He was born in Tromsø as a son of educator and politician Paul Steenstrup Koht (1844—1892) and Betty Giæver (1845—1936). He was also a distant relative of the Holmboe family; the bailiff Jens Holmboe had a daughter Hanna Birgitte Holmboe who married into the Giæver family, mothering Joachim Gotsche Giæver, the father of Betty Giæver. Halvdan was ? German, since Betty's mother was from Bremen. Through Joachim Gotsche Giæver's brother, Halvdan Koht was a third cousin of parliamentarian Ola Krogseng Giæver. In his father's family, Kjeld Stub was a distant ancestor. The name Koht came from German immigrants in the 17th century.
Himself, Halvdan Koht had three siblings. He was intended to have the name Joachim, but it was stopped on request from Joachim G. Giæver who voiced his dislike for the name. He was then christened Halfdan, changed to Halvdan some years later. The family lived in Tromsø, where Paul Steenstrup Koht was a headmaster and mayor. The family moved to Skien when Halvdan was twelve years old, and his father was again mayor as well as parliamentarian for the Liberal Party. Koht finished school here, taking his examen artium in 1890. His father was among his teachers for a while in Norwegian and Greek. After the death of his father in 1892, the family moved to Bekkelaget in 1893. Koht studied at the Royal Frederick University (now: the University of Oslo).
In September 1898 in Kristiania he married teacher Karen Elisabeth Grude (1871—1960), a daughter of Martin Adolf Grude. They had the notable children, child psychologist Åse Gruda Skard and ambassador Paul Koht. Through Åsa he was a father-in-law of Sigmund Skard and a grandfather of Torild Skard, Målfrid Grude Flekkøy and Halvdan Skard.
Koht graduated with the cand.philol. degree from the Royal Frederick University in 1896. He studied history with geography as a minor subject until 1895, The main history teacher was Gustav Storm. The next examination was in different languages...classical and modern. Koht had the choice between Greek/Latin or Norwegian/German (including Norse). Koht chose the latter. In 1895, then, after finishing history, he spent three months in the Mediterranean, travelling with three two ships, the first from Norway to Venice, the second from Venice to Constantinople, the third back to Norway. He studied German literature during this travel. In December 1896 Koht was finally examined by Sophus Bugge and earned his degree. He was one of three students to be examinated in Norwegian and German in late 1896, and had been the only candidate in history the previous year.
A break from the studies came in the second half of 1892. After his father's death, he could not afford to attend university that semester. He worked briefly as a private tutor in the Skien district, and was paid to write in the newspaper Varden. After returning to his studies he later worked as a Kristiania correspondent for the newspaper; later for Päivälehti as well. In 1901 he took over after Erik Vullum as obituary and anniversary writer in Verdens Gang. In the next years he would contribute extensively to publications such as Den 17de Mai, Nationalbladet, Syn og Segn, Samtiden, Unglyden, Dagbladet and Verdens Gang mostly Liberal or Norwegian nationalist publications.
For some months after graduating he worked as an unpaid volunteer at the University Library of Oslo. He also continued to attend university lectures. He was then given a fellowship, the "Gustav Bruun Endowment", from the University of 2 x . From 1897 to 1899 he studied abroad with this fellowship. He studied at the University of Copenhagen, the University of Leipzig and in Paris (École des hautes études, École des Chartes). He was especially marked by Karl Lamprecht in Leipzig.
From 1899 to 1901 he worked as a substitute at the University Library of Oslo, and part-time as a school teacher. He was also engaged by Gustav Storm to help him with publishing the source text Regesta Norvegica. In 1900 he took over the work of Jens Braage Halvorsen, who had died, with the biographical dictionary of Norwegian writers, Norsk Forfatter-lexikon. This was a substantial work, and Koht's part of the work, the fifth and sixth volumes, took until 1908 to complete.
In 1901 he was appointed as a research fellow at the Royal Frederick University. He rarely had responsibility for any teaching of the students, and since he was often busy with Norsk Forfatter-lexikon he remained a research fellow until 1907. In 1908 he took his dr.philos. degree on the thesis Die Stellung Norwegens und Schwedens in Deutsch-Dänischen Konflikt 1863—1864. Opponents at the dissertation were Ebbe Hertzberg and Yngvar Nielsen. Koht was then hired as a docent at the University in 1908. Because of internal opponents, the docenture was designated to be in "cultural history" instead of "history". After a while the university changed it to "history", then the cabinet changed it back, before the Parliament finally decided on "history". Despite being appointed as docent, Koht argued with Waldemar Christofer Brøgger that he deserved to travel abroad. From 1908 to 1909 he travelled around in the United States and England. He then returned to the university, and was a docent for a short time until being promoted to professor in 1910. He remained so until 1935, and was the dean of his Faculty from 1912 to 1917.
