Justifiable caution: A re-assessment of Swedish policy and military risk during the Second World War
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51349/veg.2025.2.20Palabras clave:
Sweden, neutrality, Second World War, military planning, ScandinaviaResumen
This paper attempts to provide an overdue correction to a dominant narrative in neutral Sweden’s conduct during the Second World War; that the government under Prime Minister Hansson was over-cautious politically and militarily when the threat from Germany reduced, and thereby failed to contribute to the Allied war effort and aid the victims of Nazism sufficiently. The government policy, consistent with their democratic remit, was to avoid death and devastation for Swedish citizens arising from military operations by any belligerent, not only Germany. The evidence of military operational planning by all belligerents demonstrates that the government’s caution and policy responses to those risks was fully justified throughout the war, not only in the initial period of German hegemony.
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