Following the defeat in the Second Schleswig War, the military became a political hot-button issue. Denmark managed to maintain its neutrality during the First World War, with a relative strong military force. However, following the Interwar period, a more pacifistic government came to power, decreasing the size of the military. This resulted in Denmark having a limited military, when Denmark was invaded in 1940.[9]
Since the establishment of the Danish military, the two branches operated independently, without much cooperation. They both had their own ministry, and their own air force.[10] The first proposal for a unified command came in 1928, when Hjalmar Rechnitzer [da] suggested an independent air force, with all three branches collected under a central Rigsværn (transl. Realm Defence).[11] It was however only after the lessons of joint operations in World War II, the branches were reorganized and collected under the newly created Danish Defence.[9]
Denmark tried to remain neutral after World War II, with the proposed Scandinavian defence union. However, Norway resigned from the talks, and with Cold War tensions on the rise and the 1948 Easter Crisis, Denmark was forced to join the North Atlantic Treaty.[9] During the Cold War, Denmark began to rebuild its military and to prepare for possible attacks by the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies. During this time Denmark participated in a number of UN peacekeeping missions including UNEF and UNFICYP.
Following the end of the Cold War, Denmark began a more active foreign policy, deciding to participate in international operations. This began with the participation in the Bosnian War, where the Royal Danish Army served as part of the United Nations Protection Force and were in two skirmishes. This was the first time the Danish Army was a part of a combat operation since World War 2.[12][13] On April 29, 1994, the Royal Danish Army, while on an operation to relieve an observation post as part of the United Nations Protection Force, the Jutland Dragoon Regiment came under artillery fire from the town of Kalesija. The United Nations Protection Force quickly returned fire and eliminated the artillery positions. On October 24, 1994, the Royal Danish Army, while on an operation to reinforce an observation post in the town of Gradačac, were fired upon by a T-55Bosnian Serb tank. One of the three Danish Leopard 1 tanks experienced slight damage, but all returned fired and put the T-55 tank out of action.
The purpose of the Danish Defence is to prevent conflicts and war, preserve the sovereignty of Denmark, secure the continuing existence and integrity of the independent Kingdom of Denmark and further a peaceful development in the world with respect to human rights. This is defined in Law no. 122 of 27 February 2001 which took effect 1 March 2001.[17]
Its primary tasks are: NATO participation in accordance with the strategy of the alliance, detect and repel any sovereignty violation of Danish territory (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands), defence cooperation with non-NATO members, especially Central and East European countries, international missions in the area of conflict prevention, crisis-control, humanitarian, peacemaking, peacekeeping, participation in Total Defence in cooperation with civilian resources and finally maintenance of a sizable force to execute these tasks at all times.
Total Defence (Danish: Totalforsvaret) is "the use of all resources in order to maintain an organized and functional society, and to protect the population and values of society".[18] This is achieved by combining the military, Home Guard, Danish Emergency Management Agency and elements of the police.[19] The concept of total defence was created following World War II, where it was clear that the defence of the country could not only rely on the military, but there also need to be other measures to ensure a continuation of society.[18] As a part of the Total Defence, all former conscripts can be recalled to duty, in order to serve in cases of emergency.[20]
Since 1988, Danish defence budgets and security policy have been set by multi-year white paper agreements supported by a wide parliamentary majority including government and opposition parties.[21] However, public opposition to increases in defence spending—during periods of economic constraints require reduced spending for social welfare — has created differences among the political parties regarding a broadly acceptable level of new defence expenditure.[22]
The latest Defence agreement ("Defence Agreement 2018–23") was signed 28 January 2018, and calls for an increase in spending, cyber security and capabilities to act in international operations and international stabilization efforts.[23] The reaction speed is increased, with an entire brigade on standby readiness; the military retains the capability to continually deploy 2,000 soldiers in international service or 5,000 over a short time span. The standard mandatory conscription is expanded to include 500 more, with some of these having a longer service time, with more focus on national challenges.[23]
The Danish Defence Force, counting all branches and all departments, itself has an income equal to about 1–5% of its expenditures, depending on the year. They are not deducted in this listing.
Approximately 95% of the budget goes directly to running the Danish military including the Home guard. Depending on year, 50–53% accounts for payment to personnel, roughly 14–21% on acquiring new material, 2–8% for larger ships, building projects or infrastructure and about 24–27% on other items, including purchasing of goods, renting, maintenance, services and taxes.
Because Denmark has a small and highly specialized military industry, the vast majority of Danish Defence's equipment is imported from NATO and the Nordic countries.[24]
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The Danish Royal Army (Danish: Hæren) consists of 2 brigades, organised into 3 regiments, and a number of support centres, all commanded through the Army Staff. The army is a mixture of Mechanized infantry and Armoured cavalry with limited capabilities in Armoured warfare.
Lt. Line Bonde, the first female fighter pilot in the Royal Danish Air Force
Women in the military can be traced back to 1946, with the creation of Lottekorpset. This corps allowed women to serve, however, without entering with the normal armed forces, and they were not allowed to carry weapons. In 1962, women were allowed in the military.[32]
Currently 1,122 or 7.3% of all personnel in the armed forces are women.[33] Women do not have to serve conscription in Denmark, since 1998, it is however possible to serve under conscription-like circumstances; 17% of those serving conscription or conscription-like are women.[34] Between 1991 and 31 December 2017, 1,965 women have been deployed to different international missions.[35] Of those 3 women have lost their lives.[36] In 1998, Police Constable Gitte Larsen was killed in Hebron on the West Bank. In 2003, Overkonstabel Susanne Lauritzen was killed in a traffic accident in Kosovo. In 2010, the first woman was killed in a combat situation, when KonstabelSophia Bruun was killed by an IED in Afghanistan.[37]
In 2005, Line Bonde became the first female fighter pilot in Denmark.[38] In 2016, Lone Træholt became the first female general.[39] She was the only female general in the Danish armed forces until the army promoted Jette Albinus to the rank of brigadier general on 11 September 2017.[40]
In May 2018, the Royal Life Guards was forced to lower the height requirements for women, as the Danish Institute of Human Rights decided it was discrimination.[41]
Technically all Danish 18-year-old males are conscripts (37,897 in 2010, of whom 53% were considered suitable for duty).[42] Due to the large number of volunteers, 96-99% of the number required in the past three years,[43] the number of men actually called up is relatively low (4,200 in 2012). There were additionally 567 female volunteers in 2010, who pass training on "conscript-like" conditions.[44]
Conscripts to Danish Defence (army, navy and air force) generally serve four months,[45][46] except:
^Kongstad, Jan O. (2008). Den militære flyvnings udvikling i Danmark 1910-1932 [The development of military aviation in Denmark 1910-1932] (in Danish). p. 73. ISBN978-87-7674-175-4.
^Jens Ringsmose (November 2007). "Danmarks NATO omdømme"(PDF). cms.polsci.ku.dk. Dansk Institut for Militære Studier. Archived(PDF) from the original on 2014-10-23.
^Forsvarsministeriets Personalestyrelse (22 August 2018). "Udsendte". forpers.dk (in Danish). Danish Ministry of Defence. Archived from the original on 1 October 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
^Alternative service law, 13 December 1917, Article 1
^Under the current Constitution of Denmark, the role of the Danish monarch as commander-in-chief is implicit; the constitution does not explicitly state that the monarch is the commander-in-chief. It is also of important note that in modern Danish legal parlance, most jurists interpret references to the King in the constitution as to be interpreted as references to the government (consisting of the Prime Minister and other ministers).[1] For more, see Commander-in-chief § Denmark.
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