Why Didn't the Nazis Invade Sweden? DOCUMENTARY
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Kings and Generals animated historical documentary series on Modern Warfare continues with another video on World War II as we discuss how the Sweden managed to remain independent in WW2 despite the pressure from Germany, USSR and the allies, and how it used its geographic position and economic power to keep the great powers from invading.
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can anyone plz tell me the name of the music here? 18:32 it’s very soothing and it makes the video more fascinating.
can we hav mo ww2 videos regardgind nazi germany and thie battles in the eastern front
Soon as I saw the title I suspected it was sponsored by hoi4
It is already been pre-ordered my friend been pre-ordered for a little bit
The name of the then Swedish prime minister was Per Albin _Hansson_ Per and Albin were both first names. Hansson was his surname, so PM Hansson, not PM Albin.
It seems to me that Sweden played the war perfectly, completing all quests and unlocking all achievments
Idk, don't think you can get the "med plutonium..." achievement while staying neutral.
Except for the "act nobly and fight against evil" achievement.
@@TheJimmyplantas a Swede I do have to concede this point
@@TheJimmyplant probably only France and UK can claim that achievement
@@luttren and the U.S.
Germany: Hey Sweden, why do you have 12 000 armed Norwegians? Sweden: Uhh... They're just policemen, that's it, not soldiers, just police force to keep us safe. Germany: Ok, but why do they have grenade launchers, anti-tank weapons and other military grate equipment? Sweden: *visibly sweating* Uhhh... For bears? Germany: Ok, sounds legit.
Bears are a legit threat
@@TheSealDribble Yeah, that's why they bought it
.22 vs bear Bear wins Tracted AT piece vs bear AT wins
Swedish bears must be absolute units 💀💀💀
Sounds like standard kit for some police department in some USA states in this century....
A diplomatic adventure for the whole family.
Too much diplomacy, talk no jutsu, i want raw barbarism! Like cavemen!
However, it’s important to note that the Swedish royal family is actually a French royal family the Bernadotte dynasty
Lol
ye our king isnt even swedish, he is of french origin
and our queen is a daughter to nazi hahah
Swedish diplomacy during WWII was pretty much a case of juggling live chainsaws, on a tightrope, in a total shitstorm. No one’s clean and you die If you blink.
you can say the same thing for finland both trying to keep therie nation too strong for bigger country to swallow.
@@Marveryn Which is why anyone accusing Finland of being nazis/fascists/whatever for allying with Germany is a drooling moron.
@@Marveryn well, in the end, countries like Switzerland fired upon both the Allies and Axis forces in WW2 because they violated their territorial airspace. Held aircraft POWs for most of the war from both sides. The neutral countries in WW2 played the long game overall pretty well enough, except Finland was the exception after Stalin wanted to reclaim territory from the wars with Sweden from the 16th to early 18th centuries.
@@SolidAvenger1290Switzerland is also situated in a natural fortress and they could've closed all the gates ez
@@kebabfoto Yeap The Swiss have placed explosives in all tunnels so they can blow them at any time if their neighbours declares war on them. Also every male is exepcted to serve and become a reservist and keep their service firearm in working order and within 5 minutes of their living room / bed room. Invading Switzerland would be pretty much impossible even today.
I'm from Finland and while people here like to joke about how neutral Sweden was during the war and how Sweden played all sides very well to keep them neutral, people don't fully understand how much they aided Finland in wars agains't The Soviets. They sent us thousands of troops to fight with us because they knew they'd rather have a small same minded country, with whom they share hundreds of years of history together, as a neighbor than having The Soviet Union. They helped Finland in all possible ways. Clothes, food, weapons, asylum etc. They even allowed us to send about 72 000 children there to safety. I read that about 15 000 of these children never returned back to Finland. My point is, while Sweden was always swinging between Axis and Allied countries they always sympathized Finns and were ready to help us. That's what good neighbors are about ☺
my grandmother is one of the kids that staid in sweden
1/3 of the Swedish airforce and huge amount of ammunition and weapons. I wish we helped more and faster but on the same time maybe it was good for example for those children that there was a country that was not war thorn. Now we both in NATO and fully allied 🤝 By the way there was talks about a Nordic or Swedish-Finish defense union in the late 1930th . However that was stopped by Soviet that opposed it (of course).
🇸🇪🤝🇫🇮
The people of Finland are our brothers and sisters!
Love Finland
The Swedes were stuck between a rock and a hard place, but still managed to carry out any governments duty and protected its citizens. Geopolitics is a scary game when you are surrounded by enemies.
And they still get chastised as greedy when trying to stay afloat and not go to war.
@@Coecoo If you needed them to come to your aid, the neutrality tightrope act would appear as if denying to come to the house of a neighbor to help put out a fire. It might even appear a bit cowardly, though what they would have been able to do if they did go with the Allied or Axis powers would be very limited considering how ill-equipped they were. If you are a Swede, you would probably applaud the course they set. *It is however clear they did profit.* Selling was perhaps the only thing they could do to not get involved too much. Calling it greedy is too strong a word in my opinion. Morals (like saying they were greedy or cowardly) depend on what side you are/were on I think.
@@Coecoo well sweden enabled WW2 by supplying germany with half of its total supply of steel
@@hotdog9262 With a gun to it's head and a naval blockade, yes. It was also only a complementary high-grade supplement which they mixed in with their own native iron.
@@hotdog9262 neglecting the fact that germany could just have invaded taken over all the steel production and gotten 10x the amount instead and thus enabled itself with 10x the material. lets not pretend as if that would not have happend in a second hand scenario.
