Abstract
Throughout the World War II, Sweden was not forced to engage in the armed conflict, although the state came close on many occasions. Several factors have contributed to this, including also Sweden’s active policy of neutrality. The policy was developed and implemented already before the war, and it was strengthened at the outset of the Nazi aggression. Apart from combat readiness in the form of conscripting consecutive draftees and increasing credits for military purposes, it also included changes in the country’s economy. The occupation of Denmark and Norway seriously worsened the situation as it cut Sweden off from the former western partners.
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Notes
- 1.
Swedish Göteborgstrafiken (also named Lejdtrafiken) was the Swedish maritime trade during WWII through the port of Gothenburg. Following the occupation of Denmark and Norway, Sweden was cut off from trade with the western world, which caused shortages of raw materials (including those necessary to maintain the defense capabilities), inter alia, crude oil. Having found itself blockaded by both sides (the Third Reich on the one side and the United Kingdom on the other), Sweden was at risk of complete dependence on Nazi Germany. After laborious negotiations, Sweden was granted permission to resume limited commercial traffic, provided that the vessels were subject to control by the two belligerent sides. In addition, the number of trade passages in both directions had to be the same. A number of naval incidents took place: out of 79 vessels, which made 459 voyages, 10 were sunk. See: Areschoug (2008) and Hägglöf (1958).
- 2.
Milorg—(abbr. from Norwegian Militaer Organisasjonen) the Norwegian underground military organization from the time of WWII; see: Store norske leksikon, Norges historie fra 1940 til 1945.
- 3.
The speech given by K. Günther on May 4, 1945; compare: Andrén (1971, pp. 474ff).
- 4.
Statement on Foreign Policy to Parliament on 4 February 1948.
- 5.
Compare: Ur regeringsmeddelande den 4 februari 1948, [in:] Andrén and Landqvist (1965, pp. 97–101).
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Czarny, R.M. (2018). End of War and Beginning of Peace. In: Sweden: From Neutrality to International Solidarity. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77513-5_6
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