Hitler oli oikeassa liittoutuneiden aikeista. Liittoutuneiden suunnitelmassa oli kaksi osaa, Operation Wilfred ja Plan R 4. Wilfred suunnitelman käynnistäminen oli määrä aloittaa 5. huhtikuuta mutta myöhästyi kun norjan aluevesien miinoituksesta luovuttiin, koska tämä rikkoi Norjan rajojen ja aluevesien koskemattomuuden.
Tämä pakottaisi saksalaiset malmia kuljettavat alukset kansainväliselle avomerelle pois niitä suojelevan Norjan rannikon aluevesiltä ja laivoista tulisi nyt laillisia kohteita Britannian Kuninkaalliselle laivastolle. Tämän toivottiin myös osaltaan johtavan Saksan armeijan toimenpiteisiin. Heti kun saksalaiset alkaisivat reagoida, aloitetaan Plan R4, jossa 18.000 liittoutuneiden sotilasta nousisi maihin Narvikiin, sulkemaan rautatieyhteydet Ruotsiin. Muita kaupunkeja jotka liittoutuneet halusivat kaapata oli Trondheim ja Bergen.
Ensimmäinen liittoutuneiden joukkoja kuljettava alus odotti lastattuina lupaa aloittaa matkansa muutaman tunnin kuluttua miinojen asettamisesta.
9. huhtikuuta 1940 Saksa käynnisti Operaatio Weserübung, yhdessä kunnianhimoista tavoitetta, miehittää samanaikaisesti Tanska ja Norja sekä lavastaa Vallankaappaus Norjassa. Tällä toimenpiteellä oli useita kauaskantoisia seurauksia Ruotsissa. Ruotsi joutui käytännössä katkaisemaan kaiken kapankäynnin länsimaiden kanssa ja siten siitä tuli riippuvainen Saksan hallitsemasta meriliikenteestä, jotka johti lopulta saksan sallimaan meri-liikenteeseen mutta se myös vähensi sitä välitöntä vaaraa, että Ruotsi olisi tullut alkselivaltojen ja liittoutuneiden väliseksi sotanäyttämöksi.
Kun Saksa miehitti Tanskan ja Norjan 9. huhtikuuta 1940, Ruotsin 100.000 sotilasta, jotka olivat sijoittettu pitkin Suomen rajaa Pohjois-Ruotsissa olivat juuri kotiutettu, koska talvisota oli päättynyt. Ennen vihollisuuksien alkamista Ruotsilla ei ollut mitään puolustus suunnitelmia Norjan tai puolustus strategiaa Norjan suunnasta tulevaa Saksan hyökkäystä vastaan. Lisäksi Norjan ja Ruotsin välisessä sopimuksessa vuosi 1905 todettiin, ettei linnoituksia rakenneta tällä rajalla.
Yksi Saksan vaatimuksistaa Ruotsille oli, etteivät Ruotsin asevoimat lähde liikkeelle. Ruotsi kuitenkin järjesteli joukkojaan uudelleen, ja tämän järjestelmän käyttöönoton mahdollisti henkilökohtainen kirje joka ansiosta tehtävä oli mahdollista tehdä ilman virallista julistusta, siten että 320.000 miestä voitiin varustaa muutamassa viikossa. Tätä kutsuttiin Organisaatioksi ja sillä oli tuskin mitään eroa jukkojen täysimittaiselle liikekannallepanoon, kun se oli valmis.
Ruotsi alkoi myös rakentaa linnoituksia Norja rajalle ja rannikolle Scania niemimaalle.
Vaikka Britannian Plan R4 ei kyetty suoritettamaan, lähettiin liittoutuneiden joukkoja nopeasti Norjaan jossa ne kykenivät yhdessä Norjalaisten kanssa mutta tuloksetta taistelemaan Saksalaisia hyökkääjiä vastaan. Saksan menestys Ranska taistelujen aikana, sekä Belgian ja Hollannin miehitys johti liittoutuneiden joukkojen uudelleen käyttämiseen 8. kesäkuu 1940, kun joukot oli ehditty evakuoida Norjasta.
