Posted on 12/08/2006 11:24:32 AM PST by Leifur
Here are the basics of the history of Iceland. With a special emphasis of US - Icelandic connections and the US military presence here and its end in this year, and the disillusionment of many Icelanders, specially on the right, because of this towards the US wich they have supported for long time.
874: Scandinavian/british isles vikings and their celtic slaves began settling the country.
930: Mostly settled, the Icelandic Free State was established, a governing system without a king or any executive branch whatsoever. A very individualistic system of governance, that ensured peace and prosperity here for 300 years. Its main body was the Althing, establised this year.
1000: Christianity established as state religion instead of Paganism. Due to pressure from the norweegian king, but was easy as propably the majority of the population where christians, that is the former celtic slaves. Most of their descendants had soon become subsistance farmers here as the system had quicly made slavery obsolete as a practical institution.
1264: We lost our independence to the Norweegians, because of a small civil war that the Norweegian King had fueled. Taxation due to the church was most likely instrumental in destabilising the system, creating rivaling chieftaining families.
?: The Kalmar Union between the Danish and Norway made us subjects to the Danish.
1550: The execution of Jón Arason (every Icelander can trace him as their ancestor) the last Chatholic bishop by the Danish established Lutherianism as state religion.
This was followed by ever more oppressive system of government aimed at making us a tax colony of Denmark, in wich the church was instrumental in destroying many cultural institutions. That hand in hand with worsened weather, and then many volcanic eruptions made us very few in numbers and poor.
Thus the current population can all trace their ancestors together in the 8th to 10th generation.
summor of 1809: Winds of change reach Iceland, a young Danish adventurer establishes a short lived republic here based on the ideals of the American and French revelutions. Was possible because of the countries isolation due to the Napolonic wars, but Denmark had become an ally of Denmark. The british sent a warship here, and arrested this man and sent him eventually to Australia and put danish control here back. But this brought new thinking to the country.
1830: Icelanders began effectively championing for Icelandic freedom, but not with weapons. The Icelandic Free State was romanticed and the idea was to reestablish it.
1845: We managed to make Althing (wich had run continously since 930 except for few years prior to this) a advisory body to the Danish King.
1874: Iceland got its own constitution and more freedom in commerce
1901: Home rule established.
1918. All but independence reached, as the Kingdom of Iceland, with the Danish king as head of state. The Danish were still though responsible for foreign affairs.
?: During WW2 the british establish a presence here after Denmark is overrun by the Germans. Later, six months prior to the attack of Pearl Harbor and the formal participation of the US in the WW2, the US reliefs the British here and become our protectors by establishing a military presence here. Shortly before the Normandy invasion there where ca as many military men here as there were male Icelanders, or about 70 thousand man.
1944: Iceland declares independence, but we had had de facto independence (under US protections) since the Germans overran Denmark.
1952: US establishes a cold war base here (and Iceland joins NATO even though we don´t have a military) after having left the country briefly (officially) since the end of WW2 (never completely though), with the support of the nationalistic right (as in independence nationalism/patriotism of those that sought for our independence), but this move split the formerly majority independence movement between the right wing Independence Party (wich I am a member of and is supported by about 35 to 40% of the nation) and those nationalists/patriots that loathed a foreign military presence here but they eventuelly migrated to the left and became the basis of the communist movement here.
This move split the nation in half and surged the support of leftwingers, and due to the socialistic influence our economy spiralled over the next forty years, although with brief relatively good years in between because of high prises of our main export, fish. There was huge inflation here in this time, measured in three numbers.
1992: Mr. Davíð Oddson the head of the Independence Party became Prime Minister. He liberalised the economy, privatised most state run industries and paid down nearly all of our foreign depts, wich were considerable. Our quality of life surged so today we are number 4 in the world of countries with the best quality of life.
