S3E33: How Sweden Stayed Out of War For 209 Years!

History Behind News Program

Sweden's spectacular victories against Russia were later reversed by crushing losses to Russia that ended Sweden's Empire.

Sweden is joining NATO. But why now? Why after more than two centuries of peace - a record longer than any other country! My guest in this episode, Dr. Ulf Zander who joined our conversation from Sweden, answers this question and much more.

He explained the history of Sweden from the age of the Vikings. And no, not all Vikings are the same. Those from Sweden ventured east, and they may have given Russia its name. But the legacy of Vikings endured - traders or fearsome warriors? The answer mattered in 20th-century geopolitics.

Dr. Zander describes how Sweden became a nation and how it rose to the status of an empire, despite its much smaller population than its neighbors. Here our conversation takes a turn as we talk about the fall of the Swedish empire and the rise of the Russian empire. We talk about Charles XII, a king who Voltaire portrayed as a tragic hero, and whose legacy in the 20th century was used to goad Sweden into war against Russia in WWI and WWII.

We also talk about Sweden's massive emigration to the United States. How massive? More than 1 million. To put this in perspective, the population of Sweden now is little more than 10 million! But the story doesn't end there. Immigration into Sweden has also been massive. How massive? More than 15% of Sweden's population is foreign-born. That percentage is even higher than the U.S. and the U.K. Dr. Zander explains the challenges of Sweden's large immigration communities, including gang violence, particularly those that haven't assimilated.

A Professor of History at the Department of History, in Lund University in Sweden, Professor Zander's main interest is how history is communicated and used. He has published on the debates and uses of Swedish history from the late 19th century to the early 21st century as well as on monuments, film, history, and identity and uses of history in the United States. He is currently working on several research projects. The one that we discuss in this episode is that he is writing a book together with historian and film historian Tommy Gustafsson about the Swedish warrior king Charles XII in Swedish cinema. To learn more about Prof. Zander and his publications and other projects, you can visit his academic homepage.

"Never Again Alone"! After the 1939 Winter War with the USSR, Finland vowed never again to defend itself alone. Its bid to join NATO in 2022 was a consequence of its experience in 1939, an experience which resonated with Russia's attack on Ukraine. In a 2022 conversation, Dr. Jason Lavery, who joined me from Finland, described Finland's history of war and peace with Russia. Listen to it here: https://bit.ly/HbN-S2E22s

I hope you enjoy these episodes.

Adel

Host of the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠History Behind News⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ podcast

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