@David Olsson Not to mention having open communist party in the politics (although they removed the "Communist" part of their name in 1992 or so after the Sovietunion fell LOL
My teacher once went to vietnam, but accidentally overstayed his visa, and people became SUPER nice to him once they found out he was from sweden. and there were no problems renewing the visa.
@@philipweber9545 I'm surprised you aren't doing the history of how Mohammed broke his treaty with Mecca and took the city, you know relevant stuff for the modern Sweden. 🤣
As a Vietnamese, I confirm this. Our state media (VTV1) still broadcast documentary films on how much Sweden and Soviet Union helped us during the war. Sweden helped former North Vietnam build hospitals, schools, factories. Vietnamese adults who live through the war are still grateful for Sweden's assistance.
What utter garbage! I went on a 4 week tour through Vietnam 4 years ago and ONLY a few people (all of them in the north btw) support this narrative. In the south of Vietnam people still today are befuddled that Sweden was so pro communist. I’m Swedish myself so I actually really tried to get an understanding of how us Swedes had been seen for our involvement during the war! As a Swede I was ashamed of how my socialist regime handled stuff.
I was given free snacks along my beer when i was visiting neighboring Laos a few years ago.. I asked the barmaid why, and she told me it was because Sweden had built i library in her home town, and thanks to that she had learned English, and was able to work in the far more lucrative tourist sector.
Tôi vẫn nhớ nhà vệ sinh và nước sạch trong nhà tôi được các bạn tài trợ. Cảm ơn h tôi có 1 căn nhà cho thuê tại Hà Nội. Tôi Sẽ luôn giảm giá cho người Thụy Điển
SC...I take you are American with freedom of speech and politics. Well Sweden has neither. Or they have rigged elections (like any socialist country) and no voice or media for opposition. Thats no freedom.
Sweden to USSR: You suck. Sweden to USA: You suck. Sweden to Denmark: You suck. Sweden to Vietkong: You rock. Sweden to Norway: You're on thin fucking ice.
@@scubasteve4152 first of all i am Swedish and i just wannted people who is not from Sweden to Belive that we really hate Denmark and Norway and of your Swedish you should now that we have a really good politca realitonship
mrwilkumen China (who wants to forcefully conquer Taiwan and deprive Hong Kong and Macau of their liberties) and Russia(who annexed Crimea and wants to take over parts of Eastern Ukraine): are we a joke to you?
On behalf of Vietnamese people, I want to express our deep appreciation to Swedes people. Sweden helped us a lot during our hardest time, we would never forget this.
Thank you my friend, im proud that my country helped the Vietnamese and love your culture. But I still think vietnams political situation need to change.
Superpowers - no matter the original political ideology - act terrifyingly similar. For example during the 1920's when the newborn Soviet Union fought against Mongolian anti-socialists, the country leader accused the Russians of "Red Imperialism"... while the USSR was equivocally against "Western Imperialism". The actions was basically the same; military action in a foreign nation for political influence. All superpowers have secret police, media censorship to atleast some extent and mass surveillance based on the technology at their disposal whenever possible. CPR, USSR, USA. Capitalist or not; they are very similar in these regards because of their size. I would pick US any day out of these three but there is definetly a point to the previous discussion as well. You find better moral fidelity in smaller countries with good well-round societies with better social cohesion like Sweden or Finland - the latter of which had a defensive victory against one of the "big three" because of this resolve.
@Абдульзефир It was a defeat for the Finns yes but a Pyrrhic victory for the Soviets none the less. Finns lost 32 tanks while Soviets lost 1800-3000 on that front. There is no one world where I would consider that nothing more than a Pyrrhiv Victory for the Soviets. But I wouldn't personally say China's model is the best considering their social credit system and the mass surveillance linked to that. Meaningful cultural influence and products require liberal culturopshere to cultivate. That isn't possible in China which the leaders very much admit to. And the only solution is more liberal reforms.
@Абдульзефир Social credit system is not a myth. It is something which the Chinese goverment officially takes pride in. Why would they take pride in something that doesn't exist? Most of the signficant scientific and industrial products were created in 1800s - 1900s in economically liberal countries like Britain and France. Britain first drove ahead in industriliazation by accumulating new inventions and being open to them while France lacked behind. Germany drove ahead of them in 1880-1917 because they were open to more new ideas (chemical and electrical industries) when the Brits were stuck in their old ways (coal and steel industries). Monarchies with established believe system based on nepotism waged war againsy meritocratic forms of governing in the napoleonic wars and beyond. Most of the times the fall of established monarchies and Empires in Europe represented an opportunity for different people to invent and develope (Ottomans, Austria-Hungary). They were not the peak performance of human technological function. The Chinese with their ethnosentrist monarchist system were crushed in two Opium Wars by the shameless Brits. And it wasn't exactly a monarchy they could thank for coming out strong as a middle range economical country in the 2000's. And I can assure you the West doesn't have a religious mindset. The Nordics and Germany for example are extremely secular.
Palme didn’t support North Vietnam politically. He did it beacuse he was a long-time speaker of world peace. In 1968 he criticized the Soviet union for invading Czechoslovakia for example In an interview with Olof Palme he stated, this was not anti-soviet, it was only to declare a small nations rights to exist.
After the war Sweden aided rebuilding the country and many politicians visited Vietnam. On one occasion they asked if there was anything they needed especially and the vietnamese said "Well, we could use a fertilizer plant". The politicians said sure and went home where they promptly were ripped a new one by the military experts. Apparently is a fertilizer plant and an explosives factory pretty much the same :-) So they got a paper mill , Bai Bang, instead as a consolation prize. Guess its hard to weaponize a paper mill.
My hometown has 1 Vietnam - Sweden friendship hospital. it still exists today and is among the top in the province. 25km from my house. Thank you to the Swedish government and people for helping us in the past. sorry my english
@@MrAnimason I don't think so. There's two reasons for this: 1/ While SKorea and Taiwan actually used US aids to build their internal strength (look at the history of Korean 'chaebols'), SVietnam is a corrupted shitshow. What many people forgot about the war is the Vietcong (Southern communists that fought alongside North Vietnam's NVA). Many people join or secretly help the Vietcong basically not because they totally support the communist ideology, but because of the deeply corrupted South Vietnam gvt 2/ I don't think that Vietnamese like having their politics controlled by a certain degree like what the Americans are doing in South Korea. They are pretty nationalistic I must say. They may not like communist, but they hate being dependent more.
There were in fact very few countries in the west who did not support the North. No civilised country could condone the atrocities perpetuated on the Vietnamese people.
False. Australia supported S-Vietnam. The UK preferred it too, but refrained from militarily intervening directly, as the war was seen to be unwinnable without annexing the north (which would've resulted in war with China II: Indochinese bogaloo)
Because most of the Western countries aren’t into supporting brutal and oppressive communist regimes, that’s why. Your country should remain under permanent sanction until Vietnam holds free and fair elections.
@@jimtaylor294 What nonsense . Australia and NZ are two countries they are not the majority. Furthermore the average Aussie deplored their involvement. The UK had never supported the war not because of China but because it was simply unjust. The US were colonialists like the French with greater military might whose objective was to steal Vietnamese land and deprive the people of their freedom. The couldn't get it into their heads that they were foreign invaders and the Vietnamese people wanted them out.
^ Spare me the over-generalization and projection masked with word salad. Vietnam was only different to Korea, in that: 1. It coincided with unprecidently heavy media coverage. 2. It coincided with a generation of drugged up debauchery, hedonism and pacifism at home (which's cast a very long shadow, and still is) 3. The US and SVA not being willing to cross the boundary and risk widening another war, whilst the enemy was. (the NVA for instance routinely violated Laos's territory) North-Vietnam was the primary aggressor in the war. Supporting the South was a natural decision for NATO powers, and the mass exodus from said country when all was lost proved all too clearly that the people of the South DIDN'T want to be ruled by the totalitarian north. N-Vietnam also went through periods of "re-educating" / liquidating those whom couldn't flee, and even moderate factions who'd supported the north, once they won the war. Sweden helped [albeit not militarily] a communist dictatorship to oppress even more people. It's literally as simple as that.
@@crankyrack9001 oh, he got the furniture alright. It was having to assemble it with only the dinky allen-key they sent with it that drove him over the edge 😂
Honestly most evidence today points towards South Africa and his vocal opposition to the apartheid government there. This dude was calling out powerful oppressors left and right.
I think it's important to point out that Palme didn't compare the bombing of Hanoi to just the holocaust. He mentioned places whose name has become the name of an atrocity, where Auschwitz is one of them and then said Hanoi would be the latest
I don't remember this, but then I don't remember learning much about the Vietnam War in school to begin with, though it does track with the general sentiments of Europe at the time, and Sweden in particular has for a long time been looking down our noses at other countries waging wars of aggression.
Great video. I'd never looked into it, but in the opening scene of Coming Home (1978), one of the disabled veterans says that if he could go back in time, he would have gone to Sweden. Now I know what he meant!
Anti imperialism? Didn’t North Vietnam try to forcefully conquer South Vietnam, a nation which didn’t want to be conquered? Sounds imperialistic to me.
Palme was worlds biggest weapons dealers. His marvellous front was acting peace politician. Anybody saying Palme was for peace has no idea how he pushed Swedish guns to world markets. (Good guns btw)
1:38 More specifically, Palme compared the december 1972 bombings of Hanoi (in which 1600+ civilians were killed) with multiple autrocities committed by Nazi Germany, saying: "These events can often be connected to names - Guernica, Oradour, Babij Jar, Katyn, Lidice, Sharpeville, Treblinka. Here, violence has triumphed. But judgement has later fallen upon those responsible. Now, another name can be added to the list."
@@PParklind The fact that soviets commited massacre in Katyń was only oficially said in 1990 by Gorbachev. Before that USSR was saying everytime that nazis did it. No idea if Palme knew (because there were "speculations" about it being soviets, not nazis), he might have just thought nazis actually did it.
@@Zysku23456 It is a valid question, but I think it was well known by anyone who wanted to know, at least in the west, that the Soviets were responsible for Katyn already in 1943 through the Polish government-in-exile. It was publicly acknowledged by western governments after the war (e.g. the Madden committee 1951). It certainly wasn't a secret in Sweden at that time, even if pro-Soviet communists and a few far-left intellectuals may have refused to acknowledge it. Retorically it makes sense he would have included a Soviet massacre (as well as the South African). Palme frequently critizised the Soviet Union and European communist regimes (calling them "cattle of dictatorship" and such).
@@gluffoful He was a politician that took his job seriously. He had no problems with pointing the finger at goverments doing un democratic things and starting wars. That made him lots of enemies but also him respect from people all over the world. He dared to speak up and take a stand.
Up to a point. The more medical assistance you send, the less they have to spend on medics themselves, which means more money and other resources can be put into the war effort.
@@nc6379 am very intrigued to where u found this fact, please tell me , and if true, please tell me what the conditions of the weapons were. if they were to defend hospitals or to be used in battlefields.
Doing the right thing in helping a Chinese-backed North Vietnam take over South Vietnam against their will and imprison, torture, and murder all their southern neighbors who opposed?
@Joe exactly, everyone online seems to ignore the fact that the North threw the first punch against South Vietnam and the US backed the South's right to exist as its own country.
@@thetayz72 Wrong. The North and South were supposed to unify via election as agreed in the Treaty of Paris. The US went back on it when they realized the North might win.
@@rick7424 Oh I see, you're going off the version of history where the North Vietnamese didn't massacre South Vietnamese villagers and the South Vietnamese weren't so desperate for US assistance that they were clinging to the wheels of the departing cargo planes and they didn't commit themselves to the sea in a vast flotilla of boats to escape mass murder by Northern Communist agents, so there never were Vietnamese boat people.
Because the next year there was a 'peace agreement' thanks to those bombing campaigns. Nixon's role in ending that war was lost under the political scandles back home but had LBJ done that in 1968 alot of lives on both sides would have been saved.
Palme actually said in a famous rally: "Because of the US ambassador leaving, the opposition leader is requiring my resignation. I don't find that odd, that is their job. He should consider though, that the ambassador has returned. So what I propose is that we build a guard box on the airport so that he can watch the ambassadors as the come and go!
