Indeed.
The thing is - what are the correct lessons?
TTL every European military been making observations from the Boer War as per OTL, and that has affected the Norwegian and Swedish planning and tactical training just like it did historically.
The March of Time - 20th Century History
- Thread starter Karelian
- Start date
TTL every European military been making observations from the Boer War as per OTL, and that has affected the Norwegian and Swedish planning and tactical training just like it did historically.
Would you recommend any particular source for the politics and diplomacy of early 20th century Scandinavia? The last few chapters were quite enjoyable, but I imagine they'd be better if I had a better understanding of OTL's background and events.
For that matter, I'd be very interested to hear what books you'd recommend as references for the other parts of this TL: those that deal with the Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire and the Balkans, general diplomacy and so on...if you don't mind, of course. Those subjects weren't a blank slate for me like Scandinavia is, but depth they're dealt with suggests there's a lot of interesting material out there.
For that matter, I'd be very interested to hear what books you'd recommend as references for the other parts of this TL: those that deal with the Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire and the Balkans, general diplomacy and so on...if you don't mind, of course. Those subjects weren't a blank slate for me like Scandinavia is, but depth they're dealt with suggests there's a lot of interesting material out there.
Not at all, I actually promised to deliver such a source list to DragonFin ages ago.
I'll review my sources and try to compile a list during the weekend.
Interesting update. A grim year awaits Scandinavia, or even Europe.
The General Strike of 1909 and its failure, combined with the expulsion of the young socialists 1908 was what "made" the Social Democrats, stabilized them, IOTL. This war will be a baptism by fire for the Social Democrats. If they succeed to break the Swedish government, which I wager they will, what will appear is radically different from the SAP of the interwar.
The General Strike of 1909 and its failure, combined with the expulsion of the young socialists 1908 was what "made" the Social Democrats, stabilized them, IOTL. This war will be a baptism by fire for the Social Democrats. If they succeed to break the Swedish government, which I wager they will, what will appear is radically different from the SAP of the interwar.
The internal bickering between the various factions, and especially the relations between the labor movement and political Social Democracy will make things bit more complicated than they seem from the outset. Especially because the Swedish economic elites were sensible enough to see what lay in store in the future in case they'd continued to press ahead with "business as usual"-approach.
I'm not that well-versed on the topic, better on Swedish free churches. My point was that the war against Norway will create a common identity within SAP before the tensions between young socialists (anarchists, syndicalists, radical social democrats etcetera) and more "proper" social democrats escalate. This identity might not hold for long, but I guess drastic times leave a larger space for radical measures, or rather radical agitation. Socialistiska Ungdomsförbundet (young socialists) will find common ground with Socialdemokratiska Ungdomsförbundet in agitation for strikes. Hinke Bergegren and Zeth Höglund are still within the fold of SAP. How fruitful these attempts will remain to see but clear is the SAP of 1914 ITTL will be widely different from the SAP of OTL the same year.
The split of 1903 and the events that led to it are still fresh on everyones mind:
https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...-century-history.272417/page-17#post-12302257
Chapter 84: Fratricide, Part IV: Gjöll
Fratricide, Part IV: Gjöll
"...Allt för stor för den nykloka tiden,
kastad ur fornvärlden in i striden,
svärd för rättvisan! -- okänd för friden,
tills den för evigt hjälten behöll."
Exerpt from "Viken, tidens flyktiga minnen"
The autumn days were short, and the sun was setting behind the western hills when the officers, on horseback, rode in front of the quarter columns of the N: 10. Kungl. Södermansland Regemente, assembled to tight ranks to the shores of Glomma. Every company heard the same short speech, written by Överste von Arbin.
It contained the order to cross the river with the rafts the soldiers had constructed during the day, and to establish a bridgehead wide enough to cover the construction work of new bridges, that would allow the rest of the Arméfördelningen to cross the river, and to continue the advance westwards.
The men were reminded that they had a reason to be proud, and that they carried on a noble tradition. For centuries their regiment - the oldest and best of the entire Swedish army - had fought for the glory of Sweden, from Warsaw to Stäket. Armed with 6,5 mm gevär m/1896 Mauser rifles and clad to their "karolinerhatt"-tricorne field caps and M1903 green-brown mixture drab service uniforms[1], the young conscripts certainly looked the part. Many of them felt genuine pride when the speech was concluded with a statement that the entire nation and the King Himself were counting on them to do their duty.
