Today, The Grandma has been reading about the referendum, where Norwegians vote to endtheunion with Sweden, on a day like today in 1905.
A referendum on dissolving the union with Swedenwas held in Norway on 13 August 1905.
Dissolving the union, which had been in place since 1814, was approved by almost 100% of voters, with just 184 voting against the proposal out of over 371,000 votes cast. On 27 May 1905, the Storting passed a bill supported by the government of Christian Michelsen calling for the establishment of separate Norwegianconsulates.Under the terms of the union, Norway and Swedenshared a common foreign policy.
King Oscar II vetoed the bill. Rather than countersign it as the King demanded, the government resigned. Oscar refused to accept the resignations, claiming he could not form a replacement government.
On 7 June, the Storting declared the union dissolved on the grounds that Oscar had effectively abandoned his functions as King of Norway by failing to appoint a new government. The Swedish government was prepared to dissolve the union, provided that the Norwegian people agree to it in a referendum.
The question put to the voters, only men had suffrage in Norway at the time) was whether they approved of the already completed dissolution of the union, den stedfundne Opløsning af Unionen. The wording of the question was carefully considered to make it clear that the Storting considered the union to be out of force even if the Swedish government insisted that it could be dissolved only upon mutual consent.
The Storting announced the referendum on 27 July, in anticipation of the Swedish demands, thereby avoiding the appearance that it had been scheduled in response to demands from Stockholm.
Although women did not have a vote, Norwegian suffragists started a campaign to collect signatures in favor of the dissolution and were able to present 244,765 signatures in favor of the dissolution within two weeks.
The referendum was followed by negotiations in Karlstad. The two countries reached an agreement on 23 September, which was approved by the Norwegianand Swedish parliaments on 9 October and 13 October respectively. Oscar gave up all claims to the Norwegian throne on 26 October.
In November Prince Carl of Denmark was elected as Norway's first independent king in over five centuries, assuming the throne as Haakon VII.
Today, The Grandma has been reading about the Falkland Islands, an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf whose history and sovereignty is well-known by being a continuous centre of dispute between the UnitedKingdom and Argentina.
It is an old diplomatic conflict that started in 1774 between the United Kingdom and Spain; it had another important episode when the United Kingdom claimed sovereignty over the Falkland Islands on a day like today in 1833, during the 1960s, and in 1982 when the conflict finished in a war between the UnitedKingdom and Argentina.
The Falkland Islands, in Spanish Islas Malvinas, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about 483 kilometres east of South America's southern Patagonian coast, and about 1,210 kilometres from the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, at a latitude of about 52°S. The archipelago, with an area of 12,000 square kilometres, comprises East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 smaller islands.
As a British overseas territory, the Falklands have internal self-governance, and the United Kingdom takes responsibility for their defence and foreign affairs.
The Falkland Islands' capital is Stanley on East Falkland.
Controversy exists over the Falklands' discovery and subsequent colonisation by Europeans. At various times, the islands have had French, British, Spanish, and Argentine settlements. Britain reasserted its rule in 1833, but Argentina maintains its claim to the islands.
In April 1982, Argentine forces occupied the islands. British administration was restored two months later at the end of the Falklands War.
Almost all Falklanders favour the archipelago remaining a UK overseas territory. Its sovereignty status is part of an ongoing dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom.
The population, 3,398 inhabitants in 2016, consists primarily of native-born Falkland Islanders, the majority of British descent. Other ethnicities include French, Gibraltarian and Scandinavian. Immigration from the United Kingdom, the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena, and Chile has reversed a population decline. The predominant and official language is English. Under the British Nationality (Falkland Islands) Act 1983, Falkland Islanders are British citizens.
The islands lie on the
boundary of the subantarctic oceanic and tundra climate zones, and both
major islands have mountain ranges reaching 700 m. They are home to
large bird populations, although many no longer breed on the main
islands because of competition from introduced species.
Major economic
activities include fishing, tourism and sheep farming, with an emphasis
on high-quality wool exports. Oil exploration, licensed by the Falkland
Islands Government, remains controversial as a result of maritime
disputes with Argentina.
The Falkland Islands
The name Falkland Islands comes from Falkland Sound, the strait that separates the two main islands. The name Falkland was applied to the channel by John Strong, captain of an English expedition which landed on the islands in 1690. Strong named the strait in honour of Anthony Cary, 5th Viscount of Falkland, the Treasurer of the Navy who sponsored his journey. The Viscount's title originates from the town of Falkland, Scotland -the town's name likely comes from a Gaelic term referring to an enclosure, but it could less plausibly be from the Anglo-Saxon term folkland. The name Falklands was not applied to the islands until 1765, when British captain John Byron of the Royal Navy, claimed them for King George III as Falkland's Islands. The term Falklands is a standard abbreviation used to refer to the islands.
The Spanish name for the
archipelago, Islas Malvinas, derives from the French Îles Malouines
-the name given to the islands by French explorer Louis-Antoine de
Bougainville in 1764. Bougainville, who founded the islands' first
settlement, named the area after the port of Saint-Malo, the point of
departure for his ships and colonists. The port, located in the Brittany
region of western France, was named after St. Malo or Maclou, the
Christian evangelist who founded the city.
