It is slightly misleading to say Sweden controlled Finland. It is a bit like saying the US controlls California. And Finland was less of a State than California; it was simply the Eastern part of Sweden. The other areas pointed out on the map are regions in other countries that Sweden controlled for a while, but Finland had never been a separate country - it was practically a frontier ruled by nobody but every Finn for themselves, and then part of Sweden.
This is simply not true. Finland proper and the coastal areas was an incorporated part of Sweden and had the right to vote for a swedish monarch around 1300-1400. Many finish cities were built by acts of swedish kings. The eastern areas were succesfully incoproated as well through wars with Novgorod and through colonisation efforts (building forts etc). Also it was a good thing for both Finland and Sweden that they were split by the russians. Sweden could avoid Russian invasions because Russia felt the western border secured with finland being russian, Finland could also develop their own identity apart from Sweden. The nations still together would probably mean civil war over cultral differences.
The Nordic Alliance would have been such a cool addition to European politics. And I'm probably one of the few in Scandinavia who would have liked Scandinavia to be united as one nation, though it would have had to happen much earlier (as a follow up on the Kalmar union probably) in order for everyone to actually feel like they are Scandinavian, rather than Norwegian, Danish, Swedish. If all the nations in the north united (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Finland) We would have close to 30 mil pop and probably one of the strongest economies in Europe. This would also include Greenland, Shetland and the Faeroe Islands giving us complete domination of the North Sea. Well shit Now I need to play EU4 again...
@@PowerslideSWE I said "should" not "will", there is a difference. Also the winter war is very distinct from any kind of future conflict so I don't understand why you bring it up.
Sweden has individual security agreements with many countries during the application phase. Countries like Norway, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the UK, the Baltics, the US and Canada would all defend Sweden if needed
A big argument early on for the option of a northern defense alliance instead of nato was Finland, and how a nato membership could affect Finland during the "Finlandization"-era. Eventually the negotiations didn't work out, Norway and Denmark joined nato while Sweden stayed neutral with Finland and consequently I would argue few countries have a more interlinked national security strategy than Swe and Fi. When public opinion recently swung in Finland in favor of joining nato, this was the factor that tipped opinion in Sweden, even more than Russias invasion of Ukraine itself. Had Finland not wanted to join, Sweden would still have majority against joining nato.
@@tsugumorihoney2288 Yes the worry about how a Swedish nato membership then would affect a Finland outside of nato was the main reason Sweden decided to stay neutral
No, it was not. I'm Swedish and didn't even know about Finland's stance despite my father being Finnish. The tipping scale was the invasion of Ukraine and how close to home geographically Ukraine is situated
As a Swede it's really interesting to see Sweden portrayed from the outside. It's so common in pop culture that we are confused with Switzerland or sound German and är named something Norwegian. This was a breath of fresh air and I learn a lot about or more recent military history. Thanks!
Thank you for giving a informative, historical and geopolitical video of my homeland Sweden. I always love when these sort of videos comes through, because I am always eager to hear what others have for information on Sweden.
The reason we really are immune to wars: The Wallenberg Family. Check out the podcast "The Best Kept Secret of the Deep State" if you want a history lesson about Sweden.
Sweden wasn't immune to war during WW2, or rather: not immune to blackmail. As all international trade with countries other than Germany and Finland had to go through the Skagerrak (the wide strait between Norway and Denmark), anyone controlling those waters and/or the North Sea could cut off Sweden from imports vital to the rearmament and the overall supply of the population. There are people who think that Sweden should've joined the Allies in 1940 (the Allies who were quickly beaten by Germany), but they fail to recognize that Sweden was in a very weak position, with no offensive capacity (few tanks, obsolete aircraft, army in need of training, etc).
A bit of context should be given to Germany gaining access to Sweden to get to Finland. Germany and Finland was working with each other to stop the USSR from taking control of Finland. And Swede did not want Finland to fall to USSR. No, the more controversial bit is that Sweden also allowed German troops to pass though Sweden to get to Norway after Germany had invaded and taken control of Norway. That and the trade with Germany are the main points why many saw Sweden more as a puppet of the Nazi regime. Though in reality is more correct to say that Sweden made deals with both sides to try to stay out of the war. Since Sweden also provided a lot of information to the allies, which amongst other things help the allies sink Bismark. Switzerland also played this neutrality game not totally isolating themselves, but also not to try to favour one side too much. And that is the price of neutrality. You can not pick sides. You have to try to balance things so not to be drawn in to conflicts.
Neutral countries are not allowed to let troops pass through they have to detain them for the duration of the war. Sweden supported the Nazis and was not neutral
People also have their own way of defining ”neutrality” to suit their argument. For instance, trading with Germany is seen as allying with them, but trading with the UK is somehow still a neutral act. In reality, trading is the norm, and blocking trade is breaking neutrality. Sweden was still only arguably neutral, but that went both ways, in particular considering both major sides of WW2 had plans to invade Sweden.
@@AnotherDuck That depends a bit on what era you look at also. But during WWII era, trading with other countries were more the norm than not. Even more so today. So I agree that by the standard of the time it was not an abnormal thing to do. Even if war, still tend to shift views on trade even when it is the norm. (Trading during the era of mechanicalism would be far more an diplomatic thing. But that is due to the ideals of the time. And even then selling stuff was seen as good, but not buying stuff.)
@@Cythil Well, in this case, Sweden has been trading with Germany since before Germany was Germany. That probably had a lot to do with a lot of the pro-German thoughts during the war.
1:36 The Swedish embassy is within the former embassy for the German Democratic Republic (better known as East Germany in the West). Today it is not just the Swedish embassy, but also the British and German embassies as well as a French Cooperation office. It serves as consular representation for Finland, Iceland, Italy, Canada, Australia, and protective force for the US too. We bought exactly a thousand Volvo 144s from Sweden in the 70s. Twice a year Sweden sends out new invoices that we still ignore. Why? Because they shared their Volvos with us, thus they're *OUR* Volvos.
I think it's funny that we always hear about the trade with Germany, but never the fact that Sweden kept the allied side in the war by selling them vital parts, like our full production of world class wheel bearings. Instead we hear some small thing about saving some Jews, which should be a given for any moral human. It's such a shallow reading of history that it almost becomes slander.
The ball bearing provided to the Allies were also provided to the NAZIs. Pretty sure the Allies would've preferred Sweden did not trade with the NAZIs at all!
@@bengoacher4455 Stop making up things, ie lying. We sold the whole production to the allies so their war machine could function. Real historians agree, like Mark Felton. Germany was allowed less important things, like steel from Kiruna. Of course the allied would prefer Germany to be cut off. But that would've made Sweden into a non neutral state, which is kind of an important factor here...
@@benghazi4216 I remember reading somewhere that both the Nazis and the Allies used SKF ball bearings and that the UK threatened to blow up the factory if we (Swedes) didn't stop selling them to the Nazis 😅 Talk about shooting yourself in the foot🤣
One of Sweden’s main strategy’s for avoiding conflict is that our military is heavily focused on being able to destroy incredibly expensive equipment with very cheap. There a small boat called “stridsbåt 20” that cost around 2 Million dollars that could quiet easily destroy much bigger ships worth anywhere from 10 million and up. There a somewhat famous atleast in Sweden story of a joint exercise between many countries were one Swedish submarine managed to sink a American hanger ship, those big ones with a lot of planes on top. If that had been for real the difference in money spent and enemy equipment destroyed would be astronomical.
Sweden and Finland typically overperform in many areas. They´re about 16 million people combined, but look at what they perform in the Olympics, the economy, technology, science etc. They will actually strengthen NATO a little bit. Sweden has already said they ill up their defence budget to 2% in the next couple of years, so their military will quickly become stronger as well
Ethnic Swedes will be a minority by 2050 unless drastic measures are taken. Such measures will be very unpopular with the EU leadership or the US ruling elite
A couple of flaws. Sweden was not neutral in WW2. When the USSR invaded Finland in 1939, Sweden declared itself "icke-krigsförande", approximately "not warring", rather than neutral. When it comes to post-WW2 alliances, Finland was blocked by the USSR from joining NATO. A Nordic alliance was planned instead, but the USSR blocked Finland from being part of it once again. Denmark and Norway went into NATO instead, while Sweden stayed "neutral" in order to not leave Finland alone with the USSR.
@@eno6712 Not really, he mentioned that in the video himself (though you mean iron ore), so didn't need to point that out. You think I'm Swedish, but I'm the one who's dumb? Go back to your closet Ivan.
Off-topic a bit, but I am swedish and just wanna tell yall a fun fact. When my uncle was training in the military, they used water guns on each other to train. If I remember right, according to my uncle memories, he said every month a certain group of people in a certain age was forced to pick up water guns and fight other cities. That was all.
If the Ukraine war has taught me anything though its that esprit de corps and logistics REALLY matter in war. Its not so much who has more soldiers and tanks any more. Sweden could have the capability to cripple Russias electrical grid, cyber warfare, etc etc. Its a different era of warfare these days. Im not saying Sweden could win a unilateral war against a larger country, Im just saying... things have changed.