@@fortusvictus8297 LBJ was trying to end the war until Nixon’s team scuttled a deal on the eve of the ‘68 election. It was essentially the same deal Kissinger and Thieu agreed on 5 years later 🤷🏻♂️
Fun fact: During the Nigerian Civil War of the late 60s, Britain and the Soviet Union were the main supporters of the Nigerian government against the secessionist Biafra region, while the Biafrans were supported by the French and later the Israelis, and to an extent even Czechoslovakia until the Soviets overthrew their reformist government in 1968. The US was officially neutral but leaned towards the Nigerian government.
Polish WW2 flying ace, Jan Zumbach, wrote about that conflict in his autobiography. He was responsible for creating and organizing Biafran air force (didn't go so well). I believe there was a passage in the book about how he was intercepted by Swedish fighters while on mission above Nigeria.
As a Dane, I am legally obliged to disagree with the Swedes on everything, at any time... but in this case, I think I'll just silently give them a slow clap. This is what it means to hold true to your convictions and beliefs, regardless of where they may lead.
@Ron Lewenberg While we (Denmark) is in NATO, I don't think your argument works because Sweden is neutral, so they DON'T operate under any "nuclear umbrella". That is, unless the swedes have made their own nukes while I wasn't looking.
Ron Lewenberg Now that's interesting, because the comment you just responded to, was my first comment here mate. Do you think I'm Christian Thøgersen? As for Sweden's possible allies. Not sure the US would feel committed to assist other NATO allies in an assault on the USSR (or Russia) because of any third country allies. Hell, with Trump even NATO countries didn't have that assurance (apparently, the orange pillock had convinced himself that NATO was some sort of mob protection racket, in which countries paid the US to protect them. Short version, it isn't. Taking Denmark as an example, if we expanded our defence budget to 2% of GNP which we are currently working up to, only the puchase of our new F-35 would go into the US purse. Other than that, we use German tanks, Swiss APCs, Canadian rifles and British uniforms, so where yanks get the idea that we need to pay the US, I've no idea).
Ron Lewenberg Thing is, he didn't. Obama did. All Trump did was accelerate EU negotiations about a possible EU army (something Sweden might become a member of, given their EU membership), should the NATO project possibly go titsup because of a moron like Trump.
@@ShadowFalcon First, all Obama did was talk. His talk resulted in no action. Trump action, while maybe not intentional, did get the Europe to slightly increase their spending. Second, Germany isn't thrilled about it. Macron has been pushing for it but didn't gain significant traction. Lastly, Sweden won't increase their spending right now, why would they increase spending later?
One crucial fact that never seems to be mentioned in western history is that S. Vietnam wasn't even a real country. After the defeat of France, it was stipulated at the Geneva conference (which to be fair, the US did not sign) that the country was to be *temporarily* split for two years to allow the orderly withdrawal of Colonial forces after which there was to be a Vietnam wide election to decide on the government of an independent unified Vietnam. As Pres.Eisenhower himself later admitted in his memoirs "we couldn't allow the election to go ahead as intelligence indicated that Ho Chi Min would win 90% of the vote." So he had the CIA under a certain agent named Edward Lansdale arrange a rigged referendum and create an artificial puppet country installing a puppet generalissimo (Ngo Dinh Diem) as its head and reneged on the promised Vietnam-wide elections. That's right, the self-proclaimed champion of democracy and self-determination worked actively to prevent a country from having an election and do just that. S. Vietnam was less legit than (Japanese puppet state) Manchukuo - at least that one was ceded via treaty, this was basically created out of thin air in the face of a treaty that says otherwise. It's one of the major reasons that the US could never win the "hearts and minds" war in Vietnam even in the South and why most of the non-aligned world (which presumably includes Sweden) viewed this a war (unlike Korea) as one of naked aggression on the part of the US and why many allies (e.g. the UK, which participated in Korea and the Gulf) categorically refused to have anything to do with the Vietnam war.
Very interesting how people say it wasn’t imperialism from the USA’s side when the population of the southern part of vietnam would have definitely chosen ho chi minh as their leader. Veeeery interesting...
President Diem was the lawful leader of South Vietnam no matter how he is smeared in history books. If a "democratic vote" (assuming that it could be held fairly at all, which is very rare in a post-colonial nation) would have led to a communist dictatorship then it's probably a good idea to reconsider the ideal of democracy.
@@Zorro9129 So what you're saying is it's totally fine for Diem to not have held the election, then also fine to falsify his own election (in some areas more people voted for him than lived in the area!), as long as it doesn't lead to Communism? Or your point is just that democracy is actually pretty crap?
@@namvu2362 Either. When your country is overrun with guerrillas who have no qualms about deceiving, harassing, or coercing local populations into getting themselves into power, then peacetime ideals of democracy are very naïve.
Fun Fact: this actually impacted what the US used in terms of weaponry regarding special forces. A lot of unconventional forces were using and very fond of the Carl Gustaf M/45 submachine gun, better known here in the US as the “Swedish K.” Because of Sweden cutting diplomatic ties, the US created their own version of the gun: the Smith and Wesson M/76.
No, the m/76 was due to the export ban. The really fun fact is that the Swedish and American armed forces still kept close cooperation, unfazed by whatever fuss the politrickians got themselves into.
@@johanmetreus1268 Yes and as long as I know, the export ban was because US special forces used M/45 frequently during their operations in Cambodia, because it didn't use NATO ammunition and made less traces of their presence.
As an American (who also happens to be of Swedish descent), I have the highest respect for Palme because - not despite, but BECAUSE - he told our government to shove it when we needed to be told it the most.
Americans love to boast about their European ancestry except for when they cry about how better their country is. This is despite them being worse off in veritably every humanistic metric
In a parallel universe where things got out of hand in Vietnam, an American helicopter and a Swedish helicopter both flying straight at each other at full speed, both blasting "Ride of the Valkyries" at max volume
Bruh, first time knowing this as a Vietnamese. Still, it is nice to learn something new every day :D Edit: Since many people are asking, to be clear here I'm a Vietnamese who is studying in Canada, which is why I chose the flag as my avatar :)
@@sethrepp7268 the us objective was not to let Saigon to fall into communism, Saigon is now called ho chi min city Just accept that you lost the fucking war, us Australians acknowledged our defeat since we left in 1970
This is one of the reasons I love Sweden, it had a great PM that was indeed an actual pacifist, or well...Perhaps not exactly so, if you want to argue about it, but you simply can't argue that he had his own ideas and he followed them through. He had the option to be the pup of one dictatorial nation or another, he just said, I'll be on my own. He helped out Vietnam, specifically the Vietcong, but not by giving weapons or soldiers, instead it's by giving medics and teaching them how to practice medicine. Olof Palme could have easily been a staunch conservative and yet he'd give the very same treatment he gave to the Vietcong, no problem! It's no surprise the Vietnamese have respect for the Swedish and I hope the feeling is mutual, this is something where, if a leader wants to intervene, he should pick Olof Palme's example!
The issue with the Vietnam War is everyone involved was an idiot. Including the Vietnamese and Swedish. That’s because the North fought to be a vassal under Russia, the south was fighting to essentially be a western asset, while the general public picked up guns to be insurgents because they were sick of outsiders getting involved with their country and ultimately led the Americans to pull out. So anyone getting involved is bound to political and diplomatic backlash regardless of the result especially considering it was a losing battle that turned the tropics into a literal hell on earth. Only an idiot would dip their fingers in that.
@Leo Walzim 2 Många invandrare som kommit på de senare åren har väl åkt igenom Europa? Vietnameser kom troligtvis inte hit på samma sätt tänker jag. Har haft två Vietnameser i mina skolklasser, inte så många men inte helt ovanligt.
What, where? I have seen one in my whole life. Need to know where I can get me some of that food. :) (Will admit I havnt actually been looking for them.)
As an Vietnamese, I never heard that Sweden had support us. And if I remember correctly they also build some factory and hopistal for us after the war.
Who care about free elections ? People when they have to do their vote they didn't do it because they don't care. Sometimes, one man can vote for the whole family or friend because they are too lazy to vote. I accept the fact that we have no free election but we are still doing okay, the economies is growing and I live happily now. We have the cheap Internet, access to Internet freely, good food and anything. The only different is the political, but who care about that when the economies is growing and the Communist party is doing great.
@@nhienhoang8898 it is good that vietnam has improved after the war and hopefully keeps improving in the future. Hope the rest of the world can follow suit
Sweden is that kid in the class who always go against the footballer bully to give voice to those who are bullied. Salute Sweden! love from the Philippines!
@@firetecstudios1146 Regardless the war would've happened either way, at the very least a coup d'etat. Socialist and communist movements during the times had a tendencey towards being invaded or have their leaders overthrown by the USA.
@@firetecstudios1146 south vietnam was literally a puppet regime fabricated by the us and france in the wake of vietnamese victory against the french colonial government. north vietnam had broad popular support from the vietnamese people and was the only legitimate government out of the two of them
@@firetecstudios1146 The people of Vietnam did not recognize "North" and "South" as different countries. Both sides wanted to unify the country, it was seen as a civil war. Saying that an invasion would be unjustified in the case of a civil war is like saying the USA shouldn't have invaded the CSA. Same thing with the Korean War.
There was a Swedish village in North Vietnam, near one of the factory they built. Swedish scientists and engineers lived there with their family. There were vintage photos of the Swedes dancing and drinking at a campfire in North Vietnam. What a time!
@@SurfingZerg uh...missing the part where south Vietnam did the offensive part into north Vietnam Oh wait, north Vietnam committed a war of aggression, so you tell me how that’s A not a War Crime and B how they’re supposed to be punished regardless? Do you try appeasing them like Germany? Certainly hope not
Sweden is also neutral in the Korean War, and actively inspect military installations of both sides to ensure the cease fire terms and DMZ demarcation lines were respected.
Sweden could never get access to station troops in South Korea unless it’s a joint UN deployment. So what you mean to say is the UN inspect military installations, not Sweden.
@@BuRsTiNxMLB No, NNSC is not a part of UN, since UN was one of the combatants in the war. It's a commission made up of three neutral countries (originally four), and South Korea don't really have a say in the matter. The commission is there to inspect that everyone adheres to the treaty between the United Nations and North Korea/China. A lot has happened since the guns fell silent and the commission has largely played out it's role, but the Swiss and the Swedes are still there, and still report all relevant South Korean troop movements to North Korea.
This is more UN but sweden are in it and doing that yes, Sweden is also in charge of the North Korean and USA relations, and that has been going on for a long while
@@joelikestoread9320 If you read my comment just above yours, you'll see that it is in fact not the UN, but a commission made up of neutral countries. The UN was one of the signatories of the treaty, so it would not make sense to have them monitor them self. Sweden and Switzerland was given the responsibility to monitor the south side of the demarcation line, Poland and Czechoslovakia the north side.
Most Swedes don't, it's the same with most foreign policy of the 1900s,even modern foreign policy. Almost no one in Sweden cares about our idiotic foreign policy, which is why the politicians can do almost whatever they want without any repercussion. Domestic policy is the same,Swedish politicians lie in the faceof the people every single day, yet we Swedes doesn't even know our constitutional safeguards are horseshit, and we can't prosecute politicians for misconduct. Public schools don't educate much on Swrdish foreign policy history, why?, because we don't want younger generations to know the degree to which we have and still today support dictatorships... Specially through SIDA, pure corruption
I'm in a Swedish school doing an assignment on the cold war so I guess the stars aligned for me with this considerably random topic Edit: holy fuck 2 months later and 800 likes? Thanks!
@@Hazzelnot94 So you're saying that they got the benefits of NATO protection without contributing to the cost. That's a pretty good gig when you can get it. Cowardly, but clever.
Keep in mind that it wasn't just USA helping South Vietnam. Australia, South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, and others all sent major troops and supported South Vietnam.
Atleast during early vietnam war South Korea was basically a puppet of the US and the Philippine government had been installed by the US. Taiwan relied on the US to continue to exist and Australia also relied on the US for safety.
