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FYI: Slesvig-Holstein [in German Schleswig-Holstein] were duchies bordering both Denmark and Germany. The population of Slesvig was heavily Danish as it was closest to Denmark and that of Holstein heavier on the German side as it was closer to Germany. These are generalities, however. Many generations of intermarriage between the German and Danes in the area had occurred, so what determined nationality was more a matter of culture and language, rather than biology. The Danish King was the duke of these duchies, but the Germans laid claim on them and the Danes and Germans had several wars over these disputed territories from the 1840s through the 1860s until the Germans successfully forced an annexation. This German occupation of long held Danish territory resulted in large migrations of the Danish population to foreign lands because of the inability of the Danish government to protect the males in these families from conscription into the German army. Nevertheless, large segments of the Danish population remained in Slesvig and served in the German army in order to preserve the cultural heritage of the area and prevent successful 'Germanization' of the population. Because of them, in the 1920s, Denmark was granted by treaty what is now called sonder Slesvig, which area had once been half of old Slesvig. This conflict, known as the Slesvig-Holstein Wars to the Danes, were 'brother on brother' wars such as our Civil War, and therefore, have left an indelible mark on the culture and collective memory of Danes both on the mainland and in the duchies themselves. It is a much written about and discussed period of Danish history, though most of the works are not in English.
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