Why Sweden Is Immune To Wars 

In Finland we have a joke about this: What is the Swedish official defense plan? -Finland

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...

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!

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.

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

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).

Incoming comments about migrants and invasions etc….

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

"Why Sweden is unconquerable" 1. Finland 2. NATO 3. Finland 4. Finland 5. Swedish technology Honorable mention: Finland

I would really like to see this series keep going, it's super interesting and informative to watch. Keep up the excellent work!

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.

Dude I’m a Swede living in LA and you using stock footage form my hometown that’s taped during the summer made me cry. Damn that was an emotional rollercoaster lmao. Just random flashbacks.

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.

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.

Du fik aldrig rigtigt svaret på hvorfor Sverige ikke kan besættes ?

We are immune to wars because of Finland, thank god for them 🤣🥰

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

OBF: How Sweden Became Unconquerable Also OBF: They can last 3 months

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.

I feel like joining NATO is their way of insuring continental peace and minimizing the risk of war.

another awesome video OBF! thanks for making me sound smart at dinner parties!

We can thank Finland for that, they've been the shield for the North during the history

Like the Swedish PM said, when the world finds itself in turmoil it feels good to be among good friends. 🇩🇰🇳🇴🇫🇮🇺🇸

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.

Putin proved that joining NATO is a great idea. If he’d not permanently threaten his neighbors, they wouldn’t have applied for membership.

Because we, the Finns, fought for Sweden.

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

Denmark: “it wasn’t always like this..”

Always a pleasure to wake up to an informative video on historical and modern geopolitics! Thanks for the great content!

You have a mistake in 8:08. There was no country like Czechia then - there was Czechoslovakia.

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 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

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.

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."

Correction: during ww2 Sweden let German troops through to Norway, not Finland.

LOL They have been conquered from the inside by non-Swedes.

They have one within their own country already.

02:47 you could've made Crimea's colors striped, at least

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.

Well, joining NATO was never preceded by a peoples vote. It was a decision by our politicians, over our heads.

I'm glad Sweden and Finland decided to join our NATO alliance Welcome to the family

This is why I don't want Sweden to join NATO.

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.

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… 🤪✌🏻

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.

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.

Because they have Sabaton protecting their country. No one could touch them

"How Sweden became unconquerable" By having us Finns as a meat shield😉

Might be something to do with it's refusal to help anyone or condemn any evil. Supporting the Nazis is something they will never live down.

I'd argue a Nato, US, Russian, Finland, Alliance could defeat Sweden although it would be costly

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.

The real reason : Minecraft

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?

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.

*Sweden is a Secular Nation with less than 7% of the population being Christian.* *Sweden established a colony in North America in 1637 in what is today Pennsylvania and they controlled the fur trade on the Hudson River.* *My family is from Sweden.* thanks

"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.

The only think I took from this is that Sweden is pretty. lol 😂😂

Don't believe leaders

You make my bus commutes more educational than they have to be. Thank you!!

You need to update the Russian military numbers 🙃

They will not be immuun for civil war

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

Sweden has to be the most underrated country in Europe, colonies, car manufacturers, Bofors and ikea

Sweden is the country that has the most wars

Im a simple swedish man. i see a video about sweden and i click.

Switzerland be like: 🗿🍷

Now say that today sherlock . Look up the news in Sweden

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.

I guess because the biggest threat is Russia and Finland has been the shield for them

We're still neutral though? We wont invade a country, but instead protect others if required from us in the future in our agreement with NATO. So unless another country is attacked again Sweden will remain neutral as it still stands. So in a sense we will remain neutral as long as other countries abide to the common sense of no more wars. Shout out to Poland for protecting us and Finland for having no choice!

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,

4 words: “The Great Northern War.” Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk

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.

Not if you do it from within and turn it in to Swedistan

😄 Sweden practically gave away the fortress Sveaborg to the Russians 1808. The most expensive military project through all time

Of course they chose peacekeeping. They went from being fierce warriors to candy pop singers:)) . Swedish peacekeeping solutions haha. What's that ? play ABBA all day on loud megaphones? that could work. Instead of air raid sirens making their usual sound they'll play ABBA or Ace of Base. That could make enemy more angry. And for border protection put opened cans of gravlax along the border to stink up the place. That will be like Sweden's chemical weapon:))

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".

One word: Geography.

It's not accurate to say that we were simply scared of Russia and that would be the sole reason why we joined NATO and because we would be outnumbered in military forces. That is false information, the correct information is the fact that Sweden is the leading military weapon manufacturer, and is selling S-tier weapons to every single country; USA included. In fact, Sweden's military forces are so good at their jobs that they completely humiliated the US in a military exercise. The only reason we joined NATO was because we were tired of Putin's threats of "If you join NATO, we will be pissed.", so basically we are taunting Russia, rather than surrendering in fear. Not to mention, if Russia would declare war upon Sweden, they would have to cross Östersjön or Finland; both equally terrifying. Sweden and numerous other countries have utter control over Östersjön, especially Sweden because we have Gotland. If they would take the Finland route, they would be humiliated once again, because Finland has utterly crushed Russia several times in previous wars. To be fair, I don't think Putin has the balls to actually attack the nordic countries solely because of the strong alliance we have with each other, not to mention how powerful we actually are regarding military forces.

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.

"The Swedish King fights to the last Finn" -Finn

This video didn't age well...

i’ve been watching since a year ago and each video has always been top quality!!

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.

Your not alone watching this in 2023:D

Alla från Sverige 👇

1:39 Perhaps important to mention that this embassy is the former Estern German embassy and now used by multiple countries.

if Sweden once was a country to look up to in terms of politics and resistance to the imperialist hegemony in the world, now since the capitulation for NATO membership, is just another vassal of the anglosaxons. A sad end for the last of the free vikings.

Weird title. Video didn't say anything about Sweden being unconquerable. I can tell you though. Russia would either have to do a large scale amphibious assault, which they lack competence for, while fighting a western standard airforce, modern submarines and a small but competent and well armed force when they hit land. Bad. Or, they would have to go through northern Finland and then go south. For a long way. To force a peace you'd have to go south of Dalälven (river). That's like 1300 kms from Russia, if you stick to the main road close to the coast. Further if you go inland. And there's like two roads suitable for heavy vehicles and one or two railways (of non Soviet gauge btw). Logistics would be fucked. And all of that woodland around it would be highly suitable for light infantry to stage ambushes on the supply chain. We probably couldn't defend Gotland in the end. And perhaps not some of our most northern cities. But the heartland where most of the population live is out of Russia's reach. It's worse for our Finnish brethren.

Okay guys, just because they made this video let’s try and conquer Sweden. Let’s try and coordinate an invasion of Gotland.

Do a video about Ethiopia

"Saved jews .... towards the end of the war" Yeah, when it became obvious that the nazis were about to lose the war.. (I'm swedish, keep that in mind when you answer this comment)

All those shots of Sweden look really nice! I feel like visiting there, but not in the winter. :)

Sweden has always been ready to fight to the last Finn!

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.

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.