@@akizaizayoi4763 I mean you weren't really being their puppets. The Phillipenes was just helping out its ally that had been invaded. Neither the US nor the Phillipenes invaded North Vietnam, they were just trying to defend and preserve their ally South Vietnam which had been invaded. Not trying to justify the war and it was terrible, but its not really something you need to be ashamed about, every country in history has sent troops to support their allies when they're invaded
Do a video about Swedens part against apartheid. The south african opposition party (ANC) with Nelson Mandela got most of their funds from Sweden. When Nelson Mandela became president one of the first countries he visited was Sweden. Keep it up!
they were forced to support it as pro us sihanouk national army and the Khmer national peoples liberation front didn't have enough troops to fight them alone so they sadly formed a coalition
@@raptorfromthe6ix833 "forced" when they supported them on the basis of supposed "humanitarian reasons" when in fact the KR was worse than the vietnamese occupation which gave peace to the region
@@Burrito69killer but nobody in cambodia wanted communism or the vietnamese occupation which why the khmer rouge was popular until cambodia became indepndant once again and the khmer rouge forces started defecting to the royal government
Sweden: Imma take a side. Switzerland: *YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE! IT WAS SAID THAT YOU WOULD STAY APART FROM SIDES, NOT PICK THEM! BRING BALANCE TO YOUR FOREIGN POLICY, NOT LEAVE IT ON ONE SIDE...YOU WERE MY BROTHER, SWEDEN! I WAS AMBIVALENT TO YOU ON THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE!*
@Syphax Atlas ???? I'm no fan of sanctions but the countries you listed with the exception of Russia are authoritarian hellholes with horrible human rights records.
@Tattle Boad power doesn't mean anything so long as the people can have the opportunity and freedom to live like they wish. Something Sweden has but "the land of the free" has not Rly man i want whatever capitalist juice your smoking. Sharing is caring, Hugs from thugs not drugs
@@williamburton757 They were different. Sweden didn't supply weapons, so they didn't directly support the Viet Cong, That would be like saying that during the cold war Britain was a strong ally of the US Air Force. While technically true, Britain was more of an ally of the US government rather then just the air force. Just like Sweden was a supporter of the North Vietnamese government rather then just a supporter of the Viet Cong.
@@AsurissGP Sure, and the invanding force got quality treatment, and lots of food from sweden nonetheless South that was being invaded got nothign and were slaughtered, a lot of them were drown in the ocean by the same people sweden helped but there will always be an excuse for governements being hypocrite. It was a diplomatic defeat for sweden whch endend helping agressors and US for losing the support in their home.
It was not only Swedem that was against the war in Vietnam , most of the European countries and majority of the people in America were against that war too
@@lehuy7306 *siding with communist invaders or capitalist defenders? pick one* Japan and South korea seem pretty nice. Ill go with the capitalist ones, how about you? Do you think the south invaded the north??
@@lubu4u312 mate we had a democratic election to pick our own future, the people definitely was going to pick Ho Chi Minh if the US hadn't interfere. So it was a liberation war, not an invasion.
USA said they would support Vietnamese nationalists with independence during the 2nd WW for support fighting Japanese. After the war Ho Chi Mihn wrote to US to keep their promise to support independence. US never replied so Ho Chi Mihn went to USSR for arms instead, triggering the communism domino effect problem.
Ya. But south was ok being independent. North wanted to conquer it and south got slaughtered when US removed the tropps. Literally, they thrown small shop owners, lawyers, taxi cabs, rice farms on the sea to let them die in cold and drown for disagreeing about the good ol' red propaganda.
First off, the guy who made that promise was NOT a US political guy, he was a military officer. Second, in the post war communist ramp up the USA wasn't going to side with ANY communist groups because the common belief was they would eventually be unified under the Soviet Union one way or another as Stalin 'had his ways' of consolidating power. It was a simple cause and effect when you look at an entire region as a chessboard and then decide to intervine half-assed for unspecified reasons.
when he says US broke off diplomatic contact, here are some added details: they effectively withdrew their embassy from sweden. leaving their ambassador spot vacant. an extremely radical move. embassies are considered the obvious necessity of diplomacy, with nations usually having embassies in foreign hostile powers and past enemies. so the fact that they withdrew theirs from sweden is extremely telling as to how profoundly offended american officials were at the nazi comparison made by palme. who by the way, clarified while he said it that they're not the same as nazis, just that the violence is equal in regard to it's senselessness and cruelty. still so america was pissed, more or less replying 'how dare you compare us to the enemies our soldiers laid their lives to defeat'. kind of a performative response of moral outrage, but that's probably how they saw it. from their POV it truly was an outrage, though in my opinion palme's critique was absolutely warranted.
Ye compare the guys who killed tens of millions in ethnic cleansing/genocide to dudes supporting a side in a civil war, or strategic bombing…I guess the Americans were as bad as Nazis before and after Vietnam too when Sweden supported the Nazis It’s pathetic and hypocritical, Sweden is only ever neutral on paper
Lol Sweden comparing America to Nazis. One country aided and eventually joined the allies in the fight against Nazism. The other remained neutral on paper but in practice supported the Nazis by granting them use of their rail and selling them iron ore.
@@lenno15697 again, palme didn't say they were "like nazis" he said the violence was, at its core, equal in it's senselessness and cruelty. palme was very particular about this and made sure that was clear. making nazi comparisons is a bad idea but if you had to pick one that was closer to nazi germany out of sweden and USA then it would surely be the US. need i remind you that the civil rights act didn't come into power until the 1960s, while they were still involved in vietnam. now this by far not a consensus but a popular academic camp in history is that US racism is fundamentally equal to that of germany's antisemitism (in terms of its motivations and ideas). although materially very different. philosophically it was similar.
@DJ_Trolly Who are pointing at when you say " criminal " and who is the criminal nation ? It's just a joke mocking amercians that see anyone not being with them as ennemies.
@Tattle Boad not really, because the separation between immoral and war crimes is vague. It is also because wars are often unnecessary, which was also the case for the Vietnam war.
@Tattle Boad if the war had been won in 8 days with a small amount of (civilian) casualities, I might have agreed that the war was "moral". But the amount of atrocities during the war didn't make it justified, especially since the USA sided with a dictatorship. If it was a democratic country they sided with? Sure! A small conflict with a small amount of casualties is justifiable.
@Tattle Boad Well, American "realpolitik" hasn't really worked out since the end of WWII has it? Vietnam was a disaster, Afghanistan was a disaster, Iraq was a disaster, Libya was a disaster, the only exception is the Korean war.
Zapp had a point there... for once :) . Being nuetral is one of the best ways to lose favour and standing with other countries. That's why countries such as Brazil bothered to enter WWI at all.
^ Meaningless reply, wholly missing how diplomacy works. Look up the topic upon 'Don't be Nuetral' for why. Brazil entered WWI for exactly that reason, as did other outlying nations in WWII.
You should study more history. I guess Swedens role in North Korea is interesting too. Volvo shipped 1000 cars to DPRK, but they never received the payment 😂😂
I did enjoy this episode and I would like to thank many of our Scandinavian friends for their countries' admirable comportment in times of war during the 20th century. Shout outs to Denmark!
I am genuinely surprised to see that many fellow Swedes were not aware of this before; I thought it was common knowledge that we supported the government of Hồ Chí Minh. My own father took part in shipping medical supplies and construction tools to (North) Vietnam and a more distant relative of mine worked as a doctor in Hanoi throughout the war, mostly treating wounded soldiers. I have also heard that a handful of Swedes even went there as volunteer soldiers, but they were often relegated to instruction duties as their ethnicity could have led them to be mistaken for Americans.
Why wouldn't? The Vietnamese only wanted a united independent country of their own. They'd spent centuries fighting off China, Japan and France not so that the US could jump in and tear their countries apart again. So it makes perfect sense that the peace-loving Sweden would help them
Well, If the south didnt want be united with the north, who gave the north the right to attack them, right? But as it stands, the south had a US puppet government installed(?) and the will of the people was the unification. That made the US an aggressive hostile invasion force and North-Vietnam the righeous party. Well, at least thats what I remember from my education in germany 😅 Luckily you won and the US fled your country. I am even more glad that you worked hard to have somewhat good relations to the US now.
@@NotUnymous What a lot do not take in consideration is the mass support for North Vietnam by China and the USSR. The USSR was hesitant on giving any troops due to a likely involvement in a conflict with the US but China had more persistence on taking part in the conflict. Not necessary a "An Agresssive foreign power seeking to prevent an independent nation" but more over, a proxy war between multiple global powers with multiple factions wanting a independent Vietnam but the argument would be, would it be Communist or Capitalist?
@@conversationtosaurusrex was it a proxy war to some? sure. but to the vietnamese it was their war for national liberation (well, part two i guess lol)
If we live in democracy, we have right to choose havent we? Sweden chose Vietcong and they were brave and hard fighters. And they won. And was it not american who said there is no substitute for victory at war?
The US public education system is garbage. A thinking populace is a populace that is capable of realizing how much they are being f@ck3d by the government.
Surprisingly, Sweden would actually provide some weapons to the US for awhile before 1966. In particular, US Navy SEALS used the Kpist m/45 Submachine gun, which they liked because they could start shooting almost immediately after getting out of the water, alongside the compact, rugged, and reliable nature of the weapon. Such was the degree which the US Navy SEALS were impressed with the weapon that when Sweden did stop selling the weapons to the US Navy, they promptly had Smith and Wesson make a copy known as the M76.
@@darylteo9983 no. But you have to understand that Vietnam was never really a big deal in Sweden as we didnt fight, we learn about our neutrality but the specifics of vietnam aremt particularly important from a purely swedish perspective
@@dusk6159 You apparently don't know history then. Sweden sent more support to Finland than anyone else did. And Denmark basically greeted the Germans with open arms while shipping their jewish refugees to Sweden, whom took them in with no problems. Aswell as taking in thousands of Finish children and housing them during the war. Sweden's neutrality to war does not mean inactivity. But yes, we are indeed flipping everyone off for thinking they know better than us. ;) Clearly the worls has a lot to learn from us.
@@FemaleSniper86 The world is flipping you dude, the world has a lot to know as far as dodging two World Wars while Europe was on the brink of getting lost.
@@FemaleSniper86 Don't even try excusing and boasting by throwing under the bus a minor and overwhelmed nation with no chance like Denmark, Denmark wasn't even close to the size and armed forces of Sweden, was directly bordering Germany, was blitzed and was the first to be invaded along Norway (who had the terrain, size and time to fight, and fought, then resisted, and would've crippled the germans some more had Sweden broken Germany's plans of isolating Norway because dealing with the whole Scandinavia would've killed them in the long run, shortening the war). This is exactly like France-type of insecurity and boasting; didn't do anything worthy, failed in all its required objectives, failed despite his relevant status, army and size, barely did the bare minimum thanks to those advantages but talks and boasts like it was relevant and it had no faults, especially using minor nations bordering with Germany itself. Unlike France though, the germans had way more interests in keeping Sweden alive and not warring, if Sweden had joined the war it would've been a massive pain in the side of Germany, and would've basically cracked their Scandinavian front and path, even if it had fallen the resistance and size of Sweden would've been impossible to handle, especially considering that the nazis were hellbent on committing on having every square of Norway and their occupied territory filled with soldiers. Forget the soviets, even Norway would've returned as a problem. The war would've ended a year earlier and with the german army imploding on itself, had Sweden united with at least their bordering brothers instead of giving invaluable resources to a cut off Germany, a non-hostile neighbour and timely access.
"We're very angry at you for saying we're as bad as the Nazi's, Sweeden. That was not cool. We're so angry in fact that we're going to break of diplomatic relations entirely!...For the rest of this year."
@@AG-yc7vt He didn't say the maliciousness was equal to the Nazi massacre, just that they were all in the same category - malicious acts. Nixon first prolonged the war by secretly urging South Vietnam to not agree to any peace deal in 1968 ahead of the US presidential election, as he figured the war continuing helped him and hurt his opponent. After that he kept warring while lying about US success in the war, to avoid it harming his approval rating. During Christmas 1972, while peace talks was ongoing the US bombed many Vietnamese cities including Hanoi and killed more than 1000 people and made many homeless. Palme was upset by this. "What happens now in Vietnam is a kind of torture"... What they're doing is tormenting people, tormenting a country to humiliate it and to force it into submission through use of power. And that's why these bombings are malicious acts. And we have many examples of those throughout history. And they are usually connected with a name: Guernica, Oradour, Babij Jar, Katyń, Lidice, Sharpeville, Treblinka. There the violence has triumphed. But posterity's judgment has been harsh on those responsible. Now another name is added: Hanoi, Christmas 1972.
