Why Norway's 1940 defeat was a systemic failure

Norway's defeat grew out of a long-running failure of national decision-making. Preparedness for war depended on choices made by successive political leaders, so responsibility extended beyond the officials in office during April 1940. Repeated opportunities to upgrade the country's defences could have made invasion costly enough to deter. Individual mistakes still mattered, but they accumulated within a political system that tolerated inadequate preparation across generations.