Scandinavia

Scandinavia
Government type	Adopts the forming nations government (default is HM's Government)
Ruling party	Adopts the forming nations ruling party (default is Conservative)
Capital	Varies (Stockholm, Copenhagen, Christiania, Helsinki, Flensburg or Iceland)
Population	1.48 million 1.85 million (With Finland)
Primary culture	Varies (Default is Swedish)
Accepted cultures	Finnish, Norwegian, Sami, Danish, Icelandic, Swedish
Religion	protestant
Literacy	Varies (Default is 80%)
National value	Order
Tech school	N/A
Status	Civilized

Scandinavia in 1836

Maybe there is something specifically Scandinavian that comes out of the long, dark winters - you have to learn to laugh at misery, in a way. - Stellan Skarsgard, Swedish Actor

Scandinavia can be unified by Sweden or Denmark (or Norway, Iceland, Jan Mayen, Schleswig or Finland if they are independent). To do so, one must reach great power status and gain control over all the cores of Scandinavia via either conquest or sphering. Then one can take the decision ‘För Brödrafolkens Väl!’, which forms Scandinavia.

Holstein, while not a Scandinavian core, can be kept as a puppet (or annexed by Pan-nationalists if one is especially lucky!), but be aware of Prussia and Austria as they may well attempt to take the area, as it has German cores and is needed for the formation of North German Federation/ Germany.

Research

The Scandinavian countries are all blessed with some of the highest literacy ratings in the game, and very few non-accepted POPs. The only non-accepted cultures once Scandinavia is formed are in Schleswig, the Scandinavian West Indies, Greenland, and Ghana, as well as a small minority in Copenhagen. This, along with Sweden's extra decision, makes Scandinavia ideal for research.

Industry

Scandinavia can easily become one of the largest industrial powerhouses in the game. By first researching some culture techs to increase research points and education efficiency, one can easily have literacy rate near 100%, which will allow to quickly research Industrial technology. From here, one can build as many railroads and factories as possible. Money is rarely a problem unless one is losing a war, so feel free to go all out on new and more advanced factories as you discover them. In addition, Norway and Finland have iron and coal, while Sweden has timber. These provide a decent income, and are useful when it comes to industry. Colonizing Africa around Danish Ghana provides a source of cotton and later rubber which further improves Scandinavian industry. With some prestige events and research techs, Scandinavia's prestige can high as well, thus keeping your great power status safe throughout the whole game.

Scandinavia does, however has a relatively low population for its vast size, so craftsmen will be spread out over more states making it harder to effectively build factories.

Targets of war

Scandinavia's principal weakness is its low population and even lower population density, both of which pale in comparison to its neighbours - Russia to the east and Germany to the south. Both can easily have a larger military than Scandinavia ever will in Europe, and winning wars against them is difficult. War with other European Powers should be avoided in general, unless forced in a crisis or if backed by another Great Power with a strong military such as France.

Instead, one should look for targets for conquest in Africa or Asia in order to prepare for the Scramble For Africa or for just land and supply bonuses. Oman, Yemen, Nejd, Hedjaz, and Abu Dhabi are always great choices for establishing protectorates if not already conquered by another Great Power. Sokoto is also a good early target, and so is Brunei for a chance to colonize in the Pacific.

Finland

Finland will most likely not be included when first forming Scandinavia. If Sweden was the one to form Scandinavia, and did so without abandoning Finland, Scandinavia will have cores on Finland. This means that one can take it from Russia in war, but (as mentioned above) one will have to have powerful allies, since Russia will have a stronger army than Scandinavia. One can also free Finland from Russia and make them independent - upon sphering an independent Finland, they will soon petition to become a part of Scandinavia.

One can also start a crisis by using the 'increase tension' national focus to force a crisis in Finland, and, if backed by enough other Great Powers one can free Finland without any war effort. However, only non-Great Powers can do this, and one will likely need to purposefully fall out of GP status to do this as Scandinavia. It is much more preferable to do this when starting the game out as Sweden as one can do it right away due to the Swedish cores before the ‘Abandon Finland’ decision. It is also worth noting that Finland is made up of two states, so this will have to be done twice.

Colonization

Danish Ghana will become Scandinavian Ghana upon formation

Denmark starts with a chunk of Ghana, which Scandinavia will inherit when formed. From there one can take large parts in the scramble for Africa. As Scandinavia is more or less all coastal provinces however, one can have many more naval bases and ships, and thus a very big amount of Colonial Points. Consider taking Brunei, Sokoto, Omani Zanibar, or Ethiopia to give Scandinavia more colonization vectors. Scandinavia is perfectly capable of locking down a large portion of Africa if properly prepared!

Other colonial targets

Since Scandinavia has a lot of coast, one does not need to limit oneself when colonizing. One can consider making a foothold in South East Asia to colonize Micronesia, Oceania, Rest of Borneo and those areas. Scandinavia is in the unique position of not possessing enough manpower to reliably sustain foreign wars, so every extra piece of manpower gleaned from overseas colonies counts!

Decisions and events

Scandinavia does not have any unique decisions on its own. All of Swedens unique decision can however also be taken by Scandinavia if Scandinavia has been formed by Sweden. Denmarks single unique decision Danmarks Riges Grundlov can not be taken by Scandinavia, even if Scandinavia is formed by Denmark.

All of the events unique to Denmark cannot happen to Scandinavia.

Countries