Koht's research, authorship and political convictions stemmed from an interest in understanding decisive forces at work in history.
He had met much scepticism when announcing his intentions to study social history from the farmers' perspective. Gustav Storm claimed that farmers in Norway had "done no effort of their own". Ludvig Ludvigsen Daae exclaimed that a person whom Koht wanted to study, the farmer-politician John G. Neergaard, was a "crook [...] oh well, trahit sua quemque voluptas". Koht was given to do Neergaard research in Nordmøre. In 1986 Cathrinus Bang replied to Koht's wish to study social history: "Yes, do not go out and become a socialist!"
Koht's stay in the United States had an impact on his historical views and adaptation of historical materialism, and Koht also tried to prop up the study in Norway of American history. Koht did not even learn proper English in school, and before he embarked to the US, some historian colleagues insinuated that the US "barely had any history" and was not worth visiting. Koht's first writing on the subject came in 1910 with the lecture Genesis of American Independence. He followed with Pengemakt og arbeid i Amerika ("Monetary Power and Labour in America", 1910), Amerikansk kultur ("American Culture", 1912) and Den amerikanske nasjonen ("The American Nation", 1920).
Koht was also a prolific biographer. Inspired by the work with Norsk Forfatter-lexikon, he biographed Henrik Wergeland in 1908. Later he biographed Ivar Aasen (1913), Johan Sverdrup in three volumes between 1916 and 1925, Marcus Thrane in 1917 and Haakon VII of Norway in 1943. He also wrote about 400 pieces in Norsk biografisk leksikon, first edition. Between 1909 and 1932 he published letters and writings of Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Aasmund Olavsson Vinje and Henrik Wergeland. He chaired Kjeldeskriftfondet from 1918 to 1927 and Norsk historisk kjeldeskriftråd from 1923 to 1928, two institutions that dealt with publishing of source texts. He also chaired the Norwegian Historical Association from 1912 to 1927 and 1932 to 1936, the Norwegian Genealogical Society from 1928 to 1940 and the Comité International des Sciences Historiques from 1926 to 1933.
Koht became a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in 1908. Between 1923 and 1939 he was both praeses and vice praeses. He held honorary degrees from the University of Oxford, the University of Chicago and the University of Warsaw. He was decorated as a Knight of the Légion d'honneur.
Political career
Koht originally adhered to the Liberal Party, like his father. His father brought Koht to the Liberal Party national convention in 1891, where he was admitted because he studied at the university. Koht's first political arena was the Norwegian Students' Society, where he vehemently opposed that the flag of Norway should contain the union badge (the "flag case"). In 1893 he left this forum, co-founded a new students' association called Den Frisinnede Studenterforening, and as the students' association collectively entered the Liberal Party, Koht became a board member of the party branch in Kristiania. Nonetheless, he voted the Norwegian Labour Party from 1900. He continued his fight against the union badge, and the union as a whole. In 1905, when the union was dissolved altogether, he agitated for the establishment of a republic, but a plebiscite decided to keep the monarchy.
Koht had a certain basis to become radical. He never adhered to Christianity in his adolescent or adult life. His political views radicalized further in the 1890s, and he came to consider himself a Socialist. While living in the United States, he developed a form of historical materialism, which led to a fusion of history scholarship and political views. He viewed the Liberal Party as an important agent in Norwegian history, since it pronounced the rights of the farmers, but he now viewed the working class as the next class to be included in the political life, and specifically through the Norwegian Labour Party. He had cooperated with people now in the Labour Party, including Carl Jeppesen, in his Liberal period. He joined the Labour Party when he returned from the United States and moved to Bærum in 1909. He was elected as a member of Bærum municipal council in the terms 1916—1919, 1928—1931 and 1931—1934.
Internationally, Koht tried to prop up the institutions that maintained public international law. In 1923 he participated in the negotiations between Denmark and Norway about the disposition of Erik the Red's Land, a portion of Greenland. In the 1930s he became the foremost international politician of the Labour Party. He positioned himself in the Labour Party as the prospect for the Minister of Foreign Affairs position, should the party form a government. He did so because of the death of fellow historian and Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1928, Edvard Bull, Sr., and the good result in the Norwegian parliamentary election, 1933. The forming of a Labour government was imminent, and it happened on 20 March 1935. Koht became Minister of Foreign Affairs in Johan Nygaardsvold's Cabinet, and remained here until getting an absence of leave on 19 November 1940. He ultimately left the post on 20 February 1941.
