NS Name: Ruskland Preuben
Nation Name: The Danish Empire
Capital City: Copenhagen
Territory: Denmark(inc. Skane in Sweden!), Norway, Wadden Islands(Dutch islands in the north in the Waddenzee), Shetland and Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland,
Danish West Indies,
Danish Gold Coast, Nicobar Islands, and the Azores(the islands of Corvo and Flores to be exact)
Government type: Constitutional Monarchy(Emperor has authority though)
Head of State: Emperor Cnut XII Knýtlinga
Head of Government: Emperor Cnut XII Knýtlinga/Lawspeaker Erik Bårdi
Population:Norway: 2,051,401
Denmark: 2,143,964
Colonies: 2,000~
Religion: Protestant
Army: 45,000 unmobilized, can be raised to 160,000(4%) in times of war.
Navy: 2 battleships, 4 ironclads, 10 cruisers, 15 monitors, 25 frigates, 8 Man o’ Wars, 50 sloops, 12 torpedo boats, 6 avisos.
History:Minor divergence with independent Norse chief in Wadden Isles.
Major Divergence begins with Cnut the Great’s son Harthacnut(Cnut II/reigned 1035 to 1049) living long enough to inherit his father’s empire, but before he could get a hold of the ropes, he was dealing with an English revolt. Landing at Sandwich and scoring a decisive victory over the rebels, he would strengthen his hold upon the Kingdom of England. However, he had to appeal to the populace by converting to Catholicism, and he furthered his hold by invading a pagan Norse chief in the Wadden Isles, gaining him the approval of the Pope and the people of England. He was able to sire a son, Cnut, but a few years later died in a hunting accident, now the Empire was in a regency, and in the Medieval Ages, that was, most of the time, a death sentence for any state.
Cnut, now Cnut III(born 1041/reigned 1049 to 1096) aged 8, had to deal with reopened wounds in the form of the Englishmen getting uppity again, and after a series of defeats against the rebels, the North Sea Empire was booted off the British Isles, with the exemption of Northumbria, his teen years and coming of age were uneventful, as it was a time of rebuilding. From there, the now 22 year old Cnut III’s ships would sail to and fro, bringing with them trade and money from the Channel and the Baltic and the Mediterranean Seas, with this money 22 year old Cnut III would improve much of his domain, and building motte and bailey castles in Northumbria, and the border with the Holy Roman Empire(all in a period from 1063-1070. He also used this money to fund invasions of the Shetland and Faroe Islands(1063 and 1064), and an invasion of Iceland late in 1065.
At the year 1066, he contested William the Bastard in the claiming of England, Harold of Godwin was quickly beaten by William, who would quickly rush northward to meet Cnut III in battle, in what is known as the Battle of Stamford Bridge, William beat the Norse bloody, and they retreated away to Northumbria, but the Normans quickly followed, in what is known to historians as the Retreat of Cnut, the Norse quickly retreated to sea while the ports were on fire, dooming some of their compatriots to death by Norman. Cnut III would then repair his armies to prepare yet again for another invasion, but for some reason, after finishing up his army, quickly called it off to instead invade Pomeranian tribes nearby in 1074.
This state of affairs held for some time until 1095, where a massive Pomeranian revolt occurred. He took his armies to fight, and beat the rebels hard, but Cnut was severely wounded by a rather large swordsman. He would die a year later. Cnut III the Wise, son of Cnut II Harthacnut, was dead. But he had an heir that was of age, Erik, and succession was smooth, Erik would lose Pomerania early in his reign however.
Not much of importance occurred, with events allowing what is now today to happen occuring, other than Erik III making a castle on the Greenland coast in 1201. The name of the Empire would then shift from North Sea to Danish in this time, but the “Emperors” would only be kings.
There was no colonization in the Age of Colonialism starting at around Columbus’ “discovery” of America(Norse were first!), but the population of Norse in Greenland would exceed that of the native Inuit(cough wars cough diseases). Conversion to Protestanism would go on as usual. A Chancellorship was established around this time, though the Chancellor was named Lawspeaker instead.
Fast forward to the Napoleonic Wars, they still supported Napoleon, but nothing much changed other than the Battle of Trafalgar being a pyrrhic victory for the British due to the presence of the Danes, but in exchange, more than 70% of the combined fleet was either captured or destroyed. The Danish Company also never went bankrupt, so the Danish West Indies stayed in Danish control.
Everything goes as usual, with the exception of a still united Denmark-Norway in 1814, it still remains united due to the oldness of the union, with it dating back all the way to the 11th Century, and still being under the same dynasty, and due to this one circumstance, the Danish Gold Coast was never sold to Britain.. Until 1880, nothing much, other than where Cnut XII would purchase the isles of Corvo and Flores from Portugal. And here we are.
Additional Info: Vikings yo