We are so dependent on IT systems that we could be crippled by hackers. The Russians would take us down by cyber warfare. This is even a risk in the event of natural phenomena. A few years ago small fire in an equipment cupboard took out railway services at a key junction for a couple of weeks. Whoever has been taking these decisions is reckless. But then we also have problems making good decisions.
@@janejustin1788 So did the Russian generals. Kind of amazing considering many in the west estimated to achieve that they'd have needed to invade with well over 1million troops.
Yep, we're all seeing that Russia is actually not as powerful as we have thought, they're very much stuck in ww2 warfare still and suffering now because of it.
@@Ripcraze as a Russian citizen I can assure you, that this country's problem is not the lack of modern warfare. It's rather wasteful use of it and incompetent commanders. We live in daily circus seeing news about troops left alone with zero commandment and medals of honor given to dead criminals (like that one guy who killed his wife and then went from prison straight to war). Gonna be living like in North Korea soon.
The draft was actually reinstated a few years ago and is now slowly growing each year, once again giving us a good number of people capable of picking up weapons in defence of the country, as well as expanding our military. Also, we didn't just control Finland, Finland was a part of Sweden as much as Normandie is a part of France, to give an example. From the mid 13th century up until 1809 what is todays Finland was "just" the eastern part of Sweden, a fully integrated part of the country, not just controled by it. Except from that, great video :)
0:34 Regarding the territories lost in red, it didn't lose Livonia, Ingria, and Estonia during the Napoleonic Wars in 1809. It lost Finland during the Napoleonic Wars, that's true, but it lost Ingria, Livonia, and Estonia during the Great Northern War which happened in the early 1700s. Let's be honest, it's obvious their secret is IKEA. There's no point to continuing to push into Sweden when their military keeps laying traps of giving Swedish meatballs if the invading soldiers accept to assemble furniture on their own without instructions.
Good friends would sell oil and natural gas to their allies in need at a discount, not at the same or higher price than they sell to China, for example. When they try to make money from the problems of their allies, they are not as good friends as they pretend to be.
Swedish & Finnish neutrality is very much a one package deal The geography dictates that neither side can afford to be left out A plausible neutrality zone is only tangible if both stay neutral In that sense their defense interests align for common cause Finland was not allowed to join NATO during the cold war And Swedish neutrality policy was dependent on that factor Had Swedish public opinion turned in favor of NATO back then It is unlikely that this would actually have made Sweden join Because it would have made the geo-strategic situation worse
@@Ossian-dr1vr Ukraine also has mostly flat fields that should be easy to attack through. Sweden is full of forests, hills and the capital is surrounded by an archipelago, all pretty defensive.
@@SwedishBroManDude Hahahahahaha, missat att vi har monterat ner försvaret till enbart ett skal av sina glansdagar? Problemet är manskap då vi har tillräckligt med materiel (om än gammalt) så pass så att vi hade kunnat nästan förse varenda pluton med ett fordon, så dom stackarna inte behöver gå. Nu har vi verkligen möjlighet att massmobilisera unga män och numera kvinnor som majoriteten aldrig gjort militärtjänst på kort varsel?
@@houndofculann1793 The Swedish coast is also (historically at least) very well fortified. The locations are still strategically useful for emplaced guns. The tech has changed but the geography hasn't. If Russia wants to invade via the sea they still need to go that way.
Being neutral in war is something you can never really do. Almost all European countries were neutral, before they were attacked by either Soviet Union or Germany. Sweden is located in a spot where it really does not have to be invaded by anyone.
Its all about money why you think our Defense Minister wasnt on the Nato meeting but Wallenberg was? Its all about money nothing about peace.... We sell so much weps ...
@Frantic Dwarf He told that Czech Republik was a member of Warsaw Pact and that is not true. Warsaw Pact was dissolved in 1991 and country "Czech republik" was established - as you said - in 1993. Te map in 8:08 is titled "WARSAW PACT" and "Warsaw pact" didn't look lie this.
Nothing to really do with the topic of this video, but I have an ice hockey puck made in Czechoslovakia I got as a kid before it became the Czech Republic. Kind of interesting to think I have a physical object made within my own life time produced in a country that doesn't technically exist any more.
i actually am from sweden and i am very interested in history of the eu and scandinavia but i learned lot of new stuff watching this video keep up the good work and best of luck to you
Good video, but the neutral military pact with Finland was not mentioned. Finland took the decision, Sweden was out of Allie’s in their /our small military union. We had no choice than to join nato; we need allies.
I’m not surprised at all Finland was scared, Ukraine is far from the first neighbor country Russia has attacked. The country has long history of wars with their eastern neighbor, and yet again seen a neighbor attacked without military intervention from other countries. They wanted more securities against Russia than Sweden could provide.
09:58 as a swede i would not agree that public opinion has shifted into wanting to join nato that was something the sitting government did without any kind of a vote. The state minister had said just a couple of months before that Sweden would never join nato.
They’re being conquered by low fertility rate of swedes and importing millions of blacks and Western Asians with significantly higher fertility rates. If these trends continue, stop or isn’t reversed, then swedes will eventually become a small minority in their own native homeland. Thus they will be conquered through outbreeding
This was a good piece but I expected something quite different going by the title. Sweden have always been surprisingly rid of war, even when in war. The wars have much like England very seldom reached Swedish heartlands. This is the topic I was expecting and would like to hear some thoughts on. Geography, climate, latitude(day/night) and more must have played its part in making sure such a relatively rich area haven't been haunted by invaders. There's silver, cupper, timber, furs, fish and more in plenty, and almost nobody there to defend it. Most of it, at least before the railways, had to be shipped by inner waterways through Stockholm so just one spot would give control of most of it. Why wasn't Sweden a part of Russia, Germany or Great Britain f ex?
"The wars have seldom reached the Swedish heartlands". What about the wars against the Danes 1521-1804 and later on, the Russians rampages 1719-1721 where they ransacked and burned the coastal cities to the ground along the Northern regions of Sweden? And later on 1808-1809, when they crossed the frozen Gulf of Bothnia and occupied Umeå? We've had the Russians within our borders lots of times, beginning with Ivan The Terrible war on Sweden 1554-1557?!! So, one can say that we truly are familiar with them since centuries ago.
@@IngemarGustavsson Yes, that is indeed quite seldom just as I wrote. There's been countless wars and basically all that's been done is targeting fishing villages, some minor ports and the like. Compare that to Belgium, Saxony, the Po Valley and Poland to mention some less lucky areas.
@@oscarernstell6214 Back to the school desk, Oscar. Read history. Those "Fishing villages" are the bigger cities of today. Try at least to be consistent.
@@IngemarGustavsson I don't understand your point whatsoever. The last time enemies ransacked the Swedish interior was in the Kalmar war of 1611-1613. Ever since it has only been Finland, coastal areas, off provinces and border regions. Northern Sweden coastline before industrialization is hardly heartland.
If NATO is a mistake, it's a mistake we're making together with our closest friends. Better to make a mistake by Finland's, Norway's and Denmark's side than alone... and it has worked out for both Norway and Denmark so far. I just hope our politicians remember that being in NATO means we have to take the interests of the entire alliance into consideration.
The way things are going the economic system will implode under the unsustainable tax burden and the Islamic Republic of Sweden will be set up before the century is over. With luck there will be a two state solution. Malmö is already lost, Göteborg is on the way. Very few Swedes to be seen these days in the middle of Göteborg. We have given away our country.
@@fusion3865 your english could use some work mate, can't really figure out what you're tryna ask. but i am somewhat knowledgeable about sweden's ol nazi history. got a few books about the subject that I've read
Sweden is immune to war because the parts of Sweden that are not immune to war are no longer Sweden. Take a look at a map of Sweden of the 17th century, the Swedes were in quite a few wars back then.
8:21 Are you really pushing the NATO expansion argument here? The flaw with this Russian propagandists argument is the countries are not being forced or, annexed, or blackmailed to join. The countries chose to be part of NATO because of Russians recent aggression.
I believe territory is key. Defence of Scania and Stockholm could be difficult, but a defence of the vast forests seems much more likely. Very hard too take and hold,
Stockholm is easier o defend than you think it has a big archipelago that is pretty well defended so coming som the sea will be difficult, coming from land then you have to make it all the way there first and air operations are often difficult to pull off.
@@iamjustsaying4787 Which event happened first? Sweden and Finland joining NATO or the invasion of Ukraine? Which event was the catalyst for the other? Using basic logic, I'm sure you can make a deduction.
@@iamjustsaying4787 Since when is Ukraine NATO? Why are all your neighbors so eager to join NATO? Could it possibly be because your state is a terrorist state attacking independent nations it previously AGREED to accept the borders of in exchange for their nukes?
@@melburnian No credible threat against Sweden exist, the Russian invasion is only a cheap excuse for applying for a NATO membership in a country in which for decades a majority has opposed joining. It's a major political scandal but one completely ignored by the media.
