Denmark during World War I
aspect of history
During the First World War (1914–1918), Denmark maintained its neutrality. The position of neutrality was agreed to by all the major political parties.
Denmark maintained trade with both sides of the war, and was among several neutral countries that exported canned meat to the German army. Danish speculators made fortunes on canned meat products, which were often of mediocre quality, while 275 Danish merchant ships were sunk, and approximately 700 Danish sailors perished during the war.
Fortification measures
At the outbreak of war, Denmark mobilized around 50,000 reservists to man Copenhagen's fortifications. This was about half the force that Denmark was expected to mobilize in case of war. By limiting its mobilization and calling the mobilized units "security forces" (Sikringsstyrken), the Danish government was trying to reassure the major powers that it was not intending to join the war.
An additional Tunestillingen ("Tune Line") defense installation was constructed during the war. It stretched from Køge Bay and to Roskilde Fjord and included the fortifications such as Mosede Fort, Karlslunde. The war brought to the fore the fact that Copenhagen's defences from the 1880s and 1890s were obsolete and too near the capital to protect it from modern artillery bombardment.
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This entry incorporates text from “Denmark during World War I” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.