History History

The ice pack retreats and makes way for a habitable surface that will later become Sweden.

The whole territory begins to be populated by tribes who live from hunting and fishing. These nomadic peoples domesticated animals and introduced the first crops.

The first sedentary farmers appear.

This is the Danish Bronze Age, named for the bronze and copper weapons and cult objects characteristic of this period. Sculpted rocks, illustrating fertility rites or showing armadas of boats, indicate an opening up to the world, a mastery of iron and a series of technical advances that will encourage the formation of village communities based on cooperation.

The Viking period coincided with an agricultural expansion that began around 700 and was characterized by a society consisting mainly of isolated farmsteads living in relative autarky. These farms were surrounded by cultivated land and meadows, and the work in the fields was mainly done by women and slaves, called trälar.

The first church in Sweden was built, marking the beginning of the Christianization of the country by missionaries such as St. Anscharius, who came at the invitation of King Björn. He later became Archbishop of Hamburg.

Olof Skötkonung became the first Christian king of Sweden.

In conjunction with the Viking period, Christianization began in Sweden. The missionaries from Germany and Greece, although supported by the royal authorities, progressed very slowly from the south to the north of Sweden, and pagan beliefs continued to permeate daily life for a long time. It was not until the 11th century that Sweden was truly Christianized, although paganism and ancient Norse mythology continued until the 12th century. Many churches were then built, first in wood, then in stone, hundreds of which can still be seen today.

This period is characterized by a very strong rivalry for secular power between the Sverkers and the Erik, two great dynasties.

Magnus Ladulås (1275-1290) issued a decree that favoured a secular nobility in spite of a society organised on a feudal model.

The Black Death decimates 30% of the population.

The Kalmar Union was enshrined in a treaty that stipulated that Norway, Finland and Sweden were now governed by a single monarch. Thus, all royal power was concentrated in the hands of Queen Margrethe^I of Denmark. However, this union was weakened by numerous conflicts.

Bloodbath in Stockholm. The Danish forces of the Union King, Christian II, invaded Sweden.

Sweden, under King Gustav Vasa, declares its independence and ends the Kalmar Union. Gustav Vasa gradually transformed the country into a modern national state. The property of the Roman Church was confiscated by the state, finances were reorganized, and a national administration based on the German model was established. As the state was strengthened, Lutheran influence became dominant: slowly, the Swedish church separated from Rome to organize itself as a national church, its property was confiscated, and the Protestant reformation was accomplished.

The monarchy becomes hereditary.

Gustav Vasa died and was succeeded by his sons. The main objective of these kings was to increase Sweden's commercial power in the Baltic Sea, and thus control the trade routes to Russia and Poland. During this period, Sweden had several armed conflicts with Denmark.

Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). King Gustav II Adolf intervened on behalf of Protestant Germany. The Swedish armies took over the territories of East Prussia, crossed Germany and reached Bavaria in 1632, where they won the Battle of Lützen. In this battle, King Gustav II Adolf was killed, but he became one of the legendary monarchs of Europe because his intervention in the Thirty Years' War was decisive

Coronation of Christine of Sweden. Her four years of reign will be remembered above all as a scholar who made her court a hotbed of humanism. In 1650, she even invited René Descartes to the Swedish court. An atypical queen, she refused to marry, showed a certain taste for foreign culture and fashions, and undermined the kingdom's finances with her mass ennoblement policies.

Christine of Sweden abdicated for various reasons (weariness, conversion to Catholicism, financial difficulties), and her cousin Charles X Gustavus acceded to the throne.

The Swedish king Charles X Gustavus made a lasting impression by annexing not only Skåne, but also the provinces of Halland and Blekinge and the island of Gotland, which were then Danish possessions. In the same way, when the peace was concluded with Denmark in Roskilde in 1658, the provinces of Bohuslän, Jämtland and Härjedalen, which had been Norwegian, became Swedish.

Sweden was defeated by Denmark, Poland and Russia in the Great Northern War. It lost most of its possessions at that time, except for most of Finland.

After the death of Charles XII in 1718, a true parliamentary revolution took place, peaceful but radical: power was placed in the hands of Parliament, putting an end to royal absolutism. This was the era of freedom. This period was also marked by a great cultural and scientific boom: the invention of the centesimal thermometric scale by the physicist Anders Celsius and the system of plant classification developed by the naturalist Carl von Linné contributed to the country's scientific reputation.

During the Napoleonic Wars, Sweden ceded Finland to Russia. The ensuing discontent led to a revolt by the military and civil servants, which resulted in the exile of Gustav IV Adolf. A new constitution is adopted. In force until 1974, it divides power between the Crown and Parliament.

For strategic reasons, one of Napoleon's marshals was chosen as successor to the crown. Thus, in 1810, the French marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was designated crown prince. He acceded to the throne shortly afterwards and managed to persuade the Danes to accept Pomerania, the last Swedish possession on the European continent, in exchange for Norway.

Sweden, Norway and Denmark adopt a common currency: the krone.

Crisis linked to a drop in prices favoured by competition from American grain farmers. This led to massive emigration to the United States (1.5 million Swedes emigrated between 1850 and 1930).

During the last two decades of the 19th century, the rapid expansion of an industrial working class favoured extra-parliamentary trade union and political organisation. The Social Democratic Party was founded in Stockholm, and fought for universal equal suffrage.

The trade unions founded the General Confederation of Labour in Sweden (L.O., Landsorganisationen).