As much as some might like to criticize Sweden for supporting the axis in some capacity during the war, this brings up a lot of valid points about the allies and their "requests" for Sweden. Rarely, if ever, did they give a guarantee of protection or intervention in the case of German invasion in the case of swedish refusal of German demands/trade. And even if they did, those promises seemed very empty during the war. I mean look at basically every other nation that was invaded and occupied by the axis. Rarely was there a concerted effort stop the initial invasion, and allied planning in the early stages was just a step behind. Sweden made some difficult decisions to protect the interests of its people, and was tightroping constantly to protect its independence. Hard to blame them considering everything that was happening in their neighborhood and all of Europe at the time.
yeah Sweden was in an impossible situation, caught between Germany and the USSR, any country would do the same if they had to deal with this
They also pressured turkey to join several times until 1944. Turkey asked guarentee against soviets but churchill refused. Interstingly allies lost against germans even Rhodes. So turkey stayed neutral until 1945 february
All of Scandinavia was, quite frankly, fucked if Germany decided to invade. Scandinavian disunite didn't help them either. Like most of demands England and friends made to these countries would have been suicide, if they'd agreed. "Stop your export of food Denmark, Stop your export of iron Sweden, we won't trade more with you, well we'll buy it dirt cheap off of you, nah we wont really protect you, might open a theater of war in your country, but that's about it". So the sound choice to have some kind of future, where you're still a sovereign nation, was to try and maintain neutrality. Denmark even kept their government until '43.
Swedes did what they had to in order to survive the war and I give them props for that. However after the war they refused to give back the Jewish wealth the Nazi's had hidden in their banks.
Ukraine: *seemingly similar circumstances resembling repeated history*
I would say that this is probably one of the better summaries I've seen of Sweden's challenges during WW2. The main reason for Sweden's success was clearly that they so quickly, after the invasion of Norway, managed to crack the German secret code for communication (geheimschreiber), followed by Sweden cracking the code of Soviet communication. Outstanding and unique achievement.
And no need for fancy computers, just an intelligent dude with paper and pencil.
"Least developed"?@@masons9541
@@masons9541 Yeah we had 300.000 reservists + regular army at most but believe the maximum number with a full mobilization would have been around 600.000 men.
@@andreasfjellborg1810 They were however poorly armed, my grandfather was stationed at the scanian coast, they used logs as fake artillery and it also seemed like they lacked small arms. He did not think that they would have been able to offer any resistance if the Germans actually came.
@@vicdark8807 My grandfather was posted at the rail ways and later Haparanda. during the draw back of the German forces. When the German forces came through on the trains they pretty much got a free pass, and the Swedish soldiers traded cigarettes and alcohol for daggers, pistols and other stuff.
Both my grandparents immigrated to the US in 46' and I remember my grandma telling me how they were constantly worried about invasions and were putting up black up curtains every night in case an attack came (in Stockholm). She was born in 27' I believe so she experienced the war as a teen/young adult, wish a knew more about their stories at the time, my grandfather was much older (born in 12') but died before I was born.
My grandfather and mother would still shut the curtains light tight throughout there life’s , a hangover from German air raids here in the U.K. , I’m proud are government gave shelter for the Norwegian government during this period !
My Grandfather had his leg shot off June 1944 in Saipan. My other grandfather built pontoon bridges in March of '45 over the Rhine for Patton's army. He was getting strafed by the last remnants of the Luftwaffe while they built them. He wasn't injured but had friends killed and suffered nightmares about Luftwaffe for rest of his life.
I remember my grandfather saying more or less the same, and the fact that he as a kid was selling black up curtains to homes for that reason.
An attack did come, parts of Stockholm and Strängnäs were bombed by the Soviets in 1944. This was claimed to be a faulty map reading but can very possibly be an aware action taken
All of Sweden should be proud they did everything they could and still remained neutral including saving a lot of people.@@raven-wf9so
Please note! Raoul Wallenberg issued at least 80.000 protective passports, not 9000. Also, according to Israeli sources, RW saved at least 60.000 Jews and even celebrates RW birthday on the 31st of May every year. RW was killed in the Lubianka prison in Moscow on the 27th of July 1947 after Swedish Foreign Office and the Swedish Ambassador on several occasions officially assumed he was dead, hence making it clear to Stalin that Sweden had no interest in getting him back alive. This is very controversial in Sweden for obvious reasons. The reason for his arrest was that he had two mission, 1st saving as many Jews as possible but secondly, also reporting on the Soviet positions in Budapest, taking pictures with his Minox Riga camera. It is also well to note that RW was working in Stockholm before his departure to Hungary with the Americans and one of his Godfathers was brother to the second in command in the Swedish Military intelligence (Teddy Ternberg), the C-agency. C for the commander, Carl Petersen, not "Central" as mentioned in the video. Also newly emerged documents show that the Swedish involvement in Hungary was way more then what was previously known. One fact is that Sweden had regular spy transmissions from Budapest to the Hungarian resistance and also both partially funded as well as trained the Hungarian restiance. /Johan Ohgren Curator Swedish Spy Museum johan@swedishspymuseum.se
Thanks. Very good to have that elucidation!
No, his role is greatly exagerated.
@@karingoering2441 No, it's very much under appreciated, both in Sweden and in Europe. How many did Schindler save? Less that a 1000 while they worked for free in his factories, still they made a blockbuster film about him
@@karingoering2441the difference is that he wrote a long paragraph to prove it, and you wrote nothing to explain yourself, because you know you can’t prove your statenent with any facts. Who do you think is more believable?