The Swedes crossed the river, navigating the log rafts accross the stream at the cover of the small forested island. Soon the first wave dashed through the shallow water to take cover from the riverbed, as more and more men were slowly ferried accross to the western bank.
Half a decade ago the arrival of the new Mauser rifles had resulted a tactical re-organization that aimed to introduce "Boer tactics" to Swedish infantry. With individual soldiers trained to use the cover of the terrain and the companies fighting with the platoons spread out as extended fronts of skirmishers, the regiment no longer trained to operate in closed columns and two-row lines.
The new difficulties of effective command and control of such dispersed fighting methods had already become avidly clear for the Swedish officers during the first week of the campaign.
The critics of the new approach at the Swedish general staff were now arguing that while patrolling and skirmishing were certainly important skills, the critical battles that lay ahead at the Norwegian soil would still have to be decided by determined infantry and cavalry attacks. And to conduct them, one had to concentrate the attacking forces into tighter formations.
This time was no different. Upon crossing the river, the officers started to summon the NCOs for command briefings, and the intermingled units of the sprearheading battalion were moving back and forth along the riverside. The beachead was starting to fill up, stacked full of Swedish soldiers trying to get themselves organized.
By now the mood on the Norwegian side of the battlefield was quickly turning tense and agitated. The fields and pastures were basking on the light of the setting sun. Officers with field glasses could clearly see movement at the edge of the small sandy cliff at the edge of the water. Everyone was getting nervous. What was their commander doing? Couldn't he see that the enemy was crossing the river, while they just sat here!
The Swedish infantrymen were becoming increasingly agitated. Why were they still stuck to this crammed mess at the waters edge, why weren't they moving ahead already? And where the Hell where were those bloody norrbaggar? As the ferries went back and forth, now helped by the long rope lines pulled accross the river, the battalion was reforming into quarter columns and preparing to move out. The first Swedish skirmish patrols were sent forward to higher ground, nervously stalking their way forward.
The scouts rising up from the over of the sharp edge of the riverside peeked over to see a view accross wide open farmland that gently arose westwards towards the hillsides. Shallow, muddy ditches criss-crossed the open, rolling fields, and only occasionally the open terrain was broken by old heaps of stones, left to the soil by the passing ice ages and later dug up from the fields by the local farmers.
These small stone mounds located to the edges of the individual fields were covered with thick foliage of almond willows and black alder, but aside from them the terrain ahead was devoit of any kind of real cover. The harvested fields were either already ploughed, or covered with short and sharp yellow stubble. The sheep and goats had kept the pasturelands equally clear.
1: In OTL this test uniform was issued to an artillery unit.
"...Allt för stor för den nykloka tiden,
kastad ur fornvärlden in i striden,
svärd för rättvisan! -- okänd för friden,
tills den för evigt hjälten behöll."
Exerpt from "Viken, tidens flyktiga minnen"
The autumn days were short, and the sun was setting behind the western hills when the officers, on horseback, rode in front of the quarter columns of the N: 10. Kungl. Södermansland Regemente, assembled to tight ranks to the shores of Glomma. Every company heard the same short speech, written by Överste von Arbin.
It contained the order to cross the river with the rafts the soldiers had constructed during the day, and to establish a bridgehead wide enough to cover the construction work of new bridges, that would allow the rest of the Arméfördelningen to cross the river, and to continue the advance westwards.
The men were reminded that they had a reason to be proud, and that they carried on a noble tradition. For centuries their regiment - the oldest and best of the entire Swedish army - had fought for the glory of Sweden, from Warsaw to Stäket. Armed with 6,5 mm gevär m/1896 Mauser rifles and clad to their "karolinerhatt"-tricorne field caps and M1903 green-brown mixture drab service uniforms[1], the young conscripts certainly looked the part. Many of them felt genuine pride when the speech was concluded with a statement that the entire nation and the King Himself were counting on them to do their duty.
