Sweden in the first world war

 

Sweden in the First World War

War memorials are hard to come by in Sweden as it is more than two centuries since the country last went into battle. That was in 1814, to force an unwanted union under the Swedish crown on neighbouring Norway. Since then, apart from supplying peace-keeping troops to the United Nations, it has managed to keep on the sidelines of the various armed conflicts that have afflicted Europe and the world.

Like its Scandinavian neighbours Denmark and Norway, Sweden declared its neutrality at the outbreak of the first world war. But it was profoundly affected by the embargoes and blockades imposed by the warring parties, although it continued to trade with both sides. Two hundred and eighty Swedish merchant ships were lost, with the death of nearly eight hundred crew members, and the country's territorial waters were repeated violated. Unemployment and food shortages, compounded by failure of the harvest in 1916, led to considerable social unrest, giving rise to hunger marches and demands for social reform that resulted in greater democracy when the war was over.

Public opinion in Sweden as well as sentiment among officers in the armed forces and in the Royal family, was largely sympathetic to the German side. An official ban on the export of armaments was circumvented and Swedish foreign policy has been described as 'far from neutral'.

There was one instance when Sweden did take military action and that was in the Åland Islands after the Russian revolution and civil war. The islands, with their largely Swedish-speaking population, were part of Finland, which Sweden had lost to Tsarist Russia in 1809. They were briefly occupied by Swedish forces, but withdrawal followed protests from Finland, which declared its independence in 1918.

As a non-combatant, Sweden took no part in drawing up the Treaty of Versailles, but joined the League of Nations in January 1920.

Adapted from What You Should Know About Sweden

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