Lykkelig Syttende Mai!
By Mitch Berg
Today is the 106th anniversary of the Norske Revolusjon – when Norwegian patriots rebelled, casting off the brutal, authoritarian hand of the Swedish monarchy in an epic cataclysm that ended with a titanic battle in the hills outside Oslo, ending in a crushing Norwegian victory that sent the demoraized Swedes into a panicked retreat in the short term, and a social tailspin in the long run.
After the battle, and when the treaty was signed that granted Norway its hard-earned independence, General Olaf Haraldsson proclaimed:
Med allmektige Gud som vitne i dag, jeg sverger før du at fra i dag fram til slutten av tid og norsk skal noensinne baugen ned før en svenske. Det er bare galt
Words we cal all live by? I think we can all agree on this.
So happy birthday, Norway!
Of course, other than the dates and the flag picture, nothing in the story above is real. Syttende Mai is really the anniversary of the 1814 adoption of the Norwegian Constitution, which didn’t really make the country independent.
And there was no Norwegian revolution; indeed, Syttende is an exceedingly non-martial holiday, focusing mostly around kids’ parades. Not even any fireworks.
But we could have kicked Sweden’s butt…
May 17th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Thank you, Mitch. How well I remember that final battle, when corpses lay three men deep outside the walls of Akershus fortress. I remember Oberst Himmelfart standing on the bulwark, his uniform ragged with bullet holes, suspenders shining in the sunlight, shouting, “Just shoot them, men! You can apologize later!” He was a great man. His court martial was entirely uncalled-for.
May 17th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
There’s nothing as satisfying as watchin demoralized Swedes in a panicked retreat. Let’s emulate that in November.
May 17th, 2010 at 6:43 pm
I was waiting,
……and I was not disappointed.
Happy syttende Mai, Mitch, to you and all of the Norwegian descended Mitchketeers.
May 17th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
ahem………so, what is the translation of the quote, by the way?
I’m sure we would all be enlightened as well as entertained by the General’s words….in English, please.
May 18th, 2010 at 6:42 am
Google Translate says:
“With Almighty God as a witness today, I swear before you that from now until the end of time, and Norwegian will ever bow down before a Swede. It’s just wrong”
but it can be brutal. *shrug*
I am conflicted. Part of me says “Ja!”, part of me says “Aldrig i livet!”, and another part of me says “Können Sie wirklich genug gestört werden, um die Energie ausgeben?”.
May 18th, 2010 at 7:00 am
That’s “NO Norwegian will ever bow down…”
May 18th, 2010 at 1:00 pm
I said they can be brutal. You should try translating something back and forth a few times. Talk about a game of “telephone”.