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In this video, I explore the fascinating history of Bornholm, a small island in the Baltic Sea that, despite being closer to Sweden, Germany, and Poland, remains part of Denmark. I break down why Bornholm has been so important throughout history, from its Viking-era independence to its time under Danish, Swedish, and even German Hanseatic rule. I also cover the island’s role in the wars between Denmark and Sweden, the local rebellion against Swedish rule, and its occupation during World War II. Even during the Cold War, Bornholm found itself in a unique position behind the Iron Curtain. By understanding Bornholm’s past, we uncover the reasons why this island is still Danish today.
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 What is Bornholm?
02:06 Patreon Mention
02:22 Etymology & Connection With Burgundy
02:55 Vikings, Slavs & Early Danish Conquest
03:58 BetterHelp Offer
05:01 Temporary Rule by Lübeck & The Hanseatic League
06:11 Bornholm's Role in Danish Succession Battles
07:35 Danish-Swedish Wars
08:11 Swedish Takeover of the Island
09:00 Borholm's Revolt Against the Swedish
09:35 Return to Danish Control
10:06 German Occupation During WW2
10:20 Soviet Liberation & Role in the Cold War
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0:00
I've been trying to do video topics that could bring in a wider audience, so what better to do
0:07
than this super specific Danish island that I would imagine a lot of people don't know about
0:13
But it's very interesting because take a look at this map. It shows us that island in the middle
0:18
of the Baltic Sea in northern Europe. Its name is Borenholm. It's relatively small with only around
0:25
588 square kilometers. It's home to about 40,000 people, a third of which live in the largest
0:32
settlement there, Ron. It flies a Nordic cross flag of red and green with a fantastic golden dragon
0:41
red coat of arms. There's nothing that special about it other than being a cool place to vacation
0:47
apparently, but I've always wondered something about it which is why is it a part of Denmark
0:52
When you look at its location in the Baltic Sea, you can instantly tell that Denmark isn't the
0:58
country that is closest to. In fact, if you measure the distances, it's closest to Sweden at 41 kilometers
1:06
then to Germany at 85 kilometers, then to Poland at 102, and only then to Denmark at 137 kilometers
1:15
away. Now, this isn't a unique case to Denmark. They also technically rule over the Faroe Islands
1:21
where the closest country is Scotland or Greenland where the closest country is Canada
1:26
And throughout its history, this island was a heavily fought over territory
1:31
I mean, it makes sense its placement is strategic to controlling sea routes across the Baltic Sea
1:37
At times, it was in fact ruled by the Swedish or even by the Hanseatic German city of Lubeck
1:44
But the reason why it remained Danish up to today is quite interesting
1:48
So in this video, I'm going to tell you that story. Why the island is Danish and not German, Polish or Swedish
2:05
Guys, I just posted an exclusive video on Patreon where I rate European flags
2:11
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2:17
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2:22
Rising from the high sea, the natural features of the island are where they get their name
2:28
In Old Norse, the island was known as Burgundaholm, connected to the ancient Norse words
2:33
borg meaning height and bjarg meaning mountain or rock. A fun fact, it was the original homeland of the Burgundian people
2:41
an ancient Scandinavian group that moved to continental Europe in around the first century
2:45
setting up the Kingdom of Burgundy in southern France and then giving its name to the Duchy of Burgundy further north
2:52
France still has a region using the same name today. The island was ruled by its own people for a while
2:58
During the Viking Age, they even had a king of their own. And for a long time, it didn't even have any organized towns or villages
3:06
just scattered farms and houses along with some fortifications. Around the year 1080 the local Viking rulers were driven out and the island was conquered by the Danes Christian missionaries came to the island with them and converted the locals slowly cementing a Danish cultural identity that would last through time
3:25
Between the 9th and 12th centuries, there were some attempts by Slavic raiders to take over the island
3:30
most likely coming from what is now the coast of Poland, but all incursions seemed to have failed
3:35
The locals fortified their churches and made their stands there, driving away the Slavs
3:40
Since then, the Danish ruled it for centuries as a distant territory along with Scania
3:45
their domain in what is now southern Sweden. It was the feudal age, so I would guess not much change for the people that lived there
3:52
it's just suddenly they had another ruler that their ruler reported to, and that was the Danish king
3:58
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4:59
Now let's get back to the video. 200 years later, one of those kings, Frederick I, gave the island away to Lübeck, a medieval German free city which was part of the Hanseatic League
5:11
In fact, it was the city that was its informal capital. When we look at a map of the Hanseatic League, it's quite interesting to consider Bornholm's position in it
5:20
Denmark wasn't a member, only the coastal cities and states of Pomerania, Prussia, the Netherlands
5:27
some other German states and then some in Estonia, Latvia and a bit of Sweden
5:32
But the League held many trading outposts in other cities and states along its main trade routes
5:38
They were called Kontors and existed in major cities. And while there was no Kontor in Bornholm, the map of the League's main trade routes
5:46
show us how the sea and land connection that ranged from London to Novgorod
5:52
passed directly through Bornholm's surrounding water. I mean, how could it not given the island's central location in the Baltic Sea
6:01
And I believe the fact that there was a temporary Danish transfer of the island to Lübeck
6:06
a key member of the League, showcases the island's importance at the time
6:11
The reasons for the transfer are actually quite interesting. It was given only for the period of 50 years and served the purpose of guaranteeing a loan
6:19
from the Lübeckers, as well as being a thank you for the expulsion of former Danish king
6:25
