Halvdan Koht

Halvdan Koht
Halvdan Koht (1937)
Born	(1873-07-07)7 July 1873 Tromsø
Died	12 December 1965(1965-12-12) (aged 92) Bærum
Nationality	Norwegian
Alma mater	Royal Frederick University (cand.philol. 1896, dr.philos. 1908)
Known for	Minister of Foreign Affairs (Labor) 1935–1941 Language activist Peace activist
Scientific career
Institutions	Royal Frederick University (professor 1910–1935)

Halvdan Koht (7 July 1873 – 12 December 1965) was a Norwegian historian and politician representing the Labor Party.

As a politician he served as the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1935 to 1941. He was never elected as a member of the Parliament of Norway, but was a member of Bærum municipal council in 1917–1919 and 1929–1937. He joined the Labor Party around 1910, having formerly adhered to the Liberal Party. He became controversial as Minister of Foreign Affairs during the Second World War, where he clung to a policy of Norway being neutral. This led to his exit from the cabinet and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but he returned to an academic career track and wrote major works in the 1950s and 1960s.

As an academic he was a professor of history at the Royal Frederick University (now: University of Oslo) from 1910 to 1935, having advanced in the ranks from research fellow since 1900 and docent since 1908. Among many honors, he held an honorary degree at the University of Oxford. He was a prolific writer, and touched on numerous subjects during his long academic career. He wrote several biographies; his works on Johan Sverdrup and Henrik Ibsen spanned several volumes each. He became known for syntheses on Norwegian history, and emphasized the roles of peasants and wage laborers as historical agents who found their place in an expanding notion of the Norwegian nation. He was also interested in the United States and its history, and was a pioneer in this respect in Norway.

Another specific issue for which Koht became known, was his views on the Norwegian language. He promoted the Samnorsk ideal, and a reform pushing the formal written language in this direction was indeed agreed to in 1938, but historical events led to the failure of this policy. He was also an activist in the Norwegian and international peace movement, and was a member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. As an activist and politician he was described as a strong-willed and individualistic, and nurturing a strong belief in taking an academic and legal perspective on political problems.

He came from a family with a wide range of achievements: his father was a parliamentarian, and his wife a noted teacher, writer and women's rights activist. His two children both had distinguished careers: as a child psychologist and an ambassador respectively, and his grandchildren also reached high positions in politics, academia and organizations.

Early and personal life

Kohn was born in Tromsø, a son of educator and politician Paul Steenstrup Koht (1844–1892) and Betty Giæver (1845–1936). He was a distant relative of the Holmboe family; the bailiff Jens Holmboe had a daughter Hanna Birgitte Holmboe who married into the Giæver family, and had the son Joachim Gotsche Giæver, Betty's father. Betty's mother was from Bremen, making Halvdan ¼ German. Through Joachim Gotsche Giæver's brother and his descendants, Halvdan Koht was a third cousin of parliamentarian Ola Krogseng Giæver. In Paul Koht's lineage, Kjeld Stub was a distant ancestor. The name Koht stems from German immigrants to Norway in the 17th century.

Himself, Halvdan Koht had three siblings. He was intended to have the name Joachim, but this was stopped on request from Joachim G. Giæver who voiced his dislike for the name. He was then christened Halfdan, changed to Halvdan some years later. The family lived in Tromsø, where Paul Steenstrup Koht was a headmaster and mayor. The family moved to Skien when Halvdan was twelve years old, and his father was again mayor as well as parliamentarian for the Liberal Party. Koht finished school here, taking his examen artium in 1890. His father was among his teachers for a while in Norwegian and Greek. After the death of his father in 1892, the family moved to Bekkelaget in 1893. Koht studied at the Royal Frederick University (now: the University of Oslo).

In September 1898 in Kristiania he married teacher Karen Elisabeth Grude (1871–1960), a daughter of Martin Adolf Grude. They had three children. One child died young, but the remaining two had distinguished careers: Åse Gruda Skard (née Koht) as a child psychologist and Paul Koht as an ambassador. Through Åsa he was a father-in-law of literature professor Sigmund Skard and a grandfather of politician and academic Torild Skard, psychologist and ombud Målfrid Grude Flekkøy and politician and organizational leader Halvdan Skard. In the late 1920s and the 1930s Halvdan's relationship with Karen was somewhat faltering, because of Karen's health issues and Halvdan's preoccupation with his work. Halvdan Koht entered friendships with several women, often pen friendships. During the Second World War, there were rumors about a romantic relationship to his own secretary Unni Diesen. After 1945 the relationship to Karen was refurbished.

