In Denmark, this is widely being referred to as "the first terror-bombing attack in history".

Britain was concerned Denmark would side with France, so Britain gave them a reason too side with France

In 1801, the Danish navy was among the largest in Europe, although it was not fully equipped at the time of the battle. The most important result for Denmark (and Norway) of the events of 1801 and 1807 was the dissolution of the Danish-Norwegian kingdom. After the loss of the fleet, the kingdom was unable to defend the trade and lines of communication between Norway and Denmark. Denmark thus had little power to oppose the Russo-Swedish alliance, which forced Denmark to cede Norway to Sweden. This changed Denmark into a tiny country and a tiny power. It was also the beginning of Norwegian independence, although it would take another 90 years. After the loss of the fleet, the king demanded that new oak trees be planted in Denmark for the construction of a future fleet. Unfortunately, it takes about 200 years for oak trees to grow large enough to be used for shipbuilding. When the country's foresters called the Ministry of Defense in 2008 to tell them the king's oaks were ready, there was no longer any interest in the 90,000 oak trees that had been planted.

I (British) was in working in Copenhagen and they brought it up, they were still mad about it. I had never even heard of it happening.

My family are from Helsinør in north Sjælland. The older generations up there used the tearm 'Engelsk røver' (English Robber) to descripe a person who pretends to be good natured in order to steal from you.

There is ALWAYS something to be learned with The History Guy. A man who deserves to be remembered!!

Zapp Branigan was right! "With these neutrals, you don't know where they stand."

Thank you, THG for sharing this "dark side" of the Napoleonic wars. It is tempting to think that war in the early 19th was only between armies, but frequently it did affect civilians. Great visuals, too.

When researching for a paper on Danish reactions to the defeat against Prussia and Austria in 1864, which crippled the country, I came across plenty of diaries and letters from elderly Danes at the time, who still considered the Germans as a lesser evil than the British, despite having fought two wars against them within 15 years.

this one of the best descriptions of the event - and as a dane its great to see the whole thing from a more english perspective. We danes often see it as a national catastrophe. Denmarks navy was part of our national pride and losing it meant lossing someting essential your the way we understand ourselvs as a nation of sailors. Fun fact: During the bombardment of 1807 a book in the old university library at Trinitatis Church was hit. Ironically enough the book was called "Defensor pacis" - meaning defender of the peace.

Wellington had a horse named Copenhagen. It's mother was in the British Expeditionary Force at this battle and the foal was named in commemoration. After a failed career as a racehorse it was subsequently acquired by Wellington, and remained in his ownership until it died in 1836 at the grand old age of 29.

Good morning from Connecticut, fellow classmates. For once I was early, waiting for the doors to open! Have a great Friday!

Great vlog as always! The building «Børsen» the Danish exchange burned in the Ides of March. They were doing renovation and fire started and there will be no party this fall to commemorate the classic 400 yr old structure. That is history worth remembering.

The first battle of Copenhagen in 1801 involved a British fleet led by Admiral Hyde Parker with Horatio Nelson as his subordinate. Since the entrance to Copenhagen was shallow Nelson took a dozen shallower draft sail of the line to engage the Danish ships and forts. 3 of his ships ran aground and Parker could see them but not the main engagement. gave the order for Nelson to withdraw. He figured if Nelson needed to retreat he would and if he didn't he would ignore the signal. Nelson held the telescope to his blind eye and said 'I really don't see the signal."

You learn something new every day! Thanks, Professor! 😊

Congreve Rockets were manufactured at the Royal Arsenal Woolwich. The rockets were notorious for accidents during manufacture. It is said they did more damage to the town of Woolwich, than they ever did to the enemy.

I have heard of this story before and was delighted to learn many of the details concerning it. Well done, my friend and kudos to you! 😊

History that deserves to be remembered, indeed. Sad and disgusting that small nations are often ground into dust between the so-called "great" powers in their wars and ambitions. So it was at the turn of the 19th century, and so it is today. Britain greatly wronged Denmark; to Denmark it was a memorable defeat and humiliation. To Britain, it was a minor incident in their war aims, hardly worthy of mention. Humans, this exactly is what is wrong with us! Small nations and tiny humans are just "collateral damage." Until we learn better, we are no better than the combatants of centuries past.

I've never heard about this historical event before, interesting story. That's what I love about this Channel, you learn something new every day(or night). Great video, informative as always THG

I feel like the Continental System could have survived with liberal trade terms. France could have effectively founded the EU 175 years earlier, and they could have been trade peers with the existing British Empire rather than adversaries. Too bad Napoleon was doing the same old wealth-extraction-from-client-states model. If everyone was making money, no one would have complained.

Thanks so much on the history of Denmark. My mother was born and raised in Copenhagen. My grandfather worked for the Danish underground getting Jewish people out of Denmark to Sweden . my mother was born in 1932 and lived thew the war she was 8 or 9 when the Germans took her girlfriend out of school and shot her in the street I can see why my mother was a little bit troubled her whole life. My dad married my mother during the Korean way he was stationed in Denmark and Germany thanks for all you do Sir 👍👍👍😎

One curious history. One very large problem of loosing the fleet, was to find pine trees of sufficient size for the masts of the vessels. So, an admiral called Von Langen, ordered the planting of a considerable number of suited pine trees in the wood north of Copenhagen. It is said, that in the mid 1980'ies, the forest administration called the Ministry of Defence, and told them "Your pine trees are ready" The answer is unknown. But Von Langes Pine Trees (Von Langes Graner) can still be found in the wood, north of Klampenborg

I appreciate you and thank you for making content.

Always interesting. Happy Friday.

The Brits have a way with their neighbors...Napoleon brought that out in them.

What a coincidence. I devour historical fiction and have for many years. I just started Sharpe's novels by Bernard Cornwell, and one of the early books covers the siege of Copenhagen. I have to be careful I've recently gotten back into historical miniature wargaming with World War 1 airplanes, and now I'm itching to do Napoleonics as well.

We have not forgotten. We feel somewhat redressed by our liberation 1945, but still.

Wow. Way to turn a friend into an enemy. Tragic.

The description seems accurate. Much later the English would demand the French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir not leaning that an agreement could be made that would be more acceptable- such as returning the ships after the war? Letting sailors join the English or similar. In Mers-el-Kébir they again killed potential allies and damaged ships.

Norway became largely independent in 1814, because Denmark-Norway was on the losing side of the final Napoleonic Wars. When Norway went from being a posession of Denmark to being in a union with Sweden in 1814, Norway got its own constitution, its own parliament and own Prime Minister, own political parties, control of its own currency etc - almost complete independence, really. The average Norwegian citizen even had more democratic rights than the average Swedish citizen during the Union, because of the relatively progressive Norwegian constitution. For example, a higher % of people could vote in Norway than in Sweden. Basically the only thing Norway did not have control over was foreign affairs. As well as the appointment of the King - though he needed the approval of both prime ministers. Norways refusal to grant approval of the new king in 1905 is what directly led to Norway leaving the Union. Norways struggle to establish its own consular/diplomatic system and the Swedish denial of this was a main factor in what led Norway to refuse the new king. The events of 1814 is celebrated yearly in Norway as Constituion Day, by far the biggest celebration of the year. In contrast, the full independence in 1905 is much less talked about, and barely celebrated, if at all.

Many places in Copenhagen, there are cannonballs embedded in the walls of houses as a reminder of the bombing. At least one baby girl born during the bombing was given the name "bombardine".

Hello from Greece, you are a great professor.

Bernard Cornwell set one of his Sharpe novels around this event.

From a Dane. Thanks so much for the video and The HISTORY.

A funny sidenote of the rocket bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807, was that during, and a short time after, WWII, many British claimed that London was the first Capitol to be bombarded with rockets. Even it actually was Copenhagen - and done by the brits themselves :D Yes, it was hard on the Danish, and especially on the Norwegian people (Norway was part of Denmark for many centuries) who were dependent on the Danish to deliver food. But without a fleet, that was not possible, so Norway had to be given to Sweden who were able to not only deliver food by ship, but also overland.

Thank you!

i think it would be useful to indicate the time lapse in these thigs. They are not picking up the phone or send a Tweet. How long does all this communication and movement of troops Take?

Thanks

Yeah, wasn't this episode "Sharpe's Prey" or something? In the book series?

The oak forest is situated in Mid-Jutland and is now a national park. Selected timbers where cut from the forester, during the restoration if the wooden Danish naval Frigate Jutland ( Fregatten Jylland).

Me as a Dutchman I can feel the same pain. We as well had many wars/fights with the brittish who where trying to be the mightiest country. Thats just the way how people play the game of empire

And during this all Denmark lost besides the navy, was Norway.. Denmark kept all the trade colonies in India and the colonies in the Caribbean, Denmark also kept Iceland, Greenland and the faeroes Islands.

Perfidious Albion, very similar to Mers-el-kebir... then it always the other side total fault of course, how they dare to have their own personal interest in having fleets and to protect their own lands... well the English started basically as pirates against the Spanish Empire in the 16th century and continued robbing every colony they could until they did the same or worst than Napoleon in India (even before him! Wellington started his carreer there)... History is really much more interesting that the usual clichés about the good ones and the bad ones...

So did they ever find the weapons of mass destruction in Copenhagen?

Then Denmark went bankrupt in 1813. And lost Norway to Sweden in 1814.

Just finished sharpes prey yesterday & saw this video today lol wild

Right after the king ordered oaks to be planted in both the royal forrests as well as some large private own forrests in order to get building materials for a new fleet. Today the former royal forrest is now state forrests managed by the minister of culture. A few years ago he formed a letter to the minister of defense, that the oaks where now ready to be cut and used for shipbuilding....... :-)

Perfidious Albion!

Thanks!

is anyone here after the G&B test session?

A casual check of the subsequent commentary posts talk around the formation of a future Daanish fleet by the planting of trees, but no reference to Great Britain ever returning any Danish vessels after Waterloo and the supposed end of hostilities therein. Given the Napoleonic era's penchant for Royal Navy 'prizes' of captured vessels, I suppose not-a-one was ever repatriated to Copenhagen. Is this assumption correct?

Incendiary Congreve rockets were the fire starters. Many thousands were fired, including the biggest types. The largest weighed up to 300 lbs

I went to Copenhagen, there's a museum that exhibits Colt revolvers, a gift from Abrahm Lincoln, kindly suggesting the Danes to stop raising toll on the Sonde (passage through to Baltic sea).

More unfortunate events in history.

And then we bought Europas first Ironclad

My Danish wife always calls the famous admiral Lort Nelson (who is popularly misattributed for having giving the bombardment order). Google translate for what lort means. Stealing the Danish ships led to Denmark joining the side of Napoleon, when they were previously neutral. Bit of an own goal from my British perspective. I currently live in a part of Denmark where many of Napoleon's troops were stationed. People here are shorter-legged and darker-haired than the Copenhagen region for some reason 8D. Suits me as it's about the only place in Denmark I can buy a pair of jeans in the right size. I did a translation recently about the star-shaped Citadel you can see on the map at 6.35 which featured a fairly extensive section about the bombardment and subsequent land engagements.

A nice summary… from the British perspective.

A lot of the bigger oakthrees in Denmark is planted in 1807, as Flådeege (naval oak) because of "Slaget på Reden"

This eventually resulted in the Danish state declarating bankruptcy in 1809 - and many of the buildings destroyed wasnt rebuild for more than 20 years cause we were so damn broke... this is something the Danes havent forgotten OR forgiven to this day. 😢

Is this where Nelson turned a "blind eye"?

I’m still annoyed

When it comes to other nation's warships falling into the hands of a dominant continental land power, the British did not mess around. #copenhagen #merselkebir

FYI: he's saying 'Landværn' not the german 'Landwehr'

As a dane I appreciate you telling this story.

During the bombardement a girl was born. Afterwards when christenings could happen again her father named her raketta bombardina.

As a Brit I think you have missed one important factor in relating this story. You did not directly mention . . . The Armed Neutrality of The North" . . . This organisation had previous "form" from 30 years earlier , when it assisted the North American insurgents during The American War of Independence. The memory of this, plus Denmarks previous commitment to it, must have heavily coloured British military thinking. I really enjoy your posts, thank you.