The Swedes crossed the river, navigating the log rafts accross the stream at the cover of the small forested island. Soon the first wave dashed through the shallow water to take cover from the riverbed, as more and more men were slowly ferried accross to the western bank.
Half a decade ago the arrival of the new Mauser rifles had resulted a tactical re-organization that aimed to introduce "Boer tactics" to Swedish infantry. With individual soldiers trained to use the cover of the terrain and the companies fighting with the platoons spread out as extended fronts of skirmishers, the regiment no longer trained to operate in closed columns and two-row lines.
The new difficulties of effective command and control of such dispersed fighting methods had already become avidly clear for the Swedish officers during the first week of the campaign.
The critics of the new approach at the Swedish general staff were now arguing that while patrolling and skirmishing were certainly important skills, the critical battles that lay ahead at the Norwegian soil would still have to be decided by determined infantry and cavalry attacks. And to conduct them, one had to concentrate the attacking forces into tighter formations.
This time was no different. Upon crossing the river, the officers started to summon the NCOs for command briefings, and the intermingled units of the sprearheading battalion were moving back and forth along the riverside. The beachead was starting to fill up, stacked full of Swedish soldiers trying to get themselves organized.
By now the mood on the Norwegian side of the battlefield was quickly turning tense and agitated. The fields and pastures were basking on the light of the setting sun. Officers with field glasses could clearly see movement at the edge of the small sandy cliff at the edge of the water. Everyone was getting nervous. What was their commander doing? Couldn't he see that the enemy was crossing the river, while they just sat here!
The Swedish infantrymen were becoming increasingly agitated. Why were they still stuck to this crammed mess at the waters edge, why weren't they moving ahead already? And where the Hell where were those bloody norrbaggar? As the ferries went back and forth, now helped by the long rope lines pulled accross the river, the battalion was reforming into quarter columns and preparing to move out. The first Swedish skirmish patrols were sent forward to higher ground, nervously stalking their way forward.
The scouts rising up from the over of the sharp edge of the riverside peeked over to see a view accross wide open farmland that gently arose westwards towards the hillsides. Shallow, muddy ditches criss-crossed the open, rolling fields, and only occasionally the open terrain was broken by old heaps of stones, left to the soil by the passing ice ages and later dug up from the fields by the local farmers.
These small stone mounds located to the edges of the individual fields were covered with thick foliage of almond willows and black alder, but aside from them the terrain ahead was devoit of any kind of real cover. The harvested fields were either already ploughed, or covered with short and sharp yellow stubble. The sheep and goats had kept the pasturelands equally clear.
1: In OTL this test uniform was issued to an artillery unit.
Last edited:
Chapter 85: Machineguns, bolt-action rifles and modern artillery
Finally the inevitable happened.
Olaf Knudsen Strand was sweating profusely.
He wiped his nose, blinked his eyes a few times and looked again. He knew that he had seen movement at the edge of the ditch just few hundred meters ahead. He was firmly aware of his orders - to lay low and wait for the enemy to get closer.
But just a few seconds later he saw a human figure dashing up from cover and darting forward. To his own surprise the old hunter reacted to the sight like he had just seen a roebuck rush out to the open in a good spot - he instinctively took aim, and pulled the trigger. The gunshot echoed through the valley, and after the distinctive "plip-plop" sound of the bolt-action Krag-Jørgensen reload, there was a sudden, terrible moment of silence.
And then the Norwegian fire begun to pour down from the hillsides like a heavy autumn rain.
The M/1901 field gun crews rushed their weapons to their prepared firing positions, and a lighting barrage of canister shots begun to rain down to the riverside, the shrapnel shells exploding amidst the panicking and tightly packed Swedish infantry, and to the opposing back where many Swedish artillery batteries were placed out in the open, with only flimsy parapets for cover. After the initial shock, the Swedish gun crews rushed forward and manned their own weapons.
The next phase of the battle consisted of an artillery duel fought across the river at late noon. The opposing weapon systems - the Norwegian 7,5cm feltkanon M/1901 and the Swedish 75mm Kanon m/02 - were virtually identical. Both guns were German-designed, modern, quick-firing artillery pieces with a recoil suspension system. But after the Norwegian artillery managed to initially suppress the exposed Swedish batteries and outright destroy one of them, the remaining Swedish guns withdrew to reverse slope positions, away from the direct sight of the Norwegian artillery.
