History of Norway - War and Reconstruction

War and Reconstruction

From the break-out of World War II in 1939, Norway retained a strict neutrality. Germany invaded Norway on 9 April 1940 and the Wehrmacht met little opposition in Southern Norway. Vidkun Quisling proclaimed himself prime minister and appointed a government with members from the National Unity Party. He was quickly set aside and replaced by Josef Terboven, but reinstated in 1942. The Norwegian Campaign continued in Northern Norway and the government fled to London on 7 June. The German occupation resulted in a brutalization of society and 30,000 people were imprisoned. 55,000 people jointed he National Unity Party, which became the only legal party. But the nazification process failed after the Supreme Court resigned and both organized sports and bishops boycotted the new regime. A resistance movement was established and became coordinate from London from 1943. Norway's main contribution to the Allies was Nortraship, the collective fleet of the merchant marine. Germany evacuated Finnmark in October 1944, which was liberated by the Soviet Union. At the time of German surrender on 8 May 1945, there were 360,000 German soldiers in the country.

In the following legal purge, 53,000 people were sentenced for treason and 25 were executed. The post-ward years saw an increased interest in Scandinavism, resulting in Scandinavian Airline System in 1946, the Nordic Council in 1952 and the Nordic Passport Union. along with the metric system being introduced. Reconstruction after the war gave Norway the highest economic growth in Europe until 1950, partially created through rationing private consumption allowing for higher industrial investments. The Labor Party retained power throughout the period and enforced a policy of public planning. The University of Bergen was created in 1946. The 1950s saw a boom in construction of hydroelectricity and the state built the steel mill Norsk Jernverk and two aluminum works. State banks such as the State Housing Bank, the State Educational Loan Fund and Postbanken allowed for governmental control over private debt. Oslo hosted the 1952 Winter Olympics.

Norway retained its neutrality policy until 1947, focusing on its membership in the United Nations, where Trygve Lie had become the first secretary-general. Norway joined the Marshall Plan in 1947, receiving US$400 million in American support. Anti-communism grew with a Soviet proposal for joint control over Svalbard and especially after the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, after which the Communist Party lost all influence. Norway started negotiation the creation of a Scandinavian defense union, but instead opted to become a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). However, Norway never allowed permanently stationed foreign troops or nuclear weapons on Norwegian soil to avoid agitating the Soviet Union, with which Norway from 1944 shared a land border with. NATO financed large parts of the Norwegian military investments, which ultimately resulted in a numerous airports being built throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

Sales of cars were deregulated in October 1960, the same year as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation introduced Norway's first television broadcasts. Norway feared competition from Swedish industry and Danish agriculture and chose to not join any free trade organizations until 1960, when it joined the European Free Trade Association. Throughout the post-war period both fishing and agriculture became more mechanized, the agricultural subsidies rose to the third-highest in the world and the number of small-scale farms and fishermen fell dramatically. The Socialist People's Party was created in 1961 by former Labor politicians who disagreed with the Labor Party's NATO, nuclear and European policies. Following the Kings Bay Affair the right-winged Lyng's Cabinet ruled for a month. The right-wing coalition Borten's Cabinet won the 1965 election, sat for six years and started a trend of shifting Labor and right-winged governments. Norwegianization of Samis halted after the war and Sami rights became an increasing issue, with a council being established in 1964.

The completion of the Nordland Line to Bodø in 1962 concluded the construction of new railway routes, while the first part of the Oslo Metro opened in 1966. A social security net was gradually introduced after the war: child allowance was introduced in 1946 and the Social Care Act was introduced in 1964. The 1960s saw good times for the heavy industry and Norway became Europe's largest exporter of aluminum and the world's largest exporter of ferroalloys. The University of Trondheim and the University of Tromsø both opened in 1968, one year before a network of regional colleges started being opened. Influenced by American culture and similar actions abroad, youth and students started an uproar against cultural norms. The 1960s saw an increased focus on environmentalism, especially through activism, based on ever-more conversion of waterfalls to hydro stations, pollution and the dilapidation of herring stocks. Rondane National Park was created as the country's first in 1962 and the Ministry of the Environment was the first in the world when it was established in 1972. A network of regional airports were built in Western and Northern Norway in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Membership in the European Economic Community was rejected in a 1972 referendum.