Britain, Sweden and the Cold War, 1945-54

This thesis explores the ways in which British policy contributed to Sweden's Western connection in the early cold war. It considers the extent to which an analysis of British policy is necessary to an understanding of how the cold war shaped the Nordic region and whether there was a special part for Britain in the ways in which Sweden sought to be bound to the Western powers economically, politically and militarily. A central conclusion is that British policy was instrumental in establishing the conditions whereby Sweden could reconcile the conflicting demands of its official foreign policy of neutrality with the reality of its economic, cultural and ideological Western orientation. Swedish military nonalignment did not lead to international isolation, and until US policy changed in 1952 and a more positive approach towards Sweden was officially adopted, Britain remained the primary link between Sweden and the Western alliance. This was seen in almost every aspect of Sweden's Western connection. Swedish defences were built with British high technology, material and assistance. Service level exchanges kept both parties abreast of developments in defence planning and in questions of cold war grand strategy, and tacitly facilitated coordination of plans. On the economic front, Britain was a large scale trader of strategic goods to and from Sweden, and the Labour government's policy of fostering closer institutional relations with Sweden was particularly important in the work of the OEEC and in a specific Anglo-Scandinavian forum, Uniscan. In achieving a rough power balance in the north, Swedish cooperation was essential although its neutrality policy did not have to be challenged openly. The work is based on primary material from the Foreign Office archives, the archives of the Ministry of Defence, Board of Trade, Treasury, Bank of England, Cabinet and the service departments. In Sweden the Foreign Ministry archives and archives of other civilian and military authorities have been used.