I would wish that Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway could form a new "Kalmar Union" and do a CivIII and create the country of Scandinavia. We are all very similar, and most of us are closer to each-other culturally compared to most. We could become stronger as a whole.
No no no, We Finns, are way different compared to rest of scandinavia. Language is one the prime examples. There are similarities, but our independence was claimed with blood and sacrifices. We’ve had enough of Swedes or anyone else telling us what to do.
Always thought of nordics and Scandinavians as peace loving nations in recent times. Esp Sweden. I have 1/4 Swedish ancestry. Thanks for the video. It was enlightening!!
Article 42 7 of the TEU is equivalent (if not stronger) to that of NATO’s Article 5. So downplaying the EU’s role is misleading and downright false. Sweden technically fully abandoned its neutrality when it joined, and this became even more so with the introduction of the Lisbon Treaty.
To say hello and welcome to over 1 million of people in 2015 was really something else,, we was not prepared at all, we did not have apartments to everyone, our hospitals was already understaffed and full with people that needed help. Whatever you like it or not, the crime rate have got up, young people dont want to go out on night as before, Elder people is afraid. The list can go on
If you celebrate Christmas, it's absolutely wonderful during December! I personally couldn't imagine celebrating it without snow. And you can also see the northern lights if you travel up north, something I think every person needs to see at least once in their lives.
@@Taggez1 okay. Thanks for the suggestion. I forgot about the Northern lights. So many pretty buildings and walkable streets with things to see and beautiful ocean front scenes. I had a chance to live there for several months for work but the project got canceled. Anyways, what cities do you recommend? I like cities with things to do, museums, music (classical mostly), nice restaurants with reasonable prices and for it to be walkable.
If you go in winter and avoid the snow then the south west coast is probably a better bet. Malmo is a nice place. It's just a quick ride over the bridge too if you want to have lunch in Copenhagen.
I’m from the city where Bofors was! Today it’s not as big as it was once. But it is still an important part of Sweden and a quite big industry for the size of the city.
"Joining NATO wasnt even on their radar" Not true. Since start of NATO there has always been pro-NATO parties in the Swedish parliament, representing a large chunk of the Swedes.
Well, yes and no. There has always been a minority on the right that has advocated for joining NATO, but in practical terms that has never been an option. No one has ever searioulsly tried to get Sweden into NATOm, that idea died in the early 50´s. So, yes, it never was on the radar after the early 50´s.
For quite a long time, the opinion of whether to join NATO has been relatively low on the radar regardless of which camp you were in. People had opinions, but it wasn’t an important issue.
8:53 Fun fact, on the yellow house on the far left, about one meter above the red canopy you can see a dark spot on the corner. That is actually a canon ball lodged into the wall. It was once said it was a stray cannon ball aimed at he Danish king Christian II (or "Christian the Tyrant") from 1520 during Gustav Vasa's siege of Stockholm (following the "The Stockholm Bloodbath"). Truth is however that when the house was rebuilt in 1795 the owner had the canon ball fitted into the wall in Memoriam of the siege, which had led to Christians retreat.
Hi living in sweden. So here they are with the fact that sweden joined NATO. Our government said that the Russian is a great threat to our country. But without having an embankment or a hell of a search of the country, our government decided to join NATO without the will of the people.
1:53 when you said Dag hammarskjold you sounded super danish i have never heard a english person saying a word with such beautiful danish unless you are from denmark/Sweden/norway
10:30 not quite. The reality is, NATO does not invite countries to join in. It's the countries that want to join the NATO that must officially apply for membership. That's why Russia is not in the NATO. Russians asked the NATO when they'll gonna receive the invite for which the NATO referred to the rules of membership. Russians then told the NATO they won't beg anyone to join anything.
I'm Swedish and completely opposed to joining NATO. But I believe the biggest reason for why we got into such a hurry is because of the worsening economy and the main thing, the fear of the Russians that has been imprinted on most people above the age of 18, we were always told "beware of the Russian" even if only told as a joke, it was said time and time again.
Yeah, well said. The older generations were taught to fear them due to the Soviet Union (which was understandable though), while now they're trying to affect younger generations through mainstream media, social engineering through social media and even in games and movies where Russians are continiously being portrayed as the bad guys. Add on top of that all this BS about them being "orcs", having no "toilet seats", comitting "mass rapes" in Ukraine etc - everything to alienate and dehumanize them so that the masses will jump on the bandwagon, just like they did to "racists" (SD people, or simply anyone critical of establishment policies) and to some extent "anti-vaxxers" before that.
I only speak Ukrainian. I am using google translator. Therefore, please excuse me if the translation is bad! I am from Western Ukraine. I am a nurse and I save lives. I live now in Germany. I need a lawyer to file, with other disabled citizens of Ukraine, a lawsuit against Norway. My husband, a Ukrainian (oil worker, human rights activist) became disabled as a result of his defense of the rights of other people (Norwegian and Russian media for 9 years). My husband fought corruption in the Russian oil giant, which was headed by the founder of the 6th Directorate of the FSB and the ex-Chancellor of Germany. My husband defended the rights of disabled people and Ukrainians in Norway against Russian-speaking citizens of this NATO country. The Norwegians took my disabled husband to Moscow AFTER: anti-war pickets of my husband in the Russian Federation, his defense of the rights of Ukrainians in Norway, the issuance of documents to my husband by the Norwegian Red Cross for his close relatives (Polish servicemen repressed by the Russians), sentencing his defender to prison (in married to a citizen of Finland for 25 years) in Belarus, who reported the crime of the Norwegians against the Ukrainians and was recognized as a Political prisoner. My husband and his lawyer warned the Norwegians about the coming war, but they did not believe him. The husband was kidnapped and the war began. And after the war began, the Norwegians do NOT admit their mistakes! Unlike the Swedes, the Norwegians DO NOT LIKE to admit their mistakes even when the Chechen refugees deported by the Norwegians were killed in the Russian Federation (Norwegian media).hfrfd
At our family dinner table, it was perfectly normal to have the discussion regarding nato membership and always including finland,because we feared for finland safety if we dont stand united with them.. If they don't join , we don't join. Most people in sweden was not thinking of nato, if our neighbour wouldn't join, it wasn't on the table to even think about. -Because what would happen to our sisters and brothers across the sea?!
A friend of mine who is in the army here in Sweden thinks that ending our neutrality is a really bad choise and so does most of his company. Odds that Sweden gets invaded are extremely low and joining NATO would just mean more responsibility and costs for the people living here. We already have one of the highest taxations in the world, and joining NATO would just make that worse. Its sad that Swedish politicians never think things through and just make decisions for publicity and for the sake of being PC. As i said we were basically at no risk when our prime minister decided to throw our neutrality away and had the audacity to say "This was a really hard choiise for me to make, but i have to think of the safety of the people", when ending the neutral position made the threath bigger.
Nobody wish for sweden to join NATO. It's NATO surrounding Sweden that puts a pressure to join and that Russia would see it as an invitation to occupy sweden as land bridge to Germany and by doing so it has locked NATO on an uphill battle of 150 miles of defensive war toward the Finland border.
Sweden has very interesting architecture, landscape and city design layouts. don't know what that building structure is @ 1:24, but it looks very nice.
I always thought it was cool how they remained neutral and didn't get involved. There's something to be said for being able to do that especially nowadays that meaning the last 20 years or so.
You seem to be missing the mqin reason for the Swedish policy: Finland Sweden didn't and would never leace Finland behind. Finland couldn't join NATO, therefore Sweden didn't.
I hate that we’re throwing our neutrality away by joining a military pact. And now the US Army is training and what not, in Sweden.. why? Just because of Ukraine.
Ukraine was just a petty excuse to do what The Swedish authorities have been planning for longer than we can imagine. These two hundred years of peace was wasted on a people incapable of appreciating and keeping it - with gratitude. Like throwing pearls to swine. They never deserved it. But, the right wing thinktanks brainwashing techniques has indeed been successful... so goodbye peace and welcome war.
Basically the reason Sweden was "Neutral" in WW1 and WW2 can be summarised like this. Sweden: "Eyy UK my guy! Want some aeroplane engines?" UK: "That sounds amazing gov! Here are the money!" *2 seconds later* Sweden: "Hey Germany. I heard UK is getting more airplanes. Want some anti-air defences?" Germany: "That is good, ja."
Hey OBF, I have noticed you have some issues with pronunciations. Here is a tip. The letter Å is closest to blending the letters A and O. The closest I can think of to use in English would be how a Scottish accent would say O. Toping, Hope, Open. The letter Ä is best to imagine a mix between A and E. The letter Æ is closest if you know it. In English examples would be a USA Southern accent saying A. Ranch, Range, Ranger. The Swedish Ö is said almost exactly like the French E. If you know French you are set. However for English, it is hard to find a good substitute.
By looking at Russian military and political ineptitude in Ukraine the Swedes will hold their own against larger Russian force with their small but modern and professional military.
