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For almost a century Sweden has participated with military units in international peace operations. Most of these operations have taken place since 1956, under the command of the United Nations (UN), but the prehistory during the League of Nations is of importance for a deeper understanding of Sweden’s participation in international peace operations. For a long time, peace operations took place under a mandate of the UN and were also organised by the UN. But step by step both EU and NATO have come to command many of these operations.

From 1934 until today, more than 100 000 Swedes have taken part in different kinds of international operations. By means of a chronological and comparative approach, this article studies the development of these operations. The focus is the concrete development of the military operations, not the political decision-making processes behind them.

Six different definitions of peace operations are used: Preventive operations, where the international forces are deployed before a conflict has broken out. Traditional peacekeeping operations, where the international troops are deployed between the two hostile parties, with their approval. Enlarged peacekeeping, where there are several breaches of a formal armistice. Peace-enforcing operation, where the international forces use armed force against one or several of the parties. Support of a transition, where the military, the police and civilians are used to implement a peace agreement. Administration of a transition, where the international society assumes responsibility to achieve a deeper political change.

Very few Swedish peace operations were of a traditional peace keeping sort, while more peace enforcing efforts took place or were prepared for already in the 1960s. However, the big shift towards participations in peaceenforcing operations under the command of EU and NATO came in the 1990s. For many years this development was not in step with the official Swedish self-image as a neutral and peace-loving country.

This paper aims to compare militia organizations in two peripheral late medieval kingdoms: Portugaland Sweden. In the Portuguese case, the «besteiros do conto» (crossbowmen) militia is the object of study,whereas in Sweden, the rural «uppbåd» peasant militia is analyzed. In this study, these two objects are comparedin terms of origins, organization, leadership, relation to state or royal power, forms of service reimbursement,strategies of recruitment and training, campaign performance, estimated professionalism and impact on martialsociety. The aim is further to assess on what points we find similar developments, but also how they differ andthe possible reasons for it.

Abstract: The Battle of Lemgo (1638) is traditionally viewed as a complete route of the Swedish forces under Lt General James King (an Orcadian) and an allied army led by Prince Karl Ludwig of the Palatinate. In this presentation, Dr Kathrin Zickermann and Prof Steve Murdoch have reassessed the battlefield reports following the battle and the subsequent actions of the Swedish-Palatine Army. In so doing a number of flaws in the conventional orthodoxy have been exposed. Missing from all previous mentions of this event has been any attention to the Swedish accounts of the battle, or even objective scrutiny of the available German and English ones. This paper returns to the basic principles of the study of history by reviewing the battle objectively and from all sides equally. In so doing we overturn the orthodoxy surrounding the battle and its aftermath. We can conclusively show that far from being a route which saw King and Karl Ludwig return to base with only five survivors (the myth), the battle witnessed an orderly retreat and was followed up by subsequent actions previously overlooked in any Swedish, German or English language accounts. This placed the Swedish army in a stronger position than prior to the battle, albeit the Palatine force was denuded of some of its most senior commanders. We address the mythologizing of these (such as Prince Rupert of the Rhine) and contemplate why the obsession with romantic figures has helped obscure the historical reality of the day.

This study examines military migration in the late medieval and early modern Baltic Sea region in order to map out the directions and patterns of mercenary movement prior to the emergence of national armies. The results illustrate the high degree of the markets' interconnectivity and points to the transnational or even global character of military migration in the North well before the Thirty Year's War, conventionally perceived as the threshold conflict in this context.

This paper aims to study the interconnections between the military-institutional transformation and social organization in local Swedish society during the course of the Sixteenth century. During this period, the emerging new Swedish state bureaucracy transformed the largely autonomous peasant militia into state-controlled regular army units. In this process the political status, goals and agency of the upper peasant strata are studied. This social group applied novel strategies in order to adapt favourably to changes. Through cooperation and continuous bargaining with the emerging new state, this group largely lost its age-old martial identity in exchange for a new beneficial political position in local society. Thus, changes in the military organization also accentuated an increased social stratification within peasant society.

Rapporten behandlar tre aspekter av ett militärt återtagande inom ramen för markstridskrafterna, närmare bestämt personalförsörjningen, utveckling av de nationella skyddsstyrkorna samt förslag med bäring på en ökning av utbildningskapaciteten.

Avseende personalförsörjningen diskuteras de åtgärder som bör vidtas för att med plikten som redskap möjliggöra skapandet av förband med professionell profil.

Beträffande förband med särskild inriktning mot gråzonsproblematik och mötandet av hybrida hot, behandlas nödvändigheten av att behärska vilseledning och skenmålskonstruktion samt bekämpandet av drönare. Därutöver diskuteras prioriteringarna av de underhålls- och understödsförband som måste tillföras organisationen samt hur hemvärnets personalförsörjning kan säkras intill 2030.

Slutligen berörs möjligheten att med prefabricerade kaserner, inordnade i karusellsystem och genom samverkan med Finland skapa en större fysisk infrastruktur för utbildningsändamål.

Vid första världskrigets slut uppstod en rad nya stater i Östersjöområdet – den geografiskt största av dem var det nygamla Polen. Landet ställdes genast inför uppgiften att finna fotfäste och säkerhet i en föränderlig och oberäknelig omvärld. Att utvärdera andra stater i närregionen och deras försvarsförmåga blev en del av det grundläggande polska säkerhetsarbetet.

I Med polska ögon analyserar militärhistorikern Piotr Wawrzeniuk hur Sveriges, Finlands och Estlands försvarsförmågor framställdes i polsk militärrapportering. Med fokus på mindre staters typiska beteende i en utdragen, konfliktfylld situation beskriver han hur de närstående försvarsmakterna tedde sig utifrån polska intressen. Vad kännetecknade de andras officerskårer, manskap och materiel? Hur skulle dessa försvarsmakter klara det moderna slagfältets utmaningar?

Wawrzeniuk konstaterar att de fylliga rapporterna om ländernas samhällsstrukturer och försvarsmakter i hög grad präglades av polska nationella föreställningar och farhågor. Dokumenten speglar bitvis på så sätt kanske snarare polska utgångspunkter än redovisar objektiva intryck. Samtidigt är det tydligt att polackerna hade tagit intryck av sina militära kollegors lägesbilder i de tre granskade länderna. Lärdomarna blev en viktig del i det polska säkerhetsarbetet, där Sverige, Finland och Estland bedömdes vara bidragande till den polska säkerheten i Östersjöområdet.