0:35 "two phases" but missing the preamble where The Brits with the help of the recently surrendered Japanese largely squashed the uprising. The Malayan crisis then came up and Britain wondered if they should really deal with that, rather than helping the French maintain their Empire. The French were given the job of 'finishing things off' in French Indochina and the Brits went off to give a masterclass in defeating an insurgency in Malaya.
It was lucky for Sweden that we got rid of him. Although murder was the wrong way. He totally wrecked the Swedish economy. He thought it was possible to borrow money for welfare programs. The national debt soared and drastic measures were required to repair it.
@@bololollek9245 Yeah, you already have someone like him in power, and look what that's gotten you, Sweden is barely Swedish, and by 2050 the average "Swede" is going to be speaking Arab and praying to Allah.
Fun fact; my dad got to meet a vietnamese ambassador during some sort of negotiations in Sweden. He was dating a girl who was involved with a peace actevist group and got to tag along to greet the ambassador at the train station. When the ambassador arrived he shook my dads hand since he assumed that he, the man in the group, was the one in charge... Some what awkward...
Major inaccuracies and simplifications here. Palme was a moderate social democrat and really not pro Vietcong. His stance was anti-imperialist and anti-war. He did not see that the extreme bombing campaigns against Vietnam (and Laos, Cambodia) could be justified. But he also despised the Soviet Union and the east block dictatorships, the fascists in Spain and Portugal, the apartheid system in SA and other oppressive regimes. His criticism of the US was also a personal disappointment. Palme came from an upper-class, conservative family and became a social democrat after college studies in the US and extensive travelling in the country.
What was that a reference too? I saw the Czechoslovak flag and I didnt get it Was it a reference of the warsaw pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in the late sixties?
@@cisarovnajosefina4525 Yes, probably. Most Swedes at the time where very disappointed in the SU's reaction to what Czechoslovakia under Dubcek tried to do and Swedish PM Olof Palme was very vocal in his condemnation of the invasion.
So that’s how they got furniture in the tunnels.
a_name 😂😂😂
🤣👍🏽
vietkea
🤣🤣
ikea no
ourkea
Why did Sweden supported the Vietcong?
Me: they what?
that is exactly what i said when i saw this!
It's well known amongst Europeans. Palme was a chad.
Why did Sweden supported the Vietcong?
Me: We what?
@David Olsson why are you defending americas murderous history? "spreading democracy"
@David Olsson Not to mention having open communist party in the politics (although they removed the "Communist" part of their name in 1992 or so after the Sovietunion fell LOL
Fun fact: The Swedish band ABBA became very popular in Vietnam during the 80s after the war
And everywhere else in the world.
ABBA.? Now I remember why I hate Swedem.
John Barone wot
@@futuristicat2919 OK it was hyperbole
@Dr. M. H. Whaah
Well I'm from sweden I guess that is why it feels so obvious to me
My teacher once went to vietnam, but accidentally overstayed his visa, and people became SUPER nice to him once they found out he was from sweden. and there were no problems renewing the visa.
This kind of friendlyness i would never want.
@@kellymcbright5456 what???
@@wyldeyouthto be liked due to what "my" country did.
This is pseudo-friendliness. Those kinds of "friends" can immediately turn into your enemy.
@@kellymcbright5456exactly , so with this logic : an american would have been badly treated i guess ? Even if he didn’t participate to the war itself
@@kenzo5096Apparently. If it was honest. Or it was just a marketing trick and he would have had something "nice" for a yank. Dont know.
Smart move, History Matters is answering questions we didn't even know we wanted answered until he asked them
Not smart but conscientious move. They were siding with the rightful
Sweden was on the wrong side because they sided with communism and it collapsed. Vietnam was all about communism, not the Vietnamese people?
@@bitterballs356 come on, jake holland meant it was a great move from HistoryMatters xD
Well I'm a Swede in a Swedish school doing an assignment on the cold war so this is kinda helpful...
@@philipweber9545
I'm surprised you aren't doing the history of how Mohammed broke his treaty with Mecca and took the city, you know relevant stuff for the modern Sweden. 🤣
When you turn off historical focuses in HOI4
Germany sends 12 divisions to help out china
And the new cold war mod looks brilliant
Walter's Microwaves well technically that would be kind of historical
@@gusl2708 Thailand has declared war on Denmark
Dubica Mapper You don’t Even need to turn them off, once had greece form Byzantium and invade the Soviets on historical focuses 🤷🏻♂️
As a Vietnamese, I confirm this. Our state media (VTV1) still broadcast documentary films on how much Sweden and Soviet Union helped us during the war. Sweden helped former North Vietnam build hospitals, schools, factories. Vietnamese adults who live through the war are still grateful for Sweden's assistance.
Jonas Sjöstedt will move there soo, take a good care of him😂😂
Those left alive are grateful anyhow. Not sure those who fled in terror or have been persecuted in the mountain regions share that sentiment.
@@kl1541 not soon enough
@jay be
Canada? You mean the 1812-1815 war, wright? In that case wasn't actually UK who handed their ass?
What utter garbage!
I went on a 4 week tour through Vietnam 4 years ago and ONLY a few people (all of them in the north btw) support this narrative.
In the south of Vietnam people still today are befuddled that Sweden was so pro communist.
I’m Swedish myself so I actually really tried to get an understanding of how us Swedes had been seen for our involvement during the war!
As a Swede I was ashamed of how my socialist regime handled stuff.
I was given free snacks along my beer when i was visiting neighboring Laos a few years ago.. I asked the barmaid why, and she told me it was because Sweden had built i library in her home town, and thanks to that she had learned English, and was able to work in the far more lucrative tourist sector.
Tôi vẫn nhớ nhà vệ sinh và nước sạch trong nhà tôi được các bạn tài trợ. Cảm ơn h tôi có 1 căn nhà cho thuê tại Hà Nội. Tôi Sẽ luôn giảm giá cho người Thụy Điển
Fun fact: swedish actor and robocop Joel Kinnaman's father was one of those american draft-dodgers who got asylum in Sweden
MrAdelsey so thats were he got that sleeve
so that guy not only was an actor but a robocop as well? Very interesting
SC...I take you are American with freedom of speech and politics. Well Sweden has neither. Or they have rigged elections (like any socialist country) and no voice or media for opposition. Thats no freedom.
pexxa johannes are you Swedish? Do you live in Sweden?
@@pexxajohannes1506 what are you smoking?
Sweden to USSR: You suck.
Sweden to USA: You suck.
Sweden to Denmark: You suck.
Sweden to Vietkong: You rock.
Sweden to Norway: You're on thin fucking ice.
well with norway and demark thats not true in a political stans
@@magnuscarlsenbutdumb Obviously not Swedish
Ahahahah well proud to be a true swede,
@@scubasteve4152 first of all i am Swedish and i just wannted people who is not from Sweden to Belive that we really hate
Denmark and Norway and of your Swedish you should now that we have a really good politca realitonship
@@magnuscarlsenbutdumb Skämtet flög dig bara rakt över huvudet då alltså...
1:18 USA: “ Mind your own business“
The irony in this is over 9000'
I guess the U.S. could have minded Sweden's and took it as a declaration of war.
USA is the only imperialist country left. Many democratic countries fall because US doesnt know how to mind their own business
@@LordSandwich27 haha good. USA #1🇺🇸🇺🇸
mrwilkumen China (who wants to forcefully conquer Taiwan and deprive Hong Kong and Macau of their liberties) and Russia(who annexed Crimea and wants to take over parts of Eastern Ukraine): are we a joke to you?
@@lasaga9565 Cry trumpsters, Bernie will get your ass soon enough 🏳️🌈❤️🇺🇸
On behalf of Vietnamese people, I want to express our deep appreciation to Swedes people. Sweden helped us a lot during our hardest time, we would never forget this.
+1
Thx🇸🇪
Thank you my friend, im proud that my country helped the Vietnamese and love your culture. But I still think vietnams political situation need to change.
@@henriknerell9104 That's not for you or me to say.
We're proud to help Vietnam fight US imperialism. Much love
It took me a few moments to realise the brutal hypocrisy of the US telling Sweden to mind its own business
We're hitting hypocrisy levels that shouldn't be possible
Superpowers - no matter the original political ideology - act terrifyingly similar. For example during the 1920's when the newborn Soviet Union fought against Mongolian anti-socialists, the country leader accused the Russians of "Red Imperialism"... while the USSR was equivocally against "Western Imperialism". The actions was basically the same; military action in a foreign nation for political influence.
All superpowers have secret police, media censorship to atleast some extent and mass surveillance based on the technology at their disposal whenever possible. CPR, USSR, USA. Capitalist or not; they are very similar in these regards because of their size. I would pick US any day out of these three but there is definetly a point to the previous discussion as well. You find better moral fidelity in smaller countries with good well-round societies with better social cohesion like Sweden or Finland - the latter of which had a defensive victory against one of the "big three" because of this resolve.
@@kungolaf4499 I actually choose my own country the Netherlands thank you
@Абдульзефир It was a defeat for the Finns yes but a Pyrrhic victory for the Soviets none the less. Finns lost 32 tanks while Soviets lost 1800-3000 on that front. There is no one world where I would consider that nothing more than a Pyrrhiv Victory for the Soviets.
But I wouldn't personally say China's model is the best considering their social credit system and the mass surveillance linked to that. Meaningful cultural influence and products require liberal culturopshere to cultivate. That isn't possible in China which the leaders very much admit to. And the only solution is more liberal reforms.
@Абдульзефир Social credit system is not a myth. It is something which the Chinese goverment officially takes pride in. Why would they take pride in something that doesn't exist?
Most of the signficant scientific and industrial products were created in 1800s - 1900s in economically liberal countries like Britain and France. Britain first drove ahead in industriliazation by accumulating new inventions and being open to them while France lacked behind. Germany drove ahead of them in 1880-1917 because they were open to more new ideas (chemical and electrical industries) when the Brits were stuck in their old ways (coal and steel industries).
Monarchies with established believe system based on nepotism waged war againsy meritocratic forms of governing in the napoleonic wars and beyond. Most of the times the fall of established monarchies and Empires in Europe represented an opportunity for different people to invent and develope (Ottomans, Austria-Hungary). They were not the peak performance of human technological function.
The Chinese with their ethnosentrist monarchist system were crushed in two Opium Wars by the shameless Brits. And it wasn't exactly a monarchy they could thank for coming out strong as a middle range economical country in the 2000's.
And I can assure you the West doesn't have a religious mindset. The Nordics and Germany for example are extremely secular.
Palme didn’t support North Vietnam politically. He did it beacuse he was a long-time speaker of world peace. In 1968 he criticized the Soviet union for invading Czechoslovakia for example
In an interview with Olof Palme he stated, this was not anti-soviet, it was only to declare a small nations rights to exist.
And people still hate him? Woww 🙃
So the guy they called 'Palmer' in the video was 'Palme'.. Of course.. I counted the chances there both an Oluf Palmer and Oluf Palme quite small.
@MacDuffy I don't think you know what that word means. That consistency literally made him the *opposite* of a hypocrite.
@AIFAHRA HORGGHRO It was France supporting the U.S.
Ironic given that it was North Vietnam invading the South, and not visa-versa.
'Non-Alliance in Peace'
....
'Neutrality in War'
...
'Could-swing-either-way-really in Armistice'
...
'Down-for-whatever during Negotiations'
...
"We throw no bone in a Demilitarized Zone"
I'd swipe right
'Selling arms to whomever pays best'
Massive Insistence on Passive Resistance.
Unless its the Nazis then sell them shit loads of Iron.
After the war Sweden aided rebuilding the country and many politicians visited Vietnam. On one occasion they asked if there was anything they needed especially and the vietnamese said "Well, we could use a fertilizer plant". The politicians said sure and went home where they promptly were ripped a new one by the military experts. Apparently is a fertilizer plant and an explosives factory pretty much the same :-) So they got a paper mill , Bai Bang, instead as a consolation prize. Guess its hard to weaponize a paper mill.
Cool story, hade inte en susning.
My hometown has 1 Vietnam - Sweden friendship hospital. it still exists today and is among the top in the province. 25km from my house. Thank you to the Swedish government and people for helping us in the past. sorry my english
Well y'all could'be been another South Korea, but I guess things could be worse.
