Scandinavia 1936-?
The Beginning
By late 1918 eastern europe was in chaos. Revolutions and civil war in Russia, unrest and riots in Germany, anarchy in Austria-Hungary. Countries, goverments and regimes appeared, waxed and waned within months. Communist experiments popped up everywhere and were crushed as fast as possible. From a small sailor commune on an island near Tallinn to a country wide regime in Hungary. It seemed as if the worst was yet to come, even as the most devastating war in european history had come to an end. The success of Soviet Russia in the civil war and the fear of the red menace hanging over europe, prompted the goverments of Denmark, Norway and Sweden to seek closer ties to oppose the threat of the red tide rising in the east. The seemingly successful communist revolution in Germany, to the south, and the continually expanding and strengthening Soviet Russia, albeit still engaged in a civil war, in the east, pushed the three countries into what had been a dream of many scandinavian nationalists for a long time. The Scandinavian Union.
Formed by the Uppsala treaty signed on the 2nd of February 1919 the three countries of Sweden, Denmark and Norway united under the single flag of Scandinavia. The three countries kept their royal lines, the treaty specifying that each line would reign in turn. The first being Danish, then Swedish and then Norwegian. Thus it was that Christian X would be the first head of state. The monarch was a purely ceremonial figure however, the governing was done by the parliament based in Stockholm.
Meanwhile, in the east, in Finland and in the Baltics, civil war continued. In Finland, the whites were in deep trouble after the german troops had left to help their goverment with putting down the communist revolution, whilst in Estonia the newly created Estonian republic was fighting a desperate battle against the invading red army. TBoth of these countries would have fallen if it weren't for the military help sent from the newly created Scandinavia. On March 20th 1919, with the russians only 25km from Tallinn, the ex-Swedish, now Scandinavian coastal defence ships arrived at Tallinn, bringing a convoy of much needed supplies, volunteers and a huge boost to the morale of the troops fighting at the front. Only a few days later, the rest of the Scandinavian navy arrived at Turku, chasing off the soviet destroyers blockading the port.
It was with the help of Scandinavia that the situation finally stabilized in Finland and Estonia. Soon, an alliance was formed between the two countries, and sharing a similar language and culture, a union was proposed. In November 1919, after pushing out the red army, the two countries united into a union quite similar to Czechoslovakia.
This was not the end of the troubled times however. Although the communist revolution in Germany had failed, the red army had been victorious in russia and were now pushing deep into Poland. They had also set up puppet goverments of both communist Finns and Estonians and had not yet recognized the independence of the unified country. Statements and rhetoric against the Scandinavian Union were also heard from Moscow. In early august 1920 the intelligence services of Finno-Estonian Union discovered that large formations of soviet troops were gathering around Leningrad and near the Estonian border. At the same time, after the victory at the battle of Warsaw over the polish forces, the Soviet goverment issued a declaration what amounted to saying the Scandinavian Union was illegal and that the red army would soon come to liberate the proletariat there.
The growing threat of agression from the east pushed the two unions together. On august 29th the two countries joined together, to form the greater Scandinavian Union. The threat from the east however remained just that, a threat. The Polish army managed to defeat the red army just days after the treaty was signed, in what was later called the Miracle of Lodz. The Soviet goverment, with its military checked, withdrew its statements and quietly disbanded the puppet goverments.
Still, the result was there. A new power had emerged in northern europe, the Scandinavian Union
