Small post about something that’s been bugging me.
You ever hear about the Schleswig Wars? Probably not unless you play a certain type of video game. But in the mid 19th century Denmark and Prussia had a few wars over the question of Schleswig-Holstein. This little duchy had been technically a part of the Holy Roman Empire way back when, but was long controlled by the Kingdom of Denmark.
About half the people there were German-speakers though, and when Denmark attempted to further centralize and control Schleswig-Holstein, and further enforce the Danish language, law, and customs, the situation grew into a couple of wars where the German speakers eventually got what they wanted, unification with their German-speaking brethren and eventually incorportation into Germany.
The Schleswig Wars are discussed or joked about because the “cause” of these wars seems so obtuse. The exact legalistic status of a duchy with a complicated history involving the now-defunct Holy Roman Empire vis a vis its parent Kingdom. But really that isn’t the cause. The “cause” of the wars was not the legal peculiarities of the duchy, the cause of the war was nationalism, legalism was the excuse.
The war was caused by Danish nationalism trying to impose a centralized state on a German speaking area that used to enjoy some autonomy. The war was caused by German nationalism trying to unite all the German speaking peoples into a single state, or at least ensure no German speaking people lived in a non-German ruled state. The cause was nationalism, the excuse was legalism.
This happens constantly in history. Pop and academic historians alike so often take people’s excuses at face value, or read their preferred excuse in instead. One could certainly say that Denmark’s legal wrangling was a *trigger* for the Schleswig Wars, but they could likewise have been triggered by a simple uprising of the German population for any reason, and uprising that might get support from the German great powers looking to protect their compatriots living in a foreign kingdom.
I think people have a fundamental problem with seeing proximal causes as the most important causes. The spark that ignites the dry kindling may be said to have “started” the fire, but really any spark would do. The more important part is the dried kindling, *that* should be the focus. But most pop history focuses only on the spark.