@@MrAnimason I don't think so. There's two reasons for this:
1/ While SKorea and Taiwan actually used US aids to build their internal strength (look at the history of Korean 'chaebols'), SVietnam is a corrupted shitshow. What many people forgot about the war is the Vietcong (Southern communists that fought alongside North Vietnam's NVA). Many people join or secretly help the Vietcong basically not because they totally support the communist ideology, but because of the deeply corrupted South Vietnam gvt
2/ I don't think that Vietnamese like having their politics controlled by a certain degree like what the Americans are doing in South Korea. They are pretty nationalistic I must say. They may not like communist, but they hate being dependent more.
@@mctavishsoap3815 3/ united Vietnam has a strong growth, so they will end up there anyway
@@ReaperCH90 totally agree. They're doing well I reckon
I hope you're doing well, best wishes from Gothenburg Sweden! I recently began studying at a university and a classmate of mine is from Vietnam
*"We hate communists... and Capitalists" ~ Sweden, 1965*
Social democracy for the win
Sweden the most communistic kingdom ever
@MissusedMachinegun_YT Is-- is that what you understood from the video? Please watch it again.
@@monsieurouxx nej, i was just talking about sweden in general
@@bourbon4033 Sweden is neither communist nor a monarchy. The royal family is just a figurhead
"Sir, I have successfully broken in their tunnel and I found... some canned swedish meatballs...?"
*"You found a what?"*
Also the furniture in the tunnel all say 'IKEA'
@@mctavishsoap3815 They say WHAT?!
Also canned Lutefisk
Oh, canned fish! man I'm so lucky, let's see how... "soorrrstrumming"? taste like...
Tunnbrödsrulle
As a Swede I honestly had no idea about this.
You should watch the Palme-documentary. Awesome stuff!"
So proud of the swedes!
I think CIA kill your Prime Minister.
@@ExcelonTheFourthAvalonHeirs no, just replace the PM, watch the next election closely!
@@thatgirl3960
I'm talking about Palme being assassinated. It's kinda a joke, but it doesn't at the same time.
America: You are either with us, or you are against us.
Sweden: I choose option 3.
Sweden, always choosing number 3.
I'm not with you neither I'm against you!!
And in silent Switzerland press the spectators button, Again
* Peronist wins *
Well Olof Palme was assassinated later (presumably by the Americans)
As a Vietnamese, i didn't know if there was any western non-Warsaw pact country which supported our war before. Great info!
There were in fact very few countries in the west who did not support the North. No civilised country could condone the atrocities perpetuated on the Vietnamese people.
False. Australia supported S-Vietnam. The UK preferred it too, but refrained from militarily intervening directly, as the war was seen to be unwinnable without annexing the north (which would've resulted in war with China II: Indochinese bogaloo)
Because most of the Western countries aren’t into supporting brutal and oppressive communist regimes, that’s why.
Your country should remain under permanent sanction until Vietnam holds free and fair elections.
@@jimtaylor294 What nonsense . Australia and NZ are two countries they are not the majority. Furthermore the average Aussie deplored their involvement. The UK had never supported the war not because of China but because it was simply unjust. The US were colonialists like the French with greater military might whose objective was to steal Vietnamese land and deprive the people of their freedom. The couldn't get it into their heads that they were foreign invaders and the Vietnamese people wanted them out.
^ Spare me the over-generalization and projection masked with word salad.
Vietnam was only different to Korea, in that:
1. It coincided with unprecidently heavy media coverage.
2. It coincided with a generation of drugged up debauchery, hedonism and pacifism at home (which's cast a very long shadow, and still is)
3. The US and SVA not being willing to cross the boundary and risk widening another war, whilst the enemy was.
(the NVA for instance routinely violated Laos's territory)
North-Vietnam was the primary aggressor in the war. Supporting the South was a natural decision for NATO powers, and the mass exodus from said country when all was lost proved all too clearly that the people of the South DIDN'T want to be ruled by the totalitarian north.
N-Vietnam also went through periods of "re-educating" / liquidating those whom couldn't flee, and even moderate factions who'd supported the north, once they won the war.
Sweden helped [albeit not militarily] a communist dictatorship to oppress even more people. It's literally as simple as that.
What a coincidence that Olof Palme was *misteriously* shot dead a few years later
Yeah, Ho Chi Minh was pissed about not getting his extra furniture
@@crankyrack9001 oh, he got the furniture alright. It was having to assemble it with only the dinky allen-key they sent with it that drove him over the edge 😂
Gustav Ahlin probably by someone that lost their shit after using one of those crappy Allen wrenches. B
Honestly most evidence today points towards South Africa and his vocal opposition to the apartheid government there. This dude was calling out powerful oppressors left and right.
idk about you but most people dont consider the year of 1986 to be the "Vietnam era".
So, he was shot *over a decade later*
I think it's important to point out that Palme didn't compare the bombing of Hanoi to just the holocaust. He mentioned places whose name has become the name of an atrocity, where Auschwitz is one of them and then said Hanoi would be the latest
Hanoi did not. But Hue did.
History matters: Why did Sweden support the Vietcong?
Wait what?
I never heard of this either and the fact that teachers never taught us about this is very weird
NoMercy 993 SAME, I was so confused. Didn't even know.
I literally just found this out as well. Makes you wonder what else you might not have learned...
I don't remember this, but then I don't remember learning much about the Vietnam War in school to begin with, though it does track with the general sentiments of Europe at the time, and Sweden in particular has for a long time been looking down our noses at other countries waging wars of aggression.
NoMercy 993 I’m not even surprised giving current political context
All fun and games until the trees start saying:
*"BJÖRK"*
*"BJÖRK"*
Do they have birch trees in Vietnam?
@@rockenrollern well, Swedish people were there, so probably
Unfortunately the smell of lutfisk gave away the positions.
…or " *IKÉA **_GEVÄR_** RIFLES FOR SALE!*
@@Mirokuofnite surströmming
Great video. I'd never looked into it, but in the opening scene of Coming Home (1978), one of the disabled veterans says that if he could go back in time, he would have gone to Sweden. Now I know what he meant!
Honestly one of my favorite things about your channel is the signs characters hold and the art style you use.
also his charming voice
Anti Imperialism
Oh, and Mr. Palme was assassinated.......
For your interest. Someone might get prosecuted this spring for the murder. Giving us some answer as to why...
A good future topic for History Matters. Even if there are 100+ assassination theories.
anybody who is anti-war will get assassinated by the military industrial complex, with it's head demon Hillary Clinton calling the shots
Anti imperialism? Didn’t North Vietnam try to forcefully conquer South Vietnam, a nation which didn’t want to be conquered? Sounds imperialistic to me.
Palme was worlds biggest weapons dealers. His marvellous front was acting peace politician. Anybody saying Palme was for peace has no idea how he pushed Swedish guns to world markets. (Good guns btw)
1:38 More specifically, Palme compared the december 1972 bombings of Hanoi (in which 1600+ civilians were killed) with multiple autrocities committed by Nazi Germany, saying: "These events can often be connected to names - Guernica, Oradour, Babij Jar, Katyn, Lidice, Sharpeville, Treblinka. Here, violence has triumphed. But judgement has later fallen upon those responsible. Now, another name can be added to the list."
Katyn massacre was done by the soviets, not Germans.
@@pi5272 That was his point. He didn't single out any specific nation, he named several horrible acts of violence done by several governments.
@@PParklind The fact that soviets commited massacre in Katyń was only oficially said in 1990 by Gorbachev. Before that USSR was saying everytime that nazis did it. No idea if Palme knew (because there were "speculations" about it being soviets, not nazis), he might have just thought nazis actually did it.
@@Zysku23456 It is a valid question, but I think it was well known by anyone who wanted to know, at least in the west, that the Soviets were responsible for Katyn already in 1943 through the Polish government-in-exile. It was publicly acknowledged by western governments after the war (e.g. the Madden committee 1951). It certainly wasn't a secret in Sweden at that time, even if pro-Soviet communists and a few far-left intellectuals may have refused to acknowledge it. Retorically it makes sense he would have included a Soviet massacre (as well as the South African). Palme frequently critizised the Soviet Union and European communist regimes (calling them "cattle of dictatorship" and such).
@@gluffoful He was a politician that took his job seriously. He had no problems with pointing the finger at goverments doing un democratic things and starting wars. That made him lots of enemies but also him respect from people all over the world. He dared to speak up and take a stand.
There's a world of difference between providing medical assistance and supplying military/financial aid
Actually they even sent anti aircraft Saab missiles
@@nc6379 source?
Up to a point. The more medical assistance you send, the less they have to spend on medics themselves, which means more money and other resources can be put into the war effort.
@@nc6379 am very intrigued to where u found this fact, please tell me , and if true, please tell me what the conditions of the weapons were. if they were to defend hospitals or to be used in battlefields.
@@nc6379 really?!
Honestly congrats to Sweden for not caring about international politics and following their moral code and doing the right thing.
Doing the right thing in helping a Chinese-backed North Vietnam take over South Vietnam against their will and imprison, torture, and murder all their southern neighbors who opposed?
@Joe exactly, everyone online seems to ignore the fact that the North threw the first punch against South Vietnam and the US backed the South's right to exist as its own country.
@@joemerino3243 "against their will"
You never heard of the failure of the US and South Vietnamese regimes to win the hearts and minds of the people?
@@thetayz72 Wrong. The North and South were supposed to unify via election as agreed in the Treaty of Paris. The US went back on it when they realized the North might win.
@@rick7424 Oh I see, you're going off the version of history where the North Vietnamese didn't massacre South Vietnamese villagers and the South Vietnamese weren't so desperate for US assistance that they were clinging to the wheels of the departing cargo planes and they didn't commit themselves to the sea in a vast flotilla of boats to escape mass murder by Northern Communist agents, so there never were Vietnamese boat people.
“Promptly broke off diplomatic relations
Until the next year”
Lol
Because the next year there was a 'peace agreement' thanks to those bombing campaigns. Nixon's role in ending that war was lost under the political scandles back home but had LBJ done that in 1968 alot of lives on both sides would have been saved.
The U.S. didn’t fully break relations. They called their ambassador back for a year, but there was still an embassy and formal relations.
It's like those schoolyard disagreements. "Then I won't ever talk to you again" until the next day.
Palme actually said in a famous rally:
"Because of the US ambassador leaving, the opposition leader is requiring my resignation. I don't find that odd, that is their job. He should consider though, that the ambassador has returned. So what I propose is that we build a guard box on the airport so that he can watch the ambassadors as the come and go!
@@fortusvictus8297 LBJ was trying to end the war until Nixon’s team scuttled a deal on the eve of the ‘68 election. It was essentially the same deal Kissinger and Thieu agreed on 5 years later 🤷🏻♂️
Fun fact: During the Nigerian Civil War of the late 60s, Britain and the Soviet Union were the main supporters of the Nigerian government against the secessionist Biafra region, while the Biafrans were supported by the French and later the Israelis, and to an extent even Czechoslovakia until the Soviets overthrew their reformist government in 1968. The US was officially neutral but leaned towards the Nigerian government.
Cold war are fun time ain't it
Polish WW2 flying ace, Jan Zumbach, wrote about that conflict in his autobiography. He was responsible for creating and organizing Biafran air force (didn't go so well). I believe there was a passage in the book about how he was intercepted by Swedish fighters while on mission above Nigeria.
No
@@extraextraxtraterrestialah8794 Yes
@@MsPaintMr
Ok
As a Dane, I am legally obliged to disagree with the Swedes on everything, at any time... but in this case, I think I'll just silently give them a slow clap. This is what it means to hold true to your convictions and beliefs, regardless of where they may lead.
Syskonkärlek ^^
@Ron Lewenberg
While we (Denmark) is in NATO, I don't think your argument works because Sweden is neutral, so they DON'T operate under any "nuclear umbrella".
That is, unless the swedes have made their own nukes while I wasn't looking.
Ron Lewenberg
Now that's interesting, because the comment you just responded to, was my first comment here mate.
Do you think I'm Christian Thøgersen?
As for Sweden's possible allies. Not sure the US would feel committed to assist other NATO allies in an assault on the USSR (or Russia) because of any third country allies. Hell, with Trump even NATO countries didn't have that assurance (apparently, the orange pillock had convinced himself that NATO was some sort of mob protection racket, in which countries paid the US to protect them. Short version, it isn't. Taking Denmark as an example, if we expanded our defence budget to 2% of GNP which we are currently working up to, only the puchase of our new F-35 would go into the US purse. Other than that, we use German tanks, Swiss APCs, Canadian rifles and British uniforms, so where yanks get the idea that we need to pay the US, I've no idea).
Ron Lewenberg
Thing is, he didn't. Obama did. All Trump did was accelerate EU negotiations about a possible EU army (something Sweden might become a member of, given their EU membership), should the NATO project possibly go titsup because of a moron like Trump.
@@ShadowFalcon First, all Obama did was talk. His talk resulted in no action. Trump action, while maybe not intentional, did get the Europe to slightly increase their spending. Second, Germany isn't thrilled about it. Macron has been pushing for it but didn't gain significant traction. Lastly, Sweden won't increase their spending right now, why would they increase spending later?
I Like the way you cut right to the meat of the story , fast pace keeps it interesting.
Sweden: Radical Pacifism
Passive aggresiveness at its finest.
Switzerland : Extremist Pacifism
@S C soon sweden stupidity get "healed" by islam rule
I guess they had enough from pillaging England.
@S C Agaisnt communists, it might be
One crucial fact that never seems to be mentioned in western history is that S. Vietnam wasn't even a real country. After the defeat of France, it was stipulated at the Geneva conference (which to be fair, the US did not sign) that the country was to be *temporarily* split for two years to allow the orderly withdrawal of Colonial forces after which there was to be a Vietnam wide election to decide on the government of an independent unified Vietnam.
As Pres.Eisenhower himself later admitted in his memoirs "we couldn't allow the election to go ahead as intelligence indicated that Ho Chi Min would win 90% of the vote." So he had the CIA under a certain agent named Edward Lansdale arrange a rigged referendum and create an artificial puppet country installing a puppet generalissimo (Ngo Dinh Diem) as its head and reneged on the promised Vietnam-wide elections. That's right, the self-proclaimed champion of democracy and self-determination worked actively to prevent a country from having an election and do just that. S. Vietnam was less legit than (Japanese puppet state) Manchukuo - at least that one was ceded via treaty, this was basically created out of thin air in the face of a treaty that says otherwise.
It's one of the major reasons that the US could never win the "hearts and minds" war in Vietnam even in the South and why most of the non-aligned world (which presumably includes Sweden) viewed this a war (unlike Korea) as one of naked aggression on the part of the US and why many allies (e.g. the UK, which participated in Korea and the Gulf) categorically refused to have anything to do with the Vietnam war.
Very interesting how people say it wasn’t imperialism from the USA’s side when the population of the southern part of vietnam would have definitely chosen ho chi minh as their leader. Veeeery interesting...
Yeah, I love my country but I am not going to just shrug off its past mistakes; many concerning foreign policy and during the Cold War.
President Diem was the lawful leader of South Vietnam no matter how he is smeared in history books. If a "democratic vote" (assuming that it could be held fairly at all, which is very rare in a post-colonial nation) would have led to a communist dictatorship then it's probably a good idea to reconsider the ideal of democracy.
@@Zorro9129 So what you're saying is it's totally fine for Diem to not have held the election, then also fine to falsify his own election (in some areas more people voted for him than lived in the area!), as long as it doesn't lead to Communism?
Or your point is just that democracy is actually pretty crap?
@@namvu2362 Either. When your country is overrun with guerrillas who have no qualms about deceiving, harassing, or coercing local populations into getting themselves into power, then peacetime ideals of democracy are very naïve.
Fun Fact: this actually impacted what the US used in terms of weaponry regarding special forces. A lot of unconventional forces were using and very fond of the Carl Gustaf M/45 submachine gun, better known here in the US as the “Swedish K.” Because of Sweden cutting diplomatic ties, the US created their own version of the gun: the Smith and Wesson M/76.
No, the m/76 was due to the export ban. The really fun fact is that the Swedish and American armed forces still kept close cooperation, unfazed by whatever fuss the politrickians got themselves into.
@@johanmetreus1268 Yes and as long as I know, the export ban was because US special forces used M/45 frequently during their operations in Cambodia, because it didn't use NATO ammunition and made less traces of their presence.
SOunds petty and American enough to be true. Reminds me heavily of "Liberty Fries".
As an American (who also happens to be of Swedish descent), I have the highest respect for Palme because - not despite, but BECAUSE - he told our government to shove it when we needed to be told it the most.
Americans love to boast about their European ancestry except for when they cry about how better their country is. This is despite them being worse off in veritably every humanistic metric
Swedish have american descent*
This is something that I had never even heard of before
Sweden during the cold war: *Raises hand "Umm yeas, screw all of you"
In a parallel universe where things got out of hand in Vietnam, an American helicopter and a Swedish helicopter both flying straight at each other at full speed, both blasting "Ride of the Valkyries" at max volume
Al, of Sweden's armed branches were pretty strong during that era, it wasn't all bark.
@@nathaniellindner313 that would be epic
@@nathaniellindner313 that would be insane
@@nathaniellindner313 I'd argue that Sweden would be blasting Fångad av en Stormvind.
Bruh, first time knowing this as a Vietnamese. Still, it is nice to learn something new every day :D
Edit: Since many people are asking, to be clear here I'm a Vietnamese who is studying in Canada, which is why I chose the flag as my avatar :)
Có nhiều tài liệu nói đến chuyện này mà
@@filthymolotovite chế thông cảm :v khoảng lịch sử tui không có giỏi nên toàn vào mấy kênh này xem cho bổ sung kiến thức =))
@@thanhlongnguyen5326 congratulations for winning the Vietnam wa-
THIS REPLY WAS REMOVED BY THE US GOVERNMENT.
@@Rawhen_Rajew-aka-Rajubhai They did not win we left and they have communism, whose the real loser here???
@@sethrepp7268 the us objective was not to let Saigon to fall into communism, Saigon is now called ho chi min city
Just accept that you lost the fucking war, us Australians acknowledged our defeat since we left in 1970
This is one of the reasons I love Sweden, it had a great PM that was indeed an actual pacifist, or well...Perhaps not exactly so, if you want to argue about it, but you simply can't argue that he had his own ideas and he followed them through.
He had the option to be the pup of one dictatorial nation or another, he just said, I'll be on my own.
He helped out Vietnam, specifically the Vietcong, but not by giving weapons or soldiers, instead it's by giving medics and teaching them how to practice medicine.
Olof Palme could have easily been a staunch conservative and yet he'd give the very same treatment he gave to the Vietcong, no problem!
It's no surprise the Vietnamese have respect for the Swedish and I hope the feeling is mutual, this is something where, if a leader wants to intervene, he should pick Olof Palme's example!
The issue with the Vietnam War is everyone involved was an idiot. Including the Vietnamese and Swedish. That’s because the North fought to be a vassal under Russia, the south was fighting to essentially be a western asset, while the general public picked up guns to be insurgents because they were sick of outsiders getting involved with their country and ultimately led the Americans to pull out.
So anyone getting involved is bound to political and diplomatic backlash regardless of the result especially considering it was a losing battle that turned the tropics into a literal hell on earth. Only an idiot would dip their fingers in that.
Then he was assassinated to make sure noone follows his example :)
Sweden also took in a lot of vietnamese refugees. So now we have a lot of vietnamese restaurants with delicious food
Same happened here in Australia
@Leo Walzim 2 Där jag bor finns det mängder. Det är nog olika på olika platser
@Leo Walzim 2 Många invandrare som kommit på de senare åren har väl åkt igenom Europa? Vietnameser kom troligtvis inte hit på samma sätt tänker jag. Har haft två Vietnameser i mina skolklasser, inte så många men inte helt ovanligt.
Depends on what you compare it to. Compared to the ME/NA immigration it is nothing.
What, where? I have seen one in my whole life. Need to know where I can get me some of that food. :) (Will admit I havnt actually been looking for them.)
As an Vietnamese, I never heard that Sweden had support us. And if I remember correctly they also build some factory and hopistal for us after the war.
Do you guys still have a socialistic government!?
Yup, Right now we are Vietnam Socialist Republic, but we adapt the free market after the reform in 1986.
HKN Yamato
Why you actually hold free elections, then you can say that you have reformed, but not until.
Who care about free elections ? People when they have to do their vote they didn't do it because they don't care. Sometimes, one man can vote for the whole family or friend because they are too lazy to vote.
I accept the fact that we have no free election but we are still doing okay, the economies is growing and I live happily now. We have the cheap Internet, access to Internet freely, good food and anything. The only different is the political, but who care about that when the economies is growing and the Communist party is doing great.
@@nhienhoang8898 it is good that vietnam has improved after the war and hopefully keeps improving in the future. Hope the rest of the world can follow suit
Who else chuckles when someone is running through a meadow filled with daisies?
Everytime
It's my favorite trope in his videos
@Evilpimp yep that's a gooder too haha.
I love how often it happens.
Sweden is that kid in the class who always go against the footballer bully to give voice to those who are bullied. Salute Sweden! love from the Philippines!
Who was being bullied? North Vietnam invaded south Vietnam, which was an ally to the US.
@@firetecstudios1146 Regardless the war would've happened either way, at the very least a coup d'etat. Socialist and communist movements during the times had a tendencey towards being invaded or have their leaders overthrown by the USA.
@@firetecstudios1146 south vietnam was literally a puppet regime fabricated by the us and france in the wake of vietnamese victory against the french colonial government. north vietnam had broad popular support from the vietnamese people and was the only legitimate government out of the two of them
@@firetecstudios1146 The people of Vietnam did not recognize "North" and "South" as different countries. Both sides wanted to unify the country, it was seen as a civil war. Saying that an invasion would be unjustified in the case of a civil war is like saying the USA shouldn't have invaded the CSA. Same thing with the Korean War.
There was a Swedish village in North Vietnam, near one of the factory they built. Swedish scientists and engineers lived there with their family. There were vintage photos of the Swedes dancing and drinking at a campfire in North Vietnam. What a time!
Source?
@@rick7424 I posted the link several times here but it keeps getting deleted by youtube.
@@rick7424 Bai Bang papermill
They must have towered over the Vietnamese lmao. A bunch of Vikings in the middle of the jungle
@@cowboytanaka6675 we are not all big muscular vikings, most of us are normal humans
“Lyndon B. Johnson told Sweden to mind its own business” I-FUCKING-RONIC LMAO
Mind your own business while we mind Vietnamn's business!
lmao mericano
@@SurfingZerg uh...missing the part where south Vietnam did the offensive part into north Vietnam
Oh wait, north Vietnam committed a war of aggression, so you tell me how that’s A not a War Crime and B how they’re supposed to be punished regardless? Do you try appeasing them like Germany? Certainly hope not
@Who am I? the biggest threats to america are in your own country but ok
Why does this remind me of the franco-prussian war
Sweden is also neutral in the Korean War, and actively inspect military installations of both sides to ensure the cease fire terms and DMZ demarcation lines were respected.
Sweden could never get access to station troops in South Korea unless it’s a joint UN deployment. So what you mean to say is the UN inspect military installations, not Sweden.
@@BuRsTiNxMLB Yes, The Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission, and its not only Sweden, the other sweden as well, aka Switzerland ;)
@@BuRsTiNxMLB No, NNSC is not a part of UN, since UN was one of the combatants in the war. It's a commission made up of three neutral countries (originally four), and South Korea don't really have a say in the matter. The commission is there to inspect that everyone adheres to the treaty between the United Nations and North Korea/China. A lot has happened since the guns fell silent and the commission has largely played out it's role, but the Swiss and the Swedes are still there, and still report all relevant South Korean troop movements to North Korea.
This is more UN but sweden are in it and doing that yes, Sweden is also in charge of the North Korean and USA relations, and that has been going on for a long while
@@joelikestoread9320 If you read my comment just above yours, you'll see that it is in fact not the UN, but a commission made up of neutral countries. The UN was one of the signatories of the treaty, so it would not make sense to have them monitor them self. Sweden and Switzerland was given the responsibility to monitor the south side of the demarcation line, Poland and Czechoslovakia the north side.
As a swed i can confirm that…
I did not know anything about this. Thank you for informing me.
Most Swedes don't, it's the same with most foreign policy of the 1900s,even modern foreign policy.
Almost no one in Sweden cares about our idiotic foreign policy, which is why the politicians can do almost whatever they want without any repercussion.
Domestic policy is the same,Swedish politicians lie in the faceof the people every single day, yet we Swedes doesn't even know our constitutional safeguards are horseshit, and we can't prosecute politicians for misconduct.