Now the differences of the two artillery arms soon became apparent. Generalstabsofficer of the Fjärde Arméfördelningen, Kapten Thomas Georg Nyström, begun to coordinate the Swedish artillery in an urgent attempt to salvage the situation. He had arrived to the area just a few hours ago, but had soon established his command post to the church of Grue. From the bell-tower his staff had an excellent view to the battlefield.
With a field phone connection to the battery commanders, Nyström was soon able to order the artillery officers to coordinate the fire of the Swedish guns based on a map and visual observation. When engaged by the Swedish batteries they could not spot, the artillery fire from Norwegian batteries withered, as the guns were forced to re-locate to new positions to avoid the increasingly accurate Swedish counterbattery fire.
The Swedish infantry poured out from the cover of the riverbank. Correctly realizing that the beach offered them no cover, the soldiers "fled to the front", and sought to seek better cover from the terrain ahead. But as they dashed forwards, the Swedish attack fell to the trap planned by the Norwegian commander, Oberstløytnant Waldemar Lunde. The two Hotchkiss mitraljøse teams, hiding at a separate entrenchment set up at the southern edge of the Norwegian position, begun to mow down the attacking infantry with enfilading fire, with horrifying efficiency.
Before the battle Oberstløytnant Lunde had had little practical understanding of the new weapon system, and he had treated the "half-battery" hastily dispatched to his aid as a light field artillery unit. Thus he had placed both machine gun teams to provide harassment fire from the flank. Now the effect of two machine guns placed on higher ground, firing enfilading fire to the direction of the ditches where the desperate Swedes had sought cover astonished both sides.
The attack was stopped cold, and the Swedish battalion suffered devastating casualties. After the first 30 minutes of the battle, the second Mitraljøse was temporarily put out of action when the gunner became nauseous, stopped firing, and suffered a mental breakdown, shocked from the scene of dozens of dead and wounded Swedish soldiers littered across the fields, moved down by their fire in mere minutes. The determined support fire from the surviving batteries of Svea artilleriregemente was ultimately the factor that saved the Swedish attack from turning into a total disaster, but the inability to locate the mitraljøse position meant that the attack was effectively pinned down on nearly the entire length of the narrow frontline.
Most success came a bit further in the north. Here a small ravine shielded the Swedes from the mitraljøse fire that had devastated their attempts to advance elsewhere, and the men of the Södermansland Regiment slowly crawled forwards, positioning themselves to a small mound of rocks that enabled them to observe the terrain better, and control it by their own rifle fire.
The soldiers of this foremost Swedish platoon had sensibly opted to lay low and hide during the final hours of daylight, and soon their presence foiled the next phase of Oberstløytnant Lunde's battle plan. With the knowledge that he was badly outnumbered and forced to spread his forces thin to cover the western bank, Lunde had chosen to do the complete opposite what the Swedish leadership would expect - he had ordered a counterattack.
Noting the fact that that his reservists had been greatly impressed by the effectiveness of the artillery and mitraljøse fire had had against the Swedish ranks, Lunde sought a quick solution to the battle he could only lose by prolonging it. He ordered the Søndmør Landværnsbataillon to move forward towards the Swedish bridgehead on a skirmish formation at the cover of the dark autumn night.
The Swedes hiding at the cover of the small stone mound and a nearby ditch heard them coming through the darkness. They were tired and hungry, but determined to avenge the bloodbath their comrades had suffered that afternoon. The low visibility meant that the Swedish ambush was virtually launched from the point-blank range, completely surprising the Norwegians who hastily took cover out in the open field. The resulting firefight was cut short when the Swedish artillery, once again controlled by the map and by field telephone rather than firing in the traditional manner, received information of a new target, and fired a short barrage to the general direction of the fighting in the middle of the night. The unfortunate infantrymen at the target area were among the first European soldiers to witness the devastating effect of modern artillery fire, and the firefight soon died out, as the surviving Norwegians fell back to their own lines. Their cheerful mood was dead and gone.
