No democratic head of government has held office longer than Tage Erlander.

This article covers the History of Sweden from the end of World War II to the late 1980s. // Main article: Prehistoric Sweden Sweden, as well as the adjacent country Norway, has a high concentration of petroglyphs (ristningar[1] or hällristningar[2] in Swedish) throughout the country, with the highest concentration in the province of Bohuslän. ... // Ice age The pre-history of Sweden begins at the end of the Pleistocene epoch at the beginning of Holocene epoch, following the last ice age, the Weichsel glaciation. ... This article will cover the time following the pre-historic era and partly the Viking Age, and spans from circa 800 AD, when the process of Christianization began, up to 1523, when the king Gustav Vasa was crowned. ... // Gustav Vasa Main article: Gustav Vasa Gusav Vasa Gustav Vasa had political and religious difficulties in his kingdom, established in 1523. ... // Charles IX Main article: Charles IX of Sweden Not till March 6, 1604, after Duke John son of John III of Sweden, had formally renounced his hereditary right to the throne, did Charles IX of Sweden begin to style himself king. ... Sweden between the years 1611 and 1718 is known as the Swedish Empire. ... The period from Charles XIIs death in 1718 to Gustav IIIs coup detat in 1772 is mostly referred to as Frihetstiden (the Age of Liberty), representing a 50 year long experiment with Parliamentarism and increasing Civil Rights. ... // The Enlightened Despot See also: Gustav III of Sweden Adolf Frederick of Sweden died on February 12, 1771. ... Sweden and Norway 1888 The Union between Sweden and Norway refers to the kingdoms of Sweden and Norway between 1814 and 1905, when they were united under one monarch in a personal union, following the Convention of Moss, on August 14, and the Norwegian constitutional revision of November 4. ... // Politics in the New Riksdag See also: Politics of Sweden The economic condition of Sweden, owing to the progress in material prosperity which had taken place in the country as the result of the Franco-Prussian War, was at the accession of Oscar II to the throne on September 18... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The military history of Sweden is very diverse. ... (June 13, 1901, Ransäter, Sweden - June 21, 1985, Huddinge, near Stockholm, Sweden) was a Swedish politician. ... // Main article: Prehistoric Sweden Sweden, as well as the adjacent country Norway, has a high concentration of petroglyphs (ristningar[1] or hällristningar[2] in Swedish) throughout the country, with the highest concentration in the province of Bohuslän. ... Combatants Allied Powers Axis Powers Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000,000 Total dead: 50,000,000 Military dead: 8,000,000 Civilian dead: 4,000,000 Total dead 12,000,000 World War II (abbreviated WWII), or the Second World War, was a worldwide conflict...

Overview

Sweden emerged unharmed by World War II. The Swedish non-alignment policy officially remained - Sweden rejected NATO membership but joined the United Nations and later EFTA. Tage Erlander (s) was Prime Minister from 1946 to 1969 - a period of exceptional economic and social prosperity, and generally low unemployment, but the housing situation posed problems as more and more people moved to the cities. Housing shortage there induced miljonprogrammet (the million program) - a national wave of suburban development with the aim of creating a million homes from 1965 to 1974. This period saw the beginning of large-scale immigration to a country that used to be one of the more ethnically homogeneous in the world. The first phase of immigration consisted of workers from southern Europe, who were actively wooed over by campaigns of advertisement and recruitment in their home countries, for instance Italy & Austria. In the 1970s and 1980s many refugees with families arrived from e.g. Chile, Kurdistan, Vietnam & Somalia, some of them with refugee status, others on the immigration quota. At the same time, the economy was entering less powerfully prosperous times: while Sweden continues to be a thoroughly industrialized nation with many businesses of cutting-edge innovation, especially in telephonics, energy management, chemicals, pharmaceutics & food industry, this growth both in production and complication is not generating a great amount of much new employment in Sweden anymore, and therefore did not swallow the generations who have grown up since 1980. Swedish neutrality refers to Swedens policy of neutrality in armed conflicts, which has been in effect since the early 19th century. ... NATO 2002 Summit in Prague The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation[2] (NATO; French: ; also called the North Atlantic Alliance, the Atlantic Alliance, the Western Alliance, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is a military alliance established by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. ... The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues. ... The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) was established on May 3, 1960 as an alternative for European states that were not allowed or did not wish to join the European Community (now the European Union). ... (June 13, 1901, Ransäter, Sweden - June 21, 1985, Huddinge, near Stockholm, Sweden) was a Swedish politician. ... The Swedish Social Democratic Party (Swedish: Arbetarepartiet-Socialdemokraterna, commonly referred to as Socialdemokraterna; literally, Workers Party the Social Democrats and Social Democrats) is a political party in Sweden. ... Year 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Year 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... An 1837 political cartoon about unemployment in the United States. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Illustration of the backyards of a surburban neighbourhood Suburbs are inhabited districts located either on the outer rim of a city or outside the official limits of a city (the term varies from country to country), or the outer elements of a conurbation. ... Southern Europe is a region of the European continent. ... Kurdistan (literally meaning the land of Kurds[1]; old: Koordistan, Curdistan, Kurdia, also in Kurdish: Kurdewarî) is the name of a geographic and cultural region in the Middle East, inhabited predominantly by the Kurds. ...

