Treaty of Kiel

January 14, 1814

The dying Napoleonic system produced a small collateral casualty: Denmark, on the losing side, was forced to cede Norway to Sweden. The Norwegians, however, refused to be transferred and declared independence instead. A short Swedish war and a Norwegian constitution followed. Denmark's four-hundred-year union with Norway was over. Norway's Eidsvoll Constitution, drafted that May, remains in force today as one of Europe's oldest written constitutions.