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<blockquote data-quote="728ups" data-source="post: 1346620" data-attributes="member: 33372">&lt;sigh&gt;Why should they? The Swedes were willing to trade freely with Germany, offered no great strategic improvement to Germany should they be occupied, and had a military that was of no threat to any of its neighbors.Contrast this with Russia which had a highly aggressive and expansionist military and political system. Occupation of their territory was Germany&#039;s PRIMARY goal in WWII. Also, Stalin, while willing at times to trade vital materials with Germany was extremely unreliable and would have cut off trade when he thought it would best leverage the Soviet position.Only nations that posed a threat to Germany, one way or the other, were attacked by the Germans. Despite popular mythology to the contrary, Germany was not on a rampage to take over the world in WWII. They were interested in improving their national security and sought to do this via military means.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="728ups, post: 1346620, member: 33372"] <sigh> Why should they? The Swedes were willing to trade freely with Germany, offered no great strategic improvement to Germany should they be occupied, and had a military that was of no threat to any of its neighbors. Contrast this with Russia which had a highly aggressive and expansionist military and political system. Occupation of their territory was Germany's PRIMARY goal in WWII. Also, Stalin, while willing at times to trade vital materials with Germany was extremely unreliable and would have cut off trade when he thought it would best leverage the Soviet position. Only nations that posed a threat to Germany, one way or the other, were attacked by the Germans. Despite popular mythology to the contrary, Germany was not on a rampage to take over the world in WWII. They were interested in improving their national security and sought to do this via military means. [/QUOTE]

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