On September 3, 1967, Sweden was the last country in continental Europe to introduce right-hand traffic. This was done on Dagen H, in spite of the negative result of a referendum in 1955. September 3 is the 246th day of the year (247th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands and peninsulae. ... The references in this article would be clearer with a different and/or consistent style of citation, footnoting or external linking. ... Dagen H logo Dagen H (H day) was the day, 3 September 1967, on which traffic in Sweden switched from driving on the left-hand side of the road to the right. ... Since the introduction of parliamentarism in Sweden six referendums have been held. ...

Rise of the far left

From the mid-sixties there was a strong wave of radical leftism in Sweden, surfacing in sometimes heavily publicized events like the Båstad riots and the occupation of the student union building at Stockholm University - though never into actual fatalities in street fighting or domestic political terror acts like those in Western Germany and Italy in these years. Stockholm University (Stockholms universitet) is a state university in Stockholm, Sweden. ... West Germany was the informal name for the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1990, during which years the Federal Republic did not yet include East Germany. ...

Solidarity and awareness became watchwords, at first in literary and student circles and in the socialist/syndicalist underground (and in time within many strata of society), then also in the media and the government. By the early seventies, people and government, led by Prime Minister Olof Palme (s), rose in protest against oppression and war in countries as distant as South Africa and Vietnam (at the end of 1972, Palme famously indicted the American shock bombings of Hanoi and compared them to Nazi war crimes such as the destructions of Lidice and Oradour; the USA responded by calling home her ambassador)^{[citation needed]}. The Swedish support for the ANC in and outside of South Africa and FNL and the Hanoi government in the Vietnam war were steady not only in words, popular support and help to enter the diplomatic arena, but also in economic (though not military) state subsidies. After Vietnam was reunited in 1975, for instance, Sweden supported the construction of a modern pulp plant at Bai Bang. Syndicalism is a political and economic ideology which advocates giving control of both industry and government to labor union federations. ... Sven Olof Joachim Palme ( ) (January 30, 1927 – February 28, 1986) was a Swedish politician. ... The Swedish Social Democratic Party (Swedish: Arbetarepartiet-Socialdemokraterna, commonly referred to as Socialdemokraterna; literally, Workers Party the Social Democrats and Social Democrats) is a political party in Sweden. ... Lidice (Liditz in German) is a village in former Czechoslovakia (now in the Czech Republic) which was completely destroyed by the Nazis during World War II. About 340 men, women and children from the village were murdered by the Nazis. ... Oradour is the name or part of the name of several communes in France: Oradour, in the Cantal département Oradour, in the Charente département Oradour-Fanais, in the Charente département Oradour-Saint-Genest, in the Haute-Vienne département the former village of Oradour-sur-Glane, in... For political parties with similar names in other countries, see Northern Rhodesian African National Congress and Zambian African National Congress. ... FNL is an abbreviation which can refer to: Front de Libération Nationale, or National Liberation Front in Algeria The IATA airport code for Fort Collins-Loveland Municipal Airport in Colorado Friday Night Live is a game show featuring housemates of the Big Brother television program. ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000...

