First, in defence of my forebears, I must say that though Sweden has enjoyed peace for more than 200 years - often paid for by others by the way - Gustav II Adolf and Karl XII will stand up to any comparison. The former went to war with the great Catholic nations of Europe in the 1600s in defence of the Protestants and even had plans to go all the way to Rome and depose the pope. He was very successful in battle too, until he was killed at Lützen. The latter, who was only 16 when he became a king, took on Denmark, Poland and Russia when they tried to take back what Sweden gained during the 30 years war, thinking it easy to frighten off a teenage king.
Well, they were wrong. He swiftly defeated Denmark and Poland and had Peter the Great on the run until he ran out of steam far into Russia. These two kings were among the most famous warrior kings of all time, especially Karl XII, who unlike most kings bore the same uniform as his men and rode in the lead of his cavalry, and with 8 000 men defeated Russia's +30 000 at Narva. So much for that.
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Secondly, I do feel ashamed of my country's behaviour during WWII. We let the Germans move + 2 000 000 troops transport through Sweden to and from Norway, and we sold quality steel to the Germans that was indispensable to their war effort. As neutrals, we were allowed by the allies to trade with both sides, but in calculating the quota allowed, we counted all the countries occupied by Germany, meaning almost all of Europe! For a time, Churchill even considered bombing our mines up north.
So Germany hardly needed to occupy Sweden; they got all they wanted anyway.
Certainly, there were heroes like Raoul Wallenberg, but as long as Germany was winning, anti-Nazi newspaper editors were censored.
It is easy to see why Denmark, Norway and Finland treasure their freedom so highly. It is less easy to see why we should hold it so cheaply and nationalism as something to be shunned.
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