Sweden

F

Health and Welfare

Sweden provides its citizens with extensive social-welfare benefits that rank among the world’s most generous. All citizens receive old-age pensions, health care, and workers’ compensation disability benefits. An unemployment-insurance plan is subsidized largely by the government but administered by trade unions. Other social-welfare benefits include free day care for parents with children, paid family leave for new parents, generous paid vacations, government-subsidized low-rent housing, and free tuition for students seeking higher education.

G

Defense

Sweden’s tradition of neutrality in foreign affairs and unwillingness to enter military alliances in peacetime has dictated a high degree of military preparedness. As a result, Sweden’s defense spending is high by western European standards. However, Sweden expressed a willingness to review its neutrality in the context of its membership in the European Union (EU). In 2002 Sweden revised its security doctrine to permit cooperation with other nations if threats to peace and security arise. However, Sweden retained its longstanding general commitment to nonparticipation in military alliances. Sweden declined to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) after its founding in 1949, but Sweden is an active participant in NATO’s Partnership for Peace program.

The armed forces of Sweden are headed by a supreme commander and a defense staff that coordinates the activities of the army, navy, and air force. Between 7 and 15 months of military service is compulsory for men between 19 and 47 years of age. Military service for women is voluntary. An important component of the country’s defense is the home guard, a volunteer service organized during World War II (1939-1945); the service has about 250,000 members at present. In 2004 the armed forces included an army of 13,800, a navy of 7,900, and an air force of 5,900.

VII

History

In the 1st century AD the Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus wrote about a tribe called the Svear who had established a kingdom in the regions of Lake Mälaran in southeastern Sweden. At about the same time, Goths and other eastern Germanic peoples had settled in southern Sweden. These tribes, although united in religious beliefs, were generally at war with each other. Before the 10th century, details of Swedish history are obscure.

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A

Vikings

During the Viking age, which began about AD 800 and continued for nearly three centuries, Swedes and other Scandinavian peoples took to the sea for purposes of trade, exploration, and conquest. Vikings established settlements in England, Iceland, Greenland, and Russia. The Baltic Sea became their private domain. They carried on trade that extended to Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia.

B

Early Christianity

The 9th century also brought Christian missionaries from England and northern Germany to preach in Sweden. However, it was not until the 12th century that Christianity finally replaced the ancient worship of Odin, Thor, and other Nordic gods. During the 12th and 13th centuries, cities were constructed, many churches were built, laws were made, and a class of soldier-nobles evolved. During the reign of Eric IX, from 1150 to 1160, Swedish power was strengthened. Eric invaded Finland and forced Christianity on those he conquered; during the subsequent two centuries Finland was completely subjugated by the Swedes. Eric was allegedly slain by a Danish claimant to his throne while he was attending mass; he later became the patron saint of Sweden.

As Viking raids decreased, a powerful group of German merchants and traders formed the Hanse, or Hanseatic League, in order to dominate all trade in the Baltic Sea and North Sea. One of their principal centers was the town of Visby on the island of Gotland. In the 13th and 14th centuries feudalism became a controlling influence in Sweden.

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