Winter War sweden declares war on soviets support finland

Mrstrategy

Banned
what if during the winter war Sweden joins Finland against the soviets could Finland and Sweden win against soviets?how much difference could Sweden make in the war against soviets?
 
Unless it manages to drag in the WAllies or Germans, I don't see it making any difference in the final outcome when the Soviets stop with their half-assed November-December campaigns that ended in such disaster, marshal their forces, and bring down the sledgehammer at the start of February. It might add another week or two, maybe even a month, but ultimately the Soviets weight in manpower and material far outstrips that of Sweden and Finland combined.
 
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Unless it manages to drag in the WAllies or Germans, I don't see it making any difference in the final outcome when the Soviets stop with their half-assed November-December campaigns that ended in such disaster, marshal their forces, and bring down the sledgehammer at the start of February. It might add another week or two, maybe even a month, but ultimately the Soviets weight in manpower and material far outstrips that of Sweden and Finland combined.

The foreign political implications of it are more important than the might of the Swedish military. If the Swedish are in the war from the beginning, a successful Allied intervention becomes much more likely than IOTL as Sweden would pretty much have to accept Allied troops being moved through its railways to the front in Finland (in reference to the other thread the OP started today). Sweden was always the bigger obstacle for the Allied intervention than Norway.

Then again, if Sweden stood consistently with Finland in the fall of 1939 and made it plain it would fight alongside the Finns in case of war against the USSR, there probably would not have been a Winter War in the first place. Attacking both the Swedes and the Finns at the same time would have much bigger a chance to destabilize the entire Nordic and northern Baltic Sea area with unforeseeable results than just the expected easy coup de main against Finland - this from the perspective of one Josif Stalin.

This is all very, very unlikely though, what with the famed Swedish Neutrality Complex (tm). It is extremely hard to see Sweden sticking its neck out to help Finland in a serious, committed way in the WWII period if that risks itself getting into the war as well.
 
The foreign political implications of it are more important than the might of the Swedish military. If the Swedish are in the war from the beginning, a successful Allied intervention becomes much more likely than IOTL as Sweden would pretty much have to accept Allied troops being moved through its railways to the front in Finland (in reference to the other thread the OP started today). Sweden was always the bigger obstacle for the Allied intervention than Norway.

I think that Norway (or more specifically, the Germans invasion of Norway) would still probably scupper any attempt by WAllied intervention in Finland. The Western Allies can't very well fight against the Russians in Finland if their means of resupply are under German threat. It does up the odds for WAllied forces to make it to Finland, but I wouldn't characterize it as good.

Largely agree with you though.
 
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