Greater Sweden Exist in 1939

Wow. I never knew somebody could carry on a thread for three pages with little or no contribution from other posters. No wonder he has 1000+ posts. Having this many posts in a row takes a very special kind of talent.
 
Sweden had had to balance its needs for an ally to help protect it from the Giant to the East to not alienating other nations such as Great Britain.
For most of the 18th Century that had meant depending upon Prussia and or Austria to check Russian attempts. In the 19th Century things became more complex during the Napoleonic Wars . Sweden for a time found that it s protector was France but then withdrew into neutrality. This came in time so that Britain checked Russian expansionism.
The latter 19th Century saw the Swedes play the Game of Balance of Power by supporting the British- French during the Crimean war. With the emergence of Germany as a united Country in the latter 19th Century Swedish-German relations became close as the Russian Giant to the East became expansionist again. Russia at the start of the 20th Century had a good portion of Poland and had most of the other two Baltic states. The Russians would love to take the Estonian and part of Latvia still held by Sweden and to push the Swedish frontier in Finland away from St Petersburg.
It was for this reason that Sweden had sided with Germany during the First World War and come in on its side in 1915. This resulted in a defeat for the Russians and the Russian Revolution. A negotiated peace agreement left a bitter France and sour relations with Great Britain that did not recover until the late 1920s.
Swedens fortune seemed to be tied to that of Germany. That relationship began to change from friends to allies when Germany's Crown Prince Wilhelm succeeded his father as Emperor in the mid 1920s. German Politicians and the Public blamed him for the first World War. Only Victory of a sorts had delayed the pressure for him being forced to give up the throne.
Sweden had sought an alliance with the other Scandinavian state instead of an alliance with Germany but it appeared that Neither Denmark nor Norway could be convinced. With the Communist winning the Civil War the threat to the east started to grow. Soviet Russia wanted to recover the Baltic States that it had lost as well as Poland and the Ukraine.
It became clearer in the 1930's that Germany and Russia views and influence were on a collision course. Sweden and Germany had been on good terms so it was natural that with the Growing threat that the German-Swedish Treaty of 1939 came about.
 
The World of 1939: Unlike Our Time Line World War I had ended in a peace agreement between the Allied Powers and the Central Powers. It was a Peace Treaty that left France unhappy as it had failed to recover the lost Territories. Belgium had been restored ans an independent Nation and several new Nations had been added to the List of European Nations. The Kingdom of Poland had been created and the Baltic Nations of Latvia and Lithuania
had been joined in a German created Grand Dutch of Cortland. The Ukraine had also been granted Independence but it had not remained independent for too long due to problems in Austria-Hungary and Germany.
The Russian Civil War had lasted from 1918-1922. The Reds had recovered a lot of the lands that had declared independence but even so it would be some time before the Soviet state would be able to challenge the powers.
Sweden had recovered some of the Territories that it had lost to Czarist Russia since the Great Northern War. This had made the Finns and the Estonians happy but it had left the Swedish Government with a knowledge that as soon as the Soviets got their act together they would attempt to regain these lost land and spread the revolution to the west.
Sweden's relationship with France and Great Britain remained strained for a lot of the 1920s but slowly the relationship with Great Britain was repaired. Italy was also a nation that had strained relationship with the Swedes due to its loss of the First World War. However, It was a Fascist Italy that moved to restore good relations. The Italian Hatred of Communism was more than their gripe about the first World War.
Sweden also had improved its relations with its fellow Scandinavian nations. Denmark and Norway's Monarchs served as Godparents for the Swedish Crown Prince.
Still it was Sweden's relationship with Germany and the New Austro-Hungarian Empire that caused talk.
 
There is a well written timeline where Sweden keeps Finland during the Napoleonic War when Russia attacks in 1808. Sweden still acquires Norway as part of the 1815 peace process in this scenario.
 
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