Being a bit of a military buff, I'm pretty sure Sweden would have no problem getting the fight to a standstill contained within the waters, the issues lies in striking back as that could prompt nuclear retaliation if too successful
@@dota2videoclips754 Daydreaming? The Russians really thought they could take Ukraine and look what is happening now, Ukrainian troops just walked into Lyman in Putin's "annexed" territories. Their military consist of low quality conscripts with no leadership and they can't even hold onto their small gains. By Spring it looks like the Russians will be kicked out of Northern Ukraine, and in the South isolated on the Crimean peninsula.
Fun side note; North Korea bought 1000 Volvo 144s in the mid 70’s that they still haven’t paid for yet. Twice a year Sweden sends out new invoices that they still ignore. The debt today is a bit over $320 million… 🤪✌🏻
I live in Sweden and can say something about our NATO application. Sweden is democratic, so we have our rights to vote if we´d like to join NATO or not. But in this case nothing like that was done. Just woke up to news that Sweden is sending an application to NATO. Most of us got upset on our prime minister for even asking its own people if we´d like to join or not.
@@robertagren9360 Pyssling är mer för NATO än maggan, men vi får hoppas att vi håller oss utanför. Finnarna i min släkt vill inte heller att vi går med, för vi behöver inte det nu när Finland skyddar och vi förser dem
I’m an American but Sweden is my favorite country in the world tied with America. But I have a really good friend there and I have been studying Sweden and it’s just an amazing country.
Gustavus Adolphus realized he could conquer half of Europe if he could just find soldiers crazy enough to adopt his cavalry principles. Then he visited Finland...
@@Neotenico Finland is more the younger brother to Norway or the youngest son of Sweden, who has way to much energy and have a bit of a additction but will not allow anyone to trash talk their mom. Sweden and Denmark are the parents who had a divorce but then got togheter again who will fuck everyone up who dares touch their kids. And Norway is the older step-brother of Finland who is really sucessfull.
I watched this video in order to find out why Sweden is "immune to wars". The video does not even attempt to answer the question, so my conclusion is that Sweden has simply been very lucky during the last 200 years. Many countries took a neutral stand in the beginning of WW2 (including Belgium, Denmark, Finland), but Sweden was among very few who were not invaded. One explanation I learned in school was that Hitler wanted to go on with invading France after having captured Denmark and Norway, and simply did not have time to waste on a country with less geopolitical significance. Meanwhile Sweden was helping Nazi Germany just enough for them to see no strategic aim in capturing Sweden too. So Sweden is not and has never been "immune to war".
Also add to the calculation the cultural bonds between Germany and Sweden dating way back to The Medieval days and The Hansa Trade Union. Also adding that Goering was married to a Swedish countess, Karin von Rosen. So he had a soft spot for the country.
It is slightly misleading to say Sweden controlled Finland. It is a bit like saying the US controlls California. And Finland was less of a State than California; it was simply the Eastern part of Sweden. The other areas pointed out on the map are regions in other countries that Sweden controlled for a while, but Finland had never been a separate country - it was practically a frontier ruled by nobody but every Finn for themselves, and then part of Sweden.
So true, and hopefully you will return to being a part of Sweden one day
This is simply not true. Finland proper and the coastal areas was an incorporated part of Sweden and had the right to vote for a swedish monarch around 1300-1400. Many finish cities were built by acts of swedish kings. The eastern areas were succesfully incoproated as well through wars with Novgorod and through colonisation efforts (building forts etc).
Also it was a good thing for both Finland and Sweden that they were split by the russians. Sweden could avoid Russian invasions because Russia felt the western border secured with finland being russian, Finland could also develop their own identity apart from Sweden. The nations still together would probably mean civil war over cultral differences.
@@venzraps honestly it would be so fun if Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Finland and Denmark united.
@@didrik9515 I think it would be like in Spain, since spain has many territories in spain proper that speaks other languages than Spanish.
@@clt_main3136 wtf leave Finland out of it. I don't think Iceland would fit in either
The Nordic Alliance would have been such a cool addition to European politics. And I'm probably one of the few in Scandinavia who would have liked Scandinavia to be united as one nation, though it would have had to happen much earlier (as a follow up on the Kalmar union probably) in order for everyone to actually feel like they are Scandinavian, rather than Norwegian, Danish, Swedish.
If all the nations in the north united (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Finland) We would have close to 30 mil pop and probably one of the strongest economies in Europe. This would also include Greenland, Shetland and the Faeroe Islands giving us complete domination of the North Sea.
Well shit Now I need to play EU4 again...
Drömmen.
Jag ser oss som ett folkslag ett brödra-systerskap inte så här många andra länder har med lika många länder som norden.
well in theory we are already united through the nordic council and incredibly good passports to eachothers countries.
a union not in name though :)
@@micshaz language is the only problem
@@mannerheim1547 norwegians, danes and swedes understand each other, a minority of finland speaks swedish and iceland is iceland. also english exists
@@gatesaver Norwegians and Swedes understand each other, the Danes, it's a weird a*s language... :')
In Finland we have a joke about this:
What is the Swedish official defense plan?
-Finland
That's kinda sad but also true. Though we (Swedes) should help Finland militarily in case of an attack since we share the front line.
Also. "Swedes will fight untill the last Finn". Since the 1500's
@@KulJul As we did during the winter war...
@@PowerslideSWE I said "should" not "will", there is a difference. Also the winter war is very distinct from any kind of future conflict so I don't understand why you bring it up.
For always
Sweden has individual security agreements with many countries during the application phase. Countries like Norway, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the UK, the Baltics, the US and Canada would all defend Sweden if needed
Just like Poland when they had non aggresion pact with Germany? Or when UK and France ”helped” them out?
@@walken5319 The Allies entered the war due to Germanys Invasion of Poland, so they kinda held their promise in joining on Polands side.
@@Alex-yz6uq not really. They "entered" the war but did almost nothing to help Poland
fuck yea!
@@walken5319 because current world politics are just like they were in 1930s
lol you daft?
A big argument early on for the option of a northern defense alliance instead of nato was Finland, and how a nato membership could affect Finland during the "Finlandization"-era. Eventually the negotiations didn't work out, Norway and Denmark joined nato while Sweden stayed neutral with Finland and consequently I would argue few countries have a more interlinked national security strategy than Swe and Fi. When public opinion recently swung in Finland in favor of joining nato, this was the factor that tipped opinion in Sweden, even more than Russias invasion of Ukraine itself. Had Finland not wanted to join, Sweden would still have majority against joining nato.
No no, when Finland said no to Nordic defence, support for it fell apart. Denmark was very much for it.
Nuke them both!
Finland had a neutrality treaty signed with the USSR which forbade joining any alliances
@@tsugumorihoney2288 Yes the worry about how a Swedish nato membership then would affect a Finland outside of nato was the main reason Sweden decided to stay neutral
No, it was not. I'm Swedish and didn't even know about Finland's stance despite my father being Finnish. The tipping scale was the invasion of Ukraine and how close to home geographically Ukraine is situated
As a Swede it's really interesting to see Sweden portrayed from the outside. It's so common in pop culture that we are confused with Switzerland or sound German and är named something Norwegian. This was a breath of fresh air and I learn a lot about or more recent military history. Thanks!
I literally didn’t realize this was Sweden not Switzerland till I read this
@@aditube8781 american moment
@@unfathomablyunfathomable bruh I’m Indian
@@aditube8781 stereotype americans suck at geography so I made a joke
@@aditube8781indian moment
Thank you for giving a informative, historical and geopolitical video of my homeland Sweden.
I always love when these sort of videos comes through, because I am always eager to hear what others have for information on Sweden.
if we go to war we go to valhalla after
Indeed 🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪
@@linushammarkyro4075 Oh you bet
I know sweden participate in Napoleonic war and defeated 4 times so I guess you could see the foresaw what the germans about to do
But the conflicts inside Sweden are on the rise
I would really like to see this series keep going, it's super interesting and informative to watch. Keep up the excellent work!
Play Hoi4. Sweden is never immune to war, first you take Denmark, and you walk right on over.
does it immune to me?
The reason we really are immune to wars: The Wallenberg Family. Check out the podcast "The Best Kept Secret of the Deep State" if you want a history lesson about Sweden.
@@HavocWantsThisNameSoBadly huh?
Sweden wasn't immune to war during WW2, or rather: not immune to blackmail. As all international trade with countries other than Germany and Finland had to go through the Skagerrak (the wide strait between Norway and Denmark), anyone controlling those waters and/or the North Sea could cut off Sweden from imports vital to the rearmament and the overall supply of the population. There are people who think that Sweden should've joined the Allies in 1940 (the Allies who were quickly beaten by Germany), but they fail to recognize that Sweden was in a very weak position, with no offensive capacity (few tanks, obsolete aircraft, army in need of training, etc).
how the fuck did we trade with the allies during the war then.
@@Trollgen yea but he said that the germans made it so we couldnt trade with the allies in the comment and yet we still did.