Education

Koht graduated with the cand.philol. degree from the Royal Frederick University in 1896. He studied history with geography as a minor subject until 1895, The main history teacher was Gustav Storm. The next examination was in different languages—classical and modern. Koht had the choice between Greek/Latin or Norwegian/German (including Norse); he chose the latter. In 1895, after finishing his history studies, he spent three months in the Mediterranean, travelling with three two ships, the first from Norway to Venice, the second from Venice to Constantinople, the third back to Norway. He studied German literature during this travel. In December 1896 Koht was finally examined by Sophus Bugge and earned his degree. He was one of three students to be examined in Norwegian and German in late 1896, and had been the only candidate in history the previous year.

A break from the studies came in the second half of 1892. After his father's death, he could not afford to attend university that semester. He worked briefly as a private tutor in the Skien district, and was paid to write in the newspaper Varden. On returning to his studies he worked as a Kristiania correspondent for the newspaper; eventually he also worked for Päivälehti. In 1901 he took over after Erik Vullum as obituarist and anniversary writer in Verdens Gang. In the next years he would contribute extensively to publications such as Den 17de Mai, Nationalbladet, Nordmanns-Forbundets tidsskrift, Syn og Segn, Samtiden, Unglyden, Dagbladet, Verdens Gang and Tidens Tegn; these were mostly Liberal or Norwegian nationalist publications.

For some months after graduating Koht worked as an unpaid volunteer at the University Library of Oslo. He also continued to attend university lectures. He was then given a fellowship, the "Gustav Bruun Endowment", from the University of 2 x 1800 kr. From 1897 to 1899 he studied abroad with this fellowship. He studied at the University of Copenhagen, the University of Leipzig and in Paris (École des hautes études, École des Chartes). He was especially marked by Karl Lamprecht in Leipzig.

From 1899 to 1901 Koht worked as a substitute at the University Library of Oslo, and part-time as a school teacher. He was also engaged by Gustav Storm to help him with publishing the source text Regesta Norvegica. In 1900 he took over the work of Jens Braage Halvorsen, who had died, with the biographical dictionary of Norwegian writers, Norsk Forfatter-lexikon. This was a substantial work, and Koht's part of the work, the fifth and sixth volumes, took until 1908 to complete.

Academic career

Appointments and doctorate

In 1901 he was appointed as a research fellow at the Royal Frederick University. He rarely had responsibility for any teaching of the students, and since he was often busy with Norsk Forfatter-lexikon he remained a research fellow until 1907. In 1908 he took his dr.philos. degree on the thesis Die Stellung Norwegens und Schwedens im Deutsch-Dänischen Konflikt 1863–1864. Opponents at the dissertation were Ebbe Hertzberg and Yngvar Nielsen.

Koht was then hired as a docent at the University in 1908. Because Koht had internal opponents at the university, the docenture was designated to cover "cultural history" instead of "history". A while later the university changed it to "history". The cabinet changed it back to "cultural history", before the Parliament finally decided on "history". Koht was going to start his tenure as a docent, but argued with Waldemar Christofer Brøgger that he deserved to travel abroad first. From 1908 to 1909 Koht travelled around in the United States, England and Sweden, visiting the peace conferences in London (1908), Chicago (1909) and Stockholm (1910). During these years, his wife, daughter and her nanny lived in Eidsvoll. Koht then returned to Norway and the university, and remained docent until being promoted to professor in 1910. He remained professor until 1935, and also served as the dean of his Faculty from 1912 to 1917.

