Carl Theodor Zahle

Prime Minister of Denmark

19 January 1866 Roskilde

3 February 1946(1946-02-03) (80) Copenhagen

21 April 1918 – 30 March 1920

Carl Theodor Zahle (19 January 1866 in Roskilde – 3 February 1946 in Copenhagen), Danish lawyer and politician; prime minister of Denmark 1909–1910, 1913–1920. In 1895 he was elected member of the lower chamber of the Danish parliament (Folketinget), for the Liberal Party (Venstrereformpartiet). A campaigner for peace, in 1905 he co-founded the Social Liberal Party (Det Radikale Venstre) together with other (mostly pacifistic) disgruntled members of Venstrereformpartiet. He continued on as a member of the Folketinget for Det Radikale Venstre until 1928, when he became a member of the upper chamber of parliament (Landsting). In 1929 he became Justice Minister, a post which he held until 1935. Zahle was instrumental in starting negotiations for a new Danish–Icelandic Act of Union (Dansk-Islandsk Forbundslov) in 1917, which resulted in Iceland being recognized as a sovereign nation in a personal union with the king of Denmark the following year.