King Frederick III (reigned 1648–1670), as a result of the disastrous war against Sweden, succeeds in convincing the Danish nobles to give up some of their powers and their exemption from taxes, leading to the era of absolutism in Denmark.

The country's main objective in the following decades is the recovery of its lost provinces from Sweden.

In the 1670s Denmark–Norway has regained enough strength to start a war with Sweden to recover its lost provinces.

However, in spite of Denmark's outside support, naval dominance and initial support from the population of the former eastern provinces, the war ends in a bitter stalemate.

...two thousand to three thousand in Wismar, six thousand to seven thousand in Pomeranian garrisons, and thirteen thousand free to operate under Lord High Constable and field marshal Carl Gustaf Wrangel.

Louis calls upon Sweden to invade Brandenburg in December 1674.

A Swedish army led by Wrangel advances into the Uckermark, a region on the Brandenburg-Pomeranian frontier, taking Löcknitz, and ...

Wrangel has secured quarters for his forces until the weather permits him to turn westwards to Hanover.

Further advances into the Uckermark follow in May.

Brandenburgian Farther Pomerania is occupied by Sweden and has to house Swedish garrisons.

Frederick William I, Elector of Brandenburg, receives the news in the Rhine valley, and turns northeast to confront Wrangel.

The armies meet on June 18 (OS) or June 28 (NS) in the Battle of Fehrbellin.

The Fehrbellin affair is a mere skirmish, with actual casualties amounting to fewer than six hundred men, but it is a defeat by a numerically inferior force from a territory which Sweden has little regard for.

As a result of this defeat, Sweden, long considered unbeatable, appears vulnerable, encouraging neighboring countries which had suffered invasion by Sweden in the prior Swedish campaigns to join in the Scanian War.

Wrangel retreats to Swedish Demmin.

Frederick William henceforth is known as the Great Elector, and the army that he and Derfflinger have led to victory becomes the core of the future Prussian army.

June 28th is to become a holiday that will be celebrated in Germany up until 1914, when on the same day, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated, beginning the First World War.

Frederick William I, Elector of Brandenburg, receives the news in the Rhine valley, and turns northeast to confront Wrangel.

The armies meet in the Battle of Fehrbellin on June 18 (OS) or June 28 (NS).

The Fehrbellin affair is a mere skirmish, with actual casualties amounting to fewer than six hundred men, but it is a defeat by a numerically inferior force from a territory which Sweden has little regard for.

As a result of this defeat, Sweden, long considered unbeatable, appears vulnerable, encouraging neighboring countries which had suffered invasion by Sweden in the prior Swedish campaigns to join in the Scanian War.

Wrangel retreats to Swedish Demmin.

Frederick William henceforth is known as the Great Elector, and the army that he and Derfflinger have led to victory becomes the core of the future Prussian army.

June 28th is to become a holiday that will be celebrated in Germany up until 1914, when on the same day, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated, beginning the First World War.

A number of German states and the Holy Roman Empire see Brandenburg’s victory at Fehrbellin as a sign of weakness and join the war on Sweden.

Denmark also sees a chance to regain Scania, Blekinge and Halland which had been lost to Sweden in the Treaty of Roskilde in 1660, and declares war on September 2, 1675.

The southern Baltic thus becomes a strategically important scene for both Danes and Swedes.

Denmark needs the sea lanes to invade Scania, while Sweden is in need of reinforcing its holdings in Pomerania; both have much to gain from securing maritime trade routes.

Norway's forces, simultaneously with the Danish invasion, are marshaled along the border to force the Swedes to deal with the prospect of fighting a two-front war.

A force of four thousand Norwegians is concentrated at Fredrikshald under the command of General Russenstein, both protecting against any Swedish attempts to invade and threatening to retake the formerly Norwegian province of Bohuslän.

Norwegian history records the campaigns in Norway (or in formerly Norwegian provinces) as the Gyldenløve War; it is named after Governor-General Ulrik Frederick Gyldenløve, who as commander-in-chief directs the Norwegian offensive.

The Swedish General Ascheberg takes a position at Svarteborg with two thousand men.

Operations along the Norwegian-Swedish border during 1675 are largely skirmishes to test strength, as mountain passes are well guarded.

Gyldenløve then directs one thousand men men in galleys to proceed down the coast and cut off Ascheberg's supply route; as Ascheberg has intelligence of the effort, it is unsuccessful.

Both armies go into winter quarters in the border districts.

The Norwegian offensives are generally successful, but serve only to offset the Danish setbacks elsewhere.

King Christian V of Denmark-Norway was inclined to support the United Provinces when they requested Danish support against the French and their allies in the Franco-Dutch War, and go to war with Sweden immediately to recapture the historically Danish provinces of Scania and Halland.

Count Peder Griffenfeld, an influential royal adviser, had advised against it, and instead advocated a more pro-France policy, but when the numerically superior Swedes lose the Battle of Fehrbellin, it is the first such defeat of Swedish forces since the Thirty Years War, and Christian V sees Denmark’s chance: overcoming Griffenfeld's opposition, he attacks.

The Brandenburgian, Austrian, and Danish forces in the latter half of 1675 take most of Swedish Pomerania.