For the rest of the night both sides evacuated their wounded. The Swedish commanders, assembled in a war council at the cellar of a local mill, assessed the situation. Clearly the first day of the fighting had been a bloody and disappointing affair. But while inconclusive, the attack had been not without results, as Överste Axel von Arbin was quick to point out to his superiors. The Swedish bridgehead had been successfully established, the Norwegian counterattack had been foiled, and by dawn the Swedish engineers of the K. Svea Ingeniör-Kår were almost ready with their first makeshift bridges over Glomma. By dawn the ferries and the bridge had enabled the soldiers of the K. Göta Lifgarde to cross over with the strength of two entire fresh battalions. Working their way north- and southwards along the river, the battalions spread out, and at the dawn of the following rainy day the guardsmen fixed bayonets, and marched out to the open in skirmish formation.
The engineers and signalmen of the K. Fälttelegraf-Kåren had set up field telephone connections to the western bank through the bridge, and while they were cut of three times by Norwegian harassment fire, the ability to direct fire from the western bank as well greatly contributed to the eventual Swedish advance in the battle. As the Norwegian camouflaged parapets and entrenchments on the opposing hills were gradually spotted one after another, the defenders found themselves subjected to a remorseless artillery barrage from the eastern bank. By nightfall night Lunde gave an order to evacuate the foremost lines along the edges of the hills, but refused to give ground any more than necessary. During the following day fighting in the forests on the western hills became bloody and chaotic ordeal for both sides.
But here numbers begun to tell. The makeshift bridges over Glomma had by now been replaced by a proper pontoon bridge, and one Swedish marching column after another crossed the river, moving towards the hills and passing through scenes that shocked and demoralized each passing group of soldiers. The once idyllic countryside of Grue had turned into a macabre scene of carnage and devastation. The Swedish dead lay everywhere, as no one had yet had time to bury them. Södermanlanders in their gray uniforms and tricorner hats, and droves of dead glad in blue uniforms, the remains of the once-proud Lifgarde that had started the second day of the attack, only to be cut down en masse by canister shots and rifle and mitraljøse fire.
Last edited:
Here the Swedes are attacking the weakly held northern flank of the Norwegian defences. Further south the troop densities are much larger, Norwegian fortifications much stronger, and the Norwegians have orders to hold fast, come what may.
Thanks for the compliment. Depending on how one defines "soon": yes. In reality I have a lot of unedited notes and text on storage, but editing them to a form that is more comprehensible for readers with an Indo-European linguistic background takes some time.This is a fantastic timeline! Can we hope for updates soon?
Chapter 86: Hjamlar Branting and the challenge of Swedish antimilitarism
“On the Helgeandsholmen they sit and scheme, these old gray-haired and ossified fossils, sadly known and recognized everywhere in Sweden for their dark culture of hostility and blind conservatism! They are now contemplating whether hundreds of thousands of young Swedish and Norwegian men, who had never seen each other, and even less have no quarrel with each other, should be sent to hunt and prey upon one another as wild beasts of the forest, to kill one another with lethal rifle bullets, sawback bayonet blades, fleshrending shrapnel bombs and grenades, annihilating each other in droves from the very face of the Earth! The final say for committing such criminal folly is at the shaking hands of these old, old men, in their empty brains and their babbling tongues ! Life or death for the Swedish youth hangs in the balance in these days in the various cabinets, held in peril by a collection of people about whom we do not know anything else than that they are very old and very mad!”
As the call for Swedish general mobilization had been finally issued in September, the anti-militaristic leftwing radicals of the Sveriges Ungsocialistiska Förbund (SUF) sprung to activity. As they had feared and anticipated this turn of events, the members of the SUF started to distribute anti-war flyers across the country. They called for a mobilization strike, and lashed out against the passive line of the SAP, the majority Social Democratic faction of the Swedish left-wing politics.
"With impatience we waited every day for someone from the party to speak out - but nothing was heard! Finally we have ran out of patience! We look on the situation and see it to be such that something must be done now, before it is too late. If the party will not take the lead on this struggle, the youth - those who will be first hit by the possible mobilization orders if they come to pass - must reject these calls to arms, and hurl back curses against the war-crazy storsvensk bragging! And so we now appeal to the masses across the country! No to mobilization, no to war!"