Yet Swedish leaders still went out of their way to rat on Jews to Germany for absolutely no reason
@@revilivaille7861 bruh what are you on we let jews escape to sweden and hid as many as we could.
@@revilivaille7861 Please provide examples.
A bit of context should be given to Germany gaining access to Sweden to get to Finland. Germany and Finland was working with each other to stop the USSR from taking control of Finland. And Swede did not want Finland to fall to USSR.
No, the more controversial bit is that Sweden also allowed German troops to pass though Sweden to get to Norway after Germany had invaded and taken control of Norway. That and the trade with Germany are the main points why many saw Sweden more as a puppet of the Nazi regime. Though in reality is more correct to say that Sweden made deals with both sides to try to stay out of the war. Since Sweden also provided a lot of information to the allies, which amongst other things help the allies sink Bismark. Switzerland also played this neutrality game not totally isolating themselves, but also not to try to favour one side too much.
And that is the price of neutrality. You can not pick sides. You have to try to balance things so not to be drawn in to conflicts.
Very insightful and well said.
Neutral countries are not allowed to let troops pass through they have to detain them for the duration of the war. Sweden supported the Nazis and was not neutral
People also have their own way of defining ”neutrality” to suit their argument. For instance, trading with Germany is seen as allying with them, but trading with the UK is somehow still a neutral act.
In reality, trading is the norm, and blocking trade is breaking neutrality.
Sweden was still only arguably neutral, but that went both ways, in particular considering both major sides of WW2 had plans to invade Sweden.
@@AnotherDuck That depends a bit on what era you look at also. But during WWII era, trading with other countries were more the norm than not. Even more so today. So I agree that by the standard of the time it was not an abnormal thing to do. Even if war, still tend to shift views on trade even when it is the norm.
(Trading during the era of mechanicalism would be far more an diplomatic thing. But that is due to the ideals of the time. And even then selling stuff was seen as good, but not buying stuff.)
@@Cythil Well, in this case, Sweden has been trading with Germany since before Germany was Germany. That probably had a lot to do with a lot of the pro-German thoughts during the war.
1:36 The Swedish embassy is within the former embassy for the German Democratic Republic (better known as East Germany in the West). Today it is not just the Swedish embassy, but also the British and German embassies as well as a French Cooperation office. It serves as consular representation for Finland, Iceland, Italy, Canada, Australia, and protective force for the US too.
We bought exactly a thousand Volvo 144s from Sweden in the 70s. Twice a year Sweden sends out new invoices that we still ignore. Why? Because they shared their Volvos with us, thus they're *OUR* Volvos.
Best comment on this video
I think it's funny that we always hear about the trade with Germany, but never the fact that Sweden kept the allied side in the war by selling them vital parts, like our full production of world class wheel bearings.
Instead we hear some small thing about saving some Jews, which should be a given for any moral human.
It's such a shallow reading of history that it almost becomes slander.
The ball bearing provided to the Allies were also provided to the NAZIs. Pretty sure the Allies would've preferred Sweden did not trade with the NAZIs at all!
@@bengoacher4455 True but if sweden did not do that then we would not have been able to keep our neutrality and been under danger of germany.
@@bengoacher4455 Stop making up things, ie lying. We sold the whole production to the allies so their war machine could function.
Real historians agree, like Mark Felton. Germany was allowed less important things, like steel from Kiruna.
Of course the allied would prefer Germany to be cut off. But that would've made Sweden into a non neutral state, which is kind of an important factor here...
@@bengoacher4455 And if they didn't trade with both sides, they would've been occupied and then EVERYTHING would've gone only to the Germans.
@@benghazi4216 I remember reading somewhere that both the Nazis and the Allies used SKF ball bearings and that the UK threatened to blow up the factory if we (Swedes) didn't stop selling them to the Nazis 😅 Talk about shooting yourself in the foot🤣
Incoming comments about migrants and invasions etc….
Hahah yep
Goes to show how well the migrants behave there.
Yeah, who needs horrible truths and realities...
@@DilbeardAlbeard Goes to show how much the goverment failed them
@@hermaeusmora2945 We really don't need to be confronted with depressing truths every day.
I'm not saying that your exaggerations are true though
Always a pleasure to wake up to an informative video on historical and modern geopolitics! Thanks for the great content!
and this video has none. good job... jeesu fucking christ
One of Sweden’s main strategy’s for avoiding conflict is that our military is heavily focused on being able to destroy incredibly expensive equipment with very cheap. There a small boat called “stridsbåt 20” that cost around 2 Million dollars that could quiet easily destroy much bigger ships worth anywhere from 10 million and up.
There a somewhat famous atleast in Sweden story of a joint exercise between many countries were one Swedish submarine managed to sink a American hanger ship, those big ones with a lot of planes on top. If that had been for real the difference in money spent and enemy equipment destroyed would be astronomical.
Its a joiny exercise? And kamikaze planes use to do the same cost effective strategy.
@ericjordan2890 USA rented that submarine for 2 years and paid 200 million dollars. Clearly, they saw it as a possible threat.
Sweden and Finland typically overperform in many areas. They´re about 16 million people combined, but look at what they perform in the Olympics, the economy, technology, science etc. They will actually strengthen NATO a little bit. Sweden has already said they ill up their defence budget to 2% in the next couple of years, so their military will quickly become stronger as well
Ethnic Swedes will be a minority by 2050 unless drastic measures are taken. Such measures will be very unpopular with the EU leadership or the US ruling elite
Alfred Nobel completely changed the entire world, for example
@@alexismedor6182and all inventions from those countries too
Estimate is 2.16% of GDP for 2024, plan is to increase to 2.6% in 2030.
A couple of flaws. Sweden was not neutral in WW2. When the USSR invaded Finland in 1939, Sweden declared itself "icke-krigsförande", approximately "not warring", rather than neutral.
When it comes to post-WW2 alliances, Finland was blocked by the USSR from joining NATO. A Nordic alliance was planned instead, but the USSR blocked Finland from being part of it once again.
Denmark and Norway went into NATO instead, while Sweden stayed "neutral" in order to not leave Finland alone with the USSR.
@@eno6712 Not really, he mentioned that in the video himself (though you mean iron ore), so didn't need to point that out. You think I'm Swedish, but I'm the one who's dumb?
Go back to your closet Ivan.
@@jm-holm how do you know his name?
@@davidjoelsson4929 6th sense
@@eno6712 Had to give the iron and coal to the Germans either the hard way, or the easy way
Well said
Off-topic a bit, but I am swedish and just wanna tell yall a fun fact. When my uncle was training in the military, they used water guns on each other to train. If I remember right, according to my uncle memories, he said every month a certain group of people in a certain age was forced to pick up water guns and fight other cities.
That was all.
Det låter både härligt och underhållande. Man får ha lite roligt även i militären
another awesome video OBF! thanks for making me sound smart at dinner parties!
If the Ukraine war has taught me anything though its that esprit de corps and logistics REALLY matter in war. Its not so much who has more soldiers and tanks any more. Sweden could have the capability to cripple Russias electrical grid, cyber warfare, etc etc. Its a different era of warfare these days. Im not saying Sweden could win a unilateral war against a larger country, Im just saying... things have changed.
very true, when Russia invaded Ukraine, i expected it to take over the entire country in a month!
We are so dependent on IT systems that we could be crippled by hackers. The Russians would take us down by cyber warfare. This is even a risk in the event of natural phenomena. A few years ago small fire in an equipment cupboard took out railway services at a key junction for a couple of weeks.
Whoever has been taking these decisions is reckless. But then we also have problems making good decisions.
@@janejustin1788 So did the Russian generals. Kind of amazing considering many in the west estimated to achieve that they'd have needed to invade with well over 1million troops.
Yep, we're all seeing that Russia is actually not as powerful as we have thought, they're very much stuck in ww2 warfare still and suffering now because of it.
@@Ripcraze as a Russian citizen I can assure you, that this country's problem is not the lack of modern warfare. It's rather wasteful use of it and incompetent commanders. We live in daily circus seeing news about troops left alone with zero commandment and medals of honor given to dead criminals (like that one guy who killed his wife and then went from prison straight to war).
Gonna be living like in North Korea soon.
The draft was actually reinstated a few years ago and is now slowly growing each year, once again giving us a good number of people capable of picking up weapons in defence of the country, as well as expanding our military.
Also, we didn't just control Finland, Finland was a part of Sweden as much as Normandie is a part of France, to give an example. From the mid 13th century up until 1809 what is todays Finland was "just" the eastern part of Sweden, a fully integrated part of the country, not just controled by it.
Except from that, great video :)
i’ve been watching since a year ago and each video has always been top quality!!
0:34 Regarding the territories lost in red, it didn't lose Livonia, Ingria, and Estonia during the Napoleonic Wars in 1809. It lost Finland during the Napoleonic Wars, that's true, but it lost Ingria, Livonia, and Estonia during the Great Northern War which happened in the early 1700s.
