The formation of the Norwegian national identity during the Danish-Norwegian Union: The significance of Johann Friedrich Struensee's reforms (1770–1772)

The study aims to analyze the formation of Norwegian national consciousness during the Danish-Norwegian Union (1536-1814) and the importance of Johann Friedrich Struensee's reforms in this process. Within the framework of this work, it was possible to consider the main approaches to the concepts of "ethnicity" and "nation", as well as the resulting construct - "national identity". Since by now various concepts of national identity often absolutize the emphasis on one side of the problem, a "synthesized" approach was used in the work, expressed in the following thesis: the role of the intelligentsia in the formation of the Norwegian national identity is great, with the objective existence of socio-economic and political prerequisites. To understand the issues of the topic, the historical context from 1536, when Norway fell into a position dependent on Denmark, expressed in several forms, is briefly considered. The socio-economic reasons for the emergence of Norwegian identity among the intelligentsia and the bourgeoisie, the reasons for the growth of the national movement, which manifested itself in the field of culture and the press, since the second half of the 18th century, are revealed. The crisis of Danish power in the 1770s and the nature of Struensee's reform activity, which gave rise to the era of "Trykkefrihedstiden" - the era of the free press, are studied. Based on the study of key publications of the Norwegian intelligentsia: Even Hammer, Gustav Str0mbu, Peter Frederick Suhm, Gerhard Sch0ening, the main contradictions between Denmark and Norway by the second half of the 18th century were revealed. In this work, the methodology is based mainly on the constructivist concept of the formation of national identity, using historical-genetic, problem-chronological, retrospective methods of historical research. The study showed that for several centuries the positions of the king and the state in Denmark and Norway were stronger than in many other European countries. In 1770, thanks to the freedom of the press introduced by Struensee, a number of pamphlets, books and newspapers were published, which criticized the situation of the country and put forward Norwegian demands on the central government. The Norwegian publications reviewed show growing trends towards an even greater discrepancy between the prevailing national political ideas among the Norwegian elite and the established machine of the autocratic system in Copenhagen. Under the conditions of the beginning of the capitalist rise in Norway in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the strengthening of the absolutist Danish policy, the problems that the intelligentsia claimed were felt by most representatives of Norwegian society. The concessions organized by Struensee contributed to the formation of a civil society in Norway, which later became the main reason for the revolution of 1814. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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