@@yeetingat100subs9 Just look it up, his role has been exagarated. The Swiss and Spanish embassies saved many many more.
As a Swede, 1:35 brought a tear to my eye, simply beautiful.
Samma 😂
🥲👌
utskitet ur kalk och vatten..
Med plutonium tvingar vi dansken på knä@@toddharig8142
Laughing in Danish
I impressed with Sweden chess diplomacy.
Sweden was playing white and went with the "If I dont make a move? They cant make a move!"
@@Koldldkodj Shut up! Syrians own Sweden now
Note that in 1939 Sweden (concerned about the Winter War in Finland) proposed a Nordic defense pact, which was rejected by Denmark and Norway - who were concerned about being "drawn in" to a conflict.
Well to be fair , Denmark's arch nemesis was Sweden up to that point , so cant really blame them for being a little suspicious of Sweden maybe having other intents
No argument. No one saw the German invasion of Denmark and Norway coming. But a lot of people somehow fault Sweden for avoiding being invaded. @@matso3856
Well, their eternal rivalry has that tendency to view the other thinking that they are either reviving the Kalmar Union or the Swedish Empire, which both nations view as a much larger threat for the nordics.
The proposal was drafted by my grandfathers cousin Richard Sandler, in intelligence much superior anything in minister position the last 30 years
@@matso3856 Arch nemesis even in 1939? I would think that the pan-Scandinavianism movement fixed that attitude.
To say that it was Sweden who transported the Danish Jews into safety is an big understatement, they housed and fed them once they arrived, but the transport was done by mostly Danish and some Swedish fishermen.
And even if this so wholesome story is true, how did the Jews respond less than a hundred years later? Barbara Spectre is a good indication, making Sweden a diversified rape capital of Europe. And on a path of being a minority in their own country. In short, no “good deed” goes unpunished, especially when involving International Jewry
That took everything for them to be transported and if they didn't have Anything of value they got left behind, at least most of the times. Also Sweden were totally on Nazi side, until they could see they would lose then they switched. It's all there to read by people from.back then who was in it all 😊
@@jarlfiskalso Sweden do not want to be invaded by nazi
@@jarlfisk Sweden had a an "Institute for Racial purity" right until Germany lost at Stalingrad. And Sweden had a very large Nazi minority, only kept out of political influence by high voting age and high vote rate (that means that the young people cannot vote, and that you have to get at least say 8 % to get into the Swedish Parliament. Even today Sweden has pretty large neo-nazi parties.
@@runajain5773 there were enough of them in Sweden already. Wouldn't have noticed much difference
I thank you for highlighting this difficult period and Sweden’s role in it. A piece of family history from my part - My great-granduncle, Wilhelm Odelberg, was amongst the Swedish volunteers for the Finnish cause during the Winter War. He was amongst the guests during my baptism not long after I was born and I hold his first name as my second name. I also do recall stories of night curfews, having to cover the Windows black during the Night and German trains rolling through Sweden from my grandparents.
Thanks for sharing 👍
I remember my grandfather told me about this. He served in the swedish army during the war. Stationed on the border to Finland. Many nights they saw the bombs hitting Finland and they took in refuges from both Finland and Norway. This documentary was very good, but it missed a few things. Sweden helped Finland with food, clothes and material. As in 2/3 of all our arms. That's a lot. Also took in a huge amounts of refugues from Finland, expecially children. Both USSR and Germany bombed Sweden during the war, maybe by accident or not. Sweden also help norwegian fighters to carry out raids into Norway. So yeah, neutrality was just a word. They tried everything they could to maintain it and keep the country out of the war but still tried to do something for its fellow brothers.
The poor treatment of some of those refugee children deserves a separate video though.
My grandpa was also there. Before he died he said never trust the russian.
Jag vil leva, jag vil dø, i Norden ❤️
Home slaves children were, beaten and bad
they tried bugger all
Respect to the swedish diplomats at the time.
Great video. When I was in grade school, we had a "class grandma", a retired teacher who assisted us and told us stories. She was Jewish, and told me how her family lived in fear every day during the war, and that they lived next to a railway transporting German soldiers. Every time they heard the train come they pulled down the blinders so they wouldn't be seen. She also told me the first time she tasted bananas was after the war, and also a lil deception the Swedish army did. Turns out that along many of the trainstations the Germans traveled through, the swedes posted guards. But not just any guards, but the tallest, toughest and most mean looking people they could find, most of which had to be close to 2meters tall. The idea was that every time the train stopped and the German soldiers "on leave" exited to have a smoke, they'd see these absolute giant Swedish soldiers, and that if these were the only Swedish soldiers they'd see, they'd think All Swedish soldiers would be like this. I miss her and her stories.
dont listen to their lies lol
@@Snusbluesand the others don't lie? Please..
Kiruna, a province of sweden, is home to the world's largest *underground* iron ore mine in the world, and has long been considered the best quality iron ore in the world. This helps explain germany's actions in WW2.
High quality but not the best according to speer which considered the iron he got from Alsace more valuable to Germany. However without the enormous amounts of Swedish iron it would been difficult to fight on. And this is despite Swedish iron exports was relativly small in WW2 compared to WW1. Today are the Kiruna mine producing 90% of all iron in Europe. And each day enough iron ore is dragged up from the ground there that if you turn it into steel, then you will have enough steel to make 13 Eiffel towers each day! Of course when you pull out so much stuff from the ground you will create a big hole. And that hole is now so big that there is a risk that the worlds largest city Kiruna (measured in surface and not population of course) now has to be evacuated because of the risk that the ground will fall in. Indeed so much water also have to be pumped up from the mine that entire lakes has been created.
