Scandinavia and the Great Powers 1890–1940

At the beginning of the twentieth century Scandinavia lay on the margin of European power politics, but with the polarisation of international relations in the era of the two world wars, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden became the point where the spheres of influence of three great powers - Great Britain, Germany and Russia - intersected. In this book, Patrick Salmon uses his extensive research in British, German and Scandinavian archives to examine the position of the Nordic countries in the great-power rivalries and conflicts of the period 1890–1940. However, it does not treat the Nordic countries merely as passive victims. It seeks to show that, despite the disparity in strength between the great powers and the small states of northern Europe, the latter had means of adapting to great-power pressures and even influencing the policies of their formidable neighbours.

Table of Contents:
Preface; List of tables; List of abbreviations; Definitions; Map; Introduction; 1. The end of isolation: Scandinavia and the modern world; 2. Scandinavia in European diplomacy 1899–1914; 3. The war of the future: Scandinavia in the strategic plans of the great powers; 4. Neutrality preserved: Scandinavia and the First World War; 5. The Nordic countries between the wars; 6. Confrontation and co-existence: Scandinavia and the great powers after the First World War; 7. Britain, Germany and the Nordic economies 1916–1936; 8. Power, ideology and markets: Great Britain, Germany and Scandinavia 1933–1939; 9. Scandinavia and the coming of the Second World War; Epilogue; Bibliography; Index.

Review :
"Drawing largely on Scandinavian, German, Russian, and British archival material, Salmon, a diplomatic historian, has produced a thorough, authoritative study, likely to be definitive far into the future....It is eminently readable, well-annotated, and includes an extensive bibliography." Choice "...Salmon has produced a comprehensive and superbly researched study of the relations between Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland on the one hand, and the great powers, mainly Britain, Germany, and Russia, on the other, between 1890 and 1940....It is to be hoped that Salmon will now turn to an equally masterful study of the period after 1940." Foreign Affairs "...the scope of his research is impressive. "...drawing on twenty years of research, his integration of this ers's scholarship fills a historiographical void." John Pederson, Scandinavian Studies "In his Scandinavia and the Great Powers, Patrick Salmon tackles a broad and complex topic with a keen eye. He writes well and poses clear questions and gives many-sided answers. This is a book that has mush to give both to the specialist and the more general reader in the way of insights and conclusions." Pekka Kalevi Hamalainen, Jrnl of Military History "...I would like to emphasize the great value of the book....it takes us a long way towards a truly international history of the Nordic countries in the era of the great disasters. As such, it also sets an example for the writing of the history of the cold war era." Mikael af Malmborg, The International History Review "...a learned and lucid book that will be essential reading for any scholar interested in the relations between the great powers and the Nordic region in the first half of the twentieth century." Thomas Munch-Petersen, American Historical Review "Scandinavian and the Great Powers 1890-1940 can only be characterised as a standard in its field-i.e. the political, economic and military rivalry between the great powers and the Scandinavian countries. It is something as rare as a wide-ranging and sharply formulated syntheises, based on secondary literature and the author's own archive studies of the region's postion in international politics through half a century. The thesis that the Scandinvian countries were capable of influencing the outside world and, if nothing eles, got the best out of the various high-tension situation is documented." H Net Reviews