The first Sleswick-Holstein war, between Germany and Denmark, occurred during King Oscar's reign (1848), and induced him to make a military demonstration in Skaane; and during the following year, when the war, after an armistice, broke out anew, to occupy North Sleswick with Swedish and Norwegian troops, pending the negotiations for peace. In the Crimean War, King Oscar sided with England and France, which, by a treaty of 1855, guaranteed their aid, in case of hostilities with Russia. King Oscar died at the age of sixty (1859), and was succeeded by his oldest son, Charles XV. (1859-1872). He was a chivalrous character, and endowed with literary and artistic talents. The same good-will toward Norway which animated his father had been inherited by him, and all efforts, on the part of the _Storthing_, to further the welfare of the land, were readily seconded. The Norwegian merchant marine, which is one of the largest in the world, carried the flag of Norway to the remotest ports; the lumber trade increased, and the wealth obtainable in manufactures and commerce stimulated the energy of Norse merchants, and quickened everywhere the pulses of life. Religious liberty was increased by the law concerning dissenters (1845), although there is, in this respect, yet much to be accomplished. In 1851, the paragraph of the constitution excluding Jews from the country was repealed, owing largely to the agitation commenced, some years before, by the poet Wergeland. The telegraph was introduced, and soon extended from the North Cape to Lindesness. In 1869, a law was passed, making the _Storthings_ annual, instead of, as hitherto, triennial.