Norjan hyökkäyksen yhteydessä Saksa vaati Ruotsilta vapaata pääsyä puhelin, sekä lennätin linjoille hallinnoidakseen Norjan ja Ruotsin välistä puhelu liikennettä. Tämän
Ruotsi salli, pakottavien tosiasioiden edessä.
Toisaalta, alkukesällä samana vuonna (1940) oli ruotsalainen matemaatikko Arne Beurling onnistunut löytämään ja määrittämään salatut lähdekoodit Saksan salaisen lennättimen, (Geheimfernschreiber) salakirjoitus koneen jota Saksa käytti, ja tällä saatiin ruotsille tärkeää etukäteistietoa Saksan armeijan aikeista.---
Teoksessa Blodsporet (Blood Track), Espen Eiburn kertoo yksityiskohtaiset ohjeet, pyynnöstä jonka Adolf Hitler esitti Ruotsille saadakseen Ruotsin kautta kolme junaa joissa jokaisessa oli 30-40 suljettua vaunua, saaden vahvistuksia Narvikin taisteluun.
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Saksan hyökkättyä Neuvostoliittoon alkukesällä 1941 (Operaatio Barbarossa) Saksa pyysi ruotsalaisia sallimaan aseistetun saksalaisen 163. jalkaväkidivisioonan kuljetus Kenraali Erwin Engelbrecht johdolla, sekä divisioonan kaikki aseistus Ruotsin alueen kautta joka tapahtuisi Norjasta junalla Suomen lappiin, itärintamalle.
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Vuosi 1942 lopulla ja osaksi 1943 alkupuolella saksan kokemat huomattavat tappiot,
El Alamein toinen taistelu pohjois afrikassa ja Stalingradin taistelu neuvostoliitossa,
aiheuttivat saksalle suuria sotilaallisia menetyksiä joita se yritti korvata kutsumalla
entistä vanhempia ikäluokkiaan palvelukseen. Ruotsin näkökannan mukaan olisi yhä
ilmeisempää ettei Saksa mitä toden ykene voittamaan sotaa. Samoin myös Ruotsin
noudattama puoluettoman maan politikka oli 1943 Saksan tarkassa valvonnassa.
Elokuussa ja syyskuussa 1943 Ruotsi kuitenkin edelleen pystyi vastustamaan Saksan vaatimuksia ja säilyttää kantansa myös liittoutuneiden paineessa. Vaikka Saksalla oli uusi puolustava asenne sodassa, Ruotsi joutui elämään siinä jatkuvassa pelossa että odottamaton tapahtuu, Saksa miehittää maan. Asenne, joka jatkui sodan loppuun.
Heikkenevän Saksan kanta voimisti liittoutuneiden vatimuksia, jotka nyt painostivat Ruotsia luopumaan Saksan kanssa käydystä kaupasta ja lopettamaan kaikenlaisten Saksan joukkojen siirtojen salliminen ja käyttö Ruotsin maaperää hyväksi käyttäen.
Ruotsi suostui hyväksymään liittoutuneiden suorittamia maksuja korvaamaan tätä tulonmenetystä joka syntyi pienentämällä kauppaa Saksan kanssa, mutta jatkoi vielä teräksen ja koneistettujen osien myyntiä natsi-Saksalle, seikka joten ne salakuljettiin nyt Saksaan kalliista hinnasta.
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Mälsåker linna oli Norja sotilasakatemia toisen maailmansodan aikana kun yli 50.000 norjalaista pakeni Ruotsiin. Nämä pakolaiset toimitettiin leireille Öreryd Smoolanti
ja Kjesäter kaupunki Södermanlandi.
Kesästä 1943 alkaen joukot olivat sotilaskoulutuksessa. Yhdessä Ruotsin hallituksen yhteistyönä Lontoossa maanpaossa olevan Norjan pakolaishallituksen kanssa.
Saksan vastalauseiden estämiseksi koulutus oli järjestetty Norja poliisia varten alusta lähtien värvättyinä oli ainoastaan aseistettuja jääkäreitä mutta myöhemmin kyettiin kouluttamaan myös tykistön joukkoja.