Fields of research

Koht's research, authorship and political convictions stemmed from an interest in understanding decisive forces at work in history. He met much skepticism in the academic milieu when announcing his intentions to study social history from the farmers' perspective. Gustav Storm claimed that farmers in Norway had "done no effort of their own". Ludvig Ludvigsen Daae exclaimed that a person whom Koht wanted to study, the farmer-politician John G. Neergaard, was a "crook ... oh well, trahit sua quemque voluptas". Koht was given 100 kr to do research in Nordmøre on Neergaard. In 1896 professor Cathrinus Bang replied to Koht's wish to study social history: "Yes, do not go out and become a socialist!"

Koht followed the farmer-politics trail in 1910 when he wrote the thesis Bonde mot borgar i nynorsk historie. Published in the journal Historisk Tidsskrift in 1912, it featured an elaboration on Koht's theory about class and the nation. In Koht's theory, the community of the nation was expanded in democratic way as the agrarian movement, then the labor movement, both rose from political passivity to demand a place in the political and national sphere. He wrote about this in the 1910 article Norsk folkesamling as well. His work finally culminated with the book Norsk bondereisning, which was issued in 1926. The writing of that book had started already in 1911, when he presented material in his university lectures. An economic background for the farmers' rising was presented in 1912, in Priser og politikk i norsk historie, originally a lecture for the second Norwegian conference of historians. This lecture was also where his historical materialism came to fruition. In 1951 he stated that he "has never thought that the theories could be foundational for a political or social uprising".

Koht's stay in the United States had an impact on his historical views and adaptation of historical materialism, and he also tried to encourage the study in Norway of American history. American culture did not have a particularly high standing in Norway at the time. In school, Koht did not learn proper English. Before he embarked to the US, some historian colleagues insinuated that the country "barely had any history" and was not worth visiting. Koht's first writing on the subject came in 1910 with the lecture Genesis of American Independence. He followed with Pengemakt og arbeid i Amerika ("Monetary Power and Labor in America", 1910) which was based on "People's Academy" lectures, then Amerikansk kultur ("American Culture", 1912) and Den amerikanske nasjonen ("The American Nation", 1920). He would return briefly to American academia during his career, for instance in the autumn of 1930 to hold a course at Harvard University.

Koht was also a prolific biographer. Inspired by the work with Norsk Forfatter-lexikon, he wrote a life of the author Henrik Wergeland in 1908. Later he published biographies both of Norwegians and foreigners: Otto von Bismarck (1911), Ivar Aasen (1913), Johan Sverdrup in three volumes between 1916 and 1925, Marcus Thrane in 1917, Henrik Ibsen in two volumes in 1928 and 1929, and Haakon VII of Norway in 1943. He also wrote about 400 pieces in Norsk biografisk leksikon, first edition. Between 1909 and 1932 he published letters and original writings of Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Aasmund Olavsson Vinje and Henrik Wergeland. He chaired Kjeldeskriftfondet from 1918 to 1927 and Norsk historisk kjeldeskriftråd from 1923 to 1928, two institutions that dealt with publishing of source texts. He also chaired the Norwegian Historical Association from 1912 to 1927 and 1932 to 1936, the Norwegian Genealogical Society from 1928 to 1940 and the Comité International des Sciences Historiques from 1926 to 1933.

Honorary positions

Koht became a fellow of the learned society Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in 1908. Between 1923 and 1939 he was both praeses and vice praeses. He held honorary degrees from the University of Oxford, the University of Chicago and the University of Warsaw. He was decorated by France as a Knight of the Legion of Honour, and in 1952 he received the Gunnerus Medal from the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters. He was also a member of the International Society for the History of Medicine.

Political career

Early involvement and local politics

Koht originally adhered to the Liberal Party, like his father. His father took Koht to the Liberal Party national convention in 1891, where he was allowed to enter because he studied at the university. Koht's first political arena was the Norwegian Students' Society, where he vehemently argued that the flag of Norway should not contain the union badge (the "flag case"). In 1893 he left this forum, co-founded a new students' association called Den Frisinnede Studenterforening, and as the students' association collectively entered the Liberal Party, Koht became a board member of the party branch in Kristiania. Nonetheless, he voted the Norwegian Labour Party from 1900. He continued his fight against the union badge, and the union as a whole. In 1905, when the union was dissolved altogether, he agitated for the establishment of a republic, but a plebiscite decided to keep the monarchy.

