On February 26, 2024, the Hungarian parliament voted to approve Sweden's application to join NATO, Sweden officially became the 32nd member of NATO, and all five Nordic countries officially joined NATO, thus ending Sweden's more than 200-year neutrality policy. Why did Sweden suddenly abandon its neutrality in favor of the NATO military alliance? Some commentators say that whether Sweden or Finland join NATO, it is a stress reaction to Russia's "special military operation", a natural choice for the Western camp, especially European partners, to huddle together for warmth, and it is also a realistic manifestation of Europe's deep-rooted "misanthropy".
So is that the case? First of all, we can see that Sweden is almost in the center of Northern Europe, with an area of 450,000 square kilometers, it is the largest country in Northern Europe, and it may seem like a small country in our eyes, but in Europe, Sweden is a veritable territorial power. Unfortunately, it is located in a cold region, with a population of just over 10 million. However, this inconspicuous Swedish ancestor also once had a wide range, not only defeated Denmark and Poland many times, but also marched on Germany, and even marched directly at Moscow, which at its peak included what is now Sweden, Finland, the three Baltic states, and the Baltic region of Russia, Poland and Germany, and the vast Baltic Sea became almost its inland sea. Whether it was Denmark and Poland, which were powerful at that time, or later the European powers Germany and Russia, they could only be beaten in front of him, and Sweden dominated Northern Europe for a hundred years. In order to confront the powerful Sweden, Russia, Denmark and Poland allied themselves to launch the Great Northern War against Sweden, and Sweden was able to face the siege of the three major powers at the beginning, and even defeated the alliance of the three countries many times. The successive victories swelled Sweden's confidence and determination to take Moscow, but due to the rash advance of the enemy and the scorched earth policy of the ** people, coupled with the cold weather, the army had no choice but to turn to Ukraine, and was defeated by Russia on the way in. Sweden began to decline, the Nordic hegemony was replaced by Russia, and the ** people who gained strategic advantages did not give up Sweden, and continued to bully Sweden in the days to come, and Sweden had no choice but to gradually choose neutrality after the Napoleonic Wars. As a result, although the First and Second World Wars swept through Europe, Sweden remained out of the situation.
However, time is not possible to heal the wounds, a hundred years of humiliation and oppression make the Swedes unforgettable, but Russia's strength is stronger than their own and helpless, in the collapse of the Soviet Union for a long time, the strength of the ** people not only to the Europeans, but also to the Swedes caused a strong psychological shadow, both disgusted "eager to completely eliminate Russia" and afraid of "afraid that one day Russia will go crazy again and destroy itself". In order to protect itself, Sweden has chosen the same policy of neutrality as Finland. Neither the United States nor Russia can be offended, but the Russian-Ukrainian war has exposed Russia's military strength, and Russia has been completely unable to compete with the United States in conventional military operations, and it has also exacerbated Sweden and Finland's concerns about Russia, so the two countries chose to join NATO to fight against Russia.
This may be the realization of many people, but what everyone does not notice is that with the independence of the three Baltic states, Sweden does not border Russia except for a small Russian enclave in Kaliningrad, and with Finland joining NATO, Sweden and Russia are completely separated from NATO, which means that no matter how much hatred the two countries once had or what kind of conflict of interests they have in the future, it is difficult for the two countries to have a military conflict. So why is Sweden still joining NATO? As we all know, with the exception of a few countries in Eastern Europe, Europe is basically dominated by the United States, and Western Europe is the center in terms of economy, politics, and science and technology, so all European countries regard joining the EU and NATO as their political and economic goals, and even Russia put down its dignity in order to join the EU and NATO, and work hard to curry favor with the United States, not to mention Sweden. In addition, NATO's consistent foreign policy is "either friend or foe", and in the absence of a strong Soviet counterbalance, the US-led NATO bloc can be said to do whatever it wants in Europe, and with Finland's accession to NATO, Sweden is completely surrounded by NATO, and the weak Sweden either joins the same stream or lives in fear of being bullied all day long. In this context, I believe that no matter who knows, how to choose. Not to mention the fact that the Russians believe in Orthodox Christianity, and the Swedes, like the countries of Western Europe, believe in Protestantism, and there is no reason to reject the alliance with the same beliefs.