2003: Iceland is part of the Coalition of the Willing. Just a week prior to the general election the US declare that they are going to move their airplanes from Iceland, but according to the defence treaty (established in ´52) they were responsible for the air defence of the country. Thankfully, Davíð Oddson, managed to prevent this information getting out and also managed to get this decision reverted, but it propably did not help in concentrating his efforts to the upcoming elections, in wich we reduced our majority.
2005: Davíð Oddson steps out of government, wich is though still run by the Independence Party and its coalition partner.
2006: The US moves its military presence away from the country in a sudden move, leaving us defenceless even though the defence treaty is formarly still in place. This disillusions many staunch supporters of the US here on the right, who had defended the US and its presence here during the whole Cold War, and the Iraqi and Afghan invasions. Specially how sudden this came, how we came to know about it and many other things, specially how unwelcome our moves of promising to pay for and gradually taking over many aspects of the defences here, by learning from and with the help of, the US in defending ourselves, wich we haven´t done for centuries.
2007: Iceland heads for general elections in the spring, but most projections predict that the current, long held coalition will lose its majority to the anti-american left, under the control of people who had championed against the US presence here during the Cold War and claimed that they were only here for their own gain, but not to protect us as, the right claimed and beliewed until their departure.
Isn't it that fish girl advertising the benefits of fish oil?
bump!
If Iceland ever is attacked, the first to respond would be the US.
Naw -- the Icelanders came straight from Iceland to Seattle. The Germans came from Russia, along the Volga River, to Kansas. And your Icelanders were in the Ukraine?? I probably just have this tangled at this point...
I'm not sure why we're withdrawing from Iceland. It sits in a strategic spot in the North Atlantic.
There's no realistic threat of an invasion of Iceland, so their security isn't really in question. But, there's no realistic threat of an invasion of Japan, and we've had troops there for over 60 years.
Visited Iceland once for three weeks in summer. Loved it. Such an unique country with a wonderful heritage. You have so many positive things going for you including your Christian beliefs. I hope you are able to stay independent with US as your allies. Would hate to see Iceland's unique character swallowed up by any other culture or country. One question? Why have you not made more use of the cheap energy sources? Perhaps that is a hidden strength that could help you be more economically independent and encourage investment. Also I would Like to thank the people of Iceland for their Iceland Crisis Response Unit. As small as you are, you are doing more to make the world better than large countries like France.
I think we should ask the poster of the thread this question. Leifur lives there. IMO, there is no good reason why we'd abandon Iceland, other than money issues. Maybe we don't have all the details? Anyway, IMHO, Iceland is like Canada, if either were attacked, we'd be there in a heartbeat.
"It sits in a strategic spot in the North Atlantic", and it behooves us to protect them.
Yes, you are correct, the US would be the first to respond, as that is practically the only thing left of the Bilateral Defense Treaty. But it is though very vague but hopefully enough to revert any attacs, and the plans have not been made public (understandable from security reasons) but the opposition has claimed that only two men (in Iceland) know the plans and have disputed that the plans are any to speak of.
But as an independent nation and part of NATO, it is strange situation we are suddenly in to not have ANY air defences.
Wait a minute, are you saying your ancestors came from Ukraine, but moved first to Iceland prior to moving to the US??? Are you saying they lived here and then for how long? When was this?
I must say I find this higly unplausible.
By the way, many Icelanders moved West, specially in the late 19th century. Most of them moved to the Republic of New Iceland, now known as Gimli in I beliewe Winnipeg, Canada.
Here is a story about the good relations between the Icelandic settlers and the indians, it can be said that they did not know they were supposed to be vary and look down upon the red-skinned:
In the early days of flight, a pilot got lost in the skies and had to land/eject somewhere in the woods of north-western Canada. When trying to reach civilisation he finally encountered some indians and asked them if they knew of any White Men in the area.
The Indians sayd No, they didn´t know of any, but that there were some Icelanders some distance away. The indians didn´t consider them as White Men (despite the high proportion of blue ayes and blond hair) because of the different attitudes of the Icelanders toward them than other white people.