After the League of Nations more or less capsized as a capable international body, Koht again favored the strict neutrality policy to which Norway had adhered before the League of Nations membership. For many years, he was reluctant to an expansion of a Norwegian military defence capacity. He did not vehemently and principally oppose such an expansion, but was on the "defence-sceptical" side together with Johan Nygaardsvold and most of his cabinet. Among the more "defence-friendly" in and around the cabinet, especially from 1936, were Trygve Bratteli, Haakon Lie, Finn Moe, Trygve Lie, Oscar Torp, Martin Tranmæl and Minister of Defence Fredrik Monsen. At the advent of the Nazi German Operation Weserübung, the attack on Norway of 9 April 1940, Koht personally met with German envoy Curt Bräuer, rejecting Bräuer's demands of capitulation. Koht and the cabinet fled Norway's capital, and eventually the country. Koht landed in London on 19 June 1940.
His role in the weak and unorganized defense against the Nazi German Operation Weserübung of 9 April 1940 was hotly debated during and after the occupation, and the commission Undersøkelseskommisjonen av 1945 that scrutinized the actions of the Norwegian government in 1940 concluded with a harsh criticism of his effectiveness. Although the commission applauded his decisiveness and commitment immediately following the German invasion, it considered that he had isolated his ministry too much in the period leading up to the invasion, and had not engaged the full cabinet and the Prime Minister soon enough as an invasion became imminent. The historical consensus appears to be that he was a well-meaning but too idealistic statesman.
For this reason the municipality of Bærum honored him by naming a street in Lysaker Professor Kohts vei ("Professor Koht's Road") to emphasize his academic, rather than his political career.
Language views
Koht started out with a Northern Norwegian dialect. In Skien he received reactions from his peers. He was inspired by the dialects of Telemark, and from 1891 he wrote Landsmål with strong tinges of Bø dialect. Before this he had attempted to write both "Knudsen Riksmål" and "Aasen Landsmål". Early publications on the Norwegian language controversy were Det norske målstrævs historie (1898) and Det vitskapelege grunnlage for målstræve (1900). He became a board member of Det Norske Samlaget, and edited Syn og Segn from 1901 to 1908, until 1905 together with Rasmus Flo. He was the chairman of Noregs Mållag, an association for Nynorsk (the new name of Landsmål) from 1921 to 1925.
Koht spoke of language in a social context in general and the class struggle in particular. He eventually used the Labour Party as a vehicle for his language activism, especially after being asked by the party to write Arbeidarreising og målspørsmål in 1921. In it, he synthesized the class struggle and language struggle in Norway, and because he was an integrationist he wanted a popular gathering around one written language. Koht became a member of Rettskrivingsnemnda in 1934, and in 1936 the Labor Party agreed that a language reform should be carried out, moving the two language forms Bokmål and Nynorsk closer to one another. The language reforms took place in 1938 and promoted the Samnorsk ideal. The reforms were reversed in 1941 under Nazi rule; this was itself re-reversed after the end of the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany. According to historian Kåre Lunden, Koht was downright hated by many because of his language reforms. They viewed the reforms as an attack on and downgrading of their preferred language. His ideals were dubbed "det kohtske knot", i.e. "the Kohtian mishmash". For his own part, Koht often spelled in contrast to both Nynorsk and Bokmål, cf. the titles of his publications Det vitskapelege grunnlage for målstræve and Sosialdemokratie.
Peace activism
Koht's first travel abroad was in 1890, when he accompanied his father, Hans Jacob Horst and John Theodor Lund to an interparliamentary peace conference in London. In 1895 he was a founding member and board member of the Norwegian Peace Association, serving as chairman from 1900 to 1902. He was later a board member again from 1910 to 1912. From 1901 to 1902 he edited his own monthly periodical named Fredstidende ("Peace Times"). He was a consultant for the Norwegian Nobel Institute from 1904 to 1913, examining proposed candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize, and served on the Norwegian Nobel Committee from 1918 to 1942. He was absent in the decisive meeting in 1936 that awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Carl von Ossietzky, and was thereafter absent while being Minister of Foreign Affairs, as he did not want to combine the two roles. He returned briefly afterwards, but left in 1942. He did not live in Norway since 1940, but either way the Prize was not awarded in the years 1939 through 1943. Books on peace include Histoire du mouvement de la paix en Norvège (1900) and Fredstanken i Noregs-sogo (1906).
He became a member of Institut International de la Paix from 1913.
Post-political life
After he resigned from the exiled cabinet in 1940, Koht spent the rest of the war years in the United States. He returned to his academic career in Norway after the war and finished several works on the war years. He consistently advocated a more neutral role for Norway in foreign policy, citing Norway's strategic position in the intersection between East and West.
