Kingdom of Sweden
Government: parliamentary constitutional monarchy
Ruler: Gustav the fifth
Area: 175,000 SQM
Population: 3.2 million
Military: 55,000 men, Six battleships, two cruisers, 24 torpedo ships, three submarines,
and a dozen smaller craft
Sweden is first described in a written piece by Tacitus who was a Roman senator and historian.
In his work Germania 44 and 45 he mentions the Swedes as a powerful tribe distinguished
not only for their arms and men, but for their powerful fleets as well.
Who ruled over or was king of this tribe is unknown, but Norse mythology presents a long
line of legendary and semi-legendary kings going back centuries before Germania.
In the 6th century another Roman historian Jordanes names two tribes living in Scandia,
both of which are now considered to be the Swedes: the Suetidi and Suehans.
The Suehans being known to the Roman world as suppliers of black fox skins and very fine
horses.
Around the time that the Western Roman Empire fell, a large amount of wealth came into Scandia,
some have suggested that this was due to massive funds being sent as various peace treaties
with the Byzantium's but it isn't known for certain.
During the Vendal era which was between 550 and 790, tribes and small kingdoms began to
more firmly establish themselves in the region, with Uppland being the most powerful entity.
They managed to hold a large amount of wealth not only through the establishment of more
trade routes, but also due to their control of the mining region and the export of iron.
This period also saw a large amount of Swedish exploration in the water ways in most of Eastern
Europe that led into the Viking Age which is simply too large of a topic for me to cover
in this episode.
No one knows for certain when the first Swedish Kingdom was formed but it is generally accepted
that Eric the Victorous was the first king when he consolidated Svealand and Gotaland,
reigning in the late 10th century.
The Old Norsh sagas make mention of kings before Erik like Bjorn Errikson and his grandfather
Anund Uppsala.
Christianity was introduced to the region in the early 9th century, but the new religion
did not replace paganism until the late 12th century.
A large amount of internal power struggles and competition among the Nordic kingdoms
existed between the 12th and 15th.
Starting with the first, second and third crusade against the Finns, Sampi, Karliean,
and Urguian peoples.
This brought the kingdom into contact with the Novgorodians in present day Russia, who
had claims to most of Finland but had very little colonization or enforcement on those
claims.
The Swedish started to colonize the coastal areas of Finland between the 12th and 13th
century and it began to be more organized and in the end of the century several of the
coastal areas of Finland were inhabited mostly by Swedes.
As with the Norway episode, I will not talk about the Kalmar Union here, leaving that
for another episode.
The nation was in pretty constant turmoil after its independence.
Gustav Vasa introduced Protestantism (with a large amount of the population being Lutheran)
into the nation but at a rather slow place, even still, the confiscation of church property
among other issues caused a dozen rebellions and uprisings, with the most famous being
the Dacke War in 1542.
This time period also saw wars against it's neighbors.
Engaging in the nearly three decade long Livonian war against the Russians where the Swedes,
Danes, and Poles ended up fighting each other for seven of those years as well.
The acqusitions northern Livonia laid the ground-work of further expansion in the Baltic
and further competition against the newly formed Russian state.
The nation was under a short personal union with Poland.
Then a decade long war against Poland after its independence, while also fighting Russia
during the Time of Troubles and another Livonian war then helping the Russians against the
Poles before declaring war on the Russian themselves two years later again while also
fighting against the Danes in the Kalmar war.
After this you had the thirty years war which brought Sweden into its golden age as a great
European empire.
Sweden reached its territorial apex after the second Northern War in 1661, although
their colonial attempts pretty much ceased after this point.
Having lost New Sweden to the Dutch.
Come the turn of the century, Sweden lost its dominance against its neighbors during
the two decade long Great Northern War which will also likely have a whole episode dedicated
to it.
From this the nation experienced an over-all decline both in power and wealth as other
nations around them caught up to Sweden administration-wise which was one of the main factors in Swedish
dominance.
I'll also have an episode about the Rise and Fall of the Swedish Empire.
By the time of the Napoleonic Wars, Sweden had been in relative decline for nearly a
century.
The Swedes had enjoyed a quick rise in prosperity in power ever since there independence from
the Kalmar Union in 1521.
By the mid 17th century, the empire encompassed large sections of Danish, Russian, and Baltic
land.
And included cities in northern Germany as well as a small colonial empire.
However, the economy ran primarily on loot from pillaged lands as well as tariffs from
Baltic sea trade.
The great northern war stretching two decades of the 18th century, really hampered Swedish
military and economic power.
