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31 votes

Why was no Nobel Prize for Literature awarded in 1935?

At the time, Henry Suzzallo's National Encyclopedia claimed that: The Swedish Academy decided not to award the Nobel Prize in Literature this year, declaring that no single person in the field of ...
Semaphore's user avatar
  • 97.4k
29 votes

Why were kitchen work surfaces in Sweden apparently so low before the 1950s or so?

Why were apparently kitchens so low in Sweden before the 1950s or so? This may be the same thing everywhere else as well. It's just that I have only heard it in Swedish context. Before the ...
Mark Johnson's user avatar
  • 9,504
27 votes

Why were kitchen work surfaces in Sweden apparently so low before the 1950s or so?

Three thoughts: I doubt that people somehow suddenly got significantly taller in Sweden in the first half of the 20th century. As a comment already points out, people did get substantially taller. ...
cbeleites unhappy with SX's user avatar
25 votes
Accepted

Where can I find information on a Polish castle dismantled by Sweden?

This story almost certainly relates to the invasion of Poland (1655-60) by the Swedes and their allies during the reign of the Swedish king Charles X, but it has been considerably embellished in that ...
Lars Bosteen's user avatar
19 votes
Accepted

What is the origin of the American stereotypes about Swedish women?

Swedish liberal attitudes developed during the post World War 2 era (remember that Sweden had been neutral, and had not suffered nearly as much during the war as many other European countries). As ...
sempaiscuba's user avatar
  • 77.3k
19 votes
Accepted

Who was Christophorus Uveida?

[I would like to thank @CarlosMartin for the helpful link to Christianson's book which I am referencing below]. The last name of the printer is written with a true double-U, so is actually Weida in ...
njuffa's user avatar
  • 2,171
15 votes
Accepted

What did Sweden do with all the wrong-sided steering wheels after Högertrafikomläggningen?

Most cars actually had left-side steering even before the switch. Most imported cars were from countries with left-side steering. Cars made in Sweden kept this, as people were used to it, and it ...
andejons's user avatar
  • 5,671
13 votes

When did “Duck, Duck, Goose“ migrate from Sweden to America?

A search of the Hathi Trust database turns up instances of the game under that name going back at least to 1922. From anonymous, "Springfield, Illinois, Course of Study with Suggestive Method for ...
Sven Yargs's user avatar
11 votes
Accepted

Why did Sweden and Norway become the vassals of Denmark?

The reason goes back to Queen Margrethe I of Denmark. (She is to the current queen, Margrethe II, what Elizabeth I of England was to Elizabeth II). Margrethe was the Queen Consort of King Haakon of ...
Tom Au's user avatar
  • 104k
11 votes

Did the Russian Empire have a claim to Sweden? Was there ever a time where they could have pursued it?

Absolutely not. Through the entire 17th century and most of the 18th Sweden was the dominant military power across the Baltic Sea, a significantly stronger military power than Russia. Not until the ...
Pieter Geerkens's user avatar
11 votes
Accepted

How realistic is the food consumption in Astrid Lindgrens 'Emil of Lönneberga' books?

There are several aspects to observe: The narrated timeframe We have a fictional account of which the author claimed to have based it on her own childhood and that of her father. It is thus already ...
LаngLаngС's user avatar
  • 80.8k
10 votes

In Scandinavia, was there a cultural continuity from Goths to Vikings or were they two different groups of people?

First of all, you have confused the Vikings (seaborne warriors) with the Rus, the Scandinavians who according to chroniclers founded Russia (hence the name); I'm not sure if this idea finds favour ...
andejons's user avatar
  • 5,671
10 votes

Did they really have individual telephone wires going from a central tower to each customer in Sweden in the late 1800s?

Absolutely - and dedicated point-to-point wiring remained state-of-the-art technology for telephony right into the 1960's, as in the 1960 photograph below of a telephone exchange switchboard: As the ...
Pieter Geerkens's user avatar
9 votes

Was the Great Freeze of 1709 predicted?

Per the wikipedia page I edited into your answer, the causes were unknown, and it is still inexplicable using modern climate models, so even if someone had predicted it it would not have been based on ...
Denis de Bernardy's user avatar
9 votes

Did the Russian Empire have a claim to Sweden? Was there ever a time where they could have pursued it?

Yes, they did put a Holstein-Gottorp on the throne. But that didn't really help relations very much. Following the disaster of the Great Northern War, Russia was the dominant power in Northern Europe....
andejons's user avatar
  • 5,671
9 votes

Did the Soviet Union's successful northern campaign have an impact on Swedish iron ore shipments to Germany?

