| |
| 1733 |
| |
| Denmark purchased St. Croix from France. | 1 |
| |
| 1736 |
| |
| Compulsory confirmation introduced. Such confirmation required a certain degree of reading knowledge. | 2 |
| |
| 1739 |
| |
| An ordinance established the principle of schools to teach peasant children throughout Denmark. | 3 |
| |
| 1746–66 |
| |
| Frederick V. Frederick's chief minister from 1751 to 1770, Johan Hartvig Ernst Bernstorff, directed foreign policy and economics. Bernstorff encouraged new agricultural techniques that increased agricultural production. | 4 |
| |
| 1746 |
| |
| Age limits on military service extended to 9 and 40 years. | 5 |
| |
| 1754 |
| |
| The Royal Academy of Art founded. | 6 |
| |
| 1766–1808 |
| |
| CHRISTIAN VII. Christian retained many of his father's advisers but was challenged by an emerging court party. Johann Friedrick Struensee took control of the government after becoming the royal physician. Struensee eliminated the privy council; replaced the German chancery with a foreign ministry; reorganized the administration; abolished torture; and established freedom of the press. He also stopped parents from incarcerating their children and reduced taxation (without reducing government expenditures). | 7 |
| |
| 1771, July |
| |
| Struensee became royal secretary; his policies angered industrialists, who lost government subsidies, the court, and many elements of the middle class. | 8 |
| |
| 1771 |
| |
| The Royal Guards ordered to disband. They mutinied. | 9 |
| |
| 1772, Jan. 17 |
| |
| Struensee arrested and later beheaded. Replaced by reactionary aristocrats headed by Prince Frederick and Ove Høegh-Guldberg. This group emphasized the importance of “Danish” government, eschewing foreigners. | 10 |
| |
| 1776 |
| |
| Law forbade employment of foreigners in royal service. | 11 |
| |
| 1780 |
| |
| Denmark joined the League of Armed Neutrality, formed by Catherine II (See 1780) of Russia, to protect its ships. | 12 |
| |
| |
