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Fienden : Sveriges relation till Ryssland från vikingatiden till idag
Ingen av Sveriges grannar har gett oss lika många anledningar till misstänksamhet och rädsla som Ryssland.
398 pages, Hardcover
Published January 30, 2023
13 people are currently reading
69 people want to read
About the author
Dick Harrison
149 books106 followers
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Dick Harrison is a Swedish historian and currently a professor at Lund's University, Sweden.
Dick Harrison is a Swedish historian and currently a professor at Lund's University, Sweden.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 10, 2025
The title literally means 'The Enemy', and the sub-title "The relationship between Sweden and Russia from the Viking age to the present day".
Dick Harrison is a renowned historian with over 100 books published. Here he investigates how the relationship between Russia and Sweden has evolved, involving families, friendship, economic ties and (lots of) war.
According to legend, The Kievan Rus was founded by proto-swedish vikings in the 9th century, and vikings from present-day Sweden were active in the East, doing more trading than plunder. Later in the christian era, there were competing crusades when both Catholics from Scandinavia and Orthodox from Rus tried to 'civilize' the populations in the area between - mostly present-day Baltics, Finland and Karelia.
During Sweden's heyday as European superpower (roughly, the 17th century) there was plenty of fighting against Russia, ending in some horrible disasters, such as the Battle of Poltava. During the end of that war, the Russian fleet repeatedly burned down towns along the East coast of Sweden. For the next century, Sweden lost Finland and all holdings on the east/south of the Baltic sea, and there was a strong Russophobic¹ undercurrent in Sweden, that became even stronger after the communist revolution of 1917.
During the 19th century there were strong economic ties, with families like the Nobel dynasty expanding in Tsarist Russia, and Ericsson building their first foreign factory in St Petersburg. After the revolution, most of these ties were replaced by even stronger antipathy.
In the 20th century, there were several touchy points, from the disappearance of Raoul Wallenberg in Soviet prisons, to downing of Swedish airplanes and of course the infamous 'Whiskey on the Rocks' and attendant submarine scare.
Russia's behaviour in the 21st century has been even more alarming. While it started with lots of optimism about a reformed democratic Russia, those dreams were crushed by the intervention in Georgia, Moldova and Crimea, and ultimately the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This has shown that Russia is still an aggressive expansionist power with imperial ambitions.
Harrison's conclusion is that Russia remains 'The Enemy' in a way that would be laughable if applied to the (historically more antagonistic) Danes or Norwegians.
Harrison is an expert on the Middle Ages, and it shows. He lists several battles in the 1300's and spends significantly more time on the Kievan Rus than on the complicated story of Finland in the 19th and 20th centuries.
¹ Harrison makes the point that the Swedish 'Rysskräck' doesn't really translate very well to 'Russophobia'. It implies more of a justified terror than an irrational fear.
Dick Harrison is a renowned historian with over 100 books published. Here he investigates how the relationship between Russia and Sweden has evolved, involving families, friendship, economic ties and (lots of) war.
According to legend, The Kievan Rus was founded by proto-swedish vikings in the 9th century, and vikings from present-day Sweden were active in the East, doing more trading than plunder. Later in the christian era, there were competing crusades when both Catholics from Scandinavia and Orthodox from Rus tried to 'civilize' the populations in the area between - mostly present-day Baltics, Finland and Karelia.
During Sweden's heyday as European superpower (roughly, the 17th century) there was plenty of fighting against Russia, ending in some horrible disasters, such as the Battle of Poltava. During the end of that war, the Russian fleet repeatedly burned down towns along the East coast of Sweden. For the next century, Sweden lost Finland and all holdings on the east/south of the Baltic sea, and there was a strong Russophobic¹ undercurrent in Sweden, that became even stronger after the communist revolution of 1917.
During the 19th century there were strong economic ties, with families like the Nobel dynasty expanding in Tsarist Russia, and Ericsson building their first foreign factory in St Petersburg. After the revolution, most of these ties were replaced by even stronger antipathy.
