Finno-Swedish Union

[Coqui]

So a friend of mine came across this book, (here's the back of the book and the text of the proposal in English if you don't speak Finnish for whatever reason) which touched on talks about a possible union between Sweden and Finland; where FInland's president and government and president would be autonomous domestically, but they'd share a foreign policy and the king of Sweden would be the nominal head of state. Finland would have to give up all claims to lands lost to the USSR during the Winter War and the union would be committed to neutrality; it even required both the USSR and Nazi Germany to agree to the union, which is why it ultimately didn't work, despite both parties being willing.

What do y'all think would need to have changed for this to work? Would removing the continuation war from WWII drastically change the eastern front? I mean, Finland not joining the Nazis would change some things, I'd imagine. Would the USSR respect Finno-Swedish neutrality? How would this have affected the Warsaw Pact going into the Cold War?

 

[Lalli]

Losing territories on peace of Winter War was just hit for Finns that they just couldn't accept these regions being lost forever. Another problem probably was Finnish nationalism which just couldn't stand such union.

But perhaps if Finland would get even more support from Sweden and get complete victory on Winter War and not lost territories would help. But for that you need bit earlier POD.

 

[Coqui]

Losing territories on peace of Winter War was just hit for Finns that they just couldn't accept these regions being lost forever. Another problem probably was Finnish nationalism which just couldn't stand such union.

From what my friend read, it seemed as though the Finnish end of things were good on those terms. Do you think there'd be a public revolt if it went through or something?

 

[Happy Nihilist]

The Swedes would definitely have dominated the union, leading to accumulating Finnish resentment and the eventual peaceful breaking apart of it, even in ideal international conditions.

 

[Coqui]

The Swedes would definitely have dominated the union, leading to accumulating Finnish resentment and the eventual peaceful breaking apart of it, even in ideal international conditions.

That's fair, though a lot of things could happen before then. The part of Operation Barbarossa that launched from Finland wouldn't do so. Perhaps that might give the USSR the upper hand earlier, leading to a bigger eastern block?

 

[CaptainCalvert]

PDF27 has the union forming in A Blunted Sickle., although the main premise of the thread is that France 1940 turns out differently.
It might, however, provide some ideas and inspiration and is a good read.

 

[CaptainCalvert]

That's fair, though a lot of things could happen before then. The part of Operation Barbarossa that launched from Finland wouldn't do so. Perhaps that might give the USSR the upper hand earlier, leading to a bigger eastern block?

It should make Leningrad a little bit easier for the Soviets, although it's still likely to involve a long and painful siege