Public schools don't educate much on Swrdish foreign policy history, why?, because we don't want younger generations to know the degree to which we have and still today support dictatorships...
Specially through SIDA, pure corruption
Legends have it, that to this day, many Vietnamese furnitures are still bought in Ikea.
I think many furnitures worldwide is made in Ikea
Could be wrong though
Cheap and nasty.
Nahh we don’t even have IKEA in Vietnam
Many IKEA items are made in Vietnam though...
I'm in a Swedish school doing an assignment on the cold war so I guess the stars aligned for me with this considerably random topic
Edit: holy fuck 2 months later and 800 likes? Thanks!
Talk about Swedish tanks, those are cool.
This would indeed make for a good assignment!
After they helped the Vietcong, we should have turned the Swedes over to the tender mercies of the Soviet Union.🌚👿🔥🚀
@@jacqueslefave4296 Sweden was not an ally of the Vietcong. Sweden was a NATO leaning neutral throughout the Cold War.
@@Hazzelnot94 So you're saying that they got the benefits of NATO protection without contributing to the cost. That's a pretty good gig when you can get it. Cowardly, but clever.
When you're looking at all the weird lend-leases in HOI4:
1 convoy
Yes
@@atakinpowa 5 support eq
@@TheAmishTechSupport _Ah yes, 9 infantry equipment from Hungary, being shipped to Brazil, with 0 convoys_
Soviet Bob semple tanks
Keep in mind that it wasn't just USA helping South Vietnam. Australia, South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, and others all sent major troops and supported South Vietnam.
And all in vain.
Funny how people forget about that
Atleast during early vietnam war South Korea was basically a puppet of the US and the Philippine government had been installed by the US. Taiwan relied on the US to continue to exist and Australia also relied on the US for safety.
I am a Filipino and I am ashamed that we were American puppets. The Vietnam War is unjustified.
@@akizaizayoi4763 I mean you weren't really being their puppets. The Phillipenes was just helping out its ally that had been invaded. Neither the US nor the Phillipenes invaded North Vietnam, they were just trying to defend and preserve their ally South Vietnam which had been invaded. Not trying to justify the war and it was terrible, but its not really something you need to be ashamed about, every country in history has sent troops to support their allies when they're invaded
This is the great thing about history matters. They tell us about stuff that you would actually want to know the answer to.
Everything is going fine until you realize the Vietcong got their IKEAs already assembled
Vietcong had to assemble their aid , themselves.
@@slewone4905 the tunnels is one example of that.
...and their IKEA order arrived early - or on time at the very least!
Sweden: _Takes sides in a conflict._
Also Sweden: *Wait...that’s illegal!*
I guess that's why the Swedish gov't killed him.
Sweden didn't JUST take sides, it sided with evil!
Sending humanitarian aid to a war torn region isn't "taking sides in a conflict".
@@MisterFoxton they were helping the North Vietnamese and only the North Vietnamese. It's not humanitarianism that's taking sides.
@@tedmccarron Remainder: 2 million civilian casualties of which 500k proven caused by US military operations.
Do a video about Swedens part against apartheid. The south african opposition party (ANC) with Nelson Mandela got most of their funds from Sweden. When Nelson Mandela became president one of the first countries he visited was Sweden. Keep it up!
So Sweden preferred to support Marxist causes. Like that isn't known. And now, they are one of the rape capitals of the world. They deserve it.
So Sweden directly funded terrorism and the bombing of small children? Wow, congrats Sweden, something to be really proud of...
@@dougbrowne9890 cringe
Next: Why did Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher Support the Khmer Rouge? (please)
It was because they disliked the Khmer Rouge enemies Vietnam and preferred China (Kmher R's big brother) over Sovet (Vietnams big brother).
@@PMMagro I know, I know. I just want HM to make the video about it :)
they were forced to support it as pro us sihanouk national army and the Khmer national peoples liberation front didn't have enough troops to fight them alone so they sadly formed a coalition
@@raptorfromthe6ix833 "forced" when they supported them on the basis of supposed "humanitarian reasons" when in fact the KR was worse than the vietnamese occupation which gave peace to the region
@@Burrito69killer but nobody in cambodia wanted communism or the vietnamese occupation which why the khmer rouge was popular until cambodia became indepndant once again and the khmer rouge forces started defecting to the royal government
Sweden: Imma take a side.
Switzerland: *YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE! IT WAS SAID THAT YOU WOULD STAY APART FROM SIDES, NOT PICK THEM! BRING BALANCE TO YOUR FOREIGN POLICY, NOT LEAVE IT ON ONE SIDE...YOU WERE MY BROTHER, SWEDEN! I WAS AMBIVALENT TO YOU ON THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE!*
Sweden: "If you're not neutral to me, then you are my enemy!"
I like this
Bobby Trotti Sweden: You will try
@Ted Hubert Pagnanawon Crusio Don't you meant the german got raped? Because it sure did happen dere
Prequels suck.
Sweden's hostility towards the U.S. also was a major contributor to the great meatball famine of 1969. Those were dark times.😔
My grandpa’s favorite couch lost a leg. US Sanctions made it too expensive to replace. I struggle to talk about it…
@@chrisza9782 That's so sad 😢
@Syphax Atlas yeah the Russian one sucks the most cause I want the ak 12.
@Syphax Atlas ???? I'm no fan of sanctions but the countries you listed with the exception of Russia are authoritarian hellholes with horrible human rights records.
@@olliefoxx7165 I thought you said Russia was a authoritarian hellhole for a second
If the vietnamese needed money, then they should have just called James Bizzonette.
Western,Capitalist Nations: Why are you helping the Vietnamese?
Sweden: My goals are beyond your understanding
@Tattle Boad pragmatism at the cost of your ideals is hypocritical
@Tattle Boad not attacking third world countries is not "sacrificing security and power"
@Big Smoke details my friend
@Tattle Boad power doesn't mean anything so long as the people can have the opportunity and freedom to live like they wish. Something Sweden has but "the land of the free" has not
Rly man i want whatever capitalist juice your smoking. Sharing is caring, Hugs from thugs not drugs
@Tattle Boad i'll let you believe that amigo
Sweden supported the Democratic Republic of Vietnam aka the government of North Vietnam, not the Viet Cong. They were two separate things.
If you think they're different, you're dumb.
@@williamburton757 They were different. Sweden didn't supply weapons, so they didn't directly support the Viet Cong, That would be like saying that during the cold war Britain was a strong ally of the US Air Force. While technically true, Britain was more of an ally of the US government rather then just the air force. Just like Sweden was a supporter of the North Vietnamese government rather then just a supporter of the Viet Cong.
Timo Se cat man that is incorrect.
William Burton your trolling is a tad weak.
@@AsurissGP Sure, and the invanding force got quality treatment, and lots of food from sweden nonetheless
South that was being invaded got nothign and were slaughtered, a lot of them were drown in the ocean by the same people sweden helped but there will always be an excuse for governements being hypocrite. It was a diplomatic defeat for sweden whch endend helping agressors and US for losing the support in their home.
I’m a swede and I did not know that we did this, although that might be because I wasn’t alive
@@erikahl7180 "We" as in Wallenberg? Surely I didn't profit from it.
Isn't that the point of learning history... Knowing about shit that happened BEFORE you were alive haha
There's plenty they leave out in history class
Your government used the future of millions Vietnamese as political tool.
@@zeousontuan8101 every country that has the ability to do so does, sweden is hardly unique in that
This is a certified Hoi4 moment,
Sweden has joined North Vietnam in the American-Vietnamese Civil War.
It was not only Swedem that was against the war in Vietnam , most of the European countries and majority of the people in America were against that war too
Siding with the vietcong is completely different from being anti-war.
@@lubu4u312 siding with freedom fighters or Imperialist Invaders? Pick one
@@lehuy7306 *siding with communist invaders or capitalist defenders? pick one*
Japan and South korea seem pretty nice. Ill go with the capitalist ones, how about you? Do you think the south invaded the north??
@@lubu4u312 mate we had a democratic election to pick our own future, the people definitely was going to pick Ho Chi Minh if the US hadn't interfere. So it was a liberation war, not an invasion.
@@lehuy7306 Im fully aware why the north invaded the south.
Woah, I have zero idea about this despite my father actually fought in the war.
Eell, it's not like he was shooting at the Swedes though
@@deadmansfire Lookin at the name i think you got the wrong side...
USA said they would support Vietnamese nationalists with independence during the 2nd WW for support fighting Japanese. After the war Ho Chi Mihn wrote to US to keep their promise to support independence. US never replied so Ho Chi Mihn went to USSR for arms instead, triggering the communism domino effect problem.
Scchhh, let the Muricans believe they're always the righteous ones.
Well, if remember correctly, the guy who promised that, died.
Ya. But south was ok being independent. North wanted to conquer it and south got slaughtered when US removed the tropps. Literally, they thrown small shop owners, lawyers, taxi cabs, rice farms on the sea to let them die in cold and drown for disagreeing about the good ol' red propaganda.
Same as Castro and Cuba. He wanted US support, got only hostility so he went to the USSR for protection.
First off, the guy who made that promise was NOT a US political guy, he was a military officer. Second, in the post war communist ramp up the USA wasn't going to side with ANY communist groups because the common belief was they would eventually be unified under the Soviet Union one way or another as Stalin 'had his ways' of consolidating power.
It was a simple cause and effect when you look at an entire region as a chessboard and then decide to intervine half-assed for unspecified reasons.
when he says US broke off diplomatic contact, here are some added details: they effectively withdrew their embassy from sweden. leaving their ambassador spot vacant. an extremely radical move. embassies are considered the obvious necessity of diplomacy, with nations usually having embassies in foreign hostile powers and past enemies.
so the fact that they withdrew theirs from sweden is extremely telling as to how profoundly offended american officials were at the nazi comparison made by palme. who by the way, clarified while he said it that they're not the same as nazis, just that the violence is equal in regard to it's senselessness and cruelty. still so america was pissed, more or less replying 'how dare you compare us to the enemies our soldiers laid their lives to defeat'. kind of a performative response of moral outrage, but that's probably how they saw it. from their POV it truly was an outrage, though in my opinion palme's critique was absolutely warranted.
Ye compare the guys who killed tens of millions in ethnic cleansing/genocide to dudes supporting a side in a civil war, or strategic bombing…I guess the Americans were as bad as Nazis before and after Vietnam too when Sweden supported the Nazis
It’s pathetic and hypocritical, Sweden is only ever neutral on paper
Lol Sweden comparing America to Nazis.
One country aided and eventually joined the allies in the fight against Nazism. The other remained neutral on paper but in practice supported the Nazis by granting them use of their rail and selling them iron ore.
@@lenno15697 again, palme didn't say they were "like nazis" he said the violence was, at its core, equal in it's senselessness and cruelty. palme was very particular about this and made sure that was clear.
making nazi comparisons is a bad idea but if you had to pick one that was closer to nazi germany out of sweden and USA then it would surely be the US. need i remind you that the civil rights act didn't come into power until the 1960s, while they were still involved in vietnam. now this by far not a consensus but a popular academic camp in history is that US racism is fundamentally equal to that of germany's antisemitism (in terms of its motivations and ideas). although materially very different. philosophically it was similar.
@@lenno15697 They also took jewish civilians from Denmark in though.
Ironic given Sweden's position in WW2. When it's actual Nazi's they'll let it slide.
Some Americans seeing the title be like:
*It's treason then*
Or: "So; you have chosen... death."
I do feel like liberating some swedish people now
Were not puppets of the US were not in NATO were members of the EU do your worst.
Sweden: suddenly has oil
America: It's democracy time
@DJ_Trolly Who are pointing at when you say " criminal " and who is the criminal nation ?
It's just a joke mocking amercians that see anyone not being with them as ennemies.
Sweden was roleplaying as chaotic neutral.
Lawful Good
Tattle Boad well vietnam war from us wasn’t moral either
@Tattle Boad not really, because the separation between immoral and war crimes is vague. It is also because wars are often unnecessary, which was also the case for the Vietnam war.
@Tattle Boad if the war had been won in 8 days with a small amount of (civilian) casualities, I might have agreed that the war was "moral". But the amount of atrocities during the war didn't make it justified, especially since the USA sided with a dictatorship. If it was a democratic country they sided with? Sure! A small conflict with a small amount of casualties is justifiable.