The SUF plans to agitate among Swedish conscripts was based on their strong belief that a conscript army would disobey orders to march forward against their Norwegian kin. Their publicly expressed remarks such as “once the troops are armed, it will be easy for them to turn them against their true foe!” made their view towards the Swedish government and military leadership very clear. The latest issues of the Brand-magazine and the antiwar pamphlets distributed by the SUF were filled with calls for violence: "The working and thinking Swedish adolescents, however, have unveiled the storsvensk in recent weeks, his U-turns and pitiful, frenzied and pompous morbidity, calling us to the battle line...in the name of all that is holy, do not march to the front against Norwegians - on the contrary, look who your real foe is and attack against them instead!” By 1905 the internally divided SUF leaders and ideologies had come to the agreement that the rulers of Swedish society saw military as much as a defense against revolutionary forces, and that they had started this war to stop or postpone reforms at home.
Therefore, the propaganda directed against the Swedish military was deemed essentially important. In their prewar theoretical discussions of how to conduct a successful revolutionary general strike, the SUF leaders had felt that sooner or later they would have to get the soldiers to their side. Otherwise the regime would deploy troops against the workers, and prevent the expropriation of factories and companies. But if a conscript army, consisting of ordinary young men as it was, could only be educated and informed enough about its historical role as a member of the revolutionary youth, it would be possible to get the soldiers to stand together with the strikers!
With the adoption of an anti-war general strike as the main goal of their struggle, the SUF leaders had decided to once again approach the SAP ranks, especially the remaining anti-militarists in the party. This challenge, which included a very harsh propaganda attack on SAP's stance, forced the SAP leadership to take action. This was seen as a continuation of the internal struggle for the soul of SAP. Decades earlier, at the formation phase of the new party, the three "founding fathers" had all argued for different approaches. Branting, Sterky and Danielsson had all championed different currents within the young Social Democratic movement: Sterky, a revolutionary, had argued that participation with the existing regime was justified only for propaganda purposes. Danielsson had been somewhat more willing to explore different courses of action, while retaining a radical outlook. And Branting had remained an optimist, firmly committed to a long-term parliamentary strategy.
His views had gained supremacy within the SAP, as the 1891 Norrköping congress they had formed the foundation of the new SAP party program. Branting had remained a moderate pragmatist, and his upper-class background and convictions made him an idealistic, a man who was convinced that people could and should create a better world. Steering SAP towards compromises with Liberal groups, he nevertheless remained ideologically committed to the long-term goals of Swedish Social Democracy. Having established contacts with radical Liberal circles during his university years, he remained in friendly terms with many of the leaders of the movement, as he believed in many classic values of Liberalism, and that it was the task of the Social Democratic movement to first complete and then take a step beyond the traditional liberal goals. By now both Sterky and Danielsson had died of old age, and Branting was firmly in command of the party.
And now, seemingly triumphant and secure in his position, he now suddenly found himself and his party facing a crisis. Sweden was at war, and everyone was looking at him and SAP, waiting for their response to the crisis at hand.
Chapter 87: Branting calls for action
Branting and the SAP had to make a stand, and quickly. But like always, he wanted to commit the party to a certain course only after discussing and debating what was ideologically desirable in the long term, and what was practically possible to implement in the short term?
Branting was cautious for a good reason. The limited suffrage meant that the SAP had no hope to gain political representation or political power by itself. He and his co-ideologists knew very well that Sweden was still ultimately a backward, agrarian country, and that socialism by definition would be a remote goal at best.
Thus it had been earlier on deemed politically necessary to seek early and concrete results, in order to retain the workers both willing and able to keep fighting for the ultimate goals of the movement. These included demands for a far-reaching constitutional reforms, universal suffrage, and a complete democratization of Swedish political system.
When the churchbells all over Sweden rang to signal the beginning of the Swedish general mobilization, the leadership group representing all Social Democratic MPs and local party notables gathered for an emergency meeting at Stockholm.
