If the generation of my grandparents simply would've shut the country down, deliberately starve themselves and refuse to do trade with anyone else, would that’ve meant true neutrality?
I feel little compassion for that since two sons of one of my great-grandfathers were MIA as well as three sons of another were the same thus leaving my father an orphan at the age of 12. The swedish iron ore could play a part in that. The same can be said about a fraction of that generation in the USA and the UK.
- More or less every type of goods are “war material”.
Again, why should a neutral country starve itself, alternatively carry the blame, because of conflicts they didn't start?
Sweden traded with both Nazi Germany and Britain - so let's blame Sweden for the Munich agreement of 1938, shall we!
Some people drink and drive - yeah, let's sue the automotive industry!
“I feel little compassion for that since two sons of one of my great-grandfathers were MIA as well as three sons of another were the same thus leaving my father an orphan at the age of 12.”
- Many Westerners of today (and others) were “innocent” victims of WWII or have close relatives who were.
My (paternal) grandmother who fled Finland and her brother (who got shot by a Soviet sniper, but survived) are examples of such people.
We are all victims as well as makers of history.
What ordinary people can do is to learn how to distinguish between real leaders like Charles XII of Sweden and Mannerheim, a great son of Finland and poor leaders like Peter the Great and Stalin.