Swedish neutrality
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Sweden had a policy of neutrality in armed conflicts from the early 19th century, until 2009, when it entered into various mutual defence treaties with the European Union (EU), and other Nordic countries.[1] The policy originated largely as a result of Sweden's involvement in the Napoleonic Wars, during which over a third of the country's territory was lost in the Finnish War (1808–1809), including the traumatic loss of Finland to Russia, which it remained part of until Finland gained independence in 1917. Resentment towards the Swedish king Gustav IV Adolf, who had consistently pursued an anti-Napoleonic policy and thereby caused the war, precipitated a coup d'état known as the Coup of 1809. The new regime deposed the king and introduced the Instrument of Government (1809), later formulating a new foreign policy that became known as The Policy of 1812.
Since the Napoleonic Wars, Sweden has not initiated any direct armed conflict. However, Sweden's military and government have been involved in major peacekeeping actions and other military support functions around the world. The accession to the European Union in 1995 meant that neutrality as a principle was abolished. Sweden remained a non-aligned country in regard to foreign and security policy until joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 2024.
Swedish neutrality during
Sweden maintained its policy of neutrality after World War II, despite substantial cooperation with the West. Former Prime Minister of Sweden Carl Bildt has noted that this policy was in response to fears that if Sweden were to join NATO the Soviet Union might respond by invading Finland, with which Sweden retained close relations.
In 2022, Sweden applied to join NATO.[2] Sweden became the 32nd member of NATO on 7 March 2024.[3]
The Policy of 1812
The new foreign policy, often called The Policy of 1812, was directed by
Swedish troops led by Bernadotte took part in the Napoleonic Wars in 1813 and 1814, wherein the Crown Prince authored the Allied Campaign Plan, known as the Trachenberg Plan, and commanded the Allied Army of the North. Bernadotte's army fought against the French in the fall of 1813 and defeated them at the Battle of Grossbeeren, Battle of Dennewitz and played a key role in the mammoth Battle of Leipzig.[4] Bernadotte then led an invasion of Denmark. Sweden forced Denmark to hand over Norway by the Treaty of Kiel. This was recognised by the Allied powers at the Congress of Vienna.[5] Since this time Sweden has not taken part in armed warfare (with the exception of peacekeeping).
Schleswig Question
During the
After 40 years of successful trust-building with Russia, Sweden took no serious policy risks in the Crimean War, despite the possibility of a revision of the harsh peace of 1809. Although Sweden concluded an alliance with Britain and France, (November 25, 1855), the country did not engage in warfare.
At the
World War I
Prussia's dominance had made the following forty years peaceful in the
In 1916, the pro-German policy was abandoned, having resulted in famine, rebellious opinions, and no tangible advantages. Once again, the conviction that strict neutrality was most suitable for Sweden dominated Swedish society. A new, less German-minded Conservative cabinet was appointed, and to calm the social unrest, democratic reforms were promptly initiated that cemented Sweden's neutralist policy and would soon lead to the political hegemony of Social Democrats lasting up to the 21st century.
Åland Islands
The politician who stood as the biggest thorn in the side of the government was the Swedish Foreign Minister, Rickard Sandler (1932–1936 and 1936–1939). Sandler strongly opposed the government's policy of strict neutrality, feeling it necessary that the government relax its stringent policy. Sandler expressed a desire to defend Åland from either German or Soviet control, by mining the area around the islands in conjunction with the Finnish government.
The Åland Islands are of extreme strategic importance in the Baltic. Lying at the base of the Gulf of Bothnia, the Åland Islands are situated alongside all the sea traffic lanes that come in and out of the Gulf, and are within range of Sweden, Finland and the Baltic states to the east.
Prior to 1809, the Åland Islands were part of Sweden, who was forced to give them up, along with the mainland area of Finland, in the Treaty of Fredrikshamn on September 17, 1809, to Russia. Out of the ceded areas, including the Åland islands, Russia formed the Grand Duchy of Finland. With the Treaty of Paris of April 18, 1856, at the conclusion of the Crimean War, Russia was required to stop the construction of any new fortifications on the islands, which Russia obeyed, despite unsuccessfully attempting to change the status of the islands in 1908.
In 1914, however, the Russian government turned the islands into a
Despite Sweden's grievances over failing to gain control of the islands in 1921, all difficulties between Sweden and Finland were resolved by the mid-1930s. The fear of the Åland islands falling under German or Soviet influence was very real, and that is why Sandler proposed defending the status of the islands.
