Scandinavian Union

a monetary union formed between Denmark and Sweden in 1872 and 1873 to establish a uniform monetary system on the gold standard; Norway joined the union in 1875. The union established a single monetary unit—the gold krone in Denmark and Norway, the gold krona in Sweden—consisting of 0.403226 g of pure gold and made banknotes freely convertible for gold. In 1885 the first international clearinghouse between the central banks of the Scandinavian countries was established. The bank notes and coinage of the participating countries circulated throughout all three countries and were accepted by the countries’ central banks. During World War I, as the gold standard collapsed and the capitalist countries adopted paper currency, the union disintegrated; it was officially dissolved in April 1924. Attempts to revive the union during the period of the relative stabilization of capitalism (1924–28) proved unsuccessful.