Despite his early adherence to the Liberal Party, some traits in Koht's personality pointed to his becoming radical. He never adhered to Christianity in his adolescent or adult life. His political views radicalized further in the 1890s, and he came to consider himself a Socialist in 1896. While living in the United States, he developed a form of historical materialism, which led to a fusion of history scholarship and political views. He viewed the Liberal Party as an important agent in Norwegian history, since it pronounced the rights of the farmers, but he now viewed the working class as the next class to be included in the political life, and specifically through the Norwegian Labour Party. In Koht's Liberal Party period, he had cooperated with some of their radical members, who were now members of the Labour Party, such as Carl Jeppesen. He joined the Labour Party when he returned from the United States and moved to Bærum in 1909. They lived in Stabekk, but commissioned a house in Lysaker in 1910. The house was designed by architect Arnstein Arneberg. Koht dubbed his family's residence "Karistua". The university offered him no office, so he had to conduct his research at home.

Koht was elected as a member of Bærum municipal council in the terms 1916–1919, 1928–1931 and 1931–1934. In 1952 he wrote the 50-year history of Bærum Labour Party.

Foreign affairs politician

Koht (left) with Cordell Hull, 1937.

Internationally, Koht tried to prop up the institutions that maintained public international law. In 1923 he participated in the arbitrations between Denmark and Norway about the disposition of Eastern Greenland. Sovereignty was claimed by Denmark. Koht teamed up with the conservative politician C. J. Hambro, who had edited Nordmanns-Forbundets tidsskrift to which Koht had contributed. The negotiations led to an agreement on Norwegian trade rights in the area, but a question of sovereignty over Eastern Greenland remained unsolved. In 1931, forces in and outside of the then-Agrarian government annexed "Erik the Red's Land".

In the 1930s Koht became the foremost international politician of the Labour Party. He positioned himself in the Labour Party as the prospective Minister of Foreign Affairs should the party form a government. He did so because fellow historian and Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1928, Edvard Bull, Sr., had died, making Koht the "Foreign Minister-designate". The Labor Party also polled well in the Norwegian parliamentary election, 1933, leading them to prepare for office. The Labor government was formed on 20 March 1935. Koht became Minister of Foreign Affairs in Johan Nygaardsvold's Cabinet. Among Koht's first actions as minister was to persuade the Labour Party not to pull Norway out of the League of Nations, something the party had declared that it would do as recently as 1934. In foreign policy matters Koht and Nygaardsvold usually made decisions without consulting the other ministers, merely informing the rest of the cabinet of the decisions that had been made.

Nygaardsvold's Cabinet. Koht is the third from left, standing between Fredrik Monsen and Johan Nygaardsvold.

After the League of Nations failed as an effective international body, Koht again favored the strict neutrality policy to which Norway had adhered before the League of Nations membership. For many years, he was reluctant to an expansion of a Norwegian military defense capacity. He did not vehemently and principally oppose such an expansion, and had been quite friendly to the principle of a national defense in the past. Owing to his neutrality policy he was nonetheless on the "defense-skeptical" side together with Johan Nygaardsvold and most of his cabinet. Among the more "defense-friendly" in and around the cabinet, not the least from 1936, were Trygve Bratteli, Haakon Lie, Finn Moe, Trygve Lie, Oscar Torp, Martin Tranmæl and Minister of Defense Fredrik Monsen. In 1936 Koht expressed great concern for the consequences of the arms race taking place in Europe, which he felt could easily lead to war.

Following the 1936 outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the Nygaardsvold Cabinet followed a policy of non-intervention in the conflict between the Spanish government and rebels led by General Franco. Koht's view of the matter was that Norway should not be involved in the conflict in any way; this became the policy of the government for the duration of the civil war. The government soon banned the sale or transfer of Norwegian arms, aircraft and ships to Spain. Koht himself promoted a ban on the use of Norwegian ships to transport arms, ammunition and aircraft to foreign countries in general, to ensure that there could be no Norwegian connection to any such items that were delivered to Spain. The strict non-intervention policy promoted by Koht and Prime Minister Nygaardsvold was heavily criticized by forces within the Labour Party. Martin Tranmæl, a central figure in the apparatus of the Labour Party and the editor of the party newspaper Arbeiderbladet, led the critics of the policy towards the conflict in Spain. Tranmæl and other critics saw the non-intervention policy of the government as giving equal standing to both the elected government of Spain and the rebels. Koht went to great lengths to avoid any direct Norwegian involvement in the conflict, especially trying to block Norwegians from travelling to Spain to join the International Brigades. On 19 September 1936, Koht attempted to have the League of Nations impose a ceasefire in Spain, to be followed by a popular referendum on the country's constitution. Koht's proposal received little support and failed.

