South Jutland county is also known as Northern Schleswig (Danish: Nordslesvig, German: Nordschleswig).

In most places there was very little unrest or revolutionary activities and the councils helped to maintain calm and order.

[3] Following the defeat of Germany in World War I, the Allied powers organised two plebiscites in Northern and Central Schleswig on 10 February and 14 March 1920, respectively.

Though there is no historical census, it is estimated that the percentage of ethnic Germans in Northern Schleswig was less than the 25% that had voted for remaining in Germany.

As reconstituted in 1970, South Jutland County had slightly different borders to the area gained from Germany in 1920: the towns of Hejle, Taps and Vejstrup (which were Danish throughout the period 1864 to 1920) were included in its jurisdiction, whereas Spandet, Roager and Hviding (German from 1864 to 1920) were included in the neighbouring 1970–2006 county of Ribe.