@@nattygsbord Thanks for the information.
Social democrats sympathizing with 40's German high command (they still do current day) also helps.
Yes, but the mine was not an underground mine in the 1940s , it was an "open pit" mine until the 1950s
@@SicketMog It's the right-wing parties that are ruling together with the neo-nazis today...
Would be interesting to see the same topic with Spain, Switzerland and Turkey.
There are a lot of Nazi-Espanyol during WW2 that volunteered in Germany.
@@joelleyva9858no surprise considering heavy anty communism sentiment post bloody civil war.
the Swiss were sending the Axis supplies and apologized for it but Turkey would be really interesting as apparently Germany was using diplomacy against them until the eventual declaration of war by Turkey
Spain was ravaged and tired of war after their own civil war, so that's why they remained neutral, and they don't have much strategic resources anyway.
@@combatreality5369 the most useful thing Spain could have done was take both sides of the Gibraltar strait but after that they just become a huge dday target and Portugal is more likely to be pulled in as well
Loved this episode, as a Swede I had a very fragmented view on how it all went down
Finland kept you safe from Russians and Germany was kinda eyeing Sweden up and down and deemed you guys harmless
same here :D
As for me.
Not surprising, Sweden hasn't really dealt with it's wartime activities. I do wonder what they teach at schools about that time? Maybe these days they include mentions of the eugenics programs which the Germans copied and the wide spread support of nationalsocialist ideals?
@@jkausti6737We were heavily tied to Germany since the Hanseatic league (1275-1550 something) and many have some German heritage in Sweden. Furthermore, our secondary language was German at the time and our language is heavily influenced by Low-German. Just look at our nobility (riddarhuset) and you’ll get all the perspective you need to understand the sentiment. Many people misunderstand the pro-German stance as something that it’s not (context is important). Sweden was choosing sides between family members. But we were all taught that about the dark spots in our history, even if not that much about the context of it, and the nuances.
A major even for the Swedish military readiness was in February of 1942 where Sweden conducted a massive winter exercise in northern Sweden in weather colder than the Germans where experiencing around Moscow a month earlier. It was a subtle hint to Germany that Sweden's rearmament was bearing fruit and that Sweden was way better at winter warfare than they where.
I'm Swedish and my paternal grandfather went to Finland during the war, he was one of the Petsamo truck drivers. He survived the time in Finland, but rarely or never spoke of the horrors he had seen and experienced while driving in the Petsamo area. He had a gun, and no one in the family knows if he ever had to use it, it was hidden in a desk drawer when he came back home, and when asked about it "I'll get rid of that thing" was the answer he gave them, one day the gun was gone, probably disposed of in a forest somewhere. My grandfather passed away in 1968. I never met my grandfather as I was born in 1985, but dad has told me as much as he knows about my grandfather's time in Petsamo
As a Finn, your grandfather's sacrifice means the world to me. My grandfather also fought in the Winter War, and without your grandfather and others from Sweden like him, he might very possibly been dead. I'd like to extend a posthumous thank you to your grandfather and everyone else like him.
Thanks from Finland, my grandfather was there as well. He did not like to talk about it either.
@@paragorn206 My grandfather's brother fought for Finland in the winter war, but never wanted to speak about it afterwards either.
Sweden also shot down at least 15 German planes during WW2. Mostly around Göteborg. The policy was that the air defence shot at every military plane that didn't have premissen to enter Swedish airspace. We also had a fair number of graves with airmen from both sides in the south of the country. It was fairly common for aircrews to steer towards Sweden when they were shot to pieces. Because a) the enemy would not hunt them in Swedish airspace, and b) it was close at hand if you was not going to get all the way back home.
Sweden threatened to blow up the mines if anyone attacked. That would have meant a major interruption in the flow of iron. It certainly had an impact on the decision-making process. Heard that German reconnaissance aircraft mistook hosiery for anti-aircraft guns. The large amount of AA guns deterred, at least for a while.
I am in Scotland this is very interesting history about Sweden. My grandfather was called up to the army in 1939. My mother and father both told me about how terrifying hearing the shipyards near my home city Glasgow being bombed was and of rationing. There were a lot of Norwegians who came to Scotland by the Shetland route. The Norwegian restitance member are remember as very brave in the Scottish Highlands where they were based.
Swedens diplomacy skills are next level!!
Not anymore☹️
@@joel9002Unfortunately, since Sweden joined NATO😮💨
Nother note, it's a Swedish diplomat, Raoul Nordling, which by negociating with Von Choltitz saved Paris from destruction, freed 3000 political prisoners and brok a truce between the Resistance and German troops,.
Most importantly; Sweden managed to avoid the horrors of war for its population. That last statement resumes sweden supreme aim
A generally correct description of the Swedish conduct during WW2, Only one correction; the Swedish primeminister's name was Per Albin Hansson meaning that he was baptised Per Albin an Hansson was his family name.
"Playing both sides for profit"? More like playing both sides for survival.
Wow, I think they did a wonderful job. That had to have been extremely difficult.
What many people forget that Sweden only had two goals during the war, which was to keep Sweden out of the war and to keep the unity government together. Everything else was secondary.