This period was marked by the emergence of strong popular movements and the labour movement. Swedish industry developed very rapidly during the 20th century, transforming the country into one of Europe's leading industrial nations after the Second World War.

Peaceful dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden

Universal suffrage for men.

During the First World War, Sweden maintained a policy of neutrality towards the belligerents. This was not without difficulty, however, as the ruling classes had close ties with Germany, and Tsarist Russia, which included Finland at the time, worried many Swedes.

The Social Democrats enter the government.

Universal suffrage for women.

Constitutional reform, but also the sharp rise in unemployment, marked the 1920s with great political instability. Between 1920 and 1932, nine governments followed one another, sometimes dominated by the social democrats, sometimes by the liberals and conservatives. However, the policies pursued differed little from one another, and social tensions increased.

An agreement was signed in Saltsjöbaden, which perfectly illustrates what has since been considered the "Swedish model". An agreement with the Agrarian Party allowed the adoption of an anti-crisis program through a policy of major public works, coupled with social measures such as the adoption, in 1938, of the law on two weeks of paid annual leave for all

With the outbreak of the Second World War, Sweden, like the other Nordic countries, adopted a position of neutrality, but this was put to the test in the winter of 1939-40 by the war between Finland and the Soviet Union. When the Nazis occupied Denmark and invaded Norway in April 1940, German pressure to allow the transport of equipment for the attack on Norway through Swedish territory increased to the point that the Swedish government gave in. At the same time, Sweden allowed 7,500 Danish Jews to escape Nazi persecution by taking them in, and helped save tens of thousands of others through the actions of people like Count Folke Bernadotte and Raoul Wallenberg.

Creation of Ikea.

Astrid Lindgren publishes the first Fifi Longstocking book.

The post-war years were the years of reform. The social democratic governments passed social protection laws, in particular concerning the increase in old age pensions and the introduction of family allowances and health insurance. Taxation was revised in a more progressive direction. This was the construction of the Swedish welfare state.

Sweden joins the United Nations.

The old two-chamber Riksdag (Parliament), based on the 1809 constitution, was replaced by a single-chamber Riksdag.

A new constitution reduced the royal powers to purely ceremonial functions. Since then, the Prime Minister, not the King, has been responsible for forming the government and chairing the Council of Ministers. With the exception of the periods from 1976 to 1982 and 1991 to 1994, successive governments have almost always had a social democratic majority.

Assassination of Olof Palme, Social Democratic Prime Minister. While the Prime Minister's domestic policies were in line with those of his Social Democratic predecessors (fighting unemployment by strengthening the role of the welfare state), in the area of foreign policy, Olof Palme did not hesitate to distance himself from the United States by harshly criticizing its intervention in Vietnam and by siding with the emerging countries.

Sweden, together with Finland and Austria, joins the European Union.

Swedish Presidency of the European Union. Overall considered to be effective and positive, especially on issues of EU enlargement.

Popular refusal (by referendum) to adopt the Euro.

The centre-right coalition won the parliamentary elections. It is a real break in the Swedish political landscape. These results put an end to 12 years of social democratic rule. The Social Democratic Party remained the largest party in Sweden but found itself isolated from the coalition. Fredrik Reinfeldt became Prime Minister and managed to unite the various political parties, although his policies, notably massive privatisation to pay off the debt, were far from unanimous.

The government is being challenged over its proposed FRA law, a state-of-the-art wiretapping and electronic surveillance system denounced as an invasion of privacy.

The entry of the far-right Sverigedemokraterna (Sweden Democrats) party into parliament provoked large-scale protests and shockwaves throughout the country; the "Swedish model" had taken a hit.

The tide turned and the Social Democrats came out on top in the European elections in May. Stefan Löfven, a member of the Social Democratic Party, was appointed Prime Minister and formed a minority coalition with the Greens.

December agreement, "Decemberöverenskommelsen". The Prime Minister forms a historic agreement with the six major Alliance parties. The agreement stipulates that for the next eight years the six parties will not vote against a budget proposed by the government, regardless of the outcome of the next election.

Terrorist attack with a ram truck on Drottninggatan, the main pedestrian street in the centre of Stockholm, which killed 5 and injured 14.

At the beginning of September, the political scene was turned upside down in the legislative elections, which resulted in the absence of a majority and a refusal to cooperate. After several months of negotiations, the winning parties finally agreed to form a new government. A "limited collaboration" that allows Stefan Löfven, the Social Democrat, to keep his position as leader supported by the Centre Party (C) and the Liberal Party (L).

On 26 May 2019, the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party comes out on top in the European elections with 23.6% of the vote, ahead of the Moderates (right) and the Sweden Democrats (far right).

The elections sent shock waves through the country and Europe: for the first time, the conservative and moderate right-wing parties formed a coalition with the far right (the Sweden Democrats) to defeat the left-wing bloc. And it worked, albeit just barely, as the right-wing bloc won three more seats in the Riksdag than the left, enabling it to form a government. Ulf Kristersson (the Moderates) was appointed Prime Minister, and the Sweden Democrats became the country's second largest party.

One of the consequences of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, was to put an end to Sweden's historical position of neutrality. As a result, the Parliament quickly ratified the application for NATO membership, which is still opposed by Erdogan's Turkey, which takes a dim view of Sweden's welcome to PKK militants, considered by Turkey and the EU as a terrorist group.