Danish prime ministers. Thorvald Stauning is a survivor!

[politicus]

(Højre (The Right) was the Conservative party and Venstre (The Left) is the Liberals.)


Danish heads of government since 1849:

Count Adam Wilhelm Moltke, 1848-1852 (no party) (eliminated in round 9)

Christian Albrecht Bluhme, 1852-53, 1864-65 (Højre) (eliminated in round 7)

Anders Sandøe Ørsted, 1853-54 (conservative with no party affiliation) (eliminated in round 5)

Peter Georg Bang, 1854-56 (no party) (eliminated in round 5)

Carl Christopher Georg Andræ, 1856-57 (Friends of the Peasants) (eliminated in round 11)

Carl Christian Hall, 1857-59 and 1860-63 (National Liberal) (eliminated in round 2)

Carl Eduard Rotwitt,  1859-60 (Friends of the Peasants) (eliminated in round 5)

Ditlev Gothardt Monrad, 1863-64 (National Liberal) (eliminated in round 8 )

Count Christian Emil Krag-Juel-Vind-Frijs,  1865-70 (Højre) (no party) (eliminated in round 9)

Count Ludvig Holstein-Holsteinsborg, 1870-74 (Centre Party) (eliminated in round 15)

Christen Fonnesbech, 1874-75, (Højre) (eliminated in round 10)

Jacob Brønnum Scavenius Estrup, 1875-94 (Højre) (eliminated in round 5)

Baron Tage Reedtz-Thott, 1894-97 (Højre) (eliminated in round 14)

Hugo Egmont Hørring, 1897-1900 (Højre) (eliminated in round 5)

Hannibal Sehested, 1900-01 (Højre) (eliminated in round 5)

Johan Henrik Deuntzer, 1901-05 (Venstre)  (eliminated in round 7)

Jens Christian "I. C." Christensen, 1905-08 (Venstre)  (eliminated in round 3)

Niels Neergaard, 1908-09 and 1920-24 (Venstre) (eliminated in round 12)

Count Ludvig Holstein-Ledreborg, 1909 (Venstre)  (eliminated in round 13)

Klaus Berntsen, 1910-13 (Venstre) (eliminated in round 12)

Carl Theodor Zahle, 1909-1910 and 1913-20 (Social Liberals)  (eliminated, round 22)

Otto Liebe, 1920 (no party) (eliminated, round 1)

Michael Petersen Friis, 1920 (no party) (eliminated, round 2)

Thomas Madsen-Mygdal,  1926-29 (Venstre) (eliminated in round 6)

Thorvald Stauning, 1924-26 and 1929-42 (Social Democrats)

Vilhelm Buhl, 1942, 1945 (Social Democrats) (eliminated, round 1)

Erik Scavenius,  1942-43 (Social Liberals)  (eliminated, round 1)

Knud Kristensen, 1945-47 (Venstre) (eliminated in round 14)

Hans Hedtoft, 1947-50 and 1953-55  (Social Democrats) (eliminated in round 16)

Erik Eriksen 1950-53 (Venstre) (eliminated in round 17)

Hans Christian ("H. C.") Hansen, 1955-60 (Social Democrats) (eliminated in round 20)

Viggo Kampmann,  1960-62 (Social Democrats) (eliminated in round 4)

Jens Otto Krag, 1962-68 and 1971-72 (Social Democrats) (eliminated in the final)

Hilmar Baunsgaard, 1968-71 (Social Liberals) (eliminated in round 18)

Anker Jørgensen, 1972-73 and 1975-82 (Social Democrats) (eliminated in round 6)

Poul Hartling, 1973-75 (Venstre) (eliminated in round 12)

Poul Schlüter, 1982-93 (Conservative) (eliminated in round 21)

Poul Nyrup Rasmussen,  1993-2001 (Social Democrats) (eliminated in round 19)

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, 2001-2009 (Venstre) (eliminated in round 6)

Lars Løkke Rasmussen,  2009-2011 (Venstre)  (eliminated, round 1)

Helle Thorning-Schmidt, 2011- (Social Democats)  (eliminated, round 3)

[politicus]

Eliminate:

Liebe
Friis
Scavenius (traitor)
Buhl

Immune:

Stauning
Zahle

[politicus]

Thanks for playing Nhoj! Hope someone will join us for next round.

