Nils Claus Ihlen (24 July 1855 – 22 March 1925) was a Norwegian engineer and politician for the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

. He served as Foreign Minister of Norway from 1913 to 1920.

Early life

He was born in

Skedsmo Skedsmo was a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Romerike. The administrative centre of the municipality was the List of cities in No ...

as the oldest son of

Wincentz Thurmann Ihlen Wincentz Thurmann Ihlen (2 May 1826 – 18 January 1892) was a Norwegian engineer and industrialist. He was born in Holmestrand as the son of Nils Ihlen and Barbara Wincentz Thurmann. His brother Jacob Thurmann Ihlen was a politician. In November ...

(1826–1892) and Birgitte Elisabeth Mørch (1830–1913). He was a first cousin of Christian Ihlen, nephew of Niels Ihlen and of

Jacob Thurmann Ihlen Jacob Thurmann Ihlen (17 May 1833 – 10 October 1903) was a Norwegian barrister and politician for the Conservative Party of Norway, Conservative Party. Personal life He was born in Holmestrand as the son of ship-owner Nils Ihlen (1793–1865) ...

, great-grandson of the constitutional founding father

Ole Clausen Mørch Ole Clausen Mørch (2 August 1774 – 4 July 1829) was a Norwegian merchant and banker. He served as a representative at the Norwegian Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll in 1814. He was born in Christianssand in Vest-Agder, Norway. He was the son ...

and brother-in-law of Per Lund. In August 1892, he was married to actress

Constance Bruun Constance may refer to: Places *Constance, Kentucky, United States, an unincorporated community * Constance, Minnesota, United States, an unincorporated community *Mount Constance, Washington State, United States *Lake Constance (disambiguation ...

, but she died in October 1894. In February 1898, he married a colonel's daughter, Henriette Marie Lund (1870–1962). The couple had several daughters and sons. The sons

Nils Nils is a Scandinavian given name, a chiefly Norwegian, Danish, Swedish and Latvian variant of Niels, cognate to Nicholas. People and animals with the given name * Nils Elias Anckers (1858–1921), Swedish naval officer *Nils Beckman (1902–197 ...

Joakim Joakim or Joacim is a male given name primarily used in Scandinavian languages, Estonian and Finnish. It is derived from a transliteration of the Hebrew יהוֹיָקִים, and literally means "lifted by Jehovah". In the Old Testament, Jehoi ...

and Alf (Nils was the half-brother of the other two) took over the family business. Ihlen took his education at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule of Zürich and returned to Norway in 1877 to work one year for the

Norwegian State Railways Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *Norwegian language, including the two ...

. In 1878 he was hired by his father at the iron works

Strømmens Værksted Strømmens Værksted A/S was an industrial company based in Skedsmo, Norway, specialising in the production of rolling stock. Founded in 1873, it remains as a part of Bombardier Transportation. The plant is located just off Hovedbanen west of S ...

(then named ''W. Ihlen, Strømmen'') to work as a manager. In 1883, he took over as owner of the factory. He left in 1908 and left his younger brothers in control.

Political career

Ihlen first entered politics as mayor of Skedsmo Municipality and served from 1989 to 1904 and 1907 to 1910. He was elected to the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional represe ...

in 1907 and represented the rural constituency of ''Mellem Romerike''. After one year l, he was appointed

Minister of Labour Minister of labour (in British English) or labor (in American English) is typically a cabinet-level position with portfolio responsibility for setting national labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, traini ...

in the

first cabinet Knudsen Knudsen's First Cabinet governed Norway between 19 March 1908 and 2 February 1910. It had the following composition: Cabinet members State Secretary Not to be confused with the modern title State Secretary. The old title State Secretar ...

. During his tenure, there were several achievements, including the opening of the

Rjukan Line The Rjukan Line (), at first called the Vestfjorddal Line, was a Norwegian railway line running through Vestfjorddalen between Mæl and Rjukan in Telemark county. The railway's main purpose was to transport chemicals from Norsk Hydro's plan ...

and the

Bergen Line The Bergen Line, or the Bergen Railway ( or ), is a long scenic overlook, scenic standard gauge railway line between Bergen and Hønefoss, Norway. The name is often applied to the entire route from Bergen to Oslo, including the Randsfjord Line ...

railways. His seat in Parliament was taken by Martin Løken in 1908 and 1909, and Ihlen was not re-elected in

1910 Events January * January 6 – Abé people in the French West Africa colony of Côte d'Ivoire rise against the colonial administration; the rebellion is brutally suppressed by the military. * January 8 – By the Treaty of Punakha, t ...

. The first cabinet Knudsen fell in February 1910, but when the second cabinet Knudsen assumed office on 31 January 1913, Ihlen was appointed

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

. He served through the entire

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

during which Norway balanced on a thin line of

neutrality Neutral or neutrality may refer to: Mathematics and natural science Biology * Neutral organisms, in ecology, those that obey the unified neutral theory of biodiversity Chemistry and physics * Neutralization (chemistry), a chemical reaction in ...

. For some days in July 1918, he had also served as Minister of Industrial Provisioning. In June 1920, Ihlen resigned along with the rest of the second cabinet Knudsen and then left national politics. Ihlen died in 1925 in Kristiania.

Ihlen Declaration

The Ihlen Declaration was a statement made on 22 July 1919 by the Nils Claus on the topic of Denmark's sovereignty over Greenland in which Ihlen declared verbally to the Danish minister that "the plans of the Royal

anish The name Anish is derived from Sanskrit. It means "supreme". The name also shares references to Shiva, Krishna and Vishnu. Notable people with the name include: *Anish Kapoor (born 1954), Indian sculptor *Anish Giri (born 1994), Dutch chess player ...

Government respecting Danish sovereignty over the whole of Greenland... would be met with no difficulties on the part of Norway". The declaration became an issue when the question was raised whether the statement was binding on

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The question eventually went all the way to the

Permanent Court of International Justice The Permanent Court of International Justice, often called the World Court, existed from 1922 to 1946. It was an international court attached to the League of Nations. Created in 1920 (although the idea of an international court was several cent ...

in the form of the Eastern Greenland Case in 1933.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ihlen, Nils Claus 1855 births 1925 deaths ETH Zurich alumni Government ministers of Norway Liberal Party (Norway) politicians Mayors of places in Akershus Members of the Storting Members of the Storting 1907–1909 Norwegian businesspeople Norwegian engineers People from Skedsmo