Niels Thomasius Neergaard (27 June 1854 – 2 September 1936) was a Danish

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

and

political figure A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

, a member of the

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Moderate Venstre and since 1910 of Venstre. He served as

Council President of Denmark The prime minister of Denmark ( da, Danmarks statsminister, fo, Forsætisráðharri, kl, Ministeriuneq) is the head of government in the Kingdom of Denmark comprising the three constituent countries: Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Island ...

between 1908 and 1909 as head of the Cabinet of Neergaard I and as both

Prime minister of Denmark The prime minister of Denmark ( da, Danmarks statsminister, fo, Forsætisráðharri, kl, Ministeriuneq) is the head of government in the Kingdom of Denmark comprising the three constituent countries: Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islan ...

and

Finance Minister A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

from 5 May 1920 to 23 April 1924, leading the

Cabinet of Neergaard II Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

and III. His last cabinet office was as

from 14 December 1926 to 30 April 1929 under

Thomas Madsen-Mygdal Thomas Madsen-Mygdal (24 December 1876 – 23 February 1943) was a Danish politician from Venstre who served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 1926 to 1929. He was also Minister for Agriculture from 1920 to 1924 and again while concurrently ...

Biography

Neergaard was educated at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...

, from which he attained the degrees

cand.mag. Candidatus magisterii (male), or candidata magisterii (female), abbreviated as cand.mag., is an academic degree currently awarded in Denmark. The degree is officially translated into English as Master of Arts and currently requires 5 years of stud ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

and

cand.polit. Candidate (Latin ''candidatus'' or ''candidata'') is the name of various academic degrees, chiefly in Scandinavia, the Soviet Union, the Netherlands and Belgium. In Scandinavia, it is a higher professional-level degree usually corresponding to 5– ...

in 1879 and 1881, respectively. Neergaard's greatest challenges as a politician were as prime minister and finance minister after the

Easter Crisis of 1920 The Easter Crisis ( da, Påskekrisen) was a constitutional crisis in Denmark around Easter in 1920. It was a significant event in the development of constitutional monarchy in Denmark. It began with the dismissal of the elected government by the re ...

, organizing the return of South Jutland to Danish rule and having to deal with the economic crisis brought on by

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

.Skou, Kaare R. (2005). ''Dansk politik A-Å'' . Aschehoug, pp. 491-92. . He also had a significant influence on the content of the Constitution of 1915. Neergaard's largest work as a historian, ''Under junigrundloven'' (1892-1916), is still considered the primary work on Danish politics 1848–66. In addition to his political activities and work as a historian he also dealt with journalism, and in 1884 he founded a cultural and

literary magazine A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...

, ''

Tilskueren ''Tilskueren'' (Danish: ''The Spectator'') was a monthly cultural and literary magazine published in Copenhagen, Denmark, between 1884 and 1939. It was continuation of another magazine, ''Det nittende Aarhundrede'' (Danish: ''the Nineteenth Cent ...

''.

References

External links

* Danish Wikipedia on Niels Neergaard 1854 births 1936 deaths Danish Defence Ministers Danish Finance Ministers 19th-century Danish historians 20th-century Danish historians Danish journalists Prime Ministers of Denmark Members of the Folketing 20th-century Danish politicians Danish magazine founders {{Denmark-politician-stub