ILDSKÆR - Blod Og Jern - CASS

Label: Vendetta Records

Black Metal, Denmark.

Brief History:

Blod & Jern (eng: Blood and Iron) tells of the Second Schleswig war and the bitter wound that arrogance, ambition and incompetence caused a nation, which would cast a long shadow over Denmark for a lifetime.

The year is 1864. The Danish monarch Frederik VII recently died, and with the new king's ascension to the throne, Christian IX was presented with a document, which he knows will change history and affect him and the country greatly. Denmark, like much of Europe, were in the grips of a nationalistic fervor, and in the spirit of times, the cabinet of D.G. Monrad will have the young king sign a constitution, which will put Denmark at odds with its powerful southern neighbor Prussia regarding the status of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein.
A fragile peace had lasted since 1851, when an uprising in these duchies, supported by Prussia, was ultimately put down and the Prussian ambitions of unifying Germany was checked for a time.

Christian IX, mindful of his own perceived "German" background in the minds of many Danes, feels compelled to sign the document, and does so with a heavy hand.
To the south, with chancellor Otto von Bismarck at the helm, Prussia is eagerly awaiting an opportunity to strike. With an equal nationalistic fervor boiling and modern equipment in tow, a declaration of war is proclaimed, and war begins in the deep winter of early 1864. What followed would forever change the two nations, one emerging as the dominant power of Europe within a decade, and the other would have its pride shattered and lumber on as a humiliated, decimated state. Everything is on the line, for some more so than others

The February snows are heavy in Schelswig as the Danish army takes their positions on the ancient and mythologized southern bulwark of Dannevirke, then little more than a few earthen ramparts. The Prussians along with their Austrian allies have just crossed the river Ejder, the die is cast.
Many would come to litter the battlefields of Dybbøl and Als and share mass graves for the ambitions and idealism of others before the war ended 9 months later.