How To Solve War In Three Stages

 

Valdemar Andersen, detail from the satirical magazine Klods-Hans, September 30, 1905.
Photo: Niels C.B. Larsen.

Five prime ministers are in the room with me as I write this. Three Swedish and two Norwegian of the kind to be precise.

Above is the final and printed first panel by Valdemar Andersen of a situation that in 1905 could have developed into a declaration of war between the two countries. It was formally solved at the meeting seen on the photo below and today any thought of how war could be on the table is unthinkable.

The Swedish-Norwegian Union delegates in Karlstad, September 23, 1905.
Photo: Nordiska Museet.

Norway was negotiating its indepence from Sweden and the tension would have been palpable. Mostly from Swedish right wingers, but both countries had reinforced their mutual border. In Danish private letters at the time it is described how British warships - "those disgusting grey machines" - were gathering and waiting in Danish waters.

Valdemar Andersen has drawn the unique situation of the creation of bliss, of something that dissolved before it became reality. The tension without action. He worked from the formal photographs taken of the delegates, which are the very ones we too see today. This is the material from which he made the situation come alive. 

As seen above the delegates were divided across the middle as in a proper battle. The Swedes to the left and the Norwegians to the right. The Swedes that Valdemar chose to include are Carl Staaff, who would go on to become prime minister that autumn, another eventual prime minister Hjalmar Hammarskjöld and the then Prime Minister Christian Lundeberg. 

Valdemar's sympathies obviously lay with the Norwegians, so the Swedes are a little more difficult to detect than the Norwegians. He may have chosen Hammarskjöld from the photo for his darker hair and long straight nose to create some visual difference. The Swedes present were rather square headed. All of them wore Bismarck-inspired moustaches. They soon turn into predators with faces distorted to bare their teeth:

Valdemar Andersen, detail from the satirical magazine Klods-Hans, September 30, 1905.
Photo: Niels C.B. Larsen.

They all fight it out across the desk. The hands clutching the corners have circles for knuckles. Neither side refuse to give in. 

However... to the right the Norwegian the Prime Minister Christian Michelsen is putting down the largest hand in the room, while Carl Berner, who was heading their delegation has pressed a finger so hard into the table that it bends from the pressure. Behind them are the later prime minister Jørgen Løvland and the fourth is most likely the politician Andreas Urbye thrown in for visual strength, 

Ink was the only thick substance spilled from the day. The whole thing was a showdown and once done bottles soon take over from the ink as seen in the three panels shown together below. All hands are now open embracing their mutual sea of black coats. 

Valdemar's cartoon was printed on the bottom of a page of the satirical magazine Klods-Hans. I have the original drawing on a wall and it took me a long time locating it in print. Within days the threat of war was already a thing that never was. 

The title is a play on the name of the town in which it all took place: Three stages (stadier) of Karl (Charles) in Karlstad:

Valdemar Andersen, the cartoon in its totality as printed in Klods-Hans, September 30, 1905.
Photo: Niels C.B. Larsen.