However, the Swedish government opposed Sandler's proposal, in that it was felt that this would set a precedent for further moves—moves that might provoke an invasion from either Germany, the Soviet Union or both. When a new coalition was formed to represent Sweden's policy of neutrality, in light of the
Armed neutrality
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
Opposition to this new policy of armed neutrality was weak in that all major parties, such as the
Significance of the neutrality policy
The fate of the Swedish nation largely rested upon the outcomes of distant battles and the policies of distant governments—events outside the control of Swedish politicians and diplomats. Had certain battles or policies during the war been different, Sweden's ability to attain a successful policy of neutrality might very well not have succeeded. Finland was invaded by the Soviet Union in the
One beneficial consequence of Sweden's neutrality was that Sweden was able to act as a refuge to people from occupied lands. Approximately
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 bloc 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 Cold War
Sweden maintained its policy of neutrality after WWII, despite substantial cooperation with the West. Former Prime Minister of Sweden Carl Bildt has noted that this policy was in response to fears that if Sweden were to join NATO the Soviet Union might respond by invading neighbouring Finland, with which Sweden retained close relations.[6] While nominally independent, Finland adopted a policy of neutrality on foreign affairs during the Cold War in deference to the neighbouring Soviet Union, which was commonly referred to as Finlandization. During the early Cold War, Sweden's neutrality policy was maintained even though its leaders understood that neutrality would probably fail in a third world war. The aim of the policy was to avoid the violent initial nuclear exchange between the superpowers. This was the rationale behind Sweden's policy of neutrality until the late 1960s with the advent of second strike capability and nuclear parity.[7]
Initially after the end of World War II, Sweden quietly pursued an aggressive independent
It was hoped that the U.S. would use conventional and nuclear weapons to strike at Soviet staging areas in the occupied Baltic states in case of a Soviet attack on Sweden. Over time and due to the official neutrality policy, fewer and fewer Swedish military officials were aware of the military cooperation with the west, making such cooperation in the event of war increasingly difficult. At the same time Swedish defensive planning was completely based on help from abroad in the event of war. Later research has shown that every publicly available war-game training included the scenario that if Sweden was under attack from the Soviets, it would rely on NATO forces for defence.[9] The fact that it was not permissible to mention this aloud eventually led to the Swedish armed forces becoming highly misbalanced. For example, a strong ability to defend against an amphibious invasion was maintained, while an ability to strike at inland staging areas was almost completely absent.[10]
In the early 1960s U.S. nuclear submarines armed with mid-range nuclear missiles of type
Post–Cold War
After the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union, Sweden dropped its official policy of military neutrality, but continued to behave as a neutral and non-aligned country. In
In 2009 Sweden agreed to enter into mutual self-defence treaties with the EU, and with other Nordic countries, thus ending a nearly 200 year long period of official military neutrality.
After the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine that began on 2022, more Swedes favored NATO membership than opposed it. On May 16, the Swedish government announced its decision to apply to join NATO after staying militarily non-aligned for 200 years.[16] The country became a NATO member on March 7, 2024.[17]
Global surveillance disclosure
As a result of
- The National Defence Radio Establishment of Sweden (FRA) has been granted access to XKeyscore, an analytical database of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA).[19]
- Sweden updated the NSA on changes in domestic Swedish legislation that provided the legal framework for information sharing between the FRA and the Swedish Security Service.[19]
- Since January 2013, a counterterrorism analyst of the NSA has been stationed in the Swedish capital of Stockholm[19]
Several years before the
See also
- List of Swedish wars
- Neutral country
- Austrian neutrality
- Moldovan neutrality
- Swiss neutrality
- Neutral and Non-Aligned European States
- Neutral member states in the European Union
References
- ^ a b What price neutrality? The Economist. By Charlemagne. June 21, 2014. Downloaded Sep. 17, 2017.
- ^ "Finland and Sweden submit applications to join NATO". NATO. 18 May 2022.
- ^ "NATO – Sweden Accession Protocol – Notification of Entry Into Force". US Dept. of State. 18 May 2022.
- ^ Barton, D. Plunket (1925) Bernadotte: Prince and King. Pp. 94, 101–108. John Murray, London.
- ^ Barton, D. Plunket (1925) Bernadotte: Prince and King. Pp. 110–115. John Murray, London.
- Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
- S2CID 154156744.
- ^ Eakin, Hugh. "The Swedish Kings of Cyberwar". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved 2017-01-09.
- ^ Holmström, Den Dolda Alliansen
- ^ Livlös livlina till väst Framsyn 2004, NR. 1 Archived 2007-07-07 at the Wayback Machine (The Swedish Defense 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)
- ^ "Björklund vill ha starkare försvar - rapport". svt.se. Retrieved 2010-08-14.
- ^ "Fullt bråk om försvarspolitiken - Rapport". svt.se. Retrieved 2010-08-14.
- ^ "More Swedes are for joining NATO than against". Radio Sweden. 6 May 2016. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
- S2CID 159163645.
- ^ "Sweden Makes Formal Decision to Apply for NATO Membership". Bloomberg.com. 2022-05-16. Retrieved 2022-05-21.
- ^ "Sweden joins NATO as war in Ukraine prompts security rethink". Reuters. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
- ^ "NSA "asking for" specific exchanges from FRA - Secret treaty since 1954". Sveriges Television. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ a b c d "Read the Snowden Documents From the NSA". Sveriges Television. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ "Cold War treaty confirms Sweden was not neutral". The Local. 2013-12-09. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
Further reading
- Brommesson, Douglas; Ekengren and, Ann-Marie; Michalski, Anna (2022). "Sweden's Policy of Neutrality: Success Through Flexibility?" in Successful Public Policy in the Nordic Countries: Cases, Lessons, Challenges Successful Public Policy in the Nordic Countries: Cases, Lessons, Challenges. Oxford University Press.
- Hagström L. 2020. "Disciplinary power: Text and body in the Swedish NATO debate." Cooperation and Conflict.
- Nilsson, M. (2019). The United States and Neutral Countries in Europe, 1945–1991. Journal of Cold War Studies, 21(4), 208–230.