Sweden’s Historical Mission and World War I

Abstract

Swedish activism was a political movement during World War I that demanded Sweden’s entrance into the war as an ally of Germany. The article proposes a more systematic way of conceptualizing the nature of this movement, based on the activists’ beliefs about Sweden’s geographical and historical situation, their region-building goals, and the response to the war. The second and simultaneous aim is to suggest a way of distinguishing more clearly between ‘activism proper’ and other, closely-related viewpoints of the time (‘activist tendencies’).

Keywords:

• activism
• regionalism
• World War I
• Sweden

Notes

1 Järte et al., Sveriges utrikespolitik i världskrigets belysning, 7.

2 About Swedish animosity towards Russia and exiled Finnish propaganda for reunification before and during the Crimean War, see Barton, ‘Scandinavism, Fennomania’.

3 See Elvander, ‘Från liberal skandinavism’. Of course, these ideas persisted in different forms even after World War I and the topic of their long-term continuity is worthy of a separate study.

4 See, for example, Carlsson and Rosén, Svensk historia, 480; and Franzén, I Sverige under Första världskriget, 143–4.

5 Elvander, ‘Från liberal skandinavism’, 382–4.

6 As noted by Kihlberg, the word ‘activism’ originally had pejorative connotations that were sometimes exploited even by activists themselves, such as in the notion of ententeaktivism, meaning left-wing leanings towards the powers of Entente. See Kihlberg, ‘Aktivismens huvudorgan’, 11–12. In the following, I will use the term only as applying to the movement under discussion.

7 This article has been made possible thanks to a research scholarship from The Swedish Institute (Visbyprogrammet).

8 Kihlberg, ‘Aktivismens huvudorgan’.

9 Ibid., 11–28.

10 See, for example, Lindkvist, ‘Jorden åt folket’, 141; and Areskoug, Den svenske mannens gränsland, 150.

11 Elvander, ‘Litteraturgranskningar’, 67.

12 Thermænius, ‘Höger’, 159.

13 See Elvander, ‘Litteraturgranskningar’, 68.

14 Norman, ‘Right-Wing Scandinavism’, 329–49.

15 Oredsson, ‘Stormaktsdrömmar och stridsiver’, 257–96.

16 Carlgren, Neutralität oder Allianz; and Schuberth, Schweden und das Deutsche Reich.

17 See Franzén, I Sverige under Första världskriget, 138–59; and Gihl, Den svenska utrikespolitikens historia, 93–119.

18 See Anderson, Otto Järte, 145–69; Lilliestam, Gustaf Steffen, 232–48; and Shepard, ‘Adrian Molin’, 173–225.

19 About this so-called negative definition of regions and regionalism, see Piirimäe and Andresen, ‘Introduction’, 4–5.

20 I refrain from using the terms ‘sub-national’, ‘supra-national’ and ‘trans-national’ in order to avoid confusion with the ethnic meaning of the word ‘nation’.

21 Hurrell, ‘Regionalism’, 41. See also, for example, Neumann, ‘A Region-Building Approach’, 58–9. For more discussion in similar a vein concerning the relationship between the region and the nation, see Kuldkepp, ‘The Scandinavian Connection’, 316–19.

22 See Lehti, ‘Baltoscandia as a National Construction’, 28; and Anderson, Imagined Communities, 6–7.

23 About the idea of ‘pooling of nationalisms’ in a Scandinavian context, see Wæver, ‘Nordic Nostalgia’, 88.

24 Neumann, ‘A Region-Building Approach’, 58–9.

25 For a similar discussion of the terms geopolitics and mnemopolitics, see Kuldkepp, ‘The Scandinavian Connection’, 322.

26 For an overview of Kjellén’s brand of geopolitics, see Falkemark, ‘Rudolf Kjellén’.

27 Elvander, ‘Från liberal skandinavism till konservativ’, 381–2.

28 Elvander, Harald Hjärne, 305; and Thermænius, ‘Höger’, 154–5.

29 Elvander, Harald Hjärne, 275.

30 Tunander, ‘Geopolitics of the North’, 167.

31 Kjellén, ‘Småstaternas problem’, 194.

32 Ibid., 27.

33 Molin had written his book in cooperation with another disciple of Kjellén, Hjalmar Haralds, but after a break with the latter, he finished it alone. However, the worldview it expresses must have been shared by both and probably even other members of the Gothenburg Unghöger movement; Elvander, Harald Hjärne, 300.