Indirectly Historically, Sweden ended trade with Germany in November 1944. That is a bit late in the war, and Allies pressured them to do something much earlier, but there was always a threat of ...
rs.29's user avatar
  • 11.2k
8 votes

What is the origin of the American stereotypes about Swedish women?

There are a couple of reasons. The main ones are lack of a double standard, and the fact that Sweden had its "1960s" about ten years earlier. The lack of a double standard explains the stereotype of ...
Tom Au's user avatar
  • 104k
8 votes

Why was no Nobel Prize for Literature awarded in 1935?

As it is so often the case, an official reason given might not be the real reason for why something happened. In the case of the Nobel committee of that era, it is indeed the quasi official word that ...
LаngLаngС's user avatar
  • 80.8k
8 votes
Accepted

How did the Swedes integrate Geats, Danes, Walloons, Finns & others?

Wrong premises lead to wrong conclusions First about Croatia - it did not exist as an independent country until 1991. Until 1918 it was part of the Habsburg Monarchy, later Austria-Hungary. After WW1 ...
rs.29's user avatar
  • 11.2k
7 votes

Was the Great Freeze of 1709 predicted?

I support @DenisdeBernardy's answer but I hope I can provide some additional helpful notes. Firstly, a forecast in the modern sense could not have been made before starting to think about meteorology ...
gktscrk's user avatar
  • 10.8k
7 votes
Accepted

Through what developments did Sweden end up in war in northern Africa in early 1800's?

This is a difficult topic to find good sources for, because this war is largely forgotten in Sweden. It was not a very dignified affair, and was overshadowed by the catastrophic defeat in the Finnish ...
andejons's user avatar
  • 5,671
7 votes

During WW2, how dependent on Swedish Ball Bearings was Britain?

They were obviously important enough to call for the implementation of Operation Bridford. According to that source "This operation resulted from the fact that the UK was to a degree dependent on ...
liftarn's user avatar
  • 2,066
7 votes

Why did Sweden and Norway become the vassals of Denmark?

Tom Au's answer above is mostly correct with regards to Norway; Albrecht actually had a formally stronger claim to the Norwegian throne, but was set aside since Margrete was so effective. As for ...
andejons's user avatar
  • 5,671
7 votes

Did Gustavus Adolphus ever speak of making himself Emperor?

Actually papal consent was no longer required. On July 16, 1338, six of the seven electors met at Rhense and declared that election by a majority of electors was enough to make someone King of the ...
MAGolding's user avatar
  • 2,172
7 votes

Why were the Scandinavians not as expansive as other Europeans in global colonization?

Short Answer: There was a sum of factors: War Weather Population Willingness Long Answer: Population, as highlighted in the comments, is part of the answer. But only a part, because the Netherlands ...
totalMongot's user avatar
  • 6,476
6 votes
Accepted

How dependent was Nazi Germany on iron ore from Sweden?

The Plan R 4 article lists the following source: Ziemke, Earl F. (2000) [1960]. "Chapter 2, The German Decision to Invade Norway and Denmark"., Command Decisions, United States Army Center of ...
DevSolar's user avatar
  • 13.4k
6 votes
Accepted

How did the Swedish army deal with prisoners of war in the Thirty Years War?

Some aspects of the below were specific to Sweden while others common to most belligerents in the war. Where possible, I used Swedish examples as that was the OP's topic of interest. Changes during ...
gktscrk's user avatar
  • 10.8k
6 votes

Why did Sweden not fortify Swedish Livonia along its eastern frontier, including the approaches to Riga?

The apparent cause was Sweden's transition into the Swedish Empire or "Great Power" phase beginning in 1611, during which Sweden shifted from a defensive to offensive posture, one that was not ...
Tom Au's user avatar
  • 104k
6 votes

Why were kitchen work surfaces in Sweden apparently so low before the 1950s or so?

The discovery that people work best at a waist-high workspace was one of the discoveries of efficiency experts working in factories in the late 19th century. It was brought to the kitchen by Christine ...
Mary's user avatar
  • 2,077
5 votes

Why did the Swedish colonies in America and Africa fail?

The failure of Swedish colonies such as New Sweden was due to the fact that they were trading posts, rather than true settlements or colonies. New Sweden was attacked by the Dutch, and barely ...
Tom Au's user avatar
  • 104k

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