Liebe, Buh, Scavenius and Lars Løkke Rasmussen were eliminated in round 1. H. C. Hansen and Stauning immune in round 2-4.

Ties decided by coin toss.

My votes in round 2:

Friis 3 (not elected)
Hall 2 (got us into war with the Prussians)
Hørning 1

[politicus]

Result of round 2

C. C. Hall 5
Michael Friis 5
Helle Thorning-Scmidt 3
Ludvig Holstein-Holsteinsborg 2
Anders Fogh Rasmussen 2
Viggo Hørning 1

Hall and Friis eliminated

Round 3:

Eliminate 1 prior to the introduction of universal suffrage in 1915 and 1 after. Zahle can count as both.

My votes:

Before 1915: I. C. Christensen (for allowing his minister of justice P. A. Alberti to swindle more than 200 mio. Euros in todays money from a farmers savings bank. Should have known what the fat bastard was up to!)

After 1915: Anders Fogh Rasmussen for getting us into the Iraq war under false pretences and for allying his Liberal party with the bigots in the Danish Peoples Party.

[politicus]

I had to do some research before voting and I'll still have to read more, but for now:

Carl Christian Hall: 3
Anders Fogh Rasmussen: 2
Michael Petersen Friis: 1

Yeah, I saw that, but temporary votes doesn't work that well in survivor. You need the game to move relatively quickly - especially in the early stage, where its basically about getting rid of dead wood. His choices where pretty consistent (two warmongers and a non-elected interim figure), and I have had no objections from Kal.

[politicus]

Result of round 3

Eliminated:

I. C. Christensen
Helle Thorning-Schmidt after coin toss

Round 4: BADASS-round!

Four Danish premiers can qualify as badasses. Eliminate one badass and make another immune for 3 rounds.

Jens Otto Krag: Ladykiller with (well deserved) playboy image who built the foundation of the welfare state, while nailing an enormous amount of women - sometimes during state dinners -  and married moviestar Helle Virkner.

Viggo Kampmann: Brilliant economist who was manio-depressive. Often toured the pubs of Copenhagen for days without telling his staff, but still managed to rule the country for two years.

Bishop D. G. Monrad: Maniodepressive rhetorical genius and radical nationalist who stubbornly refused to surrender or compromise in the war of 1864 against Prussia and Austria. Left the country afterwards to become a pioneer in the wilderness of New Zealand.

J. B. S. Estrup: Ruled Denmark for 19 years using provisional budgets and ignoring the parliaments democratically elected second chamber. Created his own private paramilitary mounted gendarmerie. Survived an assassination attempt, where the assailant fired on his coat button, but Estrup kept his cool and just kept walking on his way home. (which is his main claim to being a badass)

My votes:

Eliminate: Monrad
Immune: Krag

[politicus]

Immune: D. G. Monrad (come on, from Prime Ministrer to a pioneer at the end of the world, that's badass!)

Eliminate: Viggo Kampmann (meh, just two years)

Yeah, but I was going more by their abilities as PM.

[politicus]

Sorry, Julio but you have to choose between the four "badass"-candidates here in round 4.

I agree Fonnesbech is a transitional figure that should go, but Ill make a purge round for transitional figures, mere figureheads and civil servants playing politicians in the next round.

[politicus]

Results of round 4

After coin toss

Immune: D. G. Monrad (who is probably the most disastrous PM Denmark has ever had    ).
Eliminated: Viggo Kampmann (by default).

Next round: Round 5 - 19th century dead wood

Eliminate 6 PMs from the 19th century (1849-1901)

My votes: Ørsted, Bang, Rottwitt, Fonnesbech, Hørring, Sehested.

The Eras

1849-1863. Age of Democracy and nationalism
Denmark has Europes most democratic constitution with universal male suffrage and a few liberal reforms get implemented. The academics in the National Liberals are the dominant party. Most of the time nothing is accomplished because all energy is focused on creating a common constitution for democratic Denmark and the absolutist duchies of Holstein (German) and Slesvig/Schleswich/Sleswick (take your pick) with both Danish and German population. Everything is extremely complicated. The Liberals try to find a way to kick those pesky Germans in Holstein out of the realm without loosing Sleswick, while the Conservatives try to keep it all together (and hopefully eliminate most of the democratic reforms in the process).
None of the PMs are really any good. But the Leftists Andræ and Rottwitt at least tries to do something meaningful. A. W. Moltke is chosen because he is affable and the richest man in the country, but presides over a government, that does steer the country through the 1. Sleswick War (1848-51) without too much trouble.

