As seen from an eyewitness.
The ’85 Rebellion was really a result of failed Danish colonial policies on the distant northern realm of Greenland. The colonial policy of pre-1992 Denmark was one of exploitation and total disregard of the natives.
Denmark has controlled Greenland as a colony since 1728, and has had claims on the island since the age of the Vikings. Colonial Greenland was used as a source of slaves all the way up to the abolition of slavery in 1843, and some resentment of that was still active all the way up to the 1940’s, during World War Two.
During the 1970’s Denmark’s Nationalist government started to lose control of the country due to continued political problems, the end result was that Danish military was pulled back from the Greenland frontiers to protect the Home Country; the Greenlanders used that to their advantage.
The Rebellion started on the seventh of March 1985, in the native capital of Nuuk, hundreds of Greenlanders stormed the colonial office, hanged the governor and burned down the building.
Within 24 hours Danish control of the island was now limited to Ivittuut, the Danish colonial capital of Greenland, where the Governor-General desperately called for government aid.
The government of Prime Minister Lars Hansen ordered elements of the Danish navy and Army to occupy and control the important trade centres on the Western Coast of Greenland, however, they failed to take most of the objectives due to the well-equipped Greenland militias, using French and Russian weapons, they managed to repel most of the Danish naval invasion attempts.
Both France and the Soviet Union had both ideological and political reasons for their support to the Rebellion. France is a warm supporter of de-colonization and their liberal ideals usually compels them to support wars of independence. The Soviet Union hoped that the local communist party could assume control of the post-rebellion society, and thus gain an important ally close to their American adversaries.
However, the war dragged on, the Danish forces where unable to actually conquer any areas of importance, and the Greenland Liberation Forces (Kalaallit Nunaat) couldn’t dislodge the Danish defenders from the Colonial Capital of Ivittuut.
The war dragged on from 1985 right until 1991, where the Nationalist Regime finally signed a truce, the settlement resulted in the almost total loss of Greenland, only Ivittuut would remain in Danish hands.
But still to this day, the KN still refuses British, Danish and American citizens entry to the country, due to either the war, or the American-British silent support of the Danes during the rebellion.
The end result was a prestige victory for the French, they gained and important ally in the north, and gained access to the Iron Mountain and the healing waters at that location, as one of only two countries on the planet the KN allows unrestricted access to the Shrine.
The Soviet Union collapsed only months prior to the Truce of Reykjavik, but the Russian Federations citizens also have the same privileges as the French.
During the last election in 2001, the KN once again secured a majority of the votes in the Greenland Parliament.
Thank you for your time, tomorrow we’ll discuss the 1992 Danish Revolution.