Vilhelm Herman Oluf Madsen (11 April 1844 – 14 June 1917) was a Danish politician, minister, army officer, businessman and inventor. He was War Minister in the
Deuntzer Cabinet
After the 1901 Danish Folketing election, the Council President Johan Henrik Deuntzer of the Venstre Reform Party became the leader of Denmark's first liberal government. The resulting cabinet, which replaced the Cabinet of Sehested consisting ...
1901–1905.
Career
He began his military career in 1859 and served in the
Second War of Schleswig of 1864 as a lieutenant. In 1896, at the rank of colonel, Madsen was responsible for the adoption of the
Madsen machine gun
The Madsen is a light machine gun that Julius A. Rasmussen and Theodor Schouboe designed and proposed for adoption by Colonel Vilhelm Herman Oluf Madsen, the Danish Minister of War, and that the Royal Danish Army adopted in 1902. It was the wo ...
by the Danish army in 1902 and widely exported. He also constructed the
Madsen 20 mm anti-aircraft cannon
The 20 mm AA Machine Cannon M/38 was a 20 mm rapid fire autocannon produced by the Danish company Dansk Industri Syndikat (DISA). The gun, which could be adapted to several tactical uses, was a primary weapon of the military of Denmark. ...
.
As
Minister of War
A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...
in the
Cabinet of J. H. Deuntzer from 1901 to 1905 he supported the
Fortification of Copenhagen and this contributed to the conflict that led to the split of the
Venstre Reform Party
VenstreThe party name is officially not translated into any other language, but is in English often referred to as the Liberal Party. Similar rules apply for the name of the party's youth wing Venstres Ungdom. (, ), full name Venstre, Danmarks Li ...
as the left wing of the party left the party in protest to form the
Radikale Venstre
The Danish Social Liberal Party ( da, Radikale Venstre, , Radical Left) is a social-liberal political party in Denmark. The party was founded as a split from the Venstre Reform Party in 1905.
Historically, the centrist party has played a cent ...
. He became a general in 1903 and was elected to the
Folketing
The Folketing ( da, Folketinget, ; ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark—Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands ...
in 1909.
Personal life
Madsen was the father of the physician
Thorvald Madsen. He was interested in
mathematics and was the president of
Danish Mathematical Society from 1903 to 1910.
References
Sources
* Bjørn A. Nielsen, ''Den danske hærs rekylgeværer : system V.H.O. Madsen og J.A.N. Rasmussen'', Statens Forsvarshistoriske Museum, 2008. (Forsvarshistoriske skrifter, nr. 6).
* Article "Madsen, Vilhelm Herman Oluf", pp. 23–26, in
''Dansk Biografisk Lexikon'', 1. ed, vol. XI, 1897
{{DEFAULTSORT:Madsen, Herman
1844 births
1917 deaths
Danish Defence Ministers
Danish generals
Danish mathematicians
Members of the Folketing
19th-century Danish inventors
Firearm designers
Burials at the Garrison Cemetery, Copenhagen