Let's be honest, it's obvious their secret is IKEA. There's no point to continuing to push into Sweden when their military keeps laying traps of giving Swedish meatballs if the invading soldiers accept to assemble furniture on their own without instructions.
No IKEA is just the front of the secret. The secret weapon is probobly the music industri.
Stil infesting comment sections with your boring jokes, I see
Like the Swedish PM said, when the world finds itself in turmoil it feels good to be among good friends. 🇩🇰🇳🇴🇫🇮🇺🇸
The U.S IMO cannot be considered a good friend. Maybe a friend but not a good one
Sure, or she took a look at the polls showing 75%+ support to join NATO and an incoming election months away :).
Good friends would sell oil and natural gas to their allies in need at a discount, not at the same or higher price than they sell to China, for example. When they try to make money from the problems of their allies, they are not as good friends as they pretend to be.
David S sweden doesnt have Oil lol
"friends". Are you f-ing kidding me. 😂
You make my bus commutes more educational than they have to be. Thank you!!
We can thank Finland for that, they've been the shield for the North during the history
Swedish & Finnish neutrality is very much a one package deal
The geography dictates that neither side can afford to be left out
A plausible neutrality zone is only tangible if both stay neutral
In that sense their defense interests align for common cause
Finland was not allowed to join NATO during the cold war
And Swedish neutrality policy was dependent on that factor
Had Swedish public opinion turned in favor of NATO back then
It is unlikely that this would actually have made Sweden join
Because it would have made the geo-strategic situation worse
OBF: How Sweden Became Unconquerable
Also OBF: They can last 3 months
@@SwedishBroManDude ukraine has a larger population
@@Ossian-dr1vr Ukraine also has mostly flat fields that should be easy to attack through. Sweden is full of forests, hills and the capital is surrounded by an archipelago, all pretty defensive.
@@SwedishBroManDude Hahahahahaha, missat att vi har monterat ner försvaret till enbart ett skal av sina glansdagar?
Problemet är manskap då vi har tillräckligt med materiel (om än gammalt) så pass så att vi hade kunnat nästan förse varenda pluton med ett fordon, så dom stackarna inte behöver gå.
Nu har vi verkligen möjlighet att massmobilisera unga män och numera kvinnor som majoriteten aldrig gjort militärtjänst på kort varsel?
@@houndofculann1793 The Swedish coast is also (historically at least) very well fortified. The locations are still strategically useful for emplaced guns. The tech has changed but the geography hasn't. If Russia wants to invade via the sea they still need to go that way.
@@Ossian-dr1vr sweden has very good technology tho, robots and planes etc. would be a bigger issue for russia, and the forests and hills
Being neutral in war is something you can never really do. Almost all European countries were neutral, before they were attacked by either Soviet Union or Germany. Sweden is located in a spot where it really does not have to be invaded by anyone.
I feel like joining NATO is their way of insuring continental peace and minimizing the risk of war.
Literally will accomplish the opposite 🤡
Its all about money why you think our Defense Minister wasnt on the Nato meeting but Wallenberg was? Its all about money nothing about peace.... We sell so much weps ...
Peter Lee smoking a tree
@@paddy9738 Wow, using an emoji and no arguments.
Aren't you clever, kid
@@paddy9738 well aren't you a smart one, just look at how many nato members who've been attacked by another contry after they've joined
You have a mistake in 8:08. There was no country like Czechia then - there was Czechoslovakia.
No Czechoslovakia split 1993 and what he's talking about is in 1999.
@Frantic Dwarf He told that Czech Republik was a member of Warsaw Pact and that is not true. Warsaw Pact was dissolved in 1991 and country "Czech republik" was established - as you said - in 1993. Te map in 8:08 is titled "WARSAW PACT" and "Warsaw pact" didn't look lie this.
Nothing to really do with the topic of this video, but I have an ice hockey puck made in Czechoslovakia I got as a kid before it became the Czech Republic. Kind of interesting to think I have a physical object made within my own life time produced in a country that doesn't technically exist any more.
i actually am from sweden and i am very interested in history of the eu and scandinavia but i learned lot of new stuff watching this video keep up the good work and best of luck to you
1:39 Perhaps important to mention that this embassy is the former Estern German embassy and now used by multiple countries.
Good video, but the neutral military pact with Finland was not mentioned. Finland took the decision, Sweden was out of Allie’s in their /our small military union. We had no choice than to join nato; we need allies.
I’m not surprised at all Finland was scared, Ukraine is far from the first neighbor country Russia has attacked. The country has long history of wars with their eastern neighbor, and yet again seen a neighbor attacked without military intervention from other countries. They wanted more securities against Russia than Sweden could provide.
09:58 as a swede i would not agree that public opinion has shifted into wanting to join nato that was something the sitting government did without any kind of a vote. The state minister had said just a couple of months before that Sweden would never join nato.
Nah look up the polls bro, iirc 2/3 support joining NATO
@@foottoast4235
Only because everyone are FOMO and Russia diplomat threatened Sweden with nuclear war.
"Why Sweden is unconquerable"
1. Finland
2. NATO
3. Finland
4. Finland
5. Swedish technology
Honorable mention: Finland
Quite funny, but also very true! As a Swede I´m grateful for having Finland as a brothercountry.
And Ikea
They’re being conquered by low fertility rate of swedes and importing millions of blacks and Western Asians with significantly higher fertility rates. If these trends continue, stop or isn’t reversed, then swedes will eventually become a small minority in their own native homeland. Thus they will be conquered through outbreeding
Sweden and Finland are sort of in it together, both are fucked if one is conquered
@@johanbergman2343 lolo you meant as a buffer zone? :D
Ok it's nice to be frens
This was a good piece but I expected something quite different going by the title. Sweden have always been surprisingly rid of war, even when in war. The wars have much like England very seldom reached Swedish heartlands. This is the topic I was expecting and would like to hear some thoughts on. Geography, climate, latitude(day/night) and more must have played its part in making sure such a relatively rich area haven't been haunted by invaders. There's silver, cupper, timber, furs, fish and more in plenty, and almost nobody there to defend it. Most of it, at least before the railways, had to be shipped by inner waterways through Stockholm so just one spot would give control of most of it. Why wasn't Sweden a part of Russia, Germany or Great Britain f ex?
"The wars have seldom reached the Swedish heartlands". What about the wars against the Danes 1521-1804 and later on, the Russians rampages 1719-1721 where they ransacked and burned the coastal cities to the ground along the Northern regions of Sweden? And later on 1808-1809, when they crossed the frozen Gulf of Bothnia and occupied Umeå? We've had the Russians within our borders lots of times, beginning with Ivan The Terrible war on Sweden 1554-1557?!! So, one can say that we truly are familiar with them since centuries ago.
I guess you never heard of the Dano-Swedish wars.
@@IngemarGustavsson Yes, that is indeed quite seldom just as I wrote. There's been countless wars and basically all that's been done is targeting fishing villages, some minor ports and the like. Compare that to Belgium, Saxony, the Po Valley and Poland to mention some less lucky areas.
@@oscarernstell6214 Back to the school desk, Oscar. Read history. Those "Fishing villages" are the bigger cities of today. Try at least to be consistent.
@@IngemarGustavsson I don't understand your point whatsoever. The last time enemies ransacked the Swedish interior was in the Kalmar war of 1611-1613. Ever since it has only been Finland, coastal areas, off provinces and border regions. Northern Sweden coastline before industrialization is hardly heartland.
Thank you for the explanation I as a Swedish citizen I've always wondered.
I wasn’t 100% sure on how safe l (a swede) should be in these times, not l feel a little more sure in the good direction. Thank you
If NATO is a mistake, it's a mistake we're making together with our closest friends. Better to make a mistake by Finland's, Norway's and Denmark's side than alone... and it has worked out for both Norway and Denmark so far. I just hope our politicians remember that being in NATO means we have to take the interests of the entire alliance into consideration.
@@KornettenJoel Here’s to hoping for a safe future
The way things are going the economic system will implode under the unsustainable tax burden and the Islamic Republic of Sweden will be set up before the century is over. With luck there will be a two state solution. Malmö is already lost, Göteborg is on the way. Very few Swedes to be seen these days in the middle of Göteborg. We have given away our country.
Correction: during ww2 Sweden let German troops through to
Norway, not Finland.
We let em pass into Finland aswell although they went there to help the Finn's against the Russians not to conquer or suppress
@@goranpersson7726 👍
do you know why sweden did bit stop germany
@@fusion3865 did what?
@@fusion3865 your english could use some work mate, can't really figure out what you're tryna ask. but i am somewhat knowledgeable about sweden's ol nazi history. got a few books about the subject that I've read
Sweden is immune to war because the parts of Sweden that are not immune to war are no longer Sweden. Take a look at a map of Sweden of the 17th century, the Swedes were in quite a few wars back then.
8:21 Are you really pushing the NATO expansion argument here? The flaw with this Russian propagandists argument is the countries are not being forced or, annexed, or blackmailed to join. The countries chose to be part of NATO because of Russians recent aggression.
