Chronological history The Scandinavian defence union was a historical idea to establish a military alliance between Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark after the end of World War II, but the idea did not come about when Denmark, Iceland and Norway joined NATO in 1949 at the request of the United States, while Finland and Sweden did not.
After the Continuation War where the Soviet Union forced Finland to sue for peace, but failed in its goal[citation needed] of conquering and annexing the country (in a manner similar to the Baltic States), Finland became neutral and retained a democratic government and a market economy.
Regarding the Finnish membership in the Scandinavian defence union, far reaching discussions at state-level were made with the other candidate countries.
These discussions were abruptly ended, when Sweden made a specific requirement, that approval from the Soviet Union must be received if Finland was to join.
When it became known that the western alliance would not be able to supply the Scandinavian countries with armaments before meeting their own pressing needs, this issue ultimately proved to be the turning point for Norway, which resigned from the talks.
He found a great opponent in the foreign minister of the time Östen Undén, who argued that Sweden should stay non-aligned and remain neutral in case of war.
In 2021, the defence ministers of Denmark, Norway and Sweden signed an agreement of increased cooperation among their militaries with a coordination structure that would make it easier to "act together in peace, crisis or conflict" in the southern Nordic region,[4][5] and in 2022 it was agreed to further enhance the capabilities by allowing access to each other's airspace and military infrastructure.