For Koht personally the civil war in Spain came close to ending his cabinet career on several occasions. On 9 April 1937, following a series of incidents where Francoist warships intercepted Norwegian vessels sailing on Spanish ports and confiscated both cargoes and ships, and Norwegian protests failing to gain results, Koht made a formal proposal to dispatch the Norwegian minelayer Olav Tryggvason to Spain to protect Norwegian shipping. After the proposal met opposition in parliament and was set to fail, Koht offered to resign. Prime Minister Nygaardsvold refused to accept Koht's resignation, stating that he "would rather be shot than lose Koht". The case came close to causing the whole cabinet's fall in parliament, before it was agreed that it would be dropped. When Koht in 1938 attempted to establish a trade agreement with Franco, he was blocked by his own party and the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions. Again requesting to be allowed to resign, Koht stayed after months of debating ended with the party giving the cabinet free rein to do what it saw as best with regards to trade with Franco. By October 1938 Koht had negotiated a trade agreement with Franco. The formal Norwegian recognition of the Franco government as the representative of Spain followed on 31 March 1939, three days after the fall of Madrid to the nationalist forces.

Second World War

Pre-war phase

With the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, the Norwegian government declared the country neutral in the conflict. Both warring sides subsequently stated that they would respect Norway's neutrality, provided that she protect her neutrality against trespasses by the other side. Koht was clear from early on that Norway should remain neutral, but also that in the event of her being forced to enter the war it was critical that it was on the side of the British.

Over the first months of the Second World War Norwegian neutrality was violated repeatedly in the air and at sea by both warring parties, most dramatically with the 16 February Altmark Incident in Jøssingfjorden. This, along with other incidents, and the lack of a firm Norwegian response, led the warring parties to the impression that Norway could or would not effectively protect her neutrality. On 5 April the Allies sent notes to both Norway and Sweden warning that they would take any action necessary if the Germans were allowed to use the neutral countries' territory to their advantage. Koht responded with a speech in which he said that the Allies had nothing to gain by interfering with Norwegian shipping lanes the British had a more significant trade with Norway than the Germans. The next day the Allies decided to launch a mining operation on the Norwegian coast, and to land troops at Narvik in case the Germans responded to the mining by landing in Norway. Shortly before the mining was carried out, Koht warned the British that no further neutrality violations would be tolerated, and that in the future the Norwegians would respond with force.

German invasion and war

At the advent of the Nazi German Operation Weserübung, the invasion of Norway of 9 April 1940, Germany sent an envoy Curt Bräuer to present demands of capitulation. Koht personally met with Bräuer, and rejected his demands. Koht and the cabinet instead fled Norway's capital, and from the start Koht was willing to take up the fight against the invaders. He wrote several key speeches, some of which were delivered by King Haakon VII, to convey staunch resistance to the German demands. When the rest of the government fled from Molde to Tromsø, landing on 1 May, Koht and Ljungberg (Minister of Defense) continued from there with the cruiser HMS Glasgow to London. Here, from 5 May they negotiated with British government representatives (Lord Halifax, Chamberlain and Philips) on British aid to Norway. Koht also made a radio speech from London on BBC's broadcasting to Norway, and a speech on American radio. On 8 and 9 May they were in Paris, where they met Reynaud, Gamelin and Daladier. The Norwegian Ministers departed from London on 11 May, arriving back in Norway on 17 May. Koht was informed by British Minister to Norway Sir Cecil Dormer on 1 June that the Allied Forces had decided to retreat from Norway, owing to the difficult situation at the Western Front.

