Christian Michelsen

Christian Michelsen

Peter Christian Hersleb Kjerschow Michelsen (born March 15, 1857 in Bergen , † June 29, 1925 in Fana ) was a Norwegian shipowner and right-wing liberal politician. He was Prime Minister from March 11, 1905 to October 28, 1907, making him the first of independent Norway.

Michelsen was a member of the Norwegian Parliament, the Storting , from 1891 to 1894 as a member of the Venstre . In 1904 he was re-elected to the Storting, this time as a member of the Samlingspartiet . In September 1904 he joined Francis Hagerup's second cabinet as Minister of Finance . After his resignation he was able to lead the government himself in March 1905.

Michelsen had Gamlehaugen, now the residence of the Norwegian king when he visits Bergen, built as a house

Under Michelsen's government, the Storting unanimously decided in May 1905 to set up Norwegian consular missions abroad. This led to the conflict with Sweden , which was linked in a union with Norway. After the veto of the Swedish King Oskar II , Michelsen and his government resigned. The resignation was not accepted by Oscar II. Oskar II could not find any new members for a Norwegian government. The Storting took this as an opportunity to declare that the Swedish king was not fulfilling his duties as the Norwegian head of state. Thereupon, on June 7, 1905, the resolution on the dissolution of the Union and the extension of powers for the Michelsen government was passed unanimously in Storting. The Storting suggested that a Swedish prince should ascend the Norwegian throne. The Swedish king rejected the unilateral measures taken by Norway. The Swedish Reichstag , on the other hand, demanded that a referendum should be held in Norway to resolve the storting and that the conditions for the dissolution of the Union should be clarified through separate Swedish-Norwegian negotiations. This proposal was accepted by the Norwegian government. In the referendum on August 13, 1905, 368,392 Norwegians voted for and only 184 against the dissolution of the union. With the Treaty of Karlstad the peaceful dissolution of the union between Sweden and Norway took place. Michelsen was the first Prime Minister of independent Norway. For a short time he took over the office of Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, until he resigned in autumn 1907 because of the disputes in his coalition. He withdrew from party politics, but founded the Fedrelandslaget with Fridtjof Nansen in 1925 as a conservative national collection organization.

Michelsen was awarded the Grand Cross of the St. Olav Order and the Borgerdådsmedalje . He also received several high medals from foreign states. In 1898 he bought Gamlehaugen near Bergen, where he had a castle-like mansion built.

Web links

Commons : Christian Michelsen  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Biographical data in Norsk samfunnsvitenskapelig datatjeneste .
• Article in Norsk biografisk leksikon .
• Short biography on regjeringen.no (English).

predecessor	Office	successor
Francis Hagerup	Prime Minister of Norway 1905 - 1907	Jørgen Løvland