In the 20th century, there were several touchy points, from the disappearance of Raoul Wallenberg in Soviet prisons, to downing of Swedish airplanes and of course the infamous 'Whiskey on the Rocks' and attendant submarine scare.
Russia's behaviour in the 21st century has been even more alarming. While it started with lots of optimism about a reformed democratic Russia, those dreams were crushed by the intervention in Georgia, Moldova and Crimea, and ultimately the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This has shown that Russia is still an aggressive expansionist power with imperial ambitions.
Harrison's conclusion is that Russia remains 'The Enemy' in a way that would be laughable if applied to the (historically more antagonistic) Danes or Norwegians.
Harrison is an expert on the Middle Ages, and it shows. He lists several battles in the 1300's and spends significantly more time on the Kievan Rus than on the complicated story of Finland in the 19th and 20th centuries.
¹ Harrison makes the point that the Swedish 'Rysskräck' doesn't really translate very well to 'Russophobia'. It implies more of a justified terror than an irrational fear.
May 5, 2023
Övergripande bra, dessvärre tappar boken viss trovärdighet när det gäller 1900-talet. Exempelvis beskriver Harrison sanningen kring U-137:an som osäker, något som den verkligen inte är. Främst via arbetet av journalisten Ingemar Myhrberg är det högst tydligt att ryssarna faktiskt talade sanning och att båten hade hamnat vid Karlskrona av misstag, något som samtliga bevis talar för. Det var inte en spionfarkost, som tidigare hävdats. Andra påstådda spionaffärer som präglat 1900-talets andra halva men senare bevisats vara falska utelämnas från Harrisons bok. TIR-lastbilarna, Matreco eller de polska tavelförsäljarna för att nämna några. När Harrison argumenterar för att den svenska rysskräcken är befogad önskar jag att han ändå belyst dessa affärer som bevisligen tytt på att ljusen varit om inte felriktade, åtminstone för starkt tända. Höga miljonbelopp har gått till ubåtsjakter som inte kunnat producera några bevis, och de bevis som hävdats har bland annat visat sig vara pruttande sillar (se SOU 2001:85, Ingemar Myhrbergs "Ubåtsvalsen" och även sekvenser ur Mattias Göranssons "Björnen Kommer!" för mer om just detta).
Fram till denna epok är Harrison dock mycket saklig och ger en mycket målande och välsammansatt historieskrivning kring den ryss-svenska relationen. Tyvärr får jag bilden av att Harrison i modern tid uteslutit material som talar mot hans tes.
Fram till denna epok är Harrison dock mycket saklig och ger en mycket målande och välsammansatt historieskrivning kring den ryss-svenska relationen. Tyvärr får jag bilden av att Harrison i modern tid uteslutit material som talar mot hans tes.
April 8, 2023
Lättläst och trevlig historisk exposé över svensk-rysk historia, men den är just det; en exposé. Harrison är flyhänt och kan historia, men någon djuplodande analys av Sveriges relation till Ryssland är det inte. Läsvärd om du inte stigit ner i ämnet tidigare, men vill du bilda dig en egen uppfattning om vad Ryssland är och dess historia rekommenderar jag långt hellre Per-Arne Bodin eller Kristian Gerber för att nämna två exempel.
July 27, 2023
Som så ofta så skriver Dick Harrison detaljerat och noggrant om svensk historia, denna gång med mellanhavandena med Ryssland som fokus. Tyvärr försvinner boken ofta iväg i en allmän historisk berättelse om Sverige vilket gör boken till de närmaste ointressant för någon med grundläggande historiska kunskaper.
Bokens bästa del är de första avsnitten där forntid till medeltid avhandlas.
Bokens bästa del är de första avsnitten där forntid till medeltid avhandlas.
September 24, 2025
It was a bit lacking in some parts but overall a very good read. 😙
April 23, 2023
Boktokiga avsnitt 15
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews