The Easter Crisis of 1920 was a significant event in the evolution of constitutional monarchy in the state of Denmark. It began with the dismissal of the elected government by the reigning monarch, King Christian X, an action which he was not authorized to take. Jump to: navigation, search 1920 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... Jump to: navigation, search A constitutional monarchy is a form of monarchical government established under a constitutional system which acknowledges a hereditary or elected monarch as head of state. ... A monarch is a type of ruler or head of state, whose titles and ascent are often inherited, not earned, and who represents a larger monarchical system which has established rules and customs regarding succession, duties, and powers. ... Jump to: navigation, search Christian X of Denmark (Christian Carl Frederik Albert Alexander Vilhelm) (September 26, 1870 – April 20, 1947) was King of Denmark from 1912 to 1947 and of Iceland between 1918 and 1944. ...

The immediate cause was a conflict between the king and the cabinet over the reunification with Denmark of Schleswig, a former Danish fiefdom, which had been lost to Prussia during the Second War of Schleswig. Danish claims to the region persisted to the end of World War I, at which time the defeat of the Germans made it possible to resolve the dispute. According to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the disposition of Schleswig was to be determined by two plebiscites: one in Northern Schleswig (today Denmark's South Jutland County), the other in Central Schleswig (today part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein). No plebiscite was planned for Southern Schleswig, as it was dominated by an ethnic German majority and, in accordance with prevailing sentiment of the times, remain part of the post-war German state. Under the system of feudalism, a fiefdom, fief, feud or fee, consisted of heritable lands or revenue-producing property granted by a liege lord in return for a vassal knights service—usually fealty, military service, or security. ... The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1701-1918 The word Prussia (German: Preußen, Polish: Prusy, Lithuanian: PrÅ«sai, Latin: Borussia) has had various (often contradictory) meanings: The land of the Baltic Prussians (in what is now parts of southern Lithuania, the Kaliningrad exclave of Russia and... The Second war of Schleswig (also known as the Danish war or the Danish-Prussian war) was fought in 1864 between Denmark and Prussia. ... Jump to: navigation, search World War I was primarily a European conflict with many facets: immense human sacrifice, stalemate trench warfare, and the use of new, devastating weapons - tanks, aircraft, machineguns, and poison gas. ... Jump to: navigation, search The treaty was an International affair The Treaty of Versailles of 1919 was the peace treaty which officially ended World War I between the Allies and Germany. ... A referendum (plural: referendums or referenda) or plebiscite is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. ... Sønderjyllands Amt (English: South Jutland County) is a county in southern Denmark, on the peninsula of Jutland. ... Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the 16 Bundesländer in Germany. ...

In Northern Schleswig, 75% voted for reunification with Denmark and 25% for remaining with Germany. In Central Schleswig, the situation was reversed with 80% voting for Germany and 20% for Denmark. In light of these results, the government of Prime Minister Carl Theodor Zahle determined that reuinification with Northern Schleswig could go forward, while Central Schleswig would remain under German control. Carl Theodor Zahle (1866 - 1946), Danish political figure; Denmark 1909_1910, 1913-1920. ...

Many Danish nationalists felt that Central Schleswig should be returned to Denmark regardless of the plebiscite's results, generally motivated by a desire to see Germany permanently weakened in the future. Christian agreed with these sentiments, and ordered Prime Minister Zahle to include Central Schleswig in the re-unification process. As Denmark had been operating as a constitutional monarchy since a previous crisis in 1901, Zahle felt he was under no obligation to comply. He refused the order and resigned several days later after a heated exchange with the king. Jump to: navigation, search // Nationalism is an ideology which holds that the nation, ethnicity or national identity is a fundamental unit of human social life, and makes certain political claims based on that belief, above all the claim that the nation is the only legitimate basis for the state and... Jump to: navigation, search A constitutional monarchy is a form of monarchical government established under a constitutional system which acknowledges a hereditary or elected monarch as head of state. ...

Subsequently, Christian dismissed the rest of the legitimate government and replaced it with a de facto conservative care-taker cabinet. The coup caused demonstrations and an almost revolutionary atmosphere in Denmark, and for several days the future of the monarchy seemed very much in doubt. In light of this, negotiations were opened between the king and members of the Social Democrats. Faced with the potential overthrow of the Danish crown, Christian stood down and dismissed his own government, installing a compromise cabinet until elections could be held later that year. Social democracy is a political ideology emerging in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from supporters of Marxism who believed that the transition to a socialist society could be achieved through democratic evolutionary rather than revolutionary means. ...

This was the final time that a sitting Danish monarch attempted to take political action without the full support of parliament; following the crisis, Christian accepted his drastically reduced role as symbolic head of state. The President of the Philippines meets with the President of the United States. ...