Christian II Frederick predecessor and rival to the throne But this short alliance between Denmark and Lubeck wasn always the case In fact several wars were fought between the two entities
6:38
the main one being the, adequately named, Danish Hanseatic War between 1361 and 1370
6:45
And on one side or the other, Hanseatic intrusion into Danish successory issues
6:52
seemed to be pretty common. When Danish King Olaf II died, a succession dispute erupted over Denmark and Norway, which were united at the time, between Albert of Mecklenburg, King of Sweden, and Margaret I, Queen of Denmark
7:06
This was further complicated when Swedish nobles rebelled against Albert and invited Margaret to be their queen. What a mess
7:13
Albert was taken prisoner in 1389, but hired privateers in 1392, the so-called Victual Brothers
7:20
who took Bornholm and Visby in his name, two important islands in the Baltic at the time
7:25
one Danish and one Swedish. Margaret went on to become Queen of Denmark and form the Calmer Union
7:31
ruling over most of the Nordics, including, of course, Bornholm. But fast forward to 1575
7:38
when Denmark got the island back after that 50-year lease to the Lubecks
7:44
Even after local rulers, Hanseatic opponents, crown rivals and hired privateers, the external threats toward Bornholm weren't finished
7:53
After the dissolution of the Kalmer Union in 1523, a series of wars took place between Denmark and Sweden, now each their own country again
8:01
The main issue of the wars was precisely control over the Baltic and its associated trade routes
8:07
so of course that Bornholm was also in play. While Denmark initially had the upper hand in these wars
8:14
Sweden quickly recovered and had the superiority. Attempting to avoid a total feat
8:19
the Danish greeted the peace of Roskilde in 1658. In it, Sweden acquired most of Scania
8:25
which they have up to today, part of Norway, and the island of Bornholm
8:30
However, while the island locals had once favoured independence, they now liked being Danish
8:35
and having a Swedish king didn't please them at all. As soon as the new Swedish governor arrived with around 100 troops
8:43
the locals started conspiring against them. The governor, Johan Britsenskold, wrote, The island is endowed with an exceptionally good and fertile soil
8:52
such that it has been regarded as the finest land, both by its own inhabitants and by others
8:58
that has belonged to the kingdom of Denmark. The locals brought a lot of concerns to the governor
9:02
but he ignored most of them and simply began exploiting the island for its goods and resources
9:08
which brought about a lot of discontent. The final straw was when the young men of Borholm
9:13
started being conscripted by the Swedish to fight their war in Pomerania. Regarding taxation
9:18
the first quote of the governor contrasts with this later one, I could by no means have imagined that the island would be so devoid of resources and money as it is
9:28
and I doubt that the common people can pay the first installment in cash, but only in goods.
9:34
Quickly, that lack of resources hit the Swedish soldiers themselves, which found themselves out of supplies
9:40
and became more vulnerable to the wrath of the locals The Swedish governor was assassinated and the islanders took over control remaining loyal to the Danish At the same time Denmark went back to war with Sweden and a new piece of Copenhagen in 1660 returned official control of the island to the Danish crown
9:59
And so the two periods of foreign control over the island were over
10:03
and Bornholm remained Danish ever since. It was briefly occupied by the Germans during World War II
10:09
who at one time stationed up to 12,000 soldiers in the island
10:13
contrasting pretty greatly with the around 100 or 120 Swedish soldiers that were there before
10:19
Soviet forces invaded and kicked out the Germans but left as soon as mainland Denmark was liberated
10:25
by the Western Front Allied Forces. It's quite an interesting detail of this period of history
10:32
The moment that determined it would be the British and North American forces to liberate Denmark
10:35
was when the British Second Army reached Lubeck, the old Ansiatic city that once ruled Bornholm
10:42
The British Caesar of the city ended any hopes that Stalin may have had of liberating Denmark and adding it to its post-war sphere of influence
10:51
However, and interestingly, Bornholm was suddenly geographically placed behind the Iron Curtain longitude lines during the Cold War
11:00
At the Yalta Conference in February of 1945, it was agreed that the dividing line between East and West Europe would lie along the River Elbe
11:08
Bornholm was well east of the Elbe and north of what would become the westernmost part of Poland
11:14
and eastern Germany. Because of this, the USSR took the position that if Western Europe or the US
11:20
stationed troops on the island, such would be considered an act of war against the Soviet Union
11:25
While it seems that no native troops ever stationed there, the island remained a relevant location
11:30
during the Cold War. In 1953, a Polish pilot defected from the Eastern Bloc and landed his
11:36
MiG-15 on the island, providing intelligence to the West. And decades after the collapse of the
11:42
USSR and the end of the Cold War, Denmark's intelligence services built a listening tower
11:47
in Bornholm to intercept Russian communications across the Baltic Sea. And so we understand how
11:54
despite being closer to both Germany and Sweden and even being temporarily ruled by some of these
11:58
people throughout history, the island remained Danish. As for the Polish, it seems that despite
12:04
their close proximity, they were just never interested in conquering the island other
12:08
than those early incursions by Slavic people in the early Middle Ages
12:12
Essentially, Bornholm was vanished from very early on in history when Denmark ruled lands
12:18
much vaster than the ones they have today. And while they lost most of those other lands, Bornholm remained theirs due to the desire
12:26
of the locals. Thank you so much for watching this video, thank you to my patrons for supporting me directly
12:32
the channel directly make sure to join us there if not that is totally fine and
12:36
I will see you next time for more general knowledge. Today's Moomin Cup is I think we're gonna go into the repeat section this one
12:51
it's one of the most simple ones it's just a little girl I don't know if it's
12:58
the same one. She looks the same, but they could be twins. Never know
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