APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200090017-8
Viking raids on Irish coastal settlements were commonplace by the end of the ninth century. Defenseless monasteries and their treasures were often victims, as depicted in the sacking of Clamacnoise, the most celebrated of Irish monasteries. (photo)
The period of Swedish ascendency in the north furthered a process started in the 15th century when the Danes were ascendant. Already in the Kalmar Union of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland (1389-1520), common defenses were planned, if not established, and there developed mutually profitable commerce. Only when the Danes and their German advisors became too powerful and tried to dominate the relationship was the union formally dissolved. By the 17th century Sweden actually did dominate affairs, and continued the integrating process.
Having Christianized and then absorbed Finland by 1293, Sweden so acculturated its large eastern neighbor over the centuries as to make of it a fifth Scandinavian nation. Although the subsequent ascendancy of Russia wrested Finland away from 1809 to 1918 and, for a time after World War II again threatened Finland's Western orientation, the latter's marked cultural affinity with Scandinavia continues.
Essentially to compensate for the loss of Finland, as well as Pomerania, Sweden was awarded hegemony over Norway (through a joint Swedish monarchy by the Concert of Powers in 1814). Imposed by a blend of force and persuasion, the union endured until 1905, when it was unilaterally dissolved by Norway. Today's Nordic Council—through which, inter alia, all five independent nations have very close economic ties and have agreed to the free movement of each others' nationals within their borders, including reciprocal recognition of work permits and exploitation of welfare benefits—is the 20th century expression of an ongoing process. Only in matters of defense is any constructive dialogue ruled out. Denmark, Norway, and Iceland are attached to NATO; Sweden remains determinedly neutral, and Finland's freedom of action is per force inhibited by Soviet desires.
With the Nordic countries geographically removed from the main European currents for nearly a millennium, and at the same time interacting with each other, either in warfare or peaceful pursuits, there developed in the area a remarkable ethnic homogeneity. All five countries are overwhelmingly Lutheran Protestant, with some 95% of the respective populations identifying with this persuasion. Similarly, all five societies take their formal religious obligations lightly, even in the European context, notwithstanding the marked impact of the Protestant ethic on their mores. Still pervasive in the 1960's, this influence, however, now appears to be diminishing, with as yet inconclusive results. Excepting the Finns, the Scandinavians tend to be remarkably uniform in physical type, the predominant Nordic strain having experienced only slight admixtures with similar appearing Celts and Britons and more southerly continental Alpines during the Viking period. With the conspicuous exception of Finland, the Scandinavian nations speak similar Germanic languages. They also have evolved very similar political systems, all are parliamentary democracies, although Sweden, Denmark, and Norway are severely limited constitutional monarchies, and Finland and Iceland are republics.
The marked pragmatic bent of the Nordic peoples is reflected in the stability of their governments. All the systems feature a multiparty legislature which may be the ultimate arbiter of executive action. Such concentration of power in a large legislative body
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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200090017-8