In my humble opinion, the most significant Christian conservative movement going on over here is HOME SCHOOLING. Google John Taylor Gatto for the background. Since public education is the state church of statism, those who do without the "free" indoctrination are the creative souls who will make the next generation freer than this.
I don't believe that. There has to me more people that know of these plans, how do you explain that you know about them? And millions on the internet?
"suddenly in to not have ANY air defences."
You have US air defences, even though on 'paper' it's 'canceled', we are still here for you, the US would never abandon Iceland, we'd be there for you in a minute's notice whatever the 'treaties' say.
Wait a minute, are you saying your ancestors came from Ukraine, but moved first to Iceland prior to moving to the US??? Are you saying they lived here and then for how long? When was this?
Yes, my great-grandfather was Ukrainian, and moved to Iceland in the late 1800's, had babies in Iceland, and moved to canada in the early 1900's with his babies and wife. (my grandfather was one of those babies) We have family tree data to support this information. Great-grandfather lived in Iceland for about 20 years, had my grandfather. My family moved northwest of Winnipeg, Ethelbert, Manitoba, Canada, in the early 1900's, to a big Ukrainian/Icelandic community. Why is that hard to believe?
I like your stories, please continue to post your information.
No offence intended, but the thing is Iceland hasn´t had any immigration to speak of from the time it was fully settled in 930 until modern times.
There were some danish and norweegians (when denmark ruled norway) wich came here in late 19th century, mostly people who knew some trades or were part of the commerce with iceland and their descendants are the backbone of the political and bussiness communities here.
It can be seen by the fact that although only about 10% or less of the population has family names (and those are mostly descendants of those immigrants) a much higher number of them are f.e. enrolled in the College of Reykjavík, the oldest school in the country and are prominent in politics and bussiness.
I have never heard of any immigration in the early 19th century, and specially not by any ukrainians, can you tell me how that came to be, because there wasn´t exactly very much contact there between (at least not since the Vikings established Kænugarð, wich is called today Kiev).
If you can tell me the name of your ancestor that lived here, I should be able to look it up, we have a genelogical registry of all the nation accesible on the internet, I can even see if we are related, that is if any of his descendants still live here:
www.islendingabok.is
About the plans, I mean the plans of how the US would come to the aid of Iceland if something would happen, they are not publicly known.
And about air defences, we have no capabilities to divert plains from our airspace as the response time from the closest military bases by any of our allies is not enough.
All I can think of, based upon your reports is, there were some folks who the Icelanders helped out and it was under the table.
Of course, Reykjavík is the city my grandfather was born in.
What would be cool, if we were distantly related. :)
I tried accessing your site, but, I don't know the language.
If you want my Ukraine name, I'm going to have to dig out papers, (Tchzatchzk, or something, that spelling is bad, but, I'm going by memory) and I just don't have that handy at the moment. But, I'd like to discuss this with you further. I find this entire topic fascinating, and thank you for taking the time to talk to me. I really appreciate it.
I meant #77 for you.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1750557/posts?page=77#77
You are correct, sorry for doupting you, the german connection explains it all. Richter is a well known name here, one beeing a little bit of a celebrity, his name is Sigurður H. Richter and he owersaw one of the most succesful television shows in the country for decades. It´s name is Nýjasta tækni og vísindi (or in english: Newest technologie and science) wich showed short films about new technologie and such from various sources.
Sadly he or the National Broadcasting Corporation (RÚV) quit it some years ago, after it beeing one of the longest running shows and ever so popular.
I know that many of the Richter´s attend/ed the College of Reykjavík, they are part of the elite I mentioned although it is not an official thing.
Tell me, as I have newer heard that they are anything else than part of the national lutherian church, are you a lutherian or did your family keep an orthodox (as in the Orthodox church) religion from Ukraine or anything else?
Ok, I dug out my stuff.
Tkachyk is the ukraine family name
Also look up Sopiwynk
One branch of the family changed their name to 'smith'
Look up McNulty
Look up Richter
Look up Holmfridur
Look up Arndotter (Androttir)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.