This ended up being a more interesting video than I imagined it would be when I clicked on it. Thanks K&G
My country tuned more or less the same way - Portugal. Selling wolfram to Germany, lending an airfield in the Azores to the US. Hell, Lisbon was a spy's delight - some years later, it was at a nearby town's casino - Casino Estoril - that Ian Flemming himself would experience this atmosphere, watching the Yugoslavian agent Popov in action, and ultimately inspiring him to create our favorite spy, 007, and even the title of one of his novels, Casino Royal.
Sweden remained independent by telling everyone that Gustavus Adolphus was a vampire, and therefore still around.
Is Wallenstein alive too? Because if he is then there is no problem
I'd watch that anime.
The USA countered it by sending in the most recent descendant of Abraham Lincoln to hunt said vampire.
@@MyVanir Abraham was cool and all, but not *that* cool. His beard lives on tho
My grandfather was just a boy when the Germans invaded Poland. But before the war in Europe happened all eyes were on the Chinese Japanese war. My grandparents would said that they listened every evening about the war in Asia. Battle of Shanghai was very much talked about. Something my grandfather would say “Tjena mors titta Kina Japan slåss” loosely translated as “Hey there! Look China, Japan fight” Basically a greeting for the kids most families had a radio. Here’s a little bit more information when Norway got invaded many fled to Sweden and at the borders between Norway and Sweden guards would help resistance fighters with guns and food. My grandfather’s uncle was stationed At the border in the northern part of middle Sweden and on the border Germans would chase Norwegians across the border with dogs. And at more secluded border posts Swedish soldiers would actively participate in killing Germans and getting rid of their bodies.
A video on Switzerland during WW2 would be cool since they were in a similar situation as Sweden was
Gold is your answer.
@@jonbaxter2254 No, it's not. Switzerland mobilised 430'000 soldiers in 3 days, and even increased it up to 850'000 soldiers. Mountains gives a huge bonus for defenders. Swiss Government made also clear that surrender is enemy propaganda. The cost/benefit ration wasn't pro invasion, and the Swiss Government increased the the costs, but also made sure, that the benefit of an invasion was kept small, by economic concessions to Germany
Switzerland was totally on Germany's side.
@@lamarravery4094 Switzerland was the first democratic country on the European continent. Austria got "anschlussed", Switzerland remained independent. When Switzerland was on Germany's side, why didn't Switzerland joined the NAZI Germany? 🤔
@@user-jd7gh2ef4s Switzerland wasn't openly supporting Germany, but there was a secret partnership and Jews not knowing Germany and Switzerland were buddies, felt confident to deposit their assets in Swiss banks accounts. But in reality, the Jews weren't getting their money out unless they had the proper papers and when you're a survivor of a concentration camp, they know you don't have the proper papers.
Thanks for yet another informative video! One small correction though. The Danish resistance, civil society and the jewish community evacuated the majority of the Danish jews to Sweden. But Sweden opened its doors to thems, and housed these and other Danish refugees for the rest of the war. I had to correct this as this is one of the only proud moments of the Danish years of occupation. Thanks again and keep up the fine work!
Your a blessing to this site, Thank you for this Channel!
rich by churchilll to accuse sweden when he was instrumental in planning to occupy scandinavia to use as a front against germany
Rip to Norway.
Thank you for this comment. At least someone gets it.
Its easy for england to go around virtue signaling when they were hiding on their island for most of the war while countries they kept instigating to fight the war were much smaller and right next to grmany with no way to defend themselves
Material thinking without regard for human lives, again. Guess that's where the US gets its decrepid genes from.
the bombardment a danish movie shows the treu colours of the allies
Amazing watch as always K and G! You never disappoint
Nice to se ww2 from Swedens position for once. Thank you kings and generas for making this video and for showing Sweden in a nother light and the struggles they faced during the war.
My grandfather grew up in Scania, in the southernmost end of Sweden. When I was a kid he often told us stories of how you could hear bombs and gunfire going off on the other side of the Öresund strait and that, at night, they would black out their houses so as not to draw any attention from any bomber crews who might've strayed off course.
The allied dropped a bomb in a city park in the biggest city of Scania
Great video keep it up you're doing amazing things 😁👍
Eye-opening play-by-play of active neutrality. I had no idea, having thought "neutrality" bestowed a fairy-tale normalcy and calm.
Interesting history, I had wondered about the topic but never got round to doing the research so thank you for doing it for me.
Well done! You should do a film on Swedish intelligence operations during WWII as well. Sweden worked both sides there as well. Allowing German transfer of troops between occupied Norway and Germany on the one hand. Breaking German encryption and handing over the secret traffic to the Allies on the other hand. While the Swedish secret police cooperated with Abwehr, Swedish military intelligence cooperated with the West, laying the foundation for the secret military alliance with NATO during the Cold War. Also, Raoul Wallenberg is said to have worked in Budapest on behalf of American OSS which needed operational support. Lots of stuff went on.
Great video. I would love to to see more of The North during ww2, especially Danish and Norwegian resistance.
My Museo Slab font in use, nice to see. And thanks for the great video!
Very very good. It answered a lot of open questions I had about wartime Sweden.
Thank you for this video, I hope more people will see it. Although I wish Sweden, my country, had not been supporting Germany in any way, we definitely would not have survived if we did. We would have been occupied by Germany, and then they'd have unlimited amount of ore and resources, and teh war would have taken a lot longer to end. So I am still proud of what we accomplished. There were also swedish volunteers taht joined the Allies, I dont think you mentioned that. But thanks btw for also making it understood that Finland was left out of any other option than asking Germany for help, not because of joining the ww2 but to end their own war agaisnt USSR. I wish more people understood the actions of Sweden and Finland during ww2.
they had an unlimited amount of ore because of Sweden's neutrality. Avoiding the war being protracted isn't a moral stance that Sweden's government consciously took
eveyone accused Sweden of being coward, but if i was living in Europe that time i would love to live in Sweden, Portugal or Switzerland.
