1940s: Breaking its promise of non-aggression, Germany invades and occupies Denmark in 1940. Although active resistance is futile, a powerful passive-resistance movement soon emerges. The Nazis occupy Denmark throughout World War II. Denmark is liberated at the war's end and Joins the alliance of We stem nations called NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) four years later.

1990s: Denmark is considered one of the world's nations most open to free expression and personal autonomy.

1940s: Dinesen enjoys a generally positive critical reaction to her writings, including Winter's Tales, becoming increasingly confident in herself as a public intellectual and in the issues surrounding women's intellectual advancement.

1990s: After the popular and critical success of Sydney Pollack's film version of Out of Africa (1985), Dinesen's literature enjoys a revival among a new generation of readers; today it is widely read and the source of much critical interpretation.