This sad moment in British history is rarely mentioned in the uk for obvious reasons. In ww2 it was the attack on the French navy for the same reasons.

The Danes failed to Gaard their hometown 🤷

🤨 Oh! Wicked wicked men! Oh!

Admiral Gensoul should have studied British naval history.

The Danes in Copenhagen were known to have a swollen lower lip, causing them to spit often into a can.

Do you have a choice about the theme or the organization of the commercials that are posted with your videos? I really don't want to see Trump or his family asking for money to support his legal bills that he has incurred.

In 1801 Denmark-Norway was attacked by the british because we decided not to follow a British embargo on all of Europe to try and sanction France to death. The attack was led by Horatio Nelson under John Jervis. In 1807 Denmark-Norway was once again attacked by the british, because we decided not to follow a French embargo on all of Europe to try and sanction Britain to death. This attack included a young Arthur Wellesley. Damned if you do, damned if you don't... atleast we gave rise to the two most prominent british military minds of their time. It is worth noting that before the 2nd battle of Copenhagen the mood in Denmark was anti-french. While the army was stationed in Southern Jutland the navy was used as a further deterent since their presence would mean any french attack could only hope to secure Jutland leaving the rest of the dual monarchy free to operate. When the navy was forcible seized by the british it left us defenseless against any french attack and thus the crown prince quickly signed a mutual defence pact with France to safeguard the kingdom... a pact that 8 years later meant Sweden, being a british ally, demanded Norway as compensation in the peace treaty. The french stationed some 15.000 troops on the island of Funen as part of the defence pact to prevent Sweden from taking advantage of the situation by attacking Denmark. This force was led by Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte up until he was elected as crown prince of Sweden and switched sides, eventually using his knowledge of danish defenses to invade it with the swedish army.

'The English man, the damned thief!' Danish expression commonly used throughout the 19th century. The English can thank two world wars, that they are not the most despised people in Europe. Of course, the hapless advisors (read: greedy sycophants) the Crown Prince was surrounding him self with, are mostly forgotten to day, in spite of their part in the disaster.

It was not the Danish navy. It was the Danish merrchant navy that the British wanted. For that they needed a war. To get the war they demanded the Danosh navy. They knew that demand would be refused. They then did a terror bombardment of Copenhagen. A third of the town was burnt. The English could then take the Danish merchant ships where theu found them and of course theu also got the Danish men of war. Tthis has been known since at least the 1960ties when some historians got access to the relevant English archives. Incidentally it was not Hitler who started the terrorbombings in World War II. It was Churchill.

Feeding the algorithm…

After Britain surprise attacked the Danes destroying their fleet 1801, with noi real reason excpet "we don't like big fleets we don't control" GB made Denamrk way more pro French than needed...

The English should pay reperations, taking into account inflation and interest.

Denmark did have a impressive army quality wise, but the army wasn't in Copenhagen

Weird they chose the French when the French couldn’t hurt them but the British could.

Hey History Guy and fellow Classmates,🤓 I have a question for you. What kind of candy are you?

It was the first use off rockets in a war, and was seen as one off the reason for the many fires in Copenhagen!

I always thought that Britain should have taken more from Denmark in terms of territory - Greenland, Iceland, Spitzbergen and Faroes would make fine British Overseas Territories.

We danes were furiously angry about this terrorist bombardment until NATO bombed Yugoslavia in 1999, and today, with the whole Gaza genocide, that Denmark supports, it's like you have to straighten your back, suck it up, and be a good sport about these things you know 🤷‍♂

Our good friends the Britains and their peaceful "special military operation".

Did seethenhagen also get bombed?

This was the British revenge for the Vikings raids

The Russians seemed to have learned tactics from the British, only their explosives are more powerful.

It will be my joy to "enter" the Commercial Township community as the incoming pastor of Mauricetown & Haleyville United Methodist Churches in July 2024.

Yep, the British empire did gave it's usual gifts...😒

When Nelson had shelled it, the people greeted him as a conquering hero. I never understood why, until it clicked that Denmark was Protestant while Danish government was backing Catholics.