Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XV. Sweden in 1914
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
264
SWEDEN IN 1914
[chap. xv.
As we know, Sven-Hedin owes his fame to his travels
in Thibet. The Swedish explorer was very effectually
assisted by Russia. The Emperor Nicolas II. took
a personal interest in his explorations, and the civil
and military authorities of Russian Central Asia
(whence Sven-Hedin crossed over the Thibetan borders)
received orders to grant him all possible facilities,
including an armed escort. On his return, he was most
graciously received by the Emperor and welcomed
by the Academy of Science of St. Petersburg. At his
last visit to Stockholm (in 1910), the Emperor still
remembered his protkge, sent him a Russian decoration,
and invited him to go and see him. In consequence,
Sven-Hedin was looked on as being a friend of, and
under an obligation to, the Russians. And so, if the
" Russian " Sven-Hedin himself began to write and to
preach that a real danger for Sweden was arising on
the side of Russia, then one had to believe it and to
seek salvation first in the increase of Swedish armed
forces, and then by binding Swedish policy closely to
that of the power who alone could check and confound
the Colossus of the North—to Germany. When I
arrived in Sweden in March, 1914, I thought this tale
of Russian aspirations to Narwick was not believed by
any one, or else was only a pretext for obtaining supplies
from the Riksdag, and for improving Swedish
armaments, the concealed aim being Finland. I have since
had to change my opinion. I realised that the fear of
Russian aggression existed even among the wisest and
most well-balanced Swedes. It was not until much
later, and when the World War was in full swing, that
Swedish public opinion gradually recognised its
mistake; but for this it was necessary for Russia to give
an absolutely tangible proof, that of the construction
and hurried completion of the railway line from St.
Petersburg to Murman.1
1 And to think that this all-important line was to have been laid—
but was not—already in 1895, when the port of Alexa?idrovsk was
inaugurated, and the line sketched out by Witte’s orders, then all-powerful
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
