1660 state of emergency in Denmark
A state of emergency was declared by the King of Denmark, Frederick III of Denmark in 1660. Its purpose was to put pressure on the nobility of the first estate which in Denmark at the time took the form of the Riksråd, which were reluctant to a proposal from the second (bishoprics) and third estates (burghers) to replace the elective monarchy with hereditary monarchy. Background Prior to the state of emergency, Denmark had an elective monarchy. The king was elected upon the death of the previous king by a council of noblemen known as the Riksråd, which also functioned as a counterbalance to the king's power while they were in office. Frederik III was elected king in 1648, following the death of his father, Christian IV of Denmark. However, the political situation surrounding his election was tense, and following a brief period of interregnum he had to offer several concessions to the riksråd in return for their vote. Part of this process was a concession fixing the number of nobles on the council to 23, when previously the number had been chosen by the king. These concessions meant that Frederik had limited use of his powers early in his reign, until the late 1650s when, using some clever political manoeuvering, the young king was able to oust two of his primary rivals from the council: Hannibal Sehested in 1651 over mismanagement of funds as the Governor-general of Norway, and Corfitz Ulfeldt in 1657 over treasonous conduct in helping Sweden during the Dano-Swedish War (1657–58). This paved the way for him to begin to solidify his power. First war with Sweden On 6 June 1654, Charles X Gustav became the king of Sweden. This was a source of concern to Frederick, who considered that the new Swedish king's temperament would lead to much aggression. An opportunity came when in July 1655, the Swedish king started a campaign against Poland, the Polish War. This was a source of relief to Frederick, who was concerned about a direct attack on Denmark. He saw this as a distinct opportunity, and with his power in the Riksråd secured, he was able to convince them on 23 February 1657 to grant significant subsidies for a mass military mobilisation for a strike on Sweden while their army was overseas in Poland. On 23 April 1657, he got permission from the council to attack Swedish holdings in Germany, and war was formally declared on 5 June 1657. However, this proved to be a mis-step for the Danish king - the Swedish army quickly abandoned their polish campaign and invaded jutland, and then marched quickly across the frozen sea to unexpectedly conquer the rest of Denmark in the March Across the Belts. This was a crushing defeat for Frederick, who was forced to sign over almost a third of the territory he controlled in the Treaty of Roskilde. One of the provisions of the treaty was to renounce any anti-Swedish alliances, and a second condition was that Denmark-Norway must