In exile

The cabinet eventually fled the country on 7 June. Koht landed in London on 19 June 1940, now heading the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in exile. Norway was now a close ally of the United Kingdom, but Koht was seen as clinging somewhat to his neutrality policy, and not embracing the alliance with the United Kingdom enough. From the autumn of 1940, Trygve Lie championed a change in policy which meant seeking lasting allies in the western world. Koht viewed this as "distrust". A schism between him and the rest of the cabinet grew as it also became known that Koht's Ministry of Foreign Affairs had received reports on a possible assault on Norway, without Koht having informed the cabinet thoroughly. Furthermore, there was discontent over Koht's decision to establish the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs-in-exile in Bracknell, several miles west of the cabinet headquarters.

Koht was granted leave of absence on 19 November 1940, and ultimately left the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs on 20 February 1941. Trygve Lie took over. Koht decided to travel to Canada and then the United States. He lived with his daughter Åsa and her family in Washington, DC, returning to Norway after the end of the Second World War.

Political legacy

Trygve Lie, who after the war became the first Secretary-General of the United Nations, characterized Koht in his memoirs. Lie noted that Koht was an expert on foreign affairs, but that he was introvert. He had relatively little contact with other politicians, kept to himself to study in peace, and spent much time on his extensive writing. Koht reportedly preferred to solve a problem by himself instead of involving co-workers and employees, even the experts in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His way of thinking was logical and rational, but he allegedly nurtured an "exaggerated belief in paragraphs" and a "dogmatic belief in international law", and wrongly thought that other countries would obey formal regulations at most times. Koht had few or no alternatives to his neutrality policy, and in many ways he based his entire career in foreign affairs on that policy. Trygve Lie claimed that before the Second World War, the neutrality policy had "become a religion" for Koht.

Koht's role in the weak and unorganized defense against Operation Weserübung was debated during and after the occupation. After the World War, a commission named Undersøkelseskommisjonen av 1945 ("Scrutiny Commission of 1945") was set to scrutinize the actions of the Norwegian government in 1940. It concluded with a partial criticism of Koht's dispositions. Although the commission applauded his decisiveness and commitment immediately following the German invasion, it considered that he had isolated his ministry too much in the period leading up to the invasion, and had not engaged the full cabinet and the Prime Minister soon enough as an invasion became imminent. The historical consensus appears to be that he was a well-meaning but too idealistic statesman. After receiving Undersøkelseskommisjonen's analysis, Koht volunteered to undergo an Impeachment trial. The Parliament of Norway did not find it necessary, and no such trial took place.

Since Koht lived in Lysaker, Bærum Municipality wanted to honor him by naming a street after him. When the street was named in 1967, Koht was still controversial because of the aforementioned issues. The street was therefore named Professor Kohts vei ("Professor Koht's Road") to emphasize his academic, rather than his political career.

Language views

Hailing from Tromsø, Koht spoke a Northern Norwegian dialect in his early life. In Skien his dialect provoked negative reactions from his peers. He was inspired by the dialects of Skien's surroundings (Telemark); from 1891 he wrote the "rural" language form Landsmål with strong tinges of Bø dialect. Before this he had attempted to write both "Knudsen Riksmål" and "Aasen Landsmål", but neither stuck. Early publications on the Norwegian language controversy were Det norske målstrævs historie (1898) and Det vitskapelege grunnlage for målstræve (1900). He became a board member of the Landsmål-based publishing house Det Norske Samlaget, and edited the Landsmål periodical Syn og Segn from 1901 to 1908, until 1905 together with Rasmus Flo. He chaired Noregs Mållag, an association the propagation of Landsmål, from 1921 to 1925. In 1929, Landsmål was renamed Nynorsk.

Koht spoke of language in a social context in general and the class struggle in particular. He eventually used the Labour Party as a vehicle for his language activism, especially after being asked by the party to write Arbeidarreising og målspørsmål in 1921. In it, he synthesized the class struggle and language struggle in Norway, and because he was an integrationist he wanted a popular gathering around one written language. Koht became a member of Rettskrivingsnemnda in 1934, and in 1936 the Labor Party agreed that a language reform should be carried out, moving the two language forms Bokmål and Nynorsk closer to one another. The language reforms took place in 1938 and promoted the Samnorsk ideal. The reforms were reversed in 1941 under Nazi rule; the Nazi reform was re-reversed after the end of the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany. According to historian Kåre Lunden, Koht was much hated by many because of his language reforms. They perceived the reforms as attacking and downgrading their preferred language. His ideals were dubbed "det kohtske knot", i.e. "the Kohtian mishmash". For his own part, Koht often used spellings that contrasted with both Nynorsk and Bokmål, cf. the titles of his publications Det vitskapelege grunnlage for målstræve and Sosialdemokratie. The definite article, which is formally the suffix "-et", was substituted with the suffix "-e".

