Ignorance about Norway
The Scandinavians in History. By S. M. Toyne. (Edward Arnold. 18s.) THE general knowledge of Scandinavia and Scandinavian affairs in Britain was never impressive. It is true that it has grown in recent years owing to the war, and with the prevailing international situa- tion this growth is likely to continue. However, considering that Britain and Scandinavia are almost neighbours, and that their rela- tions have always been close, there is still a surprising lack of serious scholarly interest. It is characteristic, for instance, that no British university has so far established any chair for Scandinavian studies, though in many fields such studies are naturally supple- mentary to the study of English language, archaeology, history and literature. The number of scholarly works by Englishmen on Scandinavian subjects is accordingly very limited, and the appearance of a book like Mr. Toyne's a major event. There is no doubt that this lucid and up-to-date account of the history of Scandinavia will be valuable to everybody in need of information on the subject, particularly because so few Englishmen are able to read a book in any of the Scandinavian languages.
As a Norwegian, however, I must admit that the reading of the book leaves me disappointed. It is true that for the period 1450-1814 Norway was the weaker partner in a very firm union with Denmark. The author may be justified in treating the history of the two countries together in this period, with the stress on the more im- portant of the two. But there is no similar justification for the lack of separate treatment of Norway in mediaeval times, nor for merging the histories of Norway and Sweden after 1814, when the two countries, in spite of the union under one king from 1814 to 1905, developed along completely different lines. As it is, among sixteen chapters and three appendices not one is devoted to Norway alone. This failure to consider Norway individually appears still more clearly in other parts of the book. In his preface, for instance, the author thanks Danes and Swedes for their assistance, but is com- pletely silent about similar Norwegian help. That such assistance cannot have been sought is evidenced by the incorrect spelling of Norwegian names (Jaabok, Wengeland, Wehenskiold) as well as by factual inaccuracies. Out of nine illustrations three refer to Den- mark, five to Sweden and one to Iceland. In the bibliography of "some books in English on Scandinavian history" the author has found room for a book on Swedish education, but he does not mention a single book on Norway in English. It is therefore natural to suppose that he does not know the American Professor Gjerset's History of the Norwegian People or Professor Keilhau's Norway in World History. However, the most glaring example of Mr. Toyne's neglect of Norway is in his " Synchronistic Table of Events." It has three columns headed, respectively, Sweden, Denmark and General. As there is no column for Norway, the German invasion of the country in 1940 is mentioned under Sweden.
The terms Scandinavia and Scandinavians, though more used out- side than inside the region, are often useful. The countries covered by it are certainly very closely related, racially and culturally, and their histories are bound together. There is no doubt, however, that
the outside world is apt to be misled by the term, and underestimates or even forgets the differences between them. And yet these differ- ences, due in the last resort to geographical and economic factors, have always proved too strong for a union between them to become a lasting success. Indeed, their interests and outlook are so different that it has proved impossible to establish the joint defence of Scandinavia that all three countries wanted.
LEIF J. WILHELMSEN.
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