I wanna eliminate P. G. Bang for being a mere figurehead in a government torn between Leftists and National Liberals and legal scholar extraordinaire and failed politician A. S. Ørsted for being ridiculously reactionary.
Leftists Andræ and Rottwitt where inefficient too, and I vote to eliminate Rottwitt just for being a short termer with zero results.

1865-1894. Conservative backlash
The Conservative squires take power after the disastrous defeat in 1864 and creates a reactionary constitution in 1866. The National Liberals go into hiding or join the Cons. In the beginning the peasants just accept the new regime, but soon leftists creates a peasant movement with auxiliary rifle corps and unites in Venstre "The Left" in 1870. Hardman Estrup doesn't give a flying fock, rules by issuing provisional budgets, creates a political police and throws a few hotheads into jail. In the mid 1880s civil war is not unrealistic, but at some point moderates on both sides decides to make one of those boring Danish compromises instead.

I vote to eliminate Fonnesbech, a nice guy who tried to compromise i an era of hardliners and failed miserably.

1894-1901. Waiting for someone to tell the King...
After the leaders of the Liberals and the Conservatives have agreed to stop ignoring parliament everything comes to a halt for 7 years. Nobody dares to tell the king, he has to appoint a peasant or a village school teacher as head of government, so the Conservatives just hang on to power while trying to get along with the Liberals in "The Left". Baron Reedtz-Thott makes it work for a while, but are ousted by hardliners in his own party.

I vote to eliminate Hørring for ruining most of the progress of Reedtz-Thott to no good for his own party and Sehested for being an interim figure.

[politicus]

Result of round 5:

Eliminated:
Bang 3
Rottwitt 3
Ørsted 2
Hørring 2
Sehested 2
Estrup 2

Other vote getters:
Fonnesbech 2
Holstein(-Holsteinsborg) 1
Invalid 1 (Sleavig)

Fonnesbech saved after coin toss against the 4 others with 2 votes.

[politicus]

Round 6

Eliminate 3 PMs by voting 3-2-1

Anker Jørgensen 3 (very likeable working class guy with a big heart, but for almost bankrupting Denmark and letting the unions boss him around. On the positive side he did have the guts to support Israel against the Arabs, but that could also be considered kind of a dumb move under the Oil Crisis. Too naive to be PM.)

Anders Fogh Rasmussen 2
For lying about the Iraq war and allying his Liberal Party with the bigots in the Danish Peoples Party.

Madsen-Mygdal 1
Diehard dogmatic Classical Liberal that alienated everybody, including his Conservative allies, with his arrogance and stubbornness. Unable to offer any solutions to the economic crisis after the crash on Wall Street. Paved the way for the Social Democrats to rule Denmark for a looong time.

We still have some dead wood: Fonnesbech, Bluhme etc. But that can wait.

[politicus]

3 Anders Fogh Rasmussen
2 Anker Jørgensen
1 Poul Nyrup Rasmussen

Fonnesbech had a great beard going

Yeah I like Fonnesbechs beard too.
A little curious: Nyrup was a pretty succesful PM - both on economic growth, welfare reform and influence in the EU. Did you just pick him for looking geeky? Being named Rasmussen? Or some other reason?

[politicus]

Result of round 6:

Anders Fogh Rasmussen 8
Anker Jørgensen 5
Thomas Madsen-Mygdal 2
Knud Kristensen 2
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen 1


AFR, Anker Jørgensen and Thomas Madsen-Mygdal eliminated. M-M after coin toss with Knud Kristensen.

Round 7:

Eliminate 2, give 1 immunity

Eliminate:
- Law professor Johan Deuntzer (a mere figurehead in a government dominated by I. C. Christensen, only appointed so the King didnt have to talk to a village schoolteacher like Christensen, had some sleazy business contacts, didnt do anything to prevent the left wing of his party from splitting away as Radical Liberals (Social Liberals).

- Bluhme, nicknamed "The eternal Bluhme", civil servant acting as a politician whenever a staunch Conservative with no real political aspirations of his own were needed. No results. Not his fault, but still needs to be eliminated.