Accusing Sweden of being a coward for not attacking Germany in 1940 would be like calling the US a coward for not attacking the Soviet Union in 1960. What do you mean the enemy can destroy you of you attack?
@@MerecirIt's always easy to accuse someone of being a coward from your safe and comfy armchair.
its often norwegian people who believed it would made a difference but it wouldnt
Remember that Sweden was as neutral as all of the other smaller states in Europe were before they were invaded. So, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium etc were all neutral as well.
Very well researched clip about a difficult matter, that has been heavily debated in Sweden. Kudos.
"By late 1943, the police troops were equipped with grenade launchers, and antitank weapons. Unusual police equipment." Tell that to the Usamerican police.
What did you mean? Almost all police forces in the world have a militarized section of their force because of the increasing threat worldwide. Russia even used tanks, thermobaric launchers rpgs, APCs and chemicals in a hostage rescue operation. The world is not the same
Another cop hating loser
@@jejepangetsu3133America isn’t like Europe in that regard. We’re not used to tanks rolling down our street every Wednesday. I would assume it’s a coup.
@@jejepangetsu3133 Lmao so you think it is ok for police to use military equipment on unarmed civilians?
Since when is the USAmerican police officers of the 1940's armed with grenade launchers and antitank weapons?
I wouldn't criticize them. They found a way to avoid the mass bloodshed.
Amazing video. Pls do sweden during the cold war as well
RIP Raoul Wallenburg one of the many good men that died before the long dark night ended.
This is an exemple of how neutrality (or non-belligerance) can be a bold and complicated course of action in terms of balancing everyone interests diplomaticaly
Sweden was smart. They were allies with Britain during the Napoleonic Wars and similarly showed great strength, intelligence and integrity during WW2.
And now faces the consequences of this ”smartness” and a neonazis’ nest
@@andrebatistaphoto Nah sweden is still playing all sides. Russia has threatened sweden with war since 2014.
Thanks for doing a interesting video about the situation in Sweden during ww2. Greetings from Sweden 🇸🇪
There are so much angst about Swedish neutrality - from all the Nordic countries Most of it welled in ignorance like many Finns believing Plan R4 was actually aid denied
Thanks for the great video on a not often visited subject :)
Sweden is a curious case study of how best to play both sides in WWII. Surpassed only by Finland in the same war.
Surpassed, I think not, since Finland was at war with USSR two times and also allied with Nazi-Germany. But yes, they also did everything they could to survive and I would not blame them.
@@johanlittorin2765---And there fore the best case study on how to play both sides. I didn't say not go to war with.
Surpassed by finland. Who lost lands, twice. And had its country ravaged by war. Not somthing i would say is winning.
@@jonastheswede6256---And yet most of the country wasn't occupied by the Allies. Which is an improvement over all other countries that fought for Hitler and his Nazi's. How many other countries can claim that.
@@brokenbridge6316 sure, that part was good. I belive italy did the same thing, and yugoslavia, greace. But i do have to object that finland made it better then sweden during ww2.
I love these types of documentary maybe you could do another one on Japan, German, Vichy/Occupied France, Great Britain and the USA? Or maybe even a minor nation.
World was at war Sweden was playing chess
Jerk accusations by Churchill. Well played Sweden, well played.
Well done Sweden, well played politics in such difficalt times!!
They did what they had to in order to survive but they are evil for not returning the Jewish Riches the Nazi's hid in their banks during the war.
I'd have to agree 100%. With the threat of either side turning on them for ANY justifiable reason, and the potential for the USSR being right on their doorstep if they capitulated Finland (although doubtful with the likes of Simo and Aimo roaming around lol), you can scrutinize the Swedish all you like but as was stated at the end, they prevented exposing the large majority of their population to the horrors of the war.
Thanks for the history lesson
Great documentary on Sweden It is normal that all the countries that had stated themselves as neutral did, at some point, a double game. It was the game of survival. Please present us with more works like this on the European neutral countries PORTUGAL, my country is an interesting case. The country was trading with Germany on several products, namely food and, most important, Wolfram (Tungsten) It had deep impacts on the Portuguese society as it produced a considerable amount of “new riches” Also interesting was the decision of the then prime minister and dictator Salazar. After the Germans paid for a shipment of Wolfram in counterfeit US Dollars, a request was made for the following payments to be made in gold bars That gold came mainly from the reserves of the central banks of the countries they defeated and occupied, namely France, That’s an irony of the destiny as France raided and stoked tons of gold during Napoleon’s invasion of Portugal in the beginning of the 19th century. As the church states: “God writes straight through crooked lines” And what about this one???
Oh yeah, the same gold Portugal looted from Brazil, Angola and Mozambique, right?
@@ursosentado Besides mining gold from some of these regions later, most of Portuguese gold minted in the New age came from trade, evident by the fact that their major mint was in Goa. Looting native kingdoms is more of a thing with Turks, Arabs, Brits, Spanish and Americans. Now, if you consider slave trade to make a tainted fortune, you might as well count in the Portuguese, but at that point, no gold in world minted before 19th century was clean, and even after that you can argue it isn't *that* much better. Fact remains, though, they weren't that hard on invading and looting other sovereign nations.