Sotaharjoitukset pidettiin joulukuu 1944 Taalainmaalla sekä Hälsinglandissa keväällä 1945, 8.000 miestä osallistui tähän jälkimmäiseen harjoitukseen.
Kaikkiaan noin 15.000 miestä koulutettiin, näistä miehistä muodostettiin kymmenen pataljoonaa ja sodan lopulla pataljoonia oli kahdeksan joissa oli noin 13500 miestä valmiina toimintaan.
Nämä joukot tulivat Norjaan 8. toukokuuta 1945. Pakolaisten määrä Tanskassa oli paljon pienempi kuin norjalaisten 50.000. Kuitenkin prikaati, noin 3600 Tanskalaista, miestä koulutettiin ja ne palasivat takaisin Tanskaan 5. toukokuu 1945.
---
Bäckebo raketti / Project Big Ben
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Bäckebo raketti / Project Big Ben
Eräs englantilaisten vangiksi joutunut saksalainen selitti olleensa asiantuntija joka ohjaa liitäviä pommeja lentokonessa. Tälläisen V-2 rakettien ohjaus ja laukaisujen seuraaminen aiheutti hänelle vahingon, saaden omaksi hämmästyksekseen raketin toimimaan. Peenemünd V-2 rakettien ohjaus ja seuranta asiantuntija Ernst Steinhoff selitti innoissaan operaattorin soveltaneen sarjan suunniteltuja korjauksia (esim maapallon pyöriminen) päinvastaiseen suuntaan, miten hän oli opettanut.
Raketti hajosi usein osiin heti päästyään ilmaan tai vasta useiden tuhansien metrien korkeudella, joka oli tyypillinen toiminta häiriö kaikissa V-2 raketeissa.
Ruotsissa Backelbo tilan alueella putosi lähes ehjä raketti.
Arvokas hylky vaidehtiin englantilaisten kanssa Super Marine Spitfire koneisiin.
Yksikään alas pudonnut raketti ei aiheuttanut yhtään vammoja tai mitään muita tuhoja
Englannissa Farnboroughissa Hampshiressa 31 heinäkuuta 1944 perustettu Royal Aircraft alkoi yrittää jälleenrakentaa jännöksistä uudelleen tämän V-2 ohjuksen.Yhdysvaltain armeijan tutkijoiden jälkeen osat palautettiin takaisin englantiin.
Amerikkalainen raketti pioneeri Robert H.Goddard tarkasteli näitä osia osana työtään Yhdysvaltain armeijan auttamiseksi. Vaikka Goddard ei tiennyt saksalaisten V-2 raketin tutkimuksista tai kehittämisistä, hänen on raportoitu tunnistaneen joidenkin osia joita hän oli aikaisemmin keksinyt ja kehitellyt, ja päätteli, että hänen ideansa joista monet olivat samanlaisia kuin saksalaisten, oli muuttunut aseeksi.
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In his book Blodsporet ("The Blood Track"), Espen Eiburn detailed how, at the request of Adolf Hitler, Nazi Germany sent three trains with 30 to 40 sealed carriages through Sweden to the battle of Narvik. These trains ostensibly transported medical personnel and food for the wounded German soldiers in Narvik. However in reality there were 17 soldiers for every medical officer or orderly. Sweden knew that the trains were being used to transport troops because a Swedish representative in Berlin reported that he had watched them board. The trains also transported heavy artillery, anti-aircraft guns, ammunition and communications and supply equipment.
Midsummer crisis (Midsommarkrisen)
At the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in the early summer of 1941, codenamed Operation Barbarossa, the Germans asked Sweden to allow the transportation of armed German troops, the 163rd Infantry Division Wehrmacht, commanded by General Erwin Engelbrecht, along with all its military equipment, through Swedish territory by train from Norway to the eastern front in Finland.
The Swedish government granted this permission. In Sweden, the political deliberations surrounding this are known as the "Midsummer Crisis"; however, according to research by Carl-Gustaf Scott there never was a "crisis", he argues that "the crisis was created in historical hindsight in order to protect the political legacy of the Social Democratic Party and its leader Per Albin Hansson."
