Full Description
Scandinavia has long been lauded for its equality, universal welfare, peacefulness, and untouched nature—not to mention its interior design, crime literature, and love of all things hygge. But the Nordic nations have had their dark periods, too: pandemics, wars and occupations, and expansionism are all essential to understanding the Scandinavian story.
In The Shortest History of Scandinavia, historian Mart Kuldkepp sketches the outlines of the region's rich history, tracing its political and social evolution from its first-known peoples, who followed the retreating ice sheet north during the last Ice Age, to the modern Scandinavians living in countries that are among the happiest in the world today.
Through Scandinavia's many cultural touchstones—tales of Vikings, the Nobel Peace Prizes, and even ABBA—Kuldkepp illuminates the concept of "Nordicness," a hard-to-define quality that has nonetheless steered the region to respond to major challenges, actively shaping its history and exerting a considerable influence on European and global history in the process. As the issues of climate change, democracy, and world peace continue to shift, The Shortest History of Scandinavia is a pertinent, brisk primer on one of the world's most admired regions.
Contents
Preface
What Is Scandinavia?
Prehistorical Scandinavia
The Viking Age
The Rise of Statehood
The High Middle Ages: Centralization and Europeanization
The Late Medieval Crisis and the Kalmar Union
Wars and Politics: 1500s-1600s
The Early Modern Period: Absolutism and Parliamentarianism
Economy, Trade and Colonialism in the 1700s
The Napoleonic Wars and the Swedish-Norwegian Union
Romantic Nationalism, Liberalism and Scandinavianism
Economic and Social Modernization: Late 1800s - Early 1900s
Modern Parliamentarism and the End of the Swedish-Norwegian Union
World War I: Neutrality and Political Renewal
The Interwar Period: Crisis and Recovery
World War II: Resistance and Acquiescence
The Cold War and the Nordic Balance
The Classic Era of the Welfare State
European Integration and Post-Cold War Transition
Political Developments in the 1990s and 2000s
Nordic Cultural Exports and "Scandimania"
Scandinavian Successes and Failures
Acknowledgments
Select Bibliography
Image Credits
Index
