ABSTRACT
Insecurities and civic unrest following the famine years of 1917–1918 eventually subsided and by the late 1920s hopes of economic growth burgeoned again in Sweden. When the Social Democratic Party won a national majority in the early thirties, there was a general sense of political stability in the land. Per Albin Hansson, 'father of the country', and his colleagues heralded Saecuritas for all. Sweden's formally neutral stance on the wars of the twentieth century afforded time and energy to build an elaborate welfare system at home, while continuing to hold a leading position internationally with top quality industrial exports. By 1920 academic geography was well established in Sweden. The research output and the status of geography during its foundational phase, can scarcely be understood without a closer look at some of its key individuals, among the most dynamic of whom were Hans Wilhelmson Ahlmann and his brilliant student, William William-Olsson.