At the twentieth session
of the United Nations General Assembly, the Fourth Committee determined
that, in all languages other than Spanish, all UN documentation would
designate the territory as Falkland Islands (Malvinas). In Spanish, the
territory was designated as Islas Malvinas (Falkland Islands). The
nomenclature used by the United Nations for statistical processing
purposes is Falkland Islands (Malvinas).
Although Fuegians from Patagonia may have visited the Falkland Islands in prehistoric times, the islands were uninhabited when Europeans first discovered them. Claims of discovery date back to the 16th century, but no consensus exists on whether early explorers discovered the Falklands or other islands in the South Atlantic. The first recorded landing on the islands is attributed to English captain John Strong, who, en route to Peru's and Chile's littoral in 1690, discovered the Falkland Sound and noted the islands' water and game.
The Falklands remained
uninhabited until the 1764 establishment of Port Louis on East Falkland
by French captain Louis Antoine de Bougainville, and the 1766 foundation
of Port Egmont on Saunders Island by British captain John MacBride.
Whether or not the settlements were aware of each other's existence is
debated by historians.
In 1766, France surrendered its claim on the
Falklands to Spain, which renamed the French colony Puerto Soledad the
following year. Problems began when Spain discovered and captured Port
Egmont in 1770. War was narrowly avoided by its restitution to Britain
in 1771.
Both the British and
Spanish settlements coexisted in the archipelago until 1774, when
Britain's new economic and strategic considerations led it to
voluntarily withdraw from the islands, leaving a plaque claiming the
Falklands for King George III.
The Falkland Islands
Spain's Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata became the only governmental presence in the territory. West Falkland was left abandoned, and Puerto Soledad became mostly a prison camp.
Amid the British invasions of the Río de la Plata during the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, the islands' governor evacuated the archipelago in 1806; Spain's remaining colonial garrison followed suit in 1811, except for gauchos and fishermen who remained voluntarily.
Thereafter, the
archipelago was visited only by fishing ships; its political status was
undisputed until 1820, when Colonel David Jewett, an American privateer
working for the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, informed
anchored ships about Buenos Aires' 1816 claim to Spain's territories in
the South Atlantic. Since the islands had no permanent inhabitants, in
1823 Buenos Aires granted German-born merchant Luis Vernet permission to
conduct fishing activities and exploit feral cattle in the archipelago.
Buenos Aires attempted
to retain influence over the settlement by installing a garrison, but a
mutiny in 1832 was followed the next year by the arrival of British
forces who reasserted Britain's rule. The British troops
departed after completing their mission, leaving the area without formal
government.
In 1840, the Falklands
became a Crown colony, and Scottish settlers subsequently established an
official pastoral community. Four years later, nearly everyone
relocated to Port Jackson, considered a better location for government,
and merchant Samuel Lafone began a venture to encourage British
colonisation.
Stanley, as Port Jackson
was soon renamed, officially became the seat of government in 1845.
Early in its history, Stanley had a negative reputation due to
cargo-shipping losses; only in emergencies would ships rounding Cape
Horn stop at the port. Nevertheless, the Falklands' geographic location
proved ideal for ship repairs and the Wrecking Trade, the business of
selling and buying shipwrecks and their cargoes. Aside from this trade,
commercial interest in the archipelago was minimal due to the low-value
hides of the feral cattle roaming the pastures.
Economic growth began only after the Falkland Islands Company, which bought out Lafone's failing enterprise in 1851, successfully introduced Cheviot sheep for wool farming, spurring other farms to follow suit.
In 1881, the Falkland
Islands became financially independent of Britain. For more than a
century, the Falkland Islands Company dominated the trade and employment
of the archipelago; in addition, it owned most housing in Stanley,
which greatly benefited from the wool trade with the UK.
In the first half of the
20th century, the Falklands served an important role in Britain's
territorial claims to subantarctic islands and a section of Antarctica.
The Falklands also played a minor role in the two world wars as a
military base aiding control of the South Atlantic.
After the WWII ended,
the Falklands economy was affected by declining wool prices and the
political uncertainty resulting from the revived sovereignty dispute
between the United Kingdom and Argentina.
21 May 1982, Argentina surrendered to the UK
Simmering tensions between the UK and Argentina increased during the second half of the century, when Argentine President Juan Perón asserted sovereignty over the archipelago.
The sovereignty dispute intensified during the 1960s,shortly after the United Nations passed a resolution on decolonisation which Argentina interpreted as favourable to its position. In 1965, the UN General
Assembly passed Resolution 2065, calling for both states to conduct
bilateral negotiations to reach a peaceful settlement of the dispute.
From 1966 until 1968, the UK confidentially discussed with Argentina the
transfer of the Falklands, assuming its judgement would be accepted by
the islanders.
An agreement on trade ties between the archipelago and
the mainland was reached in 1971 and, consequently, Argentina built a
temporary airfield at Stanley in 1972. Nonetheless, Falklander dissent,
as expressed by their strong lobby in the UK Parliament, and tensions
between the UK and Argentina effectively limited sovereignty
negotiations until 1977.