I believe territory is key. Defence of Scania and Stockholm could be difficult, but a defence of the vast forests seems much more likely. Very hard too take and hold,
Stockholm is easier o defend than you think it has a big archipelago that is pretty well defended so coming som the sea will be difficult, coming from land then you have to make it all the way there first and air operations are often difficult to pull off.
as a swede i can confirm that sweden is around 69% forest and we have the most islands in the world, stockholm is home to most of those islands B)
So Sweden is Indonesia, or that Europe is a Swedish world
@@shinsenshogun900 no sweden has the most islands, 267,570 islands in sweden, indonesia has 17,508
@@gabbemoja3647 intriguing geography there ngl
Keep this series going 👏 👏 👏
Putin proved that joining NATO is a great idea. If he’d not permanently threaten his neighbors, they wouldn’t have applied for membership.
@Florian Wendelborn NATO is why Putin invaded. 🤦🏽♀️
@@iamjustsaying4787 Which event happened first? Sweden and Finland joining NATO or the invasion of Ukraine? Which event was the catalyst for the other? Using basic logic, I'm sure you can make a deduction.
@@iamjustsaying4787 Since when is Ukraine NATO? Why are all your neighbors so eager to join NATO? Could it possibly be because your state is a terrorist state attacking independent nations it previously AGREED to accept the borders of in exchange for their nukes?
@@melburnian No credible threat against Sweden exist, the Russian invasion is only a cheap excuse for applying for a NATO membership in a country in which for decades a majority has opposed joining. It's a major political scandal but one completely ignored by the media.
Yeah like support for NATO membership within the Finnish population was quite low but after the invasion of Ukraine it shot up very quickly.
I would wish that Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway could form a new "Kalmar Union" and do a CivIII and create the country of Scandinavia. We are all very similar, and most of us are closer to each-other culturally compared to most. We could become stronger as a whole.
No no no, We Finns, are way different compared to rest of scandinavia. Language is one the prime examples. There are similarities, but our independence was claimed with blood and sacrifices. We’ve had enough of Swedes or anyone else telling us what to do.
And Iceland, of course.
@@Komaveli After "been told" for about 700 years it's understandable. Still the "intelligensia" and the "upper class" speak Swedish.
@@Komaveli Swedes nere told you what to do, Finlans whas Sweden for 700 year, there whas no you.
Always thought of nordics and Scandinavians as peace loving nations in recent times. Esp Sweden.
I have 1/4 Swedish ancestry.
Thanks for the video. It was enlightening!!
02:47 you could've made Crimea's colors striped, at least
Article 42 7 of the TEU is equivalent (if not stronger) to that of NATO’s Article 5. So downplaying the EU’s role is misleading and downright false. Sweden technically fully abandoned its neutrality when it joined, and this became even more so with the introduction of the Lisbon Treaty.
To say hello and welcome to over 1 million of people in 2015 was really something else,, we was not prepared at all, we did not have apartments to everyone, our hospitals was already understaffed and full with people that needed help. Whatever you like it or not, the crime rate have got up, young people dont want to go out on night as before, Elder people is afraid. The list can go on
All those shots of Sweden look really nice! I feel like visiting there, but not in the winter. :)
If you celebrate Christmas, it's absolutely wonderful during December! I personally couldn't imagine celebrating it without snow. And you can also see the northern lights if you travel up north, something I think every person needs to see at least once in their lives.
@@Taggez1 okay. Thanks for the suggestion. I forgot about the Northern lights. So many pretty buildings and walkable streets with things to see and beautiful ocean front scenes. I had a chance to live there for several months for work but the project got canceled. Anyways, what cities do you recommend? I like cities with things to do, museums, music (classical mostly), nice restaurants with reasonable prices and for it to be walkable.
@@gtd9536 All of the nordic countries are relatively expensive so remember to take that in to account if you do decide to visit
If you go in winter and avoid the snow then the south west coast is probably a better bet. Malmo is a nice place. It's just a quick ride over the bridge too if you want to have lunch in Copenhagen.
@@gtd9536 if u go to swedens north Places at winter be ready for -31c
Denmark: “it wasn’t always like this..”
😭 oh the wars we used to have
Very informative video. Thanks!
Sweden has to be the most underrated country in Europe, colonies, car manufacturers, Bofors and ikea
Inventions, technology, music (look up Max Martin), artists and actors.
Don't forget ABBA 🤩
I’m from the city where Bofors was! Today it’s not as big as it was once. But it is still an important part of Sweden and a quite big industry for the size of the city.
Adjustable Wrench, Spotify, Skype, pacemaker, ball bearing, tetra pak, dynamite, Celsius and lots of more things 🇸🇪
and now rape capital.
"Joining NATO wasnt even on their radar"
Not true. Since start of NATO there has always been pro-NATO parties in the Swedish parliament, representing a large chunk of the Swedes.
Well, yes and no. There has always been a minority on the right that has advocated for joining NATO, but in practical terms that has never been an option. No one has ever searioulsly tried to get Sweden into NATOm, that idea died in the early 50´s. So, yes, it never was on the radar after the early 50´s.
Not a large chunk of the Swedish population though, which was the point
For quite a long time, the opinion of whether to join NATO has been relatively low on the radar regardless of which camp you were in. People had opinions, but it wasn’t an important issue.
8:53 Fun fact, on the yellow house on the far left, about one meter above the red canopy you can see a dark spot on the corner. That is actually a canon ball lodged into the wall. It was once said it was a stray cannon ball aimed at he Danish king Christian II (or "Christian the Tyrant") from 1520 during Gustav Vasa's siege of Stockholm (following the "The Stockholm Bloodbath"). Truth is however that when the house was rebuilt in 1795 the owner had the canon ball fitted into the wall in Memoriam of the siege, which had led to Christians retreat.
4 words: “The Great Northern War.” Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk
I'm glad Sweden and Finland decided to join our NATO alliance
Welcome to the family
Lets Hope we wont be long
i as a swede don't want to be apart of this, hopefully we wont get fully in
@@davidjoelsson4929 why not freind of America
😂
@@unschomefleet4743 US is not a true or good ally, it only cares about it self as we saw in nordstream 1 and 2
Hi living in sweden. So here they are with the fact that sweden joined NATO. Our government said that the Russian is a great threat to our country. But without having an embankment or a hell of a search of the country, our government decided to join NATO without the will of the people.
Im a simple swedish man. i see a video about sweden and i click.
1:53 when you said Dag hammarskjold you sounded super danish i have never heard a english person saying a word with such beautiful danish unless you are from denmark/Sweden/norway
We are immune to wars because of Finland, thank god for them 🤣🥰
I'd argue a Nato, US, Russian, Finland, Alliance could defeat Sweden although it would be costly
Any country is easy to invade with logistics and power completely overtaking it.
save your money, and be prepared for the "hyperinflation bill" when war comes.
With a gentlemen's agreement we might just cleanse suburbs of Malmö & other cities if you prefer...
Highest iq yank
10:30 not quite. The reality is, NATO does not invite countries to join in. It's the countries that want to join the NATO that must officially apply for membership. That's why Russia is not in the NATO. Russians asked the NATO when they'll gonna receive the invite for which the NATO referred to the rules of membership. Russians then told the NATO they won't beg anyone to join anything.
I'm Swedish and completely opposed to joining NATO. But I believe the biggest reason for why we got into such a hurry is because of the worsening economy and the main thing, the fear of the Russians that has been imprinted on most people above the age of 18, we were always told "beware of the Russian" even if only told as a joke, it was said time and time again.
Yeah, well said.
The older generations were taught to fear them due to the Soviet Union (which was understandable though), while now they're trying to affect younger generations through mainstream media, social engineering through social media and even in games and movies where Russians are continiously being portrayed as the bad guys.
Add on top of that all this BS about them being "orcs", having no "toilet seats", comitting "mass rapes" in Ukraine etc - everything to alienate and dehumanize them so that the masses will jump on the bandwagon, just like they did to "racists" (SD people, or simply anyone critical of establishment policies) and to some extent "anti-vaxxers" before that.
Have people not said that before and has the economy not worsened before?
I only speak Ukrainian. I am using google translator. Therefore, please excuse me if the translation is bad! I am from Western Ukraine. I am a nurse and I save lives. I live now in Germany. I need a lawyer to file, with other disabled citizens of Ukraine, a lawsuit against Norway. My husband, a Ukrainian (oil worker, human rights activist) became disabled as a result of his defense of the rights of other people (Norwegian and Russian media for 9 years). My husband fought corruption in the Russian oil giant, which was headed by the founder of the 6th Directorate of the FSB and the ex-Chancellor of Germany. My husband defended the rights of disabled people and Ukrainians in Norway against Russian-speaking citizens of this NATO country. The Norwegians took my disabled husband to Moscow AFTER: anti-war pickets of my husband in the Russian Federation, his defense of the rights of Ukrainians in Norway, the issuance of documents to my husband by the Norwegian Red Cross for his close relatives (Polish servicemen repressed by the Russians), sentencing his defender to prison (in married to a citizen of Finland for 25 years) in Belarus, who reported the crime of the Norwegians against the Ukrainians and was recognized as a Political prisoner. My husband and his lawyer warned the Norwegians about the coming war, but they did not believe him. The husband was kidnapped and the war began. And after the war began, the Norwegians do NOT admit their mistakes! Unlike the Swedes, the Norwegians DO NOT LIKE to admit their mistakes even when the Chechen refugees deported by the Norwegians were killed in the Russian Federation (Norwegian media).hfrfd
At our family dinner table, it was perfectly normal to have the discussion regarding nato membership and always including finland,because we feared for finland safety if we dont stand united with them.. If they don't join , we don't join. Most people in sweden was not thinking of nato, if our neighbour wouldn't join, it wasn't on the table to even think about. -Because what would happen to our sisters and brothers across the sea?!