34 Molin, Svenska spörsmål och kraf, 179.

35 Ibid., 181–4.

36 Ibid., 188–91.

37 Norström, Brev 1889–1916, 187.

38 Oredsson, Svensk rädsla, 21–30.

39 Hedin, Försvarsstriden 1912–14, 8–12.

40 Hedin, Ett varningsord, 8–12.

41 Kjellén, Världskrigets politiska problem, 15.

42 See Åselius, The ‘Russian Menace’ to Sweden, 408–9.

43 Ibid., 412.

44 Ibid.

45 Oredsson, ‘Stormaktsdrömmar och stridsiver’, 257.

46 See Elvander, Harald Hjärne, 260–1.

47 Ibid., 330–1.

48 Ibid., 342.

49 Elvander, Harald Hjärne, 342–4; and Hjärne, Svenskt och främmande, 40–4.

50 Elvander, Harald Hjärne, 334.

51 Elvander, Harald Hjärne; and Hjärne, Svenskt och främmande, 51–5.

52 Elvander, Harald Hjärne, 344–5; and Hjärne, Svenskt och främmande, 51–5.

53 Oredsson ‘Stormaktsdrömmar och stridsiver’, 258; and Hjärne, Svenskt och främmande, 135.

54 On Heimdal and similar organizations, see Thermænius, ‘Höger’, 161–3.

55 See the comments above about Sven Hedin’s Ett varningsord. Regarding the continuity of the defence movement with activism and the role of Swedish General Staff, see Johanson, ‘Efter borggårdstalet’.

56 Elvander, Harald Hjärne, 352–3.

57 Kihlberg, ‘Aktivismens huvudorgan’, 27–8.

58 Ibid., 11–12.

59 Thermænius, ‘Höger’.

60 Ibid., 156–7.

61 Aronson, Gösta Bagges politiska tänkande, 48, 53.

62 Kihlberg, ‘Aktivismens huvudorgan’, 24.

63 Aronson, Gösta Bagges politiska tänkande, 51.

64 Brulin, ‘Eli Heckscher och Svensk Tidskrift’, 409.

65 Thermænius, ‘Höger’, 159.

66 Elvander, ‘Litteraturgranskningar’, 68–9. The topic of Finnish activism and its relationship with the Swedish movement is highly interesting, but has to be treated separately.

67 Kihlberg, ‘Aktivismens huvudorgan’, 41.

68 Aronson, Gösta Bagges politiska tänkande; and Oredsson, Svensk rädsla, 28.

69 Regarding such attempts by Finnish activists, see, for example, Lauerma, ‘Jägarrörelsen’, 188–9. For Estonian activists, see Kuldkepp, ‘The Scandinavian Connection’, 329–30; and Kuldkepp, ‘“Grundbesitzer aus Estland”’.

70 Oredsson, ‘Stormaktsdrömmar och stridsiver’.

71 Molin, ‘Aktivismens historia 1914–1917’, 1.

72 Molin, ‘Kriget’. The idea of a Swedish alliance with Germany was simultaneously propagated by certain German circles, which soon developed close contacts with Swedish activists. At the same time (autumn 1914), the German minister in Stockholm, Franz von Reichenau, had begun his own endeavour of ‘activating’ Swedish politicians, which ultimately cost him his post in Stockholm (see Schuberth, Schweden und das Deutsche Reich, 22–3). The question of activists’ ties to Germany lies, however, outside the focus of the present article.

73 Molin, ‘Stark eller svag neutralitet’, 1–7.

74 Ibid.

75 Molin, ‘Aktivismens historia’, 3–4. The fiery press discussion created occasion for Molin’s audience with foreign minister Wallenberg, where the hostile relations between the two men were cemented.

76 Ibid., 10–11.

77 In the text, anonymous Kjellén is quoting himself: Järte et al., Sveriges utrikespolitik, 3–4.

78 Järte et al., Sveriges utrikespolitik, 6–8.

79 Ibid., 11.

80 Ibid., 13–14.

81 Ibid., 17–21.

82 Ibid., 21–3.

83 Ibid., 72–3; Kihlberg, ‘Aktivismens huvudorgan’, 21. ‘The Bloody June night at Poltava’ refers to the Battle of Poltava on 27 June 1709, which ended with a decisive Russian victory over Swedish forces and can be considered the beginning of the decline of Sweden as a great power.

84 Molin, ‘Aktivismens historia’, 14.

85 Ibid., 9.

86 Brulin, ‘Eli Heckscher och Svensk Tidskrift’, 415.

87 Brulin, ‘Litteratur’.

88 Ibid.

89 Brulin, ‘Eli Heckscher och Svensk Tidskrift’, 415.

90 Hjärne, ‘Svensk neutralitet’, 317–25.

91 Kihlberg, ‘Aktivismens huvudorgan’, 11–12.

92 Kjellén, Världskrigets politiska problem, 15.

93 For a case study of Estonian activism during the war, see Kuldkepp, ‘“Grundbesitzer aus Estland”’.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mart Kuldkepp

Mart Kuldkepp is a PhD student and assistant lecturer at the Department of Scandinavian Studies, University of Tartu. The topic of his thesis is the Swedish–Finnish–Estonian activist movement during the First World War.