@@ursosentado Can you read or you are just incapable of understanding the text?
Good job, love you
Great video Thank you
Above all else, Swedish Government during WW2 is the true government for the people, which unlike other countries' government that is the government for a few people.
My grandfather was in the Swedish army guarding a railway station, and I loved hearing his stories when I was a kid. The soldiers here did not like seeing the German soldiers going through our country back then, but we also tried to support the allies as much as we could without breaking neutrality. A LOT of volunteers went to help Finland and Norway from Sweden also.
Germans passing through was so terrible compared to what Sweden looks like now/s
@@monarchist2486😂😂😂
@@zjeee Sweden did not make sure anything It was Germans who gave Finland the ability to fight back
@@cfl_finn4831 What is not mentioned in this video is the military equipment that Sweden supplied to Finland. 140 000 rifles 50 million rifle rounds Hundreds of machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, anti-tank guns. And 300 000 rounds of corresponding ammunition. 30 different military aircraft (fighters, bombers and recon), which was about 1/3 of Swedens entire aircraft fleet. This was about half of Finland's total basic military equipment at the time. So to say that "Sweden did not make sure anything" would be an insult to history. If not for Sweden's aid, Finland would be known as Russia today.
@@jarzez yeah ofc sweden did everything
Excellent summation, tyvm .
This was an interesting video!
It should be noted that while Sweden wasnt very well armed, she did send a lot of what they did have to Finland, among other things 1/3 of the fighter aircraft of the Swedish airforce. They also sent 100 AA guns, Finland themselves had 4. They also sent 135000 rifles, 800 machineguns, 300000 artilleri shells, 51 million rifle rounds, 800 machineguns and 92 AT guns, depleting the Swedish army in a major way. However Finland was, and is, seen as a brother country after having been part of Sweden for about 500 years and it was also seen as a way to keep the Sovjets away As for breaching neutrality, yes they did, but in the process managed to save tens of thousands of jews, since more jews were saved than mentioned in the video, as well as their own population
2 nitpickings , Finland was one with Sweden for 800 years , secondly swedish army wasnt depleted for long , since we did trade with the germans getting both guns and ammo for that iron ore , most of this was replaced within a year thanks to germany.
That's some very impressive diplomatic acrobatics from Sweden
Thanks for the video it was good
I did my service in the finnish army in 2013 as a rifleman and I thank the swedish people whom had finland in their hearts for sending arms & ammunition and men to help us fight the soviets during ww2. Hakkaa päälle! Hope to see Sweden in Nato soon.❤
We were real pigs to you. I'm ashamed that the state of Sweden didn't do shit. Thank the Swedish people who were mad at the Swedish government. Such a fucking coward of our state not to help you more. But I am glad that the Swedish people stood up and did everything to help you instead. My aunt's common-law grandfather was in the Finnish Winter War. He still has a diploma from his grandfather by Carl Gustaf Mannerheim himself, written in Swedish. Pretty awesome. Then he has some other things in the shed that he showed me that I unfortunately can't tell you here XD Well he has a Soviet helmet with a bullet hole in it that he took from a Russian soldier he had snapped.
Nazi Germany sent plenty of help to Finland. Or maybe it is better for Finland to forget that fact.
@@1891726 Self-loathing Swede right here Sweden sent a third of its air-force, I wouldn't call that "didn't do shit" Not to mention one of the largest humanitarian efforts proportionally
@@adyseven1 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, officially the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union with a secret protocol that partitioned Central and Eastern Europe between them. The pact was signed in Moscow on 23 August 1939 by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov. Unofficially, it has also been referred to as the Hitler-Stalin Pact,Nazi-Soviet Pact or Nazi-Soviet Alliance So tell me who was again dealing with the germans and trying to attack neutral countries?
@@adyseven1 The Shelling of Mainila (Finnish: Mainilan laukaukset, Swedish: Skotten i Mainila), or the Mainila incident (Russian: Ма́йнильский инциде́нт, romanized: Máynil'skiy intsidént), was a military incident on 26 November 1939 in which the Soviet Union's Red Army shelled the Soviet village of Mainila (Russian: Ма́йнило, romanized: Máynilo) near Beloostrov. The Soviet Union declared that the fire originated from Finland across the nearby border and claimed to have had losses in personnel. Through that false flag operation, the Soviet Union gained a great propaganda boost and a casus belli for launching the Winter War four days later. Historians have now concluded that the shelling of Mainila was a fabrication carried out by the Soviet NKVD state security agency.
Thank You! Very good. Brought up the supply situation, that a lot of people seem to not know of. Compare to the situation a year ago with Western Europe in a panic over energy supply ... Sweden did not act with honor, but out of necessity. I like to try to imagine how the political map of say 1946 would have looked if Sweden had been drawn into direct war with either side. ( According to some there actually was a secret war in the Baltic with Soviet sniping on Swedish shipping and fishing boats. )
What many people tend to forget is that at the time we had Nazi Germany in occupied Norway right on the border and that they took Denmark in 6 hours and then the mainland Germany right across the Baltic. And then the Soviet union to the east. It was an impossible situation that we wouldn't be able to survive, so we had to do whatever was possible to survive even if that meant playing on both sides. It's easy for many people these days to criticize but any other countries would do the same thing in our position.
No that's not true. Many countries fought and fell instead sweden supplied the nazi war machine and provided avenues for trade and military transport. In fact part of the issue with norway was the german friendly "neutrality" of sweden.