Peace activism

Koht's first travel abroad was in 1890, when he accompanied his father as well as Hans Jacob Horst and John Theodor Lund to an interparliamentary peace conference in London. In 1895 he was a founding member and board member of the Norwegian Peace Association, serving as chairman from 1900 to 1902. From 1901 to 1902 he edited his own monthly periodical named Fredstidende ("Peace Times").

The Peace Association was dominated by Liberal Party politicians—from a Marxist perspective, "bourgeois" people. Historian Nils Ivar Agøy had noted that the socialists who were active in the bourgeois peace movement—the most prominent being Koht, Adam Egede-Nissen and Carl Bonnevie—were "radicalized sons of the bourgeoisie". This meant that they were "capable of asserting themselves among the ship-owners and county governors in the board" of the Norwegian Peace Association. Koht also followed his own goals during his first period as chairman. He wanted to tie the "apolitical" peace movement closer to the labor movement, to prop up "economic justice" and to employ the use of arbitration in labor conflicts. These goals were not supported by all members, particularly those who wanted to keep the Peace Association apolitical. A larger problem, however, was that Koht rated Norwegian nationalism higher than pacifism. He had thus carried out his compulsory military service "with fervor", notes Agøy. Koht demanded that the Peace Association did not resist to an armed defense of the "fatherland". The national convention in 1902 refused to acknowledge this principle, and Koht therefore resigned his membership. He was followed by others, as a result of a schism in the Peace Association between the pacifists and the more pragmatic peace activists. Koht has also been assessed as an ineffective organizational leader. The defense question more or less solved itself when the Swedish-Norwegian union was peacefully dissolved in 1905. Koht later returned to the Peace Association to serve as a board member from 1910 to 1912.

He became a member of Institut International de la Paix in 1913. He was a consultant for the Norwegian Nobel Institute from 1904 to 1913, examining proposed candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize, and served on the Norwegian Nobel Committee from 1918 to 1942. He was absent in the decisive meeting in 1936 that awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Carl von Ossietzky, and was thereafter absent while serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs, not wishing to combine the two roles. He returned briefly afterwards, but left in 1942. Another reason for his inactivity was that he had not lived in Norway since 1940, but either way the Prize was not awarded in the years 1939 through 1943.

Koht's academic writing also encompassed the peace issue. His book on the subject include Histoire du mouvement de la paix en Norvège ("History of the Peace Movement in Norway", 1900) and Fredstanken i Noregs-sogo ("The Notion of Peace in the History of Norway", 1906).

Post-political life

After he resigned from the exiled cabinet in 1941, Koht spent the rest of the war years in the United States. Here he continued his literary production. The books Norway Neutral and Invaded (1941) and The Voice of Norway (1944) were both released in London. The first book dealt directly with the advent of war in Norway, and was released in Swedish in the same year. The second book, written together with son-in-law Sigmund Skard, dealt more with older history and literature of Norway. It was released in Swedish in 1944 and Norwegian in 1948.

After the war Koht returned to Norway. There he continued writing several works on the war years. His books include For fred og fridom i krigstid 1939–1940, Frå skanse til skanse. Minne frå krigsmånadene i Noreg 1940 and Norsk utanrikspolitikk fram til 9. april 1940. Synspunkt frå hendingstida, all released in 1947. These memoir-like books have been analyzed as being self-apologetic. His political career was effectively over, but some of his ideas had prevailed. For instance, his analysis of the class situation in Norway became a part of the general social democratic ideology of the post-war years.

