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 ...
- 96.6k
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 ...
- 107k
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 ...
- 76.9k
14
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 ...
- 5,601
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 ...
- 446
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 ...
- 80k
10
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 ...
- 104k
10
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 ...
- 70.2k
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 ...
- 70.2k
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 ...
- 23.1k
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....
- 5,601
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 ...
- 11k
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 ...
- 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 ...
- 80k
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 ...
- 11k
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 ...
- 10.6k
7
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 ...
- 5,601
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 ...
- 2,036
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 ...
- 5,601
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 ...
- 2,118
6
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 ...
- 5,601
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 ...
- 12.3k
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 ...
- 10.6k
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 ...
- 104k
6
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 ...
- 5,893
5
votes
Accepted
Were the Swedish holdings in northern Germany accepting or resentful of their overlord after the Peace of Westphalia?
Even after the Peace of Westphalia, Swedish rule was well-regarded to the extent that it was regarded at all. The problem was that Swedish rulers exerted very little power in Pomerania, where two-...
- 104k
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 ...
- 104k
5
votes
How and why did Charles XII get to Poltava?
This is a good question, but it looks to me that the present answers disavow the natural complexity of the terrain that had to be navigated as well as Karl XII's (generally anglicised as "Charles&...
- 10.6k
5
votes
Accepted
Why is the motto of the Swedish university Chalmers in French: avancez?
Avancez! was the personal motto of William Chalmers, a member of the Swedish East India Company, who left about half of his personal wealth to supply for a school which eventually became the current ...
- 5,601
5
votes
Why is the motto of the Swedish university Chalmers in French: avancez?
French used to have a status as working language for international institutions, somewhat like English today (or Latin in the past for Catholic Europe). This was the case around the time of the ...
- 7,032
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible