272 Chapter 3
Outcome (and Settlement): Unclear (None)
Fatalities: None
Narrative: This dispute took place in the midst of the First World War, throughout
which Sweden remained neutral. On October 30, 1914, a Swedish steamer hit a Ger-
man mine in the North Sea and sank. Thirty days later a Swedish steamer was sunk by
a German U-boat. Ultimately, between 1914 and the end of the war in 1918, Sweden
lost a total of 280 merchant ships that were either torpedoed or sunk by mines planted
by Germany.
Coding changes: Start Date changed from October 30, 1914.
MID#1477
Dispute Number: 1477
Date(s): March 2, 1918 to April 25, 1918
Participants: 380 Sweden/255 Germany
Outcome (and Settlement): Yield by side A (Imposed)
Fatalities: None
Narrative: Sweden opted to sit out World War I, though it was involved in a show-
down with Germany regarding the Aland Islands and the independence of and civil
war in Finland. The Aland Islands are a complicated issue in the history of Sweden.
When the Russian Empire detached the Finnish provinces from Sweden in the early
19th century, it took all the outlying islands. The Aland Islands are a group of islands
that are nominally Finnish but overwhelmingly identify as Swedish and identify with
the Swedish state.
On March 3, 1918, the Swedes learned that the Germans had intended to send a
garrison to the Aland Islands as a midway point to Finland. Finland, independent by
this time, asked for German intervention in order to restore order during the Finnish
Civil War and permitted use of the islands. Sweden, arguably the most pro-German
of the neutral countries, protested loudly.
While the specter of a German-controlled Baltic was frightening for the Swedes,
they had little recourse and eventually yielded. The Swedes vacated the Aland Islands
on April 25. A few days later, the Germans saved face for them by announcing that
Germany, Finland, and Sweden were going to start negotiating the destruction of the
fortifications on the islands. Regardless, the Swedes left and Germany’s support of the
“Whites” in the Finnish Civil War proved successful.
Coding changes: Start Date changed from February 24, 1918. End Date changed
from March 25, 1918. Outcome changed from Yield by side A.
MID#3804
Dispute Number: 3804
Date(s): November 1939 to April 21, 1940
Participants: 255 Germany/380 Sweden
Outcome (and Settlement): Unclear (None)
Fatalities: None