Sweden's modern history

This chapter gives an overview of how, over roughly two hundred years, Sweden went from a poor agricultural country to a modern welfare society. In the early 1800s, nearly the whole population, then around 2.5 million people, lived in the countryside, but during the century industries grew and more and more people moved to the cities. Since the country was still poor, more than a million Swedes emigrated to the USA between 1850 and 1920.

The path to democracy is described as a long process. In 1809 Sweden got a new constitution limiting the king's power, and in 1865 voting rights were expanded while the nobility and clergy lost their old influence, even though women and poorer men still lacked the right to vote. Popular movements such as the labour movement, the free-church movement, the women's movement and the temperance movement pushed for demands like voting rights and an eight-hour working day. In 1909 almost all men got the right to vote, in 1918 universal suffrage was decided, and in 1921 the first Riksdag election was held where both women and men could vote, generally counted as the point Sweden became a democracy. During the First World War, 1914 to 1918, Sweden was neutral but still suffered shortages of goods.

The 1920s and 30s brought continued modernisation, but also social conflict, such as when the military shot at demonstrating workers in Ådalen in 1931. In 1938 the Saltsjöbaden Agreement was signed between unions and employers, laying the foundation for the Swedish model, where the parties, not the state, negotiate labour-market conditions. In the same period, Per Albin Hansson, then leader of the Social Democratic Party, formulated the idea of the 'people's home' (folkhemmet) in 1928. The chapter also covers darker sides of the period, such as race-biology research that affected, among others, the Sami, Tornedalians, Jews and Roma, laws that made immigration harder for certain groups, and forced institutionalisation of people seen as not fitting in. During the Second World War, 1939 to 1945, Sweden was formally neutral but allowed German troop transit; toward the end of the war Sweden nonetheless helped Jews, including taking in around 7,000 Danish Jews, through Raoul Wallenberg's protective passports, and through the Red Cross's white-bus rescue operation.

The period 1945 to 1976, with the Social Democrats in power, is called the record years and brought strong economic growth, a 40-hour work week, five weeks of holiday, and expanded welfare. Sweden then became a country of immigration, including labour migration from Finland, Greece, Yugoslavia and Turkey, and the Million Programme built a million homes during the 1960s. From the mid-1970s Sweden changed into an information and knowledge society, with economic crisis, increased international competition, and in 1976 Sweden's first non-Social-Democratic government in a long time. From the 1990s society was shaped by the digital revolution, increased refugee immigration, and continued debate about segregation and integration, while individual rights, for example for children, minorities and LGBTQI people, were strengthened. The chapter contains many dates and names, such as 1921, 1938 and Raoul Wallenberg, which makes it likely the test asks about exactly these milestones.