From late 1942 and into 1943, Germany began to meet with a series of military reverses after its losses at the Second Battle of El Alamein, the Battle of Stalingrad and elsewhere. Germany was forced into a more defensive position as the Allied forces met with unaccustomed success on the battlefield, such as in North Africa. It was becoming increasingly apparent to Sweden that Germany was unlikely to win the war. Prior to 1943, Sweden's policy of neutrality had been largely under the close scrutiny of Germany.
After August and September 1943, however, Sweden was increasingly able to resist German demands and to soften its stance to Allied pressure. However, despite Germany's new, defensive posture, Sweden's constant fear was that the unexpected would happen, an attitude that continued until the very end of the war. With Germany's weakening position came stronger demands from the Allies. They pushed for Sweden to abandon its trade with Germany and to stop all German troop movements over Swedish soil. Sweden accepted payments from the Allies to compensate for this loss of income through reduced trade with Germany, but continued to sell steel and machined parts to Nazi Germany at inflated smugglers' rates.
Mälsåker Castle was a Norwegian Military academy during World War II
During the war, more than 50,000 Norwegians fled to Sweden. These refugees were sent to camps at Öreryd in Småland and Kjesäter in Södermanland. From the summer of 1943 onwards, the military training of Norwegian troops was carried out in Sweden, in cooperation with the Swedish government and the Norwegian government-in-exile in London. To prevent protests from Nazi Germany, this training was ostensibly for the Norwegian police. From the start, the recruits only had light infantry weapons, but later they were able to train with artillery. Military exercises were held in Dalarna in December 1944 and in Hälsingland in spring 1945.
8,000 men took part in this latter exercise.
In all, around 15,000 men were trained and organized into ten battalions and at the end of the war, eight of these battalions, about 13,500 men, were ready for action. They entered Norway on May 8, 1945. The number of Danish refugees had been much lower than the 50,000 Norwegians, but a brigade of about 3,600 Danish men was also trained and they were transferred to Denmark on May 5, 1945.
---
On June 13, 1944, a V-2 rocket under test by the Germans (test rocket V-89, serial number 4089) from Peenemünde crashed in Sweden after the rocket had flown into cumulus clouds which had strayed into the controller's line of sight. It was supposed to crash in the sea outside Bornholm in occupied Denmark.
V-89 contained "Kehl-Strassburg" joystick radio control equipment that had been designed for the Wasserfall anti-aircraft missile (code named Burgund), a development of that used to guide the Henschel Hs 293 glide bomb. The ground controller appeared to have no trouble manoeuvring the rocket until it disappeared into the high cloud layer.
A captured German prisoner later explained to the British that the controller was an expert at steering glider bombs from aircraft, but that the spectacle of a rocket launch had caused him to incorrectly operate the control lever in his astonishment. Peenemünde guidance and control expert Ernst Steinhoff explained that the excited operator applied a set of planned corrections (such as that for the Earth's rotation) in the opposite direction to the way he had been instructed.
The rocket subsequently exploded in an air burst (a common V-2 malfunction) several thousand feet above the county of Bäckebo mainly over a farm with no injuries, and the valuable wreckage was exchanged with Britain by the Swedes for Supermarine Spitfires.
On July 31, 1944, experts at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough in Hampshire, England, began an attempt to reconstruct the missile. U.S. military scientists subsequently received some of the recovered parts from the British.
The American rocket pioneer Robert H. Goddard
examined those components as part of his work aiding the U.S. military, and Goddard is reported to have recognized components he had previously invented, and inferred that his brainchild had been turned into a weapon.
In 1943, Sweden received nearly all of Denmark's 8,000 Jews. With the dissolution of the Danish government in the summer of 1943, the German authorities had decided to deport Denmark's Jewish population to concentration camps. However, the Danes successfully ferried all but 450 of the Jews across the straits between Copenhagen and the Swedish mainland, across waters that were patrolled by German Schnellboots, in an unprecedented rescue effort. Once in Sweden, the Danish Jews were granted asylum and taken in by Swedish families. Many stayed in Sweden after the war. Sweden also received refugees from Finland and Norway, including some of Norway's Jews. All this, as well as the protection of Sweden's own Jewish population, was made possible by Sweden's neutrality. A daily newspaper in Sweden, the Svenska Dagbladet said that Sweden did more to assist and save Jews than any other country.