Immunity:
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, because all other recent PMs have been eliminated and he was pretty good at his job.

[politicus]

Result of round 7:

Immunity
Nyrup Rasmussen 2
Baunsgaard 1

Elimination
Deuntzer 3
Bluhme 1
Andræ 1
Reedtz-Thott 1
 
Deuntzer and Bluhme  eliminated (after coin toss).

Immunity to Poul Nyrup Rasmussen for the next 3 rounds.

Round 8, normal  round

Ditlev Monrad.
Time to go crazy man! Manio-depressives don't make good war time leaders. He was everything Denmark didn't need in 1864.

[politicus]

Result of round 8

Monrad is eliminated

Round 9
Eliminate 2 PMs
My vote:
Fonnesbech
Andræ

Both short termers without results.

The third short termer Holstein-Ledreborg was in office for less than half a year, but he managed to settle the defence question which had been the major divisive issue in Danish politics for decades and unite the warring fractions in the Liberal party. Rather impressive in such a short time actually. Besides I kinda llike the guy, he was a very wealthy aristocrat who sided with the people and fought for universal suffrage and a parliamentary system against the interests of his class, a religious scholar and our only Catholic PM. Sort of a Danish Whig aristocrat.

[politicus]

Time to kill the Lords. By precedence:
Moltke
Andræ

Okay, but Andræ was not a lord. Merely a mathematician of relatively humble origin.

[politicus]

I realize you guys don't have time to do a lot of research on something as obscure as Danish PMs, but Ill try to keep this thing open a little longer than usual to see if anybody comes along, since the order of elimination is about to get a little weird.

Mogens Frijs got a necessary new constitution through parliament, established an alliance with the peasants and got a number of important reform laws through parliament. There are far worse and less capable PMs left.

Holstein-Holsteinsborg was weaker. His main claim to fame is that he managed to keep Denmark out of the Franco-Prussian war 1870-71, which prevented a potential disaster, perhaps even the annihilation of the country (all though the Brits and Russians probably wouldn't have accepted that).
But he was also a personally well liked and popular guy, who managed to build alliances between old National Liberals and moderate Conservatives and avoid an all out confrontation with the peasants representatives.

If you don't like Conservative squires, Fonnesbech was a wealthy land owner himself and a far less capable politician than either of them. And several 20th century PMs were worse than either H-H and Frijs.

[politicus]

Result of round 9: Frijs and Moltke eliminated.

Round 10:

Normal round, my vote Poul Hartling.

After the earthquake election in 1973, where right wing populist tax lawyer Mogens Glistrup swept into parliament with 27 followers and a promise to end the income tax, fire all paper pushers and replace the military with an answering machine saying "we surrender" in Russian, theologian Hartling took power with only 22 Liberal MPs and managed to double that in the next election.
But his government accomplished nothing and the Social Democrats returned to power after 18 months. Hartling was a good guy and became UN refugee high commissioner afterwards, but as a PM he was unable to do anything and a broad coalition between the main serious parties would have been much better.

[politicus]

Christen Fonnesbech

LOL. Why now and not before?

[politicus]

Result of round 10

Fonnesbech 2
Andræ 1
Hartling 1

Fonnesbech is (finally!) eliminated.

Round 11, normal round

In the 20th century the remaining weak PMs are from the Liberals.The three other centre-right figures were much better than the weakest Liberals and the remaining Social Democrats are either considered great (Stauning, H. C. Hansen and Krag) or good (Hedtoft, Nyrup) by historians.

You guys didn't want too eliminate Hartling (who is an obvious choice), so Ill try someone else.

The two moderate heroes from the constitutional struggle in the 1880s and 90s Klaus Berntsen and Niels Neergaard were both waaay past their prime when they became PMs. Berntsen laid some important groundwork for the Democratic 1915 constitution, but little else. Eminent historian and first class scholar Niels Neergaard was a short termer in his first period and in his second he presided over  a major Banking Scandal in his second term without a proper clean up, a little too focused on sparing the upper class and the court for any unpleasantness IMO.

I vote to eliminate Neergaard who also is remembered as one of the dullest Danish PMs whereas Berntsen provided us with a large stock of classical anecdotes.

