Denmark. Some historical remarks

The Danish belts were the link between the Baltic Sea and the Atlantic.

Membership of NATO Denmark was occupied by Germany during the Second World War but came through the war without major destruction or loss of life unlike, for example, Poland, the Baltic States and the Soviet Union. Denmark received post-war help from the U.S., so-called Marshall Aid, for reconstruction and development.

In 1949, Denmark became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty (later NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization), a military alliance based on collective defence in response to an attack by any external party.

The Warsaw Pact was the Communist countries’ military response to NATO. The promoter and main partner was the Soviet Union. The Pact’s policy and operations was controlled from Moscow.

Denmark’s membership of NATO was a consequence of the military threat from the Soviet Union. It also meant a change in Denmark’s previous unilateralism in security policy as a neutral country. It should also be noted that influential circles in Denmark were against joining NATO and wanted to remain a neutral country not least because of the country’s relations with the Soviet Union. Once it had joined NATO, Denmark was openly labelled an “enemy” and “bridgehead of imperialism” by the Soviet Union.

In a wider context, the Danish belts were the link between the Baltic Sea and the Atlantic. The belts were international waters. It was the point of exit of the Soviet Baltic Fleet to the strategically important North Atlantic Ocean and it was also the point of entry of the NATO sea forces to the Baltic Sea. This related mainly to submarines, which thus navigated near to the northern and central parts of the Soviet Union. Another reason for the Soviet Union’s interest in controlling access to the Baltic Sea was the many shipyards that could repair the Warsaw Pact’s ships in case of war.

In some Soviet attack plans, Sjælland was seen as a stepping stone by which Warsaw Pact forces could reach Sweden and, thereby, the main of goal Norway and the Norwegian harbours, bordering the strategically important North Atlantic Ocean. Control over the North Atlantic meant control over the essential and vital link between Europe and the U.S.