In 1973, journalists Jan Guillou and Peter Bratt exposed Informationsbyrån, a secret military intelligence register of communists and other people regarded as dangerous to national security; while the existence of such a thing, and in particular of its implied links to the (s) party structure, was fiercely denied, the question continues to surface in a number of political scandals over the years, until it became the subject of serious historical discussion, a few state-issued retrospective white papers and political recant. Although some details are a bit hazy, this "internal spying" outside of the ordinary state intelligence services, is now considered an established fact. Jan Guillou at the Swedish Book- and Library Convention in Gothenburg, Sweden Jan Oscar Sverre Lucien Henri Guillou (pron. ... InformationsbyrÃ¥n, IB (tr: Information Bureau) was a Swedish intelligence agency within the army. ... Military intelligence (abbreviated MI, int. ... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ... The Swedish Social Democratic Party (Swedish: Arbetarepartiet-Socialdemokraterna, commonly referred to as Socialdemokraterna; literally, Workers Party the Social Democrats and Social Democrats) is a political party in Sweden. ... A white paper is an authoritative report; a government report outlining policy; or a document whose purpose is to educate industry customers or collect leads for a company. ...

The constitution was changed several times during this decade. In 1971 the Riksdag became unicameral. In 1974 the monarch lost all constitutional rights. Sweden is a constitutional monarchy with a representative democracy based on a parliamentary system. ...

Environmentalism and nuclear power

Main article: Nuclear power in Sweden

The 1970s and '80s saw a rise in environmentalism - the ambiguous result of a referendum in 1980 advised government to phase out Swedish nuclear power by the year of 2010. The Chernobyl disaster in 1986 caused considerable radioactive fallout over Sweden. With only the Barsebäck nuclear power plant permanently closed, and ten out of twelve reactors still running (as of 2007), no one regards this schedule as realistic, and in the 2006 elections the liberal (fp) and the (m) party supported not only reversing the decision but building a few fresh nuclear plants. The Green Party was founded in 1981, entered the Riksdag in 1988 and supported Göran Persson's Social Democratic government from 1998 to 2006. Until the 1960s Swedens energy policy focused on hydroelectricity, which was supplemented by nuclear power since 1965. ... The historic Blue Marble photograph, which helped bring environmentalism to the public eye. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Chernobyl reactor 4 after the disaster, showing the extensive damage to the main reactor hall (image center) and turbine building (image lower left) The early stages of construction of the sarcophagus. ... Fallout is the residual radiation hazard from a nuclear explosion and is named from the fact that it falls out of the atmosphere in to which it is spread during the explosion. ... The Barsebäck nuclear power plant is a closed Swedish nuclear power plant situated in Barsebäck, Kävlinge Municipality, SkÃ¥ne. ... The Moderate Coalition Party or Moderata samlingspartiet (commonly referred to as Moderaterna) is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. ... The Green Party (Swedish: , literally Environment Party the Greens, and usually simply referred to in Sweden as Miljöpartiet: the Environment Party) is a green political party in Sweden. ... Hans Göran Persson ( ) (born January 20, 1949), was the thirty-first Prime Minister of Sweden (1996 – 2006). ...

Right-wing intermission

The 1976 parliamentary elections brought a liberal/right-wing coalition to power after almost half a century of social democrat leadership, and Mr Palme gave way to Thorbjörn Fälldin (of the Centre Party, a former farmers/landowners party which had incorporated social liberal ideas as well as the burgeoning environmental debate). Over the next six years, four governments ruled and fell, composed by all or some of the parties that had won in 1976, and the questions of energy and of battling the economic recession came to the fore like never before. The fourth liberal government in these years, again with Fälldin at the helm, seemed somewhat baffled by these problems and had neither the support of a firm majority in the parliament, nor a clear mandate from the non-socialist part of the Swedish electorate. Predictably, it came under fire both from the Social democrat/unions side and from the (m) party, now heading in an increasingly Friedman-inspired and market liberal direction, and it was defeated in the elections of 1982, with Mr. Palme returning to the PM's seat. Nils Olof Thorbjörn Fälldin (born 24 April 1926 in Angermannia, Sweden), Swedish politician. ... The Centre Party (Centerpartiet) is a political party in Sweden. ... The Moderate Coalition Party or Moderata samlingspartiet (commonly referred to as Moderaterna) is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. ... Milton Friedman (July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and public intellectual who made major contributions to the fields of macroeconomics, microeconomics, economic history and statistics while advocating laissez-faire capitalism. ...

During the 1980s there were several incidents of foreign, probably Soviet, submarines violating the Swedish territorial borders. In late 1981 the Soviet submarine U 137 ran ashore inside a restricted zone off the Karlskrona naval base, and became headline news. Though the particular fact was kept secret at the time, nuclear activity, probably from missile warheads was detected on board and reported to PM Fälldin while the vessel was still stuck in the firth. The incident marked a turning-point both in Soviet-Swedish relations and in the discussion in Sweden about defence, the Soviet Union and ultimately the place of Sweden in the arena of the Cold War (see article on Baltic submarine intrusions and submarine hunting in the 1980s. German UC-1 class World War I submarine A model of Günther Priens Unterseeboot 47 (U-47), German WWII Type VII diesel-electric hunter Typhoon class nuclear ballistic missile submarine USS Virginia, a Virginia-class nuclear attack (SSN) submarine A submarine is a specialized watercraft that can operate... U 137 was a Soviet Whiskey class submarine that ran aground only 10 km from Karlskrona, which holds one of the larger naval bases of the Swedish fleet, on the East coast of Sweden on October 27, 1981. ... Karlskrona is a city in south-eastern Sweden. ... Exocet missile in flight A missile (see also pronunciation differences) is a projectile propelled as a weapon at a target. ... For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ...

Memorial plaque of the Olof Palme assassination.

Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (900x470, 81 KB) Originally uploaded to german wikipedia by Benutzer:Stern, with the following description: Gedenktafel in der Sveavägen, Stockholm, 2002 / selbstfotografiert / GNU-Lizenz Schwedische Text: An dieser Stelle wurde Schwedens Premierminister Olof Palme am 28. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (900x470, 81 KB) Originally uploaded to german wikipedia by Benutzer:Stern, with the following description: Gedenktafel in der Sveavägen, Stockholm, 2002 / selbstfotografiert / GNU-Lizenz Schwedische Text: An dieser Stelle wurde Schwedens Premierminister Olof Palme am 28. ... Memorial plate at the place of the assassination. ...

Assassination of Olof Palme

Main article: Assassination of Olof Palme

On February 28, 1986, Prime Minister Olof Palme was murdered as he was walking the streets of Stockholm with his wife. The crime came as an awful shock to most Swedes and is sometimes referred to as a national trauma - an event by which Sweden "lost her innocence”, especially since the assassin remains unidentified to this day (though some would regard the murder as "solved from a police point of view"; the main suspect Christer Pettersson was sentenced but later acquitted). Palme was replaced by his deputy Ingvar Carlsson. 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Memorial plate at the place of the assassination. ... Olof Palme, Lisbet Palme and Fidel Castro in Cuba 1975 Anna Lisbet Christina Palme, maiden name Beck-Friis (born March 14, 1931) was the wife of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme. ... Christer Pettersson (April 23, 1947 - September 29, 2004) was a suspect in the assassination of Olof Palme, the Prime Minister of Sweden. ... Ingvar Carlsson (born 9 November 1934 in BorÃ¥s, Västra Götalands län, Sweden), is a Swedish politician, former Prime Minister of Sweden (Mar 1986–Oct 1991; Oct 1994–Mar 1996) and leader of the Social Democrat Party (Mar 1986–Mar 1996). ...

Culture and mass media

Cultural influence from the United Kingdom and the United States has been obvious since the war. Imported and indigenous subcultures rose, with the rockabilly-inspired raggare and anarchist progg cultures as notable examples. (Before the world wars, Swedish culture was more inspired by Germany). Swedish film and music achieved international fame with names like Ingmar Bergman, Sven Nykvist, Lasse Hallström, Birgit Nilsson, ABBA, Entombed, The Cardigans and Roxette. Currently, Sweden is the only non-English-speaking country in the world with a net export of music. Most Swedes are today proficient in English, a great deal of Swedish-produced popular music has originally English lyrics, and English language branding is very common. In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a set of people with distinct sets of behavior and beliefs that differentiate them from a larger culture of which they are a part. ... Rockabilly is one of the earliest and most important styles of rock n’ roll music to emerge during the 1950s. ... A raggare in his ideal environment, with a beer, on the bonnet of a 1960s car (photo taken during Power Big Meet in 2005). ... Progg ,short for progresiv/progressive, was a left-wing political movement in Sweden that had its roots in the late 1960s, and its golden age in the 1970s. ... Sweden has a long history of folk musics, including polka, schottis, waltz, polska and mazurka. ... Ingmar Bergman   (IPA: in Swedish) (born July 14, 1918) is a Swedish stage and film director who is one of the key film auteurs of the twentieth century. ... Sven Nykvist (born 3 December 1922 in Moheda, Kronobergs län, Sweden) is a Swedish cinematographer known especially for his work with director Ingmar Bergman. ... Lena Olin, Lasse Hallström, and Juliette Binoche at the premiere of Chocolat at the 2001 Berlinale (photo by Michael Weiner) Lars Sven (Lasse) Hallström (born 2 June 1946 in Stockholm) is a Swedish film director. ... Birgit Nilsson Birgit Nilsson (May 17, 1918 – December 25, 2005) was a Swedish soprano who specialized in operatic and symphonic works. ... Abba redirects here. ... Entombed is a Swedish metal band which formed in 1987 (see 1987 in music) under the name of Nihilist. ... The Cardigans are a Swedish band formed in the town of Jönköping in 1992. ... Roxette is a Swedish pop duo, sometimes rock influenced, that consists of Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Foreign branding is an advertising and marketing term describing the implied cachet or superiority of domestic products with a foreign or foreign-sounding name. ...