I hope this one will age well
Because they have Sabaton protecting their country. No one could touch them
3:00 Technically there is a nordic mutual defence treaty, Which Norway and Denmark has been part of in addition to Nato.
A friend of mine who is in the army here in Sweden thinks that ending our neutrality is a really bad choise and so does most of his company. Odds that Sweden gets invaded are extremely low and joining NATO would just mean more responsibility and costs for the people living here. We already have one of the highest taxations in the world, and joining NATO would just make that worse. Its sad that Swedish politicians never think things through and just make decisions for publicity and for the sake of being PC. As i said we were basically at no risk when our prime minister decided to throw our neutrality away and had the audacity to say "This was a really hard choiise for me to make, but i have to think of the safety of the people", when ending the neutral position made the threath bigger.
Not surprised as I don't know a single Swede that supports the country joining NATO either. So this "public opinion" claim sounds like total BS.
Nobody wish for sweden to join NATO.
It's NATO surrounding Sweden that puts a pressure to join and that Russia would see it as an invitation to occupy sweden as land bridge to Germany and by doing so it has locked NATO on an uphill battle of 150 miles of defensive war toward the Finland border.
Sweden has very interesting architecture, landscape and city design layouts. don't know what that building structure is @ 1:24, but it looks very nice.
That's the Parliament House I believe.
@@TalesOfWar Ah, so it is. A quick Google search and I can check it out better. Thanks!
Well, joining NATO was never preceded by a peoples vote. It was a decision by our politicians, over our heads.
Du fik aldrig rigtigt svaret på hvorfor Sverige ikke kan besættes ?
Fax
Lad os vise ham at man snildt kan besætte Sverige!
jamen hej danskere
I always thought it was cool how they remained neutral and didn't get involved. There's something to be said for being able to do that especially nowadays that meaning the last 20 years or so.
You seem to be missing the mqin reason for the Swedish policy: Finland Sweden didn't and would never leace Finland behind. Finland couldn't join NATO, therefore Sweden didn't.
I hate that we’re throwing our neutrality away by joining a military pact. And now the US Army is training and what not, in Sweden.. why? Just because of Ukraine.
You are a shelterd child if you do not understand why.
USA is your daddy
No so russia doesn't starts another russia to invade them
Ukraine was just a petty excuse to do what The Swedish authorities have been planning for longer than we can imagine. These two hundred years of peace was wasted on a people incapable of appreciating and keeping it - with gratitude. Like throwing pearls to swine. They never deserved it. But, the right wing thinktanks brainwashing techniques has indeed been successful... so goodbye peace and welcome war.
Basically the reason Sweden was "Neutral" in WW1 and WW2 can be summarised like this.
Sweden: "Eyy UK my guy! Want some aeroplane engines?"
UK: "That sounds amazing gov! Here are the money!"
*2 seconds later*
Sweden: "Hey Germany. I heard UK is getting more airplanes. Want some anti-air defences?"
Germany: "That is good, ja."
The reason I clicked on this video is that I am from Sweden 🇸🇪 and I wanted to know how my country is immune to wars
I guess because the biggest threat is Russia and Finland has been the shield for them
Biggest threat to Russia is not Nato. Biggest threat to Russia is Finland.
"The Swedish King fights to the last Finn" -Finn
Hey OBF, I have noticed you have some issues with pronunciations. Here is a tip.
The letter Å is closest to blending the letters A and O. The closest I can think of to use in English would be how a Scottish accent would say O. Toping, Hope, Open.
The letter Ä is best to imagine a mix between A and E. The letter Æ is closest if you know it. In English examples would be a USA Southern accent saying A. Ranch, Range, Ranger.
The Swedish Ö is said almost exactly like the French E. If you know French you are set. However for English, it is hard to find a good substitute.
I think it's easier to say Å is like oo in door, Ä is like ea in bear and Ö as the i in girl.
By looking at Russian military and political ineptitude in Ukraine the Swedes will hold their own against larger Russian force with their small but modern and professional military.
Being a bit of a military buff, I'm pretty sure Sweden would have no problem getting the fight to a standstill contained within the waters, the issues lies in striking back as that could prompt nuclear retaliation if too successful
@@eno6712 You are trying so hard to spread hate about Sweden to the point where it’s just sad and pathetic. Go out and get a life you gremlin.
Keep daydreaming
@@dota2videoclips754 Daydreaming? The Russians really thought they could take Ukraine and look what is happening now, Ukrainian troops just walked into Lyman in Putin's "annexed" territories. Their military consist of low quality conscripts with no leadership and they can't even hold onto their small gains. By Spring it looks like the Russians will be kicked out of Northern Ukraine, and in the South isolated on the Crimean peninsula.
Switzerland be like: 🗿🍷
Great summary!
Fun side note; North Korea bought 1000 Volvo 144s in the mid 70’s that they still haven’t paid for yet. Twice a year Sweden sends out new invoices that they still ignore. The debt today is a bit over $320 million… 🤪✌🏻
if thats true... haha.
Great content, right here.
I read this to the tune of 'untouchable, feeling untouchable'
This is why I don't want Sweden to join NATO.
Hardly anyone wants that
I would put it like this: Sweden don't want Nato to join Sweden. 😎
I like how you present it like the US just forced Norway and Denmark to join NATO.
They were founding members. Norway, with a land border to Russia, needed especially the security guarantees that NATO brought.
@@NiclasLoof cool story. So was Norway or Denmark forced to join?
I live in Sweden and can say something about our NATO application.
Sweden is democratic, so we have our rights to vote if we´d like to join NATO or not.
But in this case nothing like that was done. Just woke up to news that Sweden is sending an application to NATO.
Most of us got upset on our prime minister for even asking its own people if we´d like to join or not.
Var maggans idé. Kristersson ville väl ställa den slutgiltiga frågan om NATO medlemskap idk 🤷🏻♂️
@@herrmajestat
knapptryckar kompaniet hade redan bestämt att kringgå
@@robertagren9360 Pyssling är mer för NATO än maggan, men vi får hoppas att vi håller oss utanför. Finnarna i min släkt vill inte heller att vi går med, för vi behöver inte det nu när Finland skyddar och vi förser dem
One word: Geography.
very good video 👍
I’m an American but Sweden is my favorite country in the world tied with America. But I have a really good friend there and I have been studying Sweden and it’s just an amazing country.
The real reason : Minecraft
Yeah the just build bedrock wall around their borders
"How Sweden became unconquerable"
By having us Finns as a meat shield😉
As an American, I've always seen Finland as the tough, badass older brother to Sweden in Scandinavia. Simo Häyhä is the best-known example, I think.
Gustavus Adolphus realized he could conquer half of Europe if he could just find soldiers crazy enough to adopt his cavalry principles. Then he visited Finland...
@@Neotenico Finland is more the younger brother to Norway or the youngest son of Sweden, who has way to much energy and have a bit of a additction but will not allow anyone to trash talk their mom. Sweden and Denmark are the parents who had a divorce but then got togheter again who will fuck everyone up who dares touch their kids. And Norway is the older step-brother of Finland who is really sucessfull.
@@Neotenico Finland isn’t in Scandinavia only Sweden, Norway and Denmark are. - A Swede
@@serax126 Much more accurate.
In hell they make you assemble IKEA furniture and listen to pan flute music.
Alla från Sverige
👇
Ja Sverige är bäst
I watched this video in order to find out why Sweden is "immune to wars". The video does not even attempt to answer the question, so my conclusion is that Sweden has simply been very lucky during the last 200 years. Many countries took a neutral stand in the beginning of WW2 (including Belgium, Denmark, Finland), but Sweden was among very few who were not invaded. One explanation I learned in school was that Hitler wanted to go on with invading France after having captured Denmark and Norway, and simply did not have time to waste on a country with less geopolitical significance. Meanwhile Sweden was helping Nazi Germany just enough for them to see no strategic aim in capturing Sweden too. So Sweden is not and has never been "immune to war".
Also add to the calculation the cultural bonds between Germany and Sweden dating way back to The Medieval days and The Hansa Trade Union. Also adding that Goering was married to a Swedish countess, Karin von Rosen. So he had a soft spot for the country.
Sweden is the country that has the most wars