Neutrality also made it possible for Sweden to have physical access to Germany, which was not only useful to Swedish intelligence but to Allied intelligence as well. Employees at Asea, LM Ericsson and the Swedish Match Factory (Svenska Tändsticksfabriken) acted as couriers for the Polish resistance. King Gustav V of Sweden attempted to use his diplomatic connections with German leaders to convince them to treat Jews more humanely, as evidenced through his correspondence, although to little effect.
Count Folke Bernadotte
a relative of the Swedish royal family, was able to communicate with the German government and relay information back to Sweden, as did other diplomats. He also contributed in saving 15,000 prisoners from concentration camps, as did Valdemar Langlet and the famous diplomat
Raoul Wallenberg, who may have saved up to 100,000 Hungarian Jews.
Many Swedish noblemen used their personal connections and wealth to take in and find temporary Swedish homes for children from neighboring countries, mainly Denmark and Finland.[citation needed] Werner Dankwort served as the first secretary for the German legation in Stockholm during the German Nazi regime and secretly helped Jewish children to escape from Germany into Sweden inside wooden crates.
Midsummer crisis (Midsommarkrisen)
At the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in the early summer of 1941, codenamed Operation Barbarossa, the Germans asked Sweden to allow the transportation of armed German troops, the 163rd Infantry Division Wehrmacht, commanded by General Erwin Engelbrecht, along with all its military equipment, through Swedish territory by train from Norway to the eastern front in Finland.
The Swedish government granted this permission. In Sweden, the political deliberations surrounding this are known as the "Midsummer Crisis"; however, according to research by Carl-Gustaf Scott there never was a "crisis", he argues that "the crisis was created in historical hindsight in order to protect the political legacy of the Social Democratic Party and its leader Per Albin Hansson."
From late 1942 and into 1943, Germany began to meet with a series of military reverses after its losses at the Second Battle of El Alamein, the Battle of Stalingrad and elsewhere. Germany was forced into a more defensive position as the Allied forces met with unaccustomed success on the battlefield, such as in North Africa. It was becoming increasingly apparent to Sweden that Germany was unlikely to win the war. Prior to 1943, Sweden's policy of neutrality had been largely under the close scrutiny of Germany.
After August and September 1943, however, Sweden was increasingly able to resist German demands and to soften its stance to Allied pressure. However, despite Germany's new, defensive posture, Sweden's constant fear was that the unexpected would happen, an attitude that continued until the very end of the war. With Germany's weakening position came stronger demands from the Allies. They pushed for Sweden to abandon its trade with Germany and to stop all German troop movements over Swedish soil. Sweden accepted payments from the Allies to compensate for this loss of income through reduced trade with Germany, but continued to sell steel and machined parts to Nazi Germany at inflated smugglers' rates.
Mälsåker Castle was a Norwegian Military academy during World War II
During the war, more than 50,000 Norwegians fled to Sweden. These refugees were sent to camps at Öreryd in Småland and Kjesäter in Södermanland. From the summer of 1943 onwards, the military training of Norwegian troops was carried out in Sweden, in cooperation with the Swedish government and the Norwegian government-in-exile in London. To prevent protests from Nazi Germany, this training was ostensibly for the Norwegian police. From the start, the recruits only had light infantry weapons, but later they were able to train with artillery. Military exercises were held in Dalarna in December 1944 and in Hälsingland in spring 1945.
8,000 men took part in this latter exercise.
In all, around 15,000 men were trained and organized into ten battalions and at the end of the war, eight of these battalions, about 13,500 men, were ready for action. They entered Norway on May 8, 1945. The number of Danish refugees had been much lower than the 50,000 Norwegians, but a brigade of about 3,600 Danish men was also trained and they were transferred to Denmark on May 5, 1945.