The sexual revolution, together with sexual content in mass media (notably films 491 and I am curious (yellow), together with the broad entry of women in many lanes of professional life (including the priesthood) in the 1960s and 1970s provoked a moralist counter-movement including the Christian Democratic party, but this trend has had scant political success. While the label "Swedish sin" is no longer quite appropriate, the acceptance and lack of ingrained shame in the face of sexuality is still a striking facet of Swedish attitudes. The sexual revolution refers to a change in sexual morality and sexual behavior throughout the Western world. ... 491 is a Swedish black and white film from 1964, directed by Vilgot Sjöman, based on a novel by Lars Görling. ... I Am Curious (Yellow) is a Swedish film (Jag är nyfiken - en film i gult) of 1967, directed by Vilgot Sjöman and starring Lena Nyman as herself. ... A moralist is a person for whom moral conduct, morality, and the correctness of moral thought are paramount. ... The Christian Democrats (Kristdemokraterna) is a political party in Sweden. ...

Radio and television early became widespread in Sweden, but government struggled to keep the monopoly of licence-funded Sveriges television until the late 1980s, as satellite and cable TV became popular, and the commercial channel TV4 Sweden was permitted to broadcast terrestrially. Sveriges Television (SVT) is a national publicly-funded television broadcaster based in Sweden. ... Satellite television is television delivered by way of orbiting communications satellites located 37,000 km (22,300 miles) above the earths surface. ... Cable television or Community Antenna Television (CATV) (and often shortened to cable) is a system of providing television, FM radio programming and other services to consumers via radio waves transmitted directly to people’s televisions through fixed coaxial cables as opposed to the over-the-air method used in... TV4 AB Logo. ...

See also culture of Sweden. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Sports

Sweden has produced many world famous athletes during this period, among them boxer Ingemar Johansson, alpine skier Ingemar Stenmark, tennis players Björn Borg and Stefan Edberg, ice hockey players Börje Salming, Kent Nilsson, and football player Glenn Hysén. Sweden has hosted several high-profile sports events, for instance equestrian events of the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 1958 FIFA World Cup. Ingemar Johansson (born 22 September 1932 -) was a Swedish heavyweight boxer. ... Ingemar Stenmark (born March 18, 1956 in Joesjö, Storumans kommun) is a Swedish former slalom and giant slalom skier, competing for Fjällvinden Tärnaby. ...   (born June 6, 1956, in Stockholm, Sweden) is a former World No. ... Country: Sweden Residence: Växjö, SWE Height: 187 cm (6 ft 2 in) Weight: 77 kg (170 lb) Plays: Right Turned pro: 1983 Retired: 1996 Highest singles ranking: 1 (Aug 13th, 1990) Singles titles: 42 Career Prize Money: US$20,630,941 Grand Slam Record Titles: 6 Australian Open W... Anders Börje Salming (born April 17, 1951 in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden) was a Swedish professional ice hockey defenseman. ... Kent Nilsson (born August 31, 1956 in Nynashamn, Sweden) is a retired professional ice hockey centre. ... Football (soccer) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Glenn Ingvar Hysén (born October 30, 1959 in Gothenburg, Sweden) was an outstanding defender who played for leading Dutch, Italian and English clubs and won 68 caps for Sweden. ... A young rider at a horse show in Australia. ... The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were held in 1956 in Melbourne, Australia, although the equestrian events could not be held in Australia due to quarantine regulations. ... Qualifying countries The 1958 FIFA World Cup, the sixth staging of the World Cup, was hosted by Sweden from June 8 to June 28. ...

Events in Swedish post-war history

• Norrmalmstorg robbery

The Norrmalmstorg robbery was a bank robbery best known as the origin of the term Stockholm syndrome. ...

Foreign and global events with great impact on Sweden

• Chernobyl disaster
• Dissolution of the Soviet union
• 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake