Scandinavian internationalist networks, the First World War and the political reorganisation of Europe 1914-20

The dominant historical narrative of Scandinavia and the First World War emphasises the neutral and detached position of the Scandinavian states in relation to Europe. During the war as well as in relation to the creation of the League of Nations, the Scandinavian states have been cast as detached, secondary actors concerned primarily with safeguarding their positions as neutrals.

This paper aims to challenge and transcend this interpretation. It will show how the First World War also became a catalyst for integrating Scandinavian policy elites more closely with international political discourse and the new foreign policy making environments of continental Europe. By softening the state-centred and security-policy oriented approach of much existing research, the paper will show how the war, and discussions of peace after the war, fostered a new, open transnational field of foreign policy making across the three Scandinavian countries as peace activists, parliamentarians, members of government and civil servants acted together – and in close cooperation with similar environments in other small neutral countries – to develop a coherent position in relation to the emerging European political order after the war.