---
On June 13, 1944, a V-2 rocket under test by the Germans (test rocket V-89, serial number 4089) from Peenemünde crashed in Sweden after the rocket had flown into cumulus clouds which had strayed into the controller's line of sight. It was supposed to crash in the sea outside Bornholm in occupied Denmark.V-89 contained "Kehl-Strassburg" joystick radio control equipment that had been designed for the Wasserfall anti-aircraft missile (code named Burgund), a development of that used to guide the Henschel Hs 293 glide bomb. The ground controller appeared to have no trouble manoeuvring the rocket until it disappeared into the high cloud layer.A captured German prisoner later explained to the British that the controller was an expert at steering glider bombs from aircraft, but that the spectacle of a rocket launch had caused him to incorrectly operate the control lever in his astonishment. Peenemünde guidance and control expert Ernst Steinhoff explained that the excited operator applied a set of planned corrections (such as that for the Earth's rotation) in the opposite direction to the way he had been instructed.
examined those components as part of his work aiding the U.S. military, and Goddard is reported to have recognized components he had previously invented, and inferred that his brainchild had been turned into a weapon.
In 1943, Sweden received nearly all of Denmark's 8,000 Jews. With the dissolution of the Danish government in the summer of 1943, the German authorities had decided to deport Denmark's Jewish population to concentration camps. However, the Danes successfully ferried all but 450 of the Jews across the straits between Copenhagen and the Swedish mainland, across waters that were patrolled by German Schnellboots, in an unprecedented rescue effort. Once in Sweden, the Danish Jews were granted asylum and taken in by Swedish families. Many stayed in Sweden after the war. Sweden also received refugees from Finland and Norway, including some of Norway's Jews. All this, as well as the protection of Sweden's own Jewish population, was made possible by Sweden's neutrality. A daily newspaper in Sweden, the Svenska Dagbladet said that Sweden did more to assist and save Jews than any other country.
Neutrality also made it possible for Sweden to have physical access to Germany, which was not only useful to Swedish intelligence but to Allied intelligence as well. Employees at Asea, LM Ericsson and the Swedish Match Factory (Svenska Tändsticksfabriken) acted as couriers for the Polish resistance. King Gustav V of Sweden attempted to use his diplomatic connections with German leaders to convince them to treat Jews more humanely, as evidenced through his correspondence, although to little effect. Count Folke Bernadotte
a relative of the Swedish royal family, was able to communicate with the German government and relay information back to Sweden, as did other diplomats. He also contributed in saving 15,000 prisoners from concentration camps, as did Valdemar Langlet and the famous diplomat
Raoul Wallenberg, who may have saved up to 100,000 Hungarian Jews.
Many Swedish noblemen used their personal connections and wealth to take in and find temporary Swedish homes for children from neighboring countries, mainly Denmark and Finland.[citation needed] Werner Dankwort served as the first secretary for the German legation in Stockholm during the German Nazi regime and secretly helped Jewish children to escape from Germany into Sweden inside wooden crates.
----------------
The 1930s marked a new period when Sweden's long-standing policy of neutrality was severely tested on numerous occasions, most of which came from a strongly rejuvenated nationalistic Germany. Since the founding of the League of Nations in 1919 and up to the year 1935, Sweden had been a strong supporter of the League and most of Sweden's energy on the international stage had been put into its preservation.
As the collective security system of the League of Nations started to crack with the Abyssinia crisis, and the approach of World War II, Sweden could look back on 120 years of successful neutralist politics – with one singular exception: the backup force on Jutland during the First war of Schleswig. Sweden now pursued a policy of forging a block of neutralist countries in Northern Europe. Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Finland and the Baltic countries were all members of this club of neutral states. Of them, only Sweden would be fortunate enough to remain unattacked during World War II.
