Historedia
EuropeEvent

Denmark declares state bankruptcy

When
1813
Where
Copenhagen, Denmark
Episodes
1

The Danish state bankruptcy of 1813 was a domestic economic crisis triggered by the financial burdens of the Napoleonic Wars. Declared on 5 January 1813, it resulted from currency devaluation and inflation, leading to the creation of the Rigsbank to restore confidence and reform the monetary system.

Episodes

  1. 5 January 1813 · Copenhagen, DenmarkDeclaration of State Bankruptcy

    Denmark-Norway declared bankruptcy on 5 January 1813 due to the consequences of the Napoleonic Wars and severe currency devaluation.

Background and detail

Background. Denmark-Norway allied with France in 1807, incurring significant rearmament costs. The financial burden of the Napoleonic Wars caused severe currency devaluation, negatively affecting merchants and citizens. Inflation rose throughout 1808 to 1813, with prices increasing by 300 percent in 1813 alone, eroding the value of silver and banknotes.

Response. On 5 January 1813, the bankruptcy was declared, and the Rigsbank was created to bring the economy out of hardship. The objective was to reinstate silver as the overarching currency and restore confidence in the central banking system. The Rigsbank was given authority to re-issue banknotes in a new currency, the rigsbankdaler.

People involved

Sources

  1. Danish state bankruptcy of 1813 Wikipedia, revision of 2026-06-22

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.