History of Sweden (1945–1967)
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This article covers the history of Sweden from the end of World War II to 1967.
Overview
On 3 September 1967, Sweden was the last country in
Swedish neutrality in the Cold War
During the
In the early 1960s, US nuclear submarines armed with mid-range Polaris A-1 nuclear missiles were deployed outside the Swedish west coast. Range and safety considerations made this a good area from which to launch a retaliatory nuclear strike on Moscow. The submarines had to be very close to the Swedish coast to hit their intended targets; as a consequence of this, in 1960, the same year that the submarines were first deployed, the US provided Sweden with a military security guarantee. The US promised to provide military force in aid of Sweden in case of Soviet aggression. This guarantee was kept secret from the Swedish public until 1994, when a Swedish research commission exposed evidence of it.
As part of the military cooperation, the US provided much help in the development of the
Population change
Since 1930, emigration has been slight. About 15,000-30,000 people left Sweden annually after 1965. Sweden welcomed refugees and displaced persons at the end of World War II. Because of the low birth rate, immigration accounted for 45% of population growth between 1945 and 1980. Aliens may vote in Swedish local elections after three years of legal residence.[3]
Sweden became highly urbanized after World War II, reaching 83% urban in 1990. As recently as 1940 only 38% of the population lived in urban areas, and in 1860, before industrialization, the proportion was only 11%. Large-scale movement from the countryside to the United States ended about 1900. Since 1945 the movement to Swedish cities has accelerated and has brought about a population decline in many areas, especially in the north. Most cities are small. Only 10 cities have populations of more than 100,000. The Stockholm metropolitan areas has a population of 2 million; Gothenburg has 906,000 in its metropolitan area and Malmö (including Lund) has 260,000, while the educational center of Uppsala has 130,000. The only large city in the north is Sundsvall (95,000 in metro area), which grew with the development of the forest industries in the 19th century and is now also a data processing center.
Culture and mass media
Cultural influence from the
The sexual revolution, together with sexual content in mass media (notably films 491 and I Am Curious (Yellow), together with the broad entry of women in many lanes of professional life (including the priesthood) in the 1960s and 1970s provoked a moralist counter-movement including the Christian Democratic party, but this trend has had scant political success.
Radio and television early became widespread in Sweden, but government struggled to keep the monopoly of licence-funded
Sports
Sweden has produced many world-famous athletes during this period, among them boxer Ingemar Johansson and ice hockey player Börje Salming. Sweden has hosted several high-profile sports events, for instance equestrian events of the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 1958 FIFA World Cup.
References
- ^ Livlös livlina till väst Framsyn 2004, Nr. 1 Archived 2007-07-07 at the Wayback Machine (The Swedish Defence Research Agency’s bi-monthly publication)
- ^ Hemliga atomubåtar gav Sverige säkerhetsgaranti Framsyn 2005, Nr. 1 Archived 2007-07-07 at the Wayback Machine (The Swedish Defence Research Agency's bi-monthly publication))
- ^ Irena Kogan, "Ex-Yugoslavs in the Austrian and Swedish labour markets: the significance of the period of migration and the effect of citizenship acquisition," Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Volume 29#4 July 2003, pp 595-622