Opposition to this new policy of armed neutrality was weak in that all major parties, such as the Conservatives, Agrarians and Liberal People's Party, supported the government's position. On a regular basis, beginning in 1936, the Swedish government requested increases in its defense budget to strengthen its military preparedness as the international situation continued to worsen. The actual military budget from 1936 to 1939 increased many times over. In 1936, military spending was $37,000,000; 1937, $50,000,000; 1938, $58,575,000; and in 1939 it was at $322,325,000. After the war began, military spending peaked in 1942 at $527,575,000 in one year alone. With the increased need of an expanded military, Swedish industry was required to not only supply the increased demand for domestic products, exacerbated by the German blockade of the North Sea, but also had to meet an increased demand in military armaments for the Swedish government. Before the war, production of armaments did not exceed more than tens of millions of Swedish kronor, but during the war, production exceeded the cost of one billion Swedish kronor ($240,000,000).
A Scandinavian defence union that would have included Sweden, Norway and Denmark was considered among the three countries after World War II. They would remain separate sovereign countries but act as a single block in foreign policy and security issues. The proposed union was discussed by a joint Scandinavian committee during the winter of 1948–1949, but in the end the Cold War tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and preparations for a western alliance that would result in the North Atlantic Treaty superseded the Scandinavian negotiations.
When it became known that the western alliance's own pressing needs would prevent them from supplying the Scandinavian countries with armaments, Norway, wanting access to those arms, decided that it would be more advantageous to be a member of NATO and resigned from the talks. Denmark was still willing to enter into an alliance with Sweden, but the Swedes saw few advantages in this and the proposal failed. Norway and Denmark subsequently became signatory parties to the North Atlantic Treaty and members of NATO, while Sweden remained neutral.
The 1930s marked a new period when Sweden's long-standing policy of neutrality was severely tested on numerous occasions, most of which came from a strongly rejuvenated nationalistic Germany. Since the founding of the League of Nations in 1919 and up to the year 1935, Sweden had been a strong supporter of the League and most of Sweden's energy on the international stage had been put into its preservation.
As the collective security system of the League of Nations started to crack with the Abyssinia crisis, and the approach of World War II, Sweden could look back on 120 years of successful neutralist politics – with one singular exception: the backup force on Jutland during the First war of Schleswig. Sweden now pursued a policy of forging a block of neutralist countries in Northern Europe. Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Finland and the Baltic countries were all members of this club of neutral states. Of them, only Sweden would be fortunate enough to remain unattacked during World War II.
Opposition to this new policy of armed neutrality was weak in that all major parties, such as the Conservatives, Agrarians and Liberal People's Party, supported the government's position. On a regular basis, beginning in 1936, the Swedish government requested increases in its defense budget to strengthen its military preparedness as the international situation continued to worsen. The actual military budget from 1936 to 1939 increased many times over. In 1936, military spending was $37,000,000; 1937, $50,000,000; 1938, $58,575,000; and in 1939 it was at $322,325,000. After the war began, military spending peaked in 1942 at $527,575,000 in one year alone. With the increased need of an expanded military, Swedish industry was required to not only supply the increased demand for domestic products, exacerbated by the German blockade of the North Sea, but also had to meet an increased demand in military armaments for the Swedish government. Before the war, production of armaments did not exceed more than tens of millions of Swedish kronor, but during the war, production exceeded the cost of one billion Swedish kronor ($240,000,000).
A Scandinavian defence union that would have included Sweden, Norway and Denmark was considered among the three countries after World War II. They would remain separate sovereign countries but act as a single block in foreign policy and security issues. The proposed union was discussed by a joint Scandinavian committee during the winter of 1948–1949, but in the end the Cold War tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and preparations for a western alliance that would result in the North Atlantic Treaty superseded the Scandinavian negotiations.
When it became known that the western alliance's own pressing needs would prevent them from supplying the Scandinavian countries with armaments, Norway, wanting access to those arms, decided that it would be more advantageous to be a member of NATO and resigned from the talks. Denmark was still willing to enter into an alliance with Sweden, but the Swedes saw few advantages in this and the proposal failed. Norway and Denmark subsequently became signatory parties to the North Atlantic Treaty and members of NATO, while Sweden remained neutral.
I have learnt more again tonight! Thanks
VastaaPoistaHello.
PoistaThank you for your comment.
It's great when you enjoyed.
I have extracted many old draft, "a few are still left...