The Östergötland Infantry Regiment () was a

Swedish Army The Swedish Army () is the army, land force of the Swedish Armed Forces of the Kingdom of Sweden. Beginning with its service in 1521, the Swedish Army has been active for more than 500 years. History Svea Life Guards dates back to the year 1 ...

infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, military service, service, or administrative corps, specialisation. In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of l ...

with origins tracing back to the 16th century. In 1791, they were merged into another unit to form a new regiment, the Life Grenadier Regiment. The regiment's soldiers were recruited from the province of

Östergötland Östergötland (; English exonym: East Gothland) is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish) in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland and the Baltic Sea. In older English li ...

History

The regiment originated in 16th century Östergötland as ''fänikor'' (companies). In 1619, these units—along with the fänikor from nearby

Jönköping County Jönköping County () is a county or '' län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Halland, Västra Götaland, Östergötland, Kalmar and Kronoberg. The total county population was 356,291 inhabitants in September 2017. The capita ...

—were organised by

Gustav II Adolf Gustavus Adolphus (9 December N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December15946 November Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 16 November] 1632), also known in English as ...

into the Östergötlands storregemente, Östergötland Grand Regiment, where 9 out of 24 companies were recruited from Östergötland. ''Östergötlands storregemente'' consisted of three field regiments, one of which was the Östergötland Infantry Regiment. Sometime between 1623 and 1628, the Östergötland Grand Regiment was split into three smaller regiments. The regiment was officiated in 1636 although it had existed since the 1620s. The Östergötland Infantry Regiment was one of the original 20 Swedish infantry regiments mentioned in the Swedish constitution of 1634. The regiment's first commander was

Johan Banér Johan Banér (23 June 1596 – 10 May 1641) was a Swedish field marshal in the Thirty Years' War. Early life Johan Banér was born at Djursholm Castle in Uppland. As a four-year-old he was forced to witness the execution of his father, the ...

. It was allotted in 1685. In 1791, the Östergötland Infantry Regiment was merged with the Östergötland Cavalry Regiment to form the Life Grenadier Regiment. The reorganisation and renaming to "life grenadier" was done because of the regiment's achievements during the 1788 Russo-Swedish War. Within the new regiment, the Östergötland Infantry Regiment was renamed to ''Livgrenadjärregementets rotehållsdivision'' and retained some form of independence.

Campaigns

*The

Northern Seven Years' War The Northern Seven Years' War (also known as the ''Nordic Seven Years' War'', the ''First Northern War,'' the ''Seven Years' War of the North'' or the ''Seven Years War in Scandinavia'') was fought between the Kingdom of Sweden (1523–1611), K ...

(1563–1570)Participated as the various fänikor that later formed the regiment. *The

War against Sigismund The war against Sigismund () was a war between Duke Charles, later known as King Charles IX of Sweden, and Sigismund III Vasa, Sigismund, who was at the time the king of both Kingdom of Sweden (1523–1611), Sweden and the Polish–Lithuanian Co ...

(1598–1599) *The Polish War (1600–1629) *The

Kalmar War The Kalmar War (1611–1613) was fought between Denmark–Norway and Sweden. Though Denmark-Norway soon gained the upper hand, it was unable to defeat Sweden entirely. The Kalmar War was the last time Denmark-Norway successfully defended its '' ...

(1611–1613) *The

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

(1630–1648) *The

Torstenson War The Torstenson War was fought between Sweden and Denmark–Norway from 1643 to 1645. The name derives from Swedish general Lennart Torstenson. Denmark-Norway had withdrawn from the Thirty Years' War in the 1629 Treaty of Lübeck. After its vic ...

(1643–1645) *The

Northern Wars "Northern Wars" is a term used for a series of wars fought in northern Europe, northern and northeastern Europe from the 16th to the 18th century, primarily between the territorial rivals of the Swedish Empire, Tsardom of Russia, Poland–Lithuani ...

(1655–1661) *The

Scanian War The Scanian War (; ; ; ) was a part of the Northern Wars involving the union of Denmark–Norway, Electorate of Brandenburg, Brandenburg and Swedish Empire, Sweden. It was fought from 1675 to 1679 mainly on Scanian soil, in the former Danish ...

(1674–1679) *The

Great Northern War In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the ant ...

(1700–1721) *The

Gustav III's Russian War Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to: *Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin Art, entertainment, and media * ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film * ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short cart ...

(1788–1790)

Organisation

;1634(?) * Livkompaniet *Överstelöjtnantens kompani *Majorens kompani *Ydre kompani *Östanstångs kompani *Kinds kompani *Västanstångs kompani *Vadstena kompani ;17??(?) *Livkompaniet *Stångebro kompani *Kinds kompani *Östanstångs kompani *Ombergs kompani *Vreta Klosters kompani *Motala kompani *Ydre kompani

Name, designation and garrison

References

;Print * * * * * ;Online * * * *

Notes