The radicals, led by Hinke Bergegren, argued that it was "time to clean up the bourgeois society." If the demands for immediate ceasefire and suffrage reforms could not be carried out by voluntary means, the party should be prepared for revolutionary action.
The dividing line went mainly between Hjalmar Branting and his cautious cooperative approach and the more radical line, which was especially popular among the Social Democratic Youth League, Socialdemokratiska Ungdomsförbundet, SDUF, where the young firebrands Per Albin Hansson and Zeth Höglund both wanted to use the situation to finally force the government to implement universal and equal suffrage to both municipalities and parliament, and the requirement of the eight-hour working day. The youth league was close to the view of the SUF, and their members were prepared to go much further than Branting and his moderate wing.
Branting “entreated” his party colleagues not to consider an attempt of an outright revolution. He reminded them that such a move would "...point beyond the framework of our present-day constitution in numerous respects. It points ahead towards an organization and structure of national constitutions that quite clearly belong to a rather near future, when a democratic republic will be the general and common pattern among civilized states in most countries both in Europe and on other continents...But anyone who wishes to see these things as they are has to say that for the moment, these issues have not been thoroughly discussed before our people, and have not been so clearly presented that one can say that there is a firm and pronounced public opinion in Sweden that favors one or the other."
His reference to the public opinion was especially far-sighted. Sweden was after all an agrarian country, and the fact that Per Alfred Petersson had led the Agrarian Party to a conservative political coalition that had led the country to war clearly affected the mood in the Swedish countryside, where the landed population had recently displayed new-found nationalistic zeal and sympathy for the crown.
Branting had the impression that a large proportion of Swedish farmers were markedly indecisive about the war, and at the same time distrustful towards the still young Social Democratic movement. In order to avoid alienating a large segment of voters, Branting had to avoid harsh methods.
He advised and urged his comrades to hold ranks and maintain party unity. He called for daily public demonstrations against the government in Stockholm, and - under pressure from the radical faction - he was also more or less forced to promise that SAP would reconsider these tactics in a new meeting should they prove ineffective. While there were many heated arguments, initially the prestige and influence of Branting was enough to keep the SAP nominally united, and the party leadership gave him a clear majority support in a vote of confidence.
After the meeting was concluded, one of the participants nervously made sure that he was not followed, and then made his way to a meeting. He did know who his new acquaintance actually was. In fact, he preferred not to. All he knew was that he had no real choise but to cooperate with him, considering the threats the stranger had made.
A prison sentence would bring shame and misery to his wife and children, and thus he had been forced to admit that when truly tested, his Socialistic convictions and idealism had given ground to the fear of loosing his family and freedom.
In reality his new contact, a young and ambitious constable of Stockholm police department, resented the way he had been forced to coerce his new informant. But he knew that the stakes were high. He had no right to feel pity when thousands of Swedish soldiers were sacrificing their lives for the future of his fatherland.
His boss had not chosen him to work for the new Första byrå of the Swedish General Staff for nothing. Men like him were after allready busy all over the country, checking meetings and suspected subversives. The news he heard from the SAP meeting alarmed him. He knew that the General Staff had already ordered the Stockholm garrison to reinforce the local police with armed soldiers, issuing 20 live rounds per soldier. The generals were nervous. But it would be better to simply let his superiours to decide what to do with this new information, he thought, as he finished his report file. He was certain that they'd find a sensible solution.
Branting was cautious for a good reason. The limited suffrage meant that the SAP had no hope to gain political representation or political power by itself. He and his co-ideologists knew very well that Sweden was still ultimately a backward, agrarian country, and that socialism by definition would be a remote goal at best.
Thus it had been earlier on deemed politically necessary to seek early and concrete results, in order to retain the workers both willing and able to keep fighting for the ultimate goals of the movement. These included demands for a far-reaching constitutional reforms, universal suffrage, and a complete democratization of Swedish political system.
When the churchbells all over Sweden rang to signal the beginning of the Swedish general mobilization, the leadership group representing all Social Democratic MPs and local party notables gathered for an emergency meeting at Stockholm.
