If the war comes

"If the war comes" () is a pamphlet originally prepared by the Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces' office. "If the war comes" has been delivered to every single household in Sweden from 1943 to 1991 and again from 2018. The most important parts of the publication were also inserted at the end of all Swedish phone books. The publication contained information about how to act in a situation of national crisis and most notably, nuclear war. Between the 1950s and 1970s Sweden went through a period with extraordinary high economic growth called the "record years" (). This made it possible to invest in civil defense and to have a plan to save the entire population even in the event of a superpower invasion. "If the war comes" was a way to inform the public about these plans. With the end of the Cold War the publication was deemed to be outdated and distribution ceased in 1991. The most basic information was kept in the phone book until the early 21st century. In 2018 the pamphlet was renewed and distributed under the name "If crisis or war comes" ().
2018 reprint.
Due to the unstable international political situation, the Swedish government decided to distribute a new version of the pamphlet to 4.7 million Swedish households between May and June 2018. The 2018 version was titled "If crisis or war comes" () and included information on modern situations such as terrorism, fake news and cell phone usage during a crisis.
Content.
"If the war comes" was a short publication and contained the basic information that the Government of Sweden considered as necessary to know in the event of war. The most notable and well remembered exhortation is the phrase in the chapter about civil defense; "Every statement that the resistance has ceased is FALSE!" (). The publication also contained information about civil defense sirens, how to act in an air-raid shelter and what belongings you should bring in the case of a refugee-situation.
This philosophy of questioning of orders, known as mission command, manifested itself unexpectedly during United Nations operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the early 1990s. Sweden's deployed commanders truly believed their role was to fulfil their orders, mindful that national command which might not grasp the battle facing forward troops.