[politicus]

Result of round 11

Andræ 2
Neergaard 1

Andræ eliminated

Round 12

Eliminate 3 PMs by voting 3-2-1

My votes:

Neergaard 3
Berntsen 2
Hartling 1

The two remaining 19th century guys are not the best from that periode, but I feel like saving them for now.

[politicus]

Result of round 12:

Neergaard 10
Hartling 6
Berntsen 4
Nyrup 3
Holstein-Ledreborg 1

Neergaard, Hartling and Berntsen eliminated.

Round 13, normal round:

My vote: Holstein-Ledreborg

Despite all his qualities, he was a short termer after all.

[politicus]

Result of round 13:

Holstein-Ledreborg eliminated unanimously.

Round 14:

Eliminate 1 PM before WW2 and 1 PM after the war.

My votes go to two guys, who failed to achieve their political projects and alienated large parts of their party in the process. This sets them apart from the remaining 10 PMs who were generally successful.

Before:

Tage Reedtz-Thott
Tried to reach a compromise between Liberals and Conservatives, but failed. Splitting his party in warring factions, which ultimately led to its demise. Had the right policies, but failed to deliver.

Knud Kristensen
I kinda like "Black Knud", who was the archtypical maverick, who never bowed to the establishment, kept speaking his heavy jutlandic dialect and excelled in one-liners. But he wasnt succesful and has to go before the final stage of the game.

His main project was a referendum in Southern Sleswick to capitalize on the change of national identity among the locals after the German defeat and get the border moved southwards. An idea that was rejected by almost all others in the political  establishment - including half his own party - who feared that the change of heart among the starving and disillusioned population was temporary and would backfire later on when Germany regained its strength.  Actually since the Germans lost so much territory in the east, they wouldn't have cared about a few square kilometers in Sleswick, and the territory gained would have been more or less Danish speaking today because of immigration from DK. So it could have worked, but KK failed to convince his own party and the Conservatives, lost power to the Social Democrats after only two years, and had to leave his party to form a right wing splinter group, that never got off the ground. Hardly a success!

[politicus]

Result of round 14:

Before WW2

Reedtz-Thott 2
Holstein-Holsteinsborg 1

After WW2

Knud Kristensen 3

Reedtz-Thott and Knud Kristensen are eliminated.


Round 15:

We now have 10 guys left who were all pretty capable. There is a concentration of PMs in the 50s and 60s (Hedtoft, Eriksen, Hansen, Krag, Baunsgaard), this was also the era where the full scale universal welfare state was build, so any evaluation of this period depends on how you view that particular social model.

The objective choice for the next elimination is Holstein-Holsteinsborg, but in order not to eradicate the 19th century guys all together - or throw out the one remaining liberal (Eriksen) - Ill vote Hans Hedtoft.
The weakest of the 5 remaining Social Democrats (all though far the most likable IMO). Lost power in 1950. Failed to accomplish his big project of a Nordic defence alliance as an alternative to Danish NATO membership (an impossible idea because of Norways interests).

[politicus]

Result of round 15:

Hedtoft 2
Holstein-Holsteinsborg 2

Holstein-Holsteinsborg eliminated after coin toss. Only 20th century guys left, but since the two most capable 19th century PMs (Frijs and Estrup) has already been eliminated, that's no great loss.

Round 16:

Hans Hedtoft

The two one-termers are the obvious alternatives. Both decent guys, that just couldn't hang on to power in the SD heyday.

Eriksen managed to build a coalition with the Liberal party's old rivals, the Conservative Peoples Party, for the first time and was the driving force behind our present 1953 constitution, but lost power to the SD after just one term, never to regain it in his long leadership term.

Baunsgaard: Charmer, good on TV, managed to more than double the size of his party and form a centre-right alliance with the Liberals and Conservatives, but then overplayed his hand. Abolished abortion, legalized porn and increased taxes 50% in three years to expand the public welfare sector.
Not what voters had expected from a centre-right coalition and the government was thrown out after just one term. Ironically replaced by SD - big government party par excellence.

Since Baunsgaard was a social liberal, he was essentially just following party line and highly successful in persuading Conservatives to support his views, but the sheer pace of his actions laid the foundation for the right wing populist backlash in 1973 and his idea of forming a stable centre-right alternative to the SD (with his own party as the leading force) was a failure.