Concerned at the expense
of maintaining the Falkland Islands in an era of budget cuts, the UK
again considered transferring sovereignty to Argentina in the early
Thatcher government. Substantive sovereignty talks again ended by 1981,
and the dispute escalated with passing time.
In
April 1982, the disagreement became an armed conflict when Argentina
invaded the Falklands and other British territories in the South
Atlantic, briefly occupying them until a UK expeditionary force retook
the territories in June.
After
the war, the United Kingdom expanded its military presence, building
RAF Mount Pleasant and increasing the size of its garrison.
Based on Lord Shackleton's recommendations, the Falklands diversified from a sheep-based monoculture into an economy of tourism and, with the establishment of the Falklands Exclusive Economic Zone, fisheries. The road network was also made more extensive, and the construction of RAF Mount Pleasant allowed access to long haul flights. Oil exploration also began, with indications of possible commercially exploitable deposits in the Falklands basin.
Argentina and the UK re-established diplomatic relations in 1990; relations have since deteriorated as neither has agreed on the terms of future sovereignty discussions. Disputes between the governments have led some analysts to predict a growing conflict of interest between Argentina and Great Britain... because of the recent expansion of the fishing industry in the waters surrounding the Falklands.
The United Kingdom and Argentina both claim the Falkland Islands. The UK bases its position on its continuous administration of the islands since 1833 and the islanders' right to self-determination as set out in the UN Charter. Argentina's position is that it acquired the Falklands from Spain when it achieved independence in 1816, and that, in 1833, the UK expelled Argentine authorities and settlers from the islands with a threat of greater force and, afterwards, barred Argentines from resettling the islands.
In 2009, the British prime minister, Gordon Brown, had a meeting with the Argentine president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and said that there would be no further talks over the sovereignty of the Falklands.
In March 2013, the Falkland Islands held a referendum on its political status: 99.8% of voters favoured remaining a British overseas territory. Argentina does not recognise the Falkland Islanders as a partner in negotiations.
Today, The Grandma feels better and she has decided to listen to the latest news in Europe. The old continent is suffering the consequences of different actions that its citizens are doing to protest against poverty, to reclaim basic civil rights and to fight against corruption and violence.
The old continent is burning with open conflicts in Ukraine (against Russia), France (with the Gilets Jaunes), Catalonia (Catalan Political Prisoners, Catalan Government in Exile and Spanish repression) and Greece (economic crisis).
History is full of coincidences and today is the anniversary of the Greekreferendum which abolished the monarchy and established the Republic. The Grandma loves Greece and Greek people. They are the cradle of modern Europe and they have an incredible history and culture to share and to explain.
Europe must protect its nations and their citizens in front of the power of the big states and the big lobbies or its own future will be in danger.
After listening to the news, The Grandma has studied a new lesson of her Elementary Language Practice manual (Grammar 36 & Checkpoint 6).
A referendum on retaining the republic was held in Greece on 8 December 1974. After the collapse of the military junta that ruled the country from 1967, the issue of the form of government remained unsolved. The Junta had already staged a plebiscite held on 29 July 1973, which resulted in the establishment of the Republic. However, after the fall of the military regime, the new government, under Constantine Karamanlis, decided to hold another one, as Junta legal acts were considered illegal.
Constantine II, the former King, was banned by the new government from returning to Greece to campaign in the referendum, but the Karamanlis government allowed him to make a televised address to the nation. The proposal was approved by 69.2% of voters with a turnout of 75.6%.
Greece, 1974
The referendum campaign included television debates in which Constantine himself took part on the monarchist side, whilst those debating in favour of a republic included Marios Ploritis, Leonidas Kyrkos, Phaedon Vegleris, George Koumandos, Alexandros Panagoulis and Costas Simitis, who later, from 1996 to 2004, served as Prime Minister of Greece.
Political parties abstained from taking part in the referendum campaign, with the television debates confined to ordinary citizens who represented one side or the other. On 23 November 1974 Prime Minister Karamanlis requested that his parliamentary party group adopt a neutral stance on the issue. Two televised speeches a week were given to each side, with an additional two messages broadcast by the former king; a radio broadcast on 26 November and a television speech on 6 December.
On the day of the referendum, the electorate voted categorically in favour of republic. Crete gave more than 90% of its vote for a republic, whilst in around thirty constituencies the result for republic was around 60–70%. The biggest wins for monarchy were in Peloponnisos and Thrace, with around 45%. The constituencies with the highest votes for a monarchy were Laconia at 59.52%, Rhodope at 50.54%, Messenia with 49.24%, Elis at 46.88% and Argos at 46.67%.
With the announcement of the results, Karamanlis said: A cancer has been removed from the body of the nation today. On 15 December 1974, the incumbent President, Phaedon Gizikis, submitted his resignation, and Karamanlis thanked him with a personal visit and in writing for his services to the country. On 18 December 1974, Michail Stasinopoulos, a state list MP for New Democracy, was elected and sworn in as President of Greece.
In April 2007, the newspaper To Vima carried out a survey in which only 11.6% of those polled wished for Greece to become a monarchy again.
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