The radicals, led by Hinke Bergegren, argued that it was "time to clean up the bourgeois society." If the demands for immediate ceasefire and suffrage reforms could not be carried out by voluntary means, the party should be prepared for revolutionary action.
The dividing line went mainly between Hjalmar Branting and his cautious cooperative approach and the more radical line, which was especially popular among the Social Democratic Youth League, Socialdemokratiska Ungdomsförbundet, SDUF, where the young firebrands Per Albin Hansson and Zeth Höglund both wanted to use the situation to finally force the government to implement universal and equal suffrage to both municipalities and parliament, and the requirement of the eight-hour working day. The youth league was close to the view of the SUF, and their members were prepared to go much further than Branting and his moderate wing.
Branting “entreated” his party colleagues not to consider an attempt of an outright revolution. He reminded them that such a move would "...point beyond the framework of our present-day constitution in numerous respects. It points ahead towards an organization and structure of national constitutions that quite clearly belong to a rather near future, when a democratic republic will be the general and common pattern among civilized states in most countries both in Europe and on other continents...But anyone who wishes to see these things as they are has to say that for the moment, these issues have not been thoroughly discussed before our people, and have not been so clearly presented that one can say that there is a firm and pronounced public opinion in Sweden that favors one or the other."
His reference to the public opinion was especially far-sighted. Sweden was after all an agrarian country, and the fact that Per Alfred Petersson had led the Agrarian Party to a conservative political coalition that had led the country to war clearly affected the mood in the Swedish countryside, where the landed population had recently displayed new-found nationalistic zeal and sympathy for the crown.
Branting had the impression that a large proportion of Swedish farmers were markedly indecisive about the war, and at the same time distrustful towards the still young Social Democratic movement. In order to avoid alienating a large segment of voters, Branting had to avoid harsh methods.
He advised and urged his comrades to hold ranks and maintain party unity. He called for daily public demonstrations against the government in Stockholm, and - under pressure from the radical faction - he was also more or less forced to promise that SAP would reconsider these tactics in a new meeting should they prove ineffective. While there were many heated arguments, initially the prestige and influence of Branting was enough to keep the SAP nominally united, and the party leadership gave him a clear majority support in a vote of confidence.
After the meeting was concluded, one of the participants nervously made sure that he was not followed, and then made his way to a meeting. He did know who his new acquaintance actually was. In fact, he preferred not to. All he knew was that he had no real choise but to cooperate with him, considering the threats the stranger had made.
A prison sentence would bring shame and misery to his wife and children, and thus he had been forced to admit that when truly tested, his Socialistic convictions and idealism had given ground to the fear of loosing his family and freedom.
In reality his new contact, a young and ambitious constable of Stockholm police department, resented the way he had been forced to coerce his new informant. But he knew that the stakes were high. He had no right to feel pity when thousands of Swedish soldiers were sacrificing their lives for the future of his fatherland.
His boss had not chosen him to work for the new Första byrå of the Swedish General Staff for nothing. Men like him were after allready busy all over the country, checking meetings and suspected subversives. The news he heard from the SAP meeting alarmed him. He knew that the General Staff had already ordered the Stockholm garrison to reinforce the local police with armed soldiers, issuing 20 live rounds per soldier. The generals were nervous. But it would be better to simply let his superiours to decide what to do with this new information, he thought, as he finished his report file. He was certain that they'd find a sensible solution.
Last edited:
Oh, this is still mild - a decade later in OTL they had machine guns in readiness.
This case is also pretty much from OTL, or at least the SAP speechwriters thought so: "Hvad arbetarne ha att göra är att kraftigt säga ifrån att de ej gilla denna regim, som har sina ideal i Petersburg i st. f. i Västeuropa – ett omdöme som ej minst har sitt berättigande i det ständigt visade misstroendet mot arbetarna, hvilket t.ex. nu visar sig i inkallande af militär till hufvudstaden – garantien af tjugo skarpa patroner per man!"[1]
I figured that if the OTL 1905 events in the eastern shores of the Baltic (allegedly) made the Swedish government nervous enough to send in the army with live ammo, they'd react in a very similar manner in a case of actual war.
1: http://www.arbark.se/dokument/temp/branting-1905-gavle.pdf