1953.²²

The war polarised the population. Some people joined the danish army, which still were in function untill 1943. The amount of volunteer soldiers for the army increased, but so did the amount of draft-resisters. Se figure 3.

Cold War

Just after the 2. World War july 1948 conscription was supplemented by a militia-system - Hjemmeværnet. This militia-system was a addition to the conscription-system and based on guerilla-tactics.

In may 1949 a civildefence service was introduced again as a result of the war. The civildefence service was connected with the military system, helping the military during wartime or other catastrophies.

The military propaganda was strong from the beginning of the Cold War. Especially because the government wanted Denmark - or rather likely because NATO wanted Denmark - to be a member of NATO. NATO-supporters succeded. In 1949 Denmark joined NATO togehter with the rest of the first NATO-countries. The Cold War embraced Denmark. In this Cold War invironment it was difficult to express antimilitaristic and pacifistic attitudes.

In the beginning of the 50s the number of COs were still increasing, but after 1953 the number of COs dropped. Maybe also because of an increase in service lenght which in 1952 was extended from 12 to 18 months. Also the military service-lenght rose to 18 months due to the international tensions and the Korean-war. During the later decades the service-lenght decreased again.

In June 1951 soldiers on contracts got introduced. And this system with some degree of army-personel on professionel contracts have been a common feature of the danish army ever since. But also in the period of 1950-1970 all young men got called up. During this cold war period te army felt need for all potential young men.

At the end of the 50s and the beginning of the famous 60s the number of COs began to increase again.

60s & 70s

The sixties and seventies saw the highest numbers of COs so far. Out of progressive alternative societies, like the hippie culture and the Vietnam-movement grew a peace-movement. Some COs in the CO-camps started an information-office in effort to spread the CO-message. So far it was still for the few and choosen! But now it got respected by the majority of the population to be a CO for maybe the first time in Danish history.

In January 1967 the Danish CO-organisation Militærnægterforeningen was born out of the CO-camps - a result of AMK. The student revolution and the peace-movement grew in strenght. The Campaign Against Nuclaer-weapons succeded and the protests against the Vietnam-war was a major factor in the increase of COs. Also during this period the service lengt was reduced, and in late 60s it became possible to serve civil service at ordinary jobs outside the infamous work-camps. So far the CO-law had been administrated by the ministry of war - from 1953 the ministry of defence. Now the civil service was transferred to the Home office.

In the 70s the number of COs was at its highest. Several thousands refused to join the army and applied for civil service. So many infact that the authorities simple did not call all people in for civil service. In 1973 about 17,6 % af allconscripts were COs.²³ Parallel to this story is the dark side of the CO-camps. This came in focus especially during the 50s, 60s and early 70s. The conditions was miserable, and occasionally people lost their minds. The COs in camps reacted to these conditions by demonstrating and setting fire to the camps. Some even went on hungerstrejk.

All in all the conditions improved over the years, and more and more COs were allowed a job while doing civil service instead of being in camps.

In the early 1970s the army was based on half professionalised and half drafted personel. And many of the drafted personel was volunteers.

In the 1960s the Medical Board got centralised and therefor the division of the land into lægder got cancelled. Instead The Central Administration of Conscription was introduced in 1970.

Present

During the 80s and the recession the number of COs decreased. The Reagan/Thatcher effect and neo-liberalism could explain some. Another explanation is that during recession and high unemployment, some young people go to the army just to get a secure job for a while. In addition to these explanations is added the low numbers of conscripts. The army did not call up so many young men, simply because they didn't need them and the amount of soldiers the army needed came volunteeraly. So the potential COs never came in actual contact with the system. The numbers of COs dropped to a minimum for many years in 1985.

In 1987 it became possible to get out of the army and get transferred to civil service, even if you had served in the army for months. For many years the only way out was via mental institution, and that was left in your record for the rest of your life. The problem was brought up in the parliament and soon a law was passed. Today you can get out of the Danish army if you can explain some new conscientious objections to the military service - objection you didn't have when you first joined the military.

At the end of the cold war many had an opinion about less military and more peace. The generation liable to miltary service in the 90s are now questioning the conscriptions-system. Instead they want a professional army and freedom for themselves. A kind of politically motivated objection is emerging in the mid-90s and together - with the other half of conscientious objectors which preferably are antimilitaristic in there opinion - they are growing in numbers again.

The future - A common European Army

Allthough heading towards a common EU-professional-army, most parliamentarians in Denmark still favours conscription. In the 1980s danish politicians swifted back to emphasize on conscription, and this political will resulted in some re-justing of the military-structure in te beginning of the 1990s towards more conscription. But for how long? Lately Holland, Belgium and France has converted to professional armies, and Germany are planning to do so too. In addition the young generation in Denmark are increasingly hostile towards conscription. Many young people prefare a professional army to conscription. Denmark has no enemies - this is a conclusion also brought foreward by the latest commission on defence. This points to cut-backs in military budget and conscription. Lately barracks has been shut down. On the other hand, the danish establishment want very much Denmark to be a part of the international NATO, UN and EU military operations, which requires deployment outside danish territory, even outside NATO and or EU territory. These kind of operations requires increasingly professional education.

With the future generations the balance in danish politics regarding the military structure are shifting towards more professionalisation of the army. Conscription may soon be history again in Denmark.

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Notes

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