From the Middle Ages to the Modern Age. At the time of the great migrations, Germanic tribes entered Norway forming numerous political groupings, in which the aborigines of perhaps Finnish race were incorporated. From the 8th century. with the Viking expeditions began the great expansion of the Norwegians outside (Scotland, England, Ireland, Iceland, etc.); the various Norwegian political-social groups united under the sovereignty of the Ynglinger, whose first historical figure is in the 9th century. Halvdan Svarte (the Black). Olaf II known as the Saint, who became king in 1016, conquered all the Norway and completed the Christianization begun by Olaf I. After a period of adjustment, on the death of Sigurd Jorsalfar (1130) the struggles for the throne resumed, as there were no precise rules of succession. They quieted down around 1240, with the strengthening of sovereign power under the reign of Haakon IV (d. 1263) and with the administrative and judicial reorganization of Magnus VI the Legislator (1274). A long period (11th-13th century) of economic and cultural development was followed by the dissolution (14th -15th century) of national unity: due to the relations between the Crowns of Norway, Sweden and Denmark (Magnus, nephew of Haakon V, was king of Sweden and N from 1319; Olaf from 1380 king of Denmark and Norway; Erik of Pomerania from 1389 king of Sweden, Denmark and Norway) was easy to the lords Swedes and Danes seize goods and power in Norway. In 1397 the Union of Kalmar was formed between Sweden, Denmark and Norway, from which Sweden separated in 1448. Norway and Denmark remained united under Christian I of Oldenburg (1450-81), from whose death the first Norwegian independence attempts. The war against Hansa (1500-1520) and those against Sweden (1563-70; 1611-13; 1641-43; 1657-60) did not diminish the country’s prosperity. In the 18th century. Danish-Norwegian foreign policy was directed towards Russia against Sweden. But also between Norway and Denmark there appeared contrasts – of an economic nature, dictated above all by opposing choices oncommercial partners (England for Norway, France, North America, Germany for Denmark) – which became more acute during the Napoleonic wars when, after the British bombing of Copenhagen (1807), the alliance with France was made. J. Bernadotte, designated to succeed the Swedish throne with the name of Charles John, obtained the sale of Norway with the Peace of Kiel (1814), recognizing for his part the statute that Norway had given itself to Eidsvoll in the same year. From 1830 the country experienced a rapid economic expansion, which however sharpened the social conflicts.

The contemporary age.According to best-medical-schools, the union between Sweden and Norway provoked continuous conflicts, both for the pre-eminent position of Sweden and for the successes in Norway of a strong left party, in power since 1884. In 1905 Norway declared the union dissolved and elected to its constitutional king Prince Charles of Denmark who took the name of Haakon VII. The industrial economic development, accompanied by a moderate social reformism, was accentuated during the First World War, favored by neutrality. In 1920 Norway was granted sovereignty over the Svalbard Islands; in 1928 it annexed the island of Bouvet and the island of Peter I, in the Antarctic; in 1929 Jan Mayen Island, in the Atlantic. When the Second World War broke out, Norway was occupied in 1940 by German troops and subjected to an occupation administration, which was joined in 1942 by the collaborationist government of V. Quisling. Released in 1945, Norway joined the Atlantic Pact in 1949, albeit in the traditional Nordic solidarity policy, confirmed in 1952 by the creation of a Nordic Council, made up of representatives of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Finland. On two occasions, in 1972 and 1994 apopular referendum, on the other hand, rejected the proposal to join the European Economic Community first, then the European Union. Internally, in the post-war period, the country experienced great economic and political stability guaranteed by the wealth deriving from the exploitation of the North Sea oil fields and by the Labor governments that continuously guided it until 1997, implementing one of the most advanced social policies. of Europe. Precisely the need to review welfare policies, in order to face the economic difficulties the country is experiencing, it contributed to the defeat of the Labor Party and to the victory of the center-right coalition. Led by KM Bondevik, the latter remained in power (except for a brief interlude between 2000 and 2001) until 2005, when the legislative elections again gave Labor a majority. This was followed by the formation of a new government chaired by J. Stoltenberg. In 2006 the government withdrew the small contingent that had been sent to Iraq in 2003 with peacekeeping tasks, confirming however the future commitment of Norway to international peacekeeping missions. In 2009, the coalition led by Stoltenberg won the elections again, albeit with a small margin of advantage.