This, together with the end of political Scandinavianism (following the Prussian attack on Denmark in 1864 in which Sweden stood by), marked Sweden's entry into modern Europe. Industrialisation was slow to take root in Sweden. No real industrial revolution occurred and developments mechanisation, introduction of railways, etc were piecemeal. One result was widespread emigration amongst the rural poor, who had been hard hit by famine in 1867 and 1868. Between 1860 and 1910 over one million people left for America (in 1860 the Swedish population was only four million). Given huge farms to settle, the emigrants headed for land similar to that they had left behind to the Midwest, Kansas and Nebraska. At home, Swedish trade unionism emerged to campaign for better conditions. Dealt with severely, the unions formed a confederation (1898) but largely failed to make headway. Even peaceful picketing carried a twoyear prison sentence. Hand in hand with the fight for workers' rights went the temperance movement The level of spirit consumption was alarming and various abstinence programmes attempted to educate the drinkers and, if neccessary, eradicate the stills. Some towns made the selling of spirits a municipal monopoly not a long step from the state топфо1у that exists today. With the accession of Oscar II in 1872, Sweden continued on an even, if uneventful, keel. Keeping out of further European conflict (the AustroPrussian War, FrancoPrussian War and various Balkan crises), the country's only worry was a growing dissatisfaction in Norway with.the union. Demanding a separate consular service, and objecting to the Swedish king's veto on constitutional matters, the Norwegians brought things to a head, and in 1905 declared the union invalid. The Karlstad Convention confirmed the break and Norway became independent for the first time since 1380. The late nineteenth century was a happier time for Swedish culture. August Strlndberg enjoyed great critical success and artists like Anders Zorn and Prince Eugene made their mark abroad. The historian Artur Hazelius founded the Nordic and Skansen museums in Stockholm; and the chemist, industrialist and dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel left his fortune to finance the Nobel Prizes. An instructive tale, Nobel hoped that the knowledge of his invention would help eradicate war optimistically believing that mankind would never dare unleash the destructive forces of dynamite. Two World Wars Sweden declared a strict neutrality on the outbreak of World War I, tempered by much sympathy within the country for Germany, sponsored by the longstanding language, trade and cultural links. It was a policy agreed with the other Scandinavian monarchs, but a difficult one to pursue. Faced with British demands to enforce a blockade of Germany and the blacklisting and eventual seizure of Swedish goods at sea, the economy suffered grievously; rationing and inflation mushroomed. The Russian Revolution in 1917 brought further problems to Sweden.