Random Country Opinions Day 7: Sweden

[Gustaf]

Ah, that's an interesting discussion.

To clear things up:

1. As Jas says, Sweden did have an unusually strong military for a country of its size during the post-WWII era.

2. It was still obviously impossible for Sweden to defend itself against the Soviet Union on its own.

3. Sweden's entire defence structure was entirely focused on defending against a Soviet attack, and there were secret deals with NATO which made Sweden practically a part of it. In official rethoric, Sweden was often quite anti-US, of course. But that was just talk.

4. Part of the reason Sweden didn't join NATO was actually to help Finland, which was under heavy pressure from the USSR and might have been squeezed between the blocs if forced to stand on their own.

5. The threat of invasion was very, very real. The USSR even forced the Finns to build a large road through Finland from the Soviet border to the Swedish which they could use for the invading force...Sweden has strategic significance since Norway is impossible to take from the seaside*, but much easier from inland, and if you control Norway you can threaten the UK rather efficiently.

6. All of the pro-Western, anti-Communist stuff the Social Democrats did during the post-war era eventually came out of course and created a lot of scandals.

*Don't bring up WWII...that kind of stupidity doesn't happen twice.