@Tattle Boad Well, American "realpolitik" hasn't really worked out since the end of WWII has it? Vietnam was a disaster, Afghanistan was a disaster, Iraq was a disaster, Libya was a disaster, the only exception is the Korean war.
"With enemies you know where they stand. With neutrals who knows? It sickens me!"
-- Zapp Brannigan
What makes a man turn neutral... lust for gold? Power?! Or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality...
Zapp had a point there... for once :) .
Being nuetral is one of the best ways to lose favour and standing with other countries. That's why countries such as Brazil bothered to enter WWI at all.
They stand neutral genius. That means they won't be with or against you. Quite straight forward genius.
^ Meaningless reply, wholly missing how diplomacy works.
Look up the topic upon 'Don't be Nuetral' for why. Brazil entered WWI for exactly that reason, as did other outlying nations in WWII.
I don't have to look it up. Brazil broke it's neutrality because Germany shot down Brazilian ships. Meanwhile Sweden got a shitton of money.
What I’m is surprised as a swede- never heard of this. It’s not taught in school or not in the 90s when I was a teenager.
You should study more history. I guess Swedens role in North Korea is interesting too. Volvo shipped 1000 cars to DPRK, but they never received the payment 😂😂
@@la7dfa I’m interested in history but yes I should go back and read up more
because it's an embarrassment, olaf the guy who spoke out got assasinated while in office, sweden could only accept the humiliation.
Sweden knew which side was superior
Yes dear supreme leader
👍
History matters: why did Sweden support the Viet Kong.
Me: I DONT NEED SLEEP I NEED ANSWERS
literally the "we will teach them of our peaceful ways by force" of politics
I did enjoy this episode and I would like to thank many of our Scandinavian friends for their countries' admirable comportment in times of war during the 20th century. Shout outs to Denmark!
Why denmark in particular?
Why not Norway? Er det noe galt med oss? :(
@@blitz8221 det är det verkligen men inte lika mycket som danmark
@@ugo7395 takk for kritikken, kjøpesenteret vårt
So glad to finally see a video on this important yet less known topic. Excellent job!!
I am genuinely surprised to see that many fellow Swedes were not aware of this before; I thought it was common knowledge that we supported the government of Hồ Chí Minh. My own father took part in shipping medical supplies and construction tools to (North) Vietnam and a more distant relative of mine worked as a doctor in Hanoi throughout the war, mostly treating wounded soldiers.
I have also heard that a handful of Swedes even went there as volunteer soldiers, but they were often relegated to instruction duties as their ethnicity could have led them to be mistaken for Americans.
im a viet and i did not know this as well. im studying in sweden next year and its nice to know this
*Sweden* "Alright, time to be neutral again."
*Also Sweden* "(Reviving Vietnam).
"dont rape me" bands
Why wouldn't? The Vietnamese only wanted a united independent country of their own. They'd spent centuries fighting off China, Japan and France not so that the US could jump in and tear their countries apart again. So it makes perfect sense that the peace-loving Sweden would help them
Well, If the south didnt want be united with the north, who gave the north the right to attack them, right?
But as it stands, the south had a US puppet government installed(?) and the will of the people was the unification. That made the US an aggressive hostile invasion force and North-Vietnam the righeous party. Well, at least thats what I remember from my education in germany 😅
Luckily you won and the US fled your country. I am even more glad that you worked hard to have somewhat good relations to the US now.
@@NotUnymous What a lot do not take in consideration is the mass support for North Vietnam by China and the USSR. The USSR was hesitant on giving any troops due to a likely involvement in a conflict with the US but China had more persistence on taking part in the conflict. Not necessary a "An Agresssive foreign power seeking to prevent an independent nation" but more over, a proxy war between multiple global powers with multiple factions wanting a independent Vietnam but the argument would be, would it be Communist or Capitalist?
@@conversationtosaurusrex was it a proxy war to some? sure. but to the vietnamese it was their war for national liberation (well, part two i guess lol)
"it raises the question: why?"
hm, actually, the question is "WTF?"
@asdf The question turned from WTF to how DF you came to that conclusion
If we live in democracy, we have right to choose havent we? Sweden chose Vietcong and they were brave and hard fighters. And they won. And was it not american who said there is no substitute for victory at war?
@@pexxajohannes1506 The victore writes the History
The winner takes as much as he wants,the weak suffer what they must
Some "quotes" that i Remember
asdf I agree. Supporting the Vietcongs atrocities is unacceptable.
@@ertvonzukonigvonrahm835 the victor writes history... A quote that is so wrong in history
I’m pretty sure I’ve learned more from this channel then I ever did in school
It be like that sometimes the internet's just seems to give us more information then what the government does
Then, don't go to school
The US public education system is garbage. A thinking populace is a populace that is capable of realizing how much they are being f@ck3d by the government.
Don't forget about Crash Course and really, all the other PBS channels here!
No Surrender - Bruce Springsteen 2020 remake
I didn’t even know this as a swede. Thanks for covering it.
it wasn't taught in school?
Same
Surprisingly, Sweden would actually provide some weapons to the US for awhile before 1966. In particular, US Navy SEALS used the Kpist m/45 Submachine gun, which they liked because they could start shooting almost immediately after getting out of the water, alongside the compact, rugged, and reliable nature of the weapon.
Such was the degree which the US Navy SEALS were impressed with the weapon that when Sweden did stop selling the weapons to the US Navy, they promptly had Smith and Wesson make a copy known as the M76.
@@darylteo9983 no. But you have to understand that Vietnam was never really a big deal in Sweden as we didnt fight, we learn about our neutrality but the specifics of vietnam aremt particularly important from a purely swedish perspective
@@rueisblue I don't even think we covered that war in school, too busy learning about the dude who got shot with a button for the 140th time
Please make a series out of sweden flipping everyone off
Norway, Denmark and Finland are the first in line, when Sweden didn't answer a call of duty against the invading nazis and soviets.
@@dusk6159 sweden holding strictly to neutrality
@@dusk6159 You apparently don't know history then. Sweden sent more support to Finland than anyone else did. And Denmark basically greeted the Germans with open arms while shipping their jewish refugees to Sweden, whom took them in with no problems. Aswell as taking in thousands of Finish children and housing them during the war.
Sweden's neutrality to war does not mean inactivity. But yes, we are indeed flipping everyone off for thinking they know better than us. ;) Clearly the worls has a lot to learn from us.
@@FemaleSniper86 The world is flipping you dude, the world has a lot to know as far as dodging two World Wars while Europe was on the brink of getting lost.
@@FemaleSniper86 Don't even try excusing and boasting by throwing under the bus a minor and overwhelmed nation with no chance like Denmark, Denmark wasn't even close to the size and armed forces of Sweden, was directly bordering Germany, was blitzed and was the first to be invaded along Norway (who had the terrain, size and time to fight, and fought, then resisted, and would've crippled the germans some more had Sweden broken Germany's plans of isolating Norway because dealing with the whole Scandinavia would've killed them in the long run, shortening the war).
This is exactly like France-type of insecurity and boasting; didn't do anything worthy, failed in all its required objectives, failed despite his relevant status, army and size, barely did the bare minimum thanks to those advantages but talks and boasts like it was relevant and it had no faults, especially using minor nations bordering with Germany itself.
Unlike France though, the germans had way more interests in keeping Sweden alive and not warring, if Sweden had joined the war it would've been a massive pain in the side of Germany, and would've basically cracked their Scandinavian front and path, even if it had fallen the resistance and size of Sweden would've been impossible to handle, especially considering that the nazis were hellbent on committing on having every square of Norway and their occupied territory filled with soldiers.
Forget the soviets, even Norway would've returned as a problem.
The war would've ended a year earlier and with the german army imploding on itself, had Sweden united with at least their bordering brothers instead of giving invaluable resources to a cut off Germany, a non-hostile neighbour and timely access.
Holly shit Sweden had BAAAAAAALLLLLSSSSS
Sweden hasn't had a pair of balls since Poltava.
@@ThirdPositionMallow and russia can't handle democracy
That was before they got Jewed.
Sweden remains foolish*
They guy who made Sweden have balls got assassinated..
Let the conspiracies begin.
"We're very angry at you for saying we're as bad as the Nazi's, Sweeden. That was not cool. We're so angry in fact that we're going to break of diplomatic relations entirely!...For the rest of this year."
Ah yes, bombing your enemies in war is the same as rounding up your own tax paying citizens and gassing them. Totally the same thing.
@@AG-yc7vt He didn't say the maliciousness was equal to the Nazi massacre, just that they were all in the same category - malicious acts.
Nixon first prolonged the war by secretly urging South Vietnam to not agree to any peace deal in 1968 ahead of the US presidential election, as he figured the war continuing helped him and hurt his opponent.
After that he kept warring while lying about US success in the war, to avoid it harming his approval rating.
During Christmas 1972, while peace talks was ongoing the US bombed many Vietnamese cities including Hanoi and killed more than 1000 people and made many homeless.
Palme was upset by this.
"What happens now in Vietnam is a kind of torture"...
What they're doing is tormenting people, tormenting a country to humiliate it and to force it into submission through use of power.
And that's why these bombings are malicious acts. And we have many examples of those throughout history.
And they are usually connected with a name: Guernica, Oradour, Babij Jar, Katyń, Lidice, Sharpeville, Treblinka.
There the violence has triumphed. But posterity's judgment has been harsh on those responsible.
Now another name is added: Hanoi, Christmas 1972.
*When the furniture start speaking vietnamese*
Lol
0:35 "two phases" but missing the preamble where The Brits with the help of the recently surrendered Japanese largely squashed the uprising.
The Malayan crisis then came up and Britain wondered if they should really deal with that, rather than helping the French maintain their Empire. The French were given the job of 'finishing things off' in French Indochina and the Brits went off to give a masterclass in defeating an insurgency in Malaya.
Switzerland: nothing
Narrator: A contender has entered the Arena
Sweden + Switzerland: *Stares Intensely*
RIP Olof Palme/Vila i frid Olof Palme :(
January 30th 1927 - February 28th 1986
It was lucky for Sweden that we got rid of him. Although murder was the wrong way. He totally wrecked the Swedish economy. He thought it was possible to borrow money for welfare programs. The national debt soared and drastic measures were required to repair it.
He was a great man and I hope to see a leader like him in our small country again.
@@bololollek9245 Yeah, you already have someone like him in power, and look what that's gotten you, Sweden is barely Swedish, and by 2050 the average "Swede" is going to be speaking Arab and praying to Allah.
Fun fact; my dad got to meet a vietnamese ambassador during some sort of negotiations in Sweden.
He was dating a girl who was involved with a peace actevist group and got to tag along to greet the ambassador at the train station. When the ambassador arrived he shook my dads hand since he assumed that he, the man in the group, was the one in charge... Some what awkward...
Sweden: hates both factions
Everyone: wait that's illegal
Swedish people are awesome !
I really respect you guys . Love from Vietnam
👍
Love back to you from Sweden 🌹
Love from Sweden.
We have commies tho
@@rositawangdahl457 hej hej
Major inaccuracies and simplifications here. Palme was a moderate social democrat and really not pro Vietcong. His stance was anti-imperialist and anti-war. He did not see that the extreme bombing campaigns against Vietnam (and Laos, Cambodia) could be justified. But he also despised the Soviet Union and the east block dictatorships, the fascists in Spain and Portugal, the apartheid system in SA and other oppressive regimes. His criticism of the US was also a personal disappointment. Palme came from an upper-class, conservative family and became a social democrat after college studies in the US and extensive travelling in the country.
I wish i was rich enough to be a socialist
anti-americans are almost always wealthy hypocrites who benefit immensely from the US
@@JanJansen985 Social democracy isnt socialism hahahahahahhaha
@@notahandle965 interesting way of dismissing criticism?
@Mike Miller Mike Miller who believes everyone left of Donalnd Trump and Adolf Hitler is a socialist.
Swedish guy holding sign the reads "you all suck" haha... priceless
What was that a reference too? I saw the Czechoslovak flag and I didnt get it
Was it a reference of the warsaw pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in the late sixties?
@@cisarovnajosefina4525 Yes, probably. Most Swedes at the time where very disappointed in the SU's reaction to what Czechoslovakia under Dubcek tried to do and Swedish PM Olof Palme was very vocal in his condemnation of the invasion.
1968: LBJ, hey Sweden, mind your own business while we butt into a country 8,000 miles away from our shores.