Koht did not hold the professor chair any longer, but continued his academic writing; his main work from the post-war years was the six-volume Kriseår i norsk historie. The six volumes each described a decisive moment in Norwegian history. The first volume, released in 1950, centered on "Vincens Lunge contra Henrik Krummedige". The second volume, released in 1951, was about Olav Engelbriktsson and Norway's descent into dependency to Denmark in 1537. The third and fourth volumes, released in 1952 and 1955 respectively, were about medieval kings: Sverre I and Harald I respectively. The fifth volume, released in 1956, centered on "Queen Margaret and the Kalmar Union". The sixth and last volume, released in 1960, was about the years 1657 to 1661, when Denmark (and by extent Norway) transitioned into an absolute monarchy.

Koht died on 12 December 1965 in Bærum. He was buried at Nordre gravlund in Oslo. Two works by Koht have been released posthumously: the memoirs Minne frå unge år in 1968 and the diary Rikspolitisk dagbok 1933–1940 in 1985. His son-in-law Sigmund Skard wrote a biography him, Mennesket Halvdan Koht ("The Human Halvdan Koht") in 1982.

References and notes

Notes

Bibliography

• Agøy, Nils Ivar (2000). "Et floket partnerskap. Fredsbevegelsen og arbeiderbevegelsen til 1940". Arbeiderhistorie (in Norwegian): 90.
• Kjærheim, Steinar (1985). "Innleiing". In Koht, Halvdan (ed.). Rikspolitisk dagbok 1933–1940 (in Norwegian). Oslo: Tiden Norsk Forlag. ISBN 82-10-02741-7.
• Koht, Halvdan (1951). Historikar i lære (in Norwegian). With the Norwegian Historical Association. Oslo: Grøndahl & Søn. OCLC 15006430.
• Koht, Halvdan (1952). Bærum arbeiderparti 1902–1952 (in Norwegian). Oslo: Bærum Labour Party. OCLC 475064528.
• Lie, Trygve (1955). Leve eller dø (in Norwegian). Oslo: Tiden.
• Lunde, Henrik O. (2009). Hitler's pre-emptive war: The Battle for Norway, 1940. Newbury: Casemate Publishers. ISBN 978-1-932033-92-2.
• Moen, Jo Stein (2009). Tusen dager – Norge og den spanske borgerkrigen 1936–1939 (in Norwegian). Oslo: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag. ISBN 978-82-05-39351-6. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Parliament of Norway (1947). Innstilling fra Undersøkelseskommisjonen av 1945. Bilag (in Norwegian). Vol. 2. Oslo: Aschehoug.
• Pryser, Tore (1988). Klassen og nasjonen 1935–1946. Volume four of Arbeiderbevegelsens historie i Norge (in Norwegian). Oslo: Tiden. pp. 219–220. ISBN 82-10-02754-9.
• Rønning, Mats (2010). "Strid om fred. Norges fredsforening 1895–1914". In Helle, Idar; et al. (eds.). Historier om motstand. Kollektive bevegelser i det 20. århundret (in Norwegian). Oslo: Abstrakt. pp. 35–53. ISBN 978-82-7935-304-1. {{cite book}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |editor= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Skard, Åse Gruda (1974). "Datter av 'lovende ung videnskabsmand'". Det første halvsekel. Bilder fra norsk barndom (in Norwegian). Oslo: Gyldendal. pp. 122–143. ISBN 82-05-06524-1.
• Ørvik, Nils (1960). Solidaritet eller nøytralitet?. Volume one of Sikkerhetspolitikken 1920–1939 (in Norwegian). Oslo: J. G. Tanum.

Further reading

• Riste, Olav (1973). London-regjeringa: Norge i krigsalliansen 1940–1945 (in Norwegian). Vol. 1. Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget.
• Riste, Olav (1979). London-regjeringa: Norge i krigsalliansen 1940–1945 (in Norwegian). Vol. 2. Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget.
• Skard, Sigmund (1982). Mennesket Halvdan Koht (in Norwegian). Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget. OCLC 10021714.
• Sydengen, Fred Ivan (2003). Halvdan Koht, fredstanken og forholdet til stormaktene 1935–1939. Mellom nedrustning og territoriell ekspansjon (in Norwegian). Oslo: University of Oslo (master's thesis).