By the time of the Napoleonic war, they were little more then a second rate regional power
and the 1808 Finnish war against Russia, saw their land in Finland gone, and a crushing
defeat against a long-time rival.
When the war of the Sixth coalition came, the Swedes joined and went to war against
the Danes who had kept their support for Napoleon until they were forced to come to peace terms
in early 1814.
In the treaty of Kiel, The Danish province of Norway was ceded to Sweden and Sweden enjoyed
a hundred years of peace, something rare for the times.
In 1905, Norway peacefully gained their independence.
When War was declared, many viewed that Swedish sympathies laid with Germany, there was general
animosity between the Swedes and Russians, The Swedish Martial was very pro-German, and
King Gustav was married to King Welhelms grand-daughter, Victoria of Bavaria.
The population as a whole were in favor for neutrality, a policy that Sweden had claimed
for a hundred years.
Their was a large amount of sympathy and identity with Germany due to its culture and social
democracy within the upper and middle class, as well as the military.
However, there was a difference between admiring Germany or identifying with German culture
and being prepared to side with Germany in war.
Only a small group went that far although they were rather powerful people.
In-fact.
In 1910, German and Swedish army staffs had conducted talks regarding a possible campaign
against Russia, but it never came to much.
What did come of it, was guarantees that Sweden would never join a war on the side of Russia.
Even so, The Swedish government declared their neutrality on August 4th 1914.
Four days later, Norway and Sweden issued a declaration that guaranteed each others
neutrality and this provision was further extended to Denmark in December.
Even though the nation was neutral, the foreign policy was very pro-German, and large sections
of the government had pro-German sympathies, many wanting to intervene on their behalf,
and some alliance talks had been conducted, which would include offering Sweden Finland
and the Baltic nations for joining.
Even though these came to nothing, their was one big thing that they did.
They allowed Germany to use Swedish Telegraph wires for her over-seas embarrisaies.
While these telegraphy lines couldn't be as easily intercepted by the British but the
Swedes had said that they stopped allowing this in 1915.
Their were also instances like having their lighthouses blacked out, ban of military transit
through its territory, and the mining of the Sound and the Swedish indifference or out-right
support of German actions that didn't go un-noticed.
Some have suggested that this was done to appease Germany and to keep the vital trade
for the nation going but no one knows for certain.
Sweden was and had been a very trade oriented nation, with exports being the main driver
of its economy.
Both Britain and Germany were vital players in this trade, as Germany was her primary
importer and Britain her primary exporter.
Sweden suddenly became aware of its dependence on other countries.
The economy was built on exports, not just of iron and timber, but also of food products,
primarily pork and butter.
Sweden was not self-sufficient and imported one third of its grain from Germany, as well
as colonial products such as coffee, tea, and spices.
However, the crisis did not arrive until the third year of the war.
In the beginning, everybody thought that the war was going to be over soon and as such,
no government action was taken.
But when the harvest of 1916 failed and Germany declared unrestricted submarine warfare, food
shortages became very noticeable.
In an attempt to help with the food shortage, sugar and bread were rationed, followed by
meat, eggs, and other animal products.
But the real problem was that there was simply not enough food to buy.
People had to change their diet and an animal-based diet was replaced by a non-fat protein-rich
diet based on potato flakes, mushrooms, carrots and things of that nature.
Prices rose steadily throughout the war and inflation was rampant.
Prices rose up to 250 percent or more on certain items which, in combination with the shortage
of consumer goods, fueled a black market.
The government s regulations and monetary policy made things even worse.
Official maximum prices were consistently set too low, and instead of selling their
meat on the open market, farmers withheld their goods or were tempted to sell them illegally
for a greater profit.
When the U.S entered the war in the Spring of 1917, the trade with neutral nations had
changed.
Policy that had favored neutral commerce was heavily dis-credited and the Entente could
view Sweden as an enemy for supplying the Germans.
This led to an increase and tightening of the British blockage which heavily hampered
the Swedish economy and caused even more public unrest.
Food riots become common, people gathered all over the country in protest meetings.
Women initiated the strike leaving their work and demanding food for their children.
Men, organized workers and syndicalists joined forces and handed over petitions to those
responsible for the food supply.
These hunger marches lasted for two months, and rumors of revolution circulated, inspired
by the recent Russian revolution.
This social pressure as well as scandals in the Right-wing government meant that their
was a resounding liberal victory in the new Swedish election.
This new government was able to reach an agreement with the Entente in May of 1918 to allow Swedish
food imports once again from the west, preventing starvation on a large scale.