My family is from Sweden we all have red or blonde hair blue or green or light eyes n very white skin n sunburn easy but since i was a kid i always heard noone ever successfully invaded Sweden n took over in all of Swedens history
@@jboss119and all the countries that fought and fell, except France and Poland, wanted to stay neutral just like Sweden. Of course Sweden would have fought if Germany invaded
@@jboss119 Those countries fought because Nazi Germany or Soviet union invaded them. The iron trade with Germany was most likely the only reason why they didn't invade us. They could have invaded us but according to a lot of sources we had them rigged and ready to blow up if Germany were to invade and thus make us irrelevant. It was far more valuable to keep trading than losing thousands if not hundreds of thousands from losing their lives
@@jboss119Sweden did what they had to do to relieve their population from the strain and horror of war and doing well in that. Any thinking that they should have just joined is egotistical thinking that they should have enthusiastically joined a war in which they probably would be occupied and just do that for the chance that the Germans would lose in the east, sure they could have maybe joined towards the end but why join against an enemy that is already losing and just waste men when you can avoid it.
My grandmother used to tell me how my great grandmother fled from Finland into Sweden during the Finnish Winter War. Then, during WW2, how people were afraid of both the Germans and the Russians attacking. My great grandfather was stationed on the northern Norwegian border, constantly fearing the Germans would come at any time. It was an extremely tense time, many people were sure the war would come any day. It was a miracle we managed to avoid that nightmare.
Very interesting and well presented and written, congrats.
Definitely one of my favourite K+G videos so far, and I’ve been watching for years. Keep up the good work guys!
The “liberation of the Baltics” at 19:00 is historically problematic term and should rather be called “soviet second occupation” or something along that line. Baltc states were indrpendent before the war. Baltic states did not regain independence due to soviet advances over nazzi army. No one was liberated - rather one evil occupying foraign force replaced another evil occupying foreign force. And the later one forgot to leave for another 50-ish years.
best place for an ad for something the audience actually likes, very nice my man
Regardless of diplomacy from the Swedish side, it is still remarkably strange that Sweden was not occupied. It is said that Hitler had a small statue on his desk representing the Swedish warrior king Charles XII(1682-1718) who fought "the Great Nordic War"(1700-1721) against not least Russia. Hitler believed that Charles XII was the first monarch to recognize the threat from Russia with his march in 1707 into Russia and towards Moscow. - Hitler is said to have held the Swedish king in high esteem. Charles failed in his campaign due to harsh Russian winter and scorched earth tactics. Napoelon was the next monarch who suffered roughly the same fate a little over 100 years later - and later Hitler himself. Some believe that such things also came into play when Hitler refrained from invading Sweden. That he overestimated the Swedish defense capability and furthermore harbored no personal grudge against Sweden and Swedes - as he did against other countries and their people, Russia and Russians, and not least against Jews etc. If, however, Operation Barbarosa had had a different outcome, one must assume that even Sweden would have been occupied sooner or later.
People always bring up that Sweden was pro-Germany, but how much Germany was pro-Sweden shouldn't be understated. Relations between our countries had been good for centuries at that point.
Operation Rädda Norge ("Save Norway") and Danmark war plans in 1945 should had been mentioned.
Plans was made 1943 , save Denmark was drilled twice summer 1944 and spring 1945 , had the war continued for a few more days it would have been executed. All artillery of caliber above 150mm has already been assembled on the coast of Scania opposite of Denmark. In order to garantie success operation save Norway was postponed after operation save Denmark , since it would require the entire navy and almost the entire airforce in the attempt.
@@matso3856 Had it been pull off, Sweden might become founding member of NATO.
Well done !
i have no IKEA
I just love your videos i watch them to the end and then the next video😊
Thanks!
Sweden was playing chess against 3, and managed to win.
Sweden's position during ww2 was like being stuck in a barn two pissed off elephants.
This is a good, well-balanced summary of Sweden’s WW2 actions and diplomacy. Especially the importance of trade is well presented. My paternal grandfather was a young cinema buff from a poor but artistic family when the war started. During the war he worked in the cinema censorship bureau to limit criticism of the Nazis enough to avoid conflict with Germany. He became a diplomat after the war, working for the UN. My paternal grandmothers (a rich girl) brother was a young medical student who volunteered to go to Finland to fight the Soviets. My maternal grandfather was a soldier and even after the war he remained in the active officer reserve. I remember he still had a uniform and sub-machine gun in his closet when I was young.
The other day I read a report from a Swedish airforce pilot on a reconnaissance mission into Norway in August 43 taking pictures of the heavy water plant. “The airman Nils describes a perilous reconnaissance mission in Norway 1943, during his time in the Swedish Air Force.”
Let me guess. Paradox cooperation? 🧐. As always, great Video
I love me some history! Great video and excellent content, as always! By the way, could you possibly make a video about Mexico, Latin America, and South American nations on what their were doing and their opinions during WWI and WWII respectfully?
During ww1, Mexico almost did join, Germany side, that would be interesting. Mexico and the US were close to going to war during 1908-1918 years. Look up, the Selina de Cruz incident, Felix mondragon cannons and the start of the Mexican Revolution 1910-1922 more or less. Poncho villa, led raids into the US, 1916-1917 and the Pershing exposition into Mexico.
Bra video Tack
I was proud to be a Swede when I stumbled upon a full scale Raoul Wallenberg statue in Pest. Was sad that the locals seemed to have forgotten who he was and what he did.
Hungary does seem to side with fascism and genocide again in the war in Ukraine. The fate of the hungarian jews is a sad one.