The Supreme Commander ( sv, överbefälhavaren;

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in '' NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, a ...

: ÖB) is the highest ranked professional military officer in the

Swedish Armed Forces The Swedish Armed Forces ( sv, Försvarsmakten, "the Defense Force") is the government agency that forms the armed forces of Sweden, tasked with the defense of the country as well as with promoting Sweden's wider interests, supporting internat ...

, and is by

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

terminology the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used b ...

chief of defence equivalent. The Supreme Commander is the agency head of the Swedish Armed Forces and formally reports to the Government of Sweden, though normally through the

Minister for Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in stat ...

. The primary responsibilities and duties of the Supreme Commander (and the charter for the Armed Forces) are prescribed in an

ordinance Ordinance may refer to: Law * Ordinance (Belgium), a law adopted by the Brussels Parliament or the Common Community Commission * Ordinance (India), a temporary law promulgated by the President of India on recommendation of the Union Cabinet * Or ...

issued by the Government. The Supreme Commander is, apart from the honorary ranks held by the

King of Sweden The monarchy of Sweden is the monarchical head of state of Sweden,See the #IOG, Instrument of Government, Chapter 1, Article 5. which is a constitutional monarchy, constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system.Parliamentary ...

and in the past other members of the

Swedish Royal Family The Swedish royal family ( sv, Svenska kungafamiljen) since 1818 has consisted of members of the Swedish Royal House of Bernadotte, closely related to the King of Sweden. Today those who are recognized by the government are entitled to royal tit ...

, by unwritten convention normally the only professional military officer on active duty to hold the highest rank (a four-star

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". O ...

or Admiral). An exception was made 2009-2014 when

Håkan Syrén General Håkan Erik Gunnar Syrén (born 31 January 1952) is a retired officer of the Swedish Coastal Artillery/Swedish Amphibious Corps and former Chairman of the European Union Military Committee. He was the Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed ...

was chairman of the

European Union Military Committee The Military Committee of the European Union (EUMC) is the body of the European Union's (EU) Common Security and Defence Policy that is composed of member states' Chiefs of Defence (CHOD). These national CHODs are regularly represented in the EUMC ...

. The present Supreme Commander, General

Micael Bydén General Per Micael Bydén (born 13 June 1964) is the Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces, appointed on 11 September 2015. He was earlier senior commander in the Swedish Air Force. Bydén served as the Chief of Air Force between 2012 a ...

, took office on 1 October 2015.

History

Before the modern era, the King was expected to command the forces himself; not seldom on location during war campaigns as shown by

Gustavus Adolphus 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 G ...

, Charles X of Sweden, Charles X,

Charles XI Charles XI or Carl ( sv, Karl XI; ) was King of Sweden from 1660 until his death, in a period of Swedish history known as the Swedish Empire (1611–1721). He was the only son of King Charles X Gustav of Sweden and Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein ...

and

Charles XII Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII ( sv, Karl XII) or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 O.S.), was King of Sweden (including current Finland) from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line o ...

. This remained the case formally until the 20th century. From the late 19th century onwards, there were no service chiefs of the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It include ...

; all senior service commanders reported directly to the

King in Council The King-in-Council or the Queen-in-Council, depending on the gender of the reigning monarch, is a constitutional term in a number of states. In a general sense, it would mean the monarch exercising executive authority, usually in the form of ap ...

. Apart from a single

created in 1919 by merging the position of ministers of the land forces and naval forces, no joint command structure existed. In 1936, a Supreme Commander was intended to be appointed in war-time-only, and on 1 December 1939, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the first Supreme Commander, General

Olof Thörnell General Olof Gerhard Thörnell (19 October 1877 – 25 July 1977) was a Swedish Army officer. He was Sweden's first Supreme Commander from 8 December 1939 until 1944. Before 1939 that had been the role of the King. Early life Thörnell was bor ...

, was appointed. In 1942 it was decided to keep this office even after the end of the war. The Supreme Commander would in wartime formally report to the

until the enactment of the new

Instrument of Government The Instrument of Government was a constitution of the Commonwealth of England#The Protectorate, 1653–1659, Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland. Drafted by John Lambert (General), Major-General John Lambert in 1653, it was the fir ...

in 1974, and after 1 January 1975 to the

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government ...

Heraldry

The coat of arms of the Supreme Commander was used from 1991 to 1993. It has since 1993 been used by the

and was used from 1994 to 2001 by the

Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters The Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters ( sv, Högkvarteret, HKV) is the highest level of command in the Swedish Armed Forces. Established in 1994, its primary task is to command operations, but is also involved in areas such as military strategy, ...

Blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visua ...

: "Azure, lesser

coat of arms of Sweden The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Sweden ( sv, Sveriges riksvapen) has a greater and a lesser version. Regulated usage The usage of the coats of arms is regulated by Swedish Law, Actbr>1970:498 which states (in unofficial translation) tha ...

, three open crowns or placed two and one. The shield surmounting an erect sword of the last colour". File:Försvarsmakten vapen bra.svg, Coat of arms of the Supreme Commander used 1991 to 1993. The command flag of the Supreme Commander is drawn by Brita Grep and embroidered by hand by the Kedja studio, Heraldica.

: "Fessed in blue and yellow; on blue three open yellow crowns placed two and one, on yellow two blue batons of command with sets of open yellow crowns placed two and one in saltire." File:Överbefälhavarens befälstecken MM 25330.jpg, Command flag of the Supreme Commander. File:Kommandotecken Överbefälhavaren.svg, Command sign of the Supreme Commander.

List of Supreme Commanders

Timeline

ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:10 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:50 right:130 left:20 AlignBars = late DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1935 till:2025 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1935 Define $now = 2022 Colors = id:ar value:green legend: Army id:ma value:darkblue legend: Navy id:fv value:skyblue legend: Air_Force id:time value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9) Legend = orientation:vertical position:right LineData = layer:back width:0.1 color:time at:1935 at:1940 at:1945 at:1950 at:1955 at:1960 at:1965 at:1970 at:1975 at:1980 at:1985 at:1990 at:1995 at:2000 at:2005 at:2010 at:2015 at:2020 at:2025 BarData = barset:PM bar:thörnell bar:jung bar:swedlund bar:rapp bar:synnergren bar:ljung bar:gustafsson bar:wiktorin bar:hederstedt bar:syren bar:göranson bar:bydén PlotData= width:6 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till barset:PM bar:thörnell from: 1939 till: 1944 color:ar text: Thörnell bar:jung from: 1944 till: 1951 color:ar text:

Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, phil ...

bar:swedlund from: 1951 till: 1961 color:ar text: Swedlund bar:rapp from: 1961 till: 1970 color:fv text: Rapp bar:synnergren from: 1970 till: 1978 color:ar text: Synnergren bar:ljung from: 1978 till: 1986 color:ar text:

Ljung Ljung is a locality situated in Herrljunga Municipality, Västra Götaland County Västra Götaland County ( sv, Västra Götalands län) is a county or '' län'' on the western coast of Sweden. The county is the second most populous of S ...

bar:gustafsson from: 1986 till: 1994 color:ar text: Gustafsson bar:wiktorin from: 1994 till: 2000 color:fv text: Wiktorin bar:hederstedt from: 2000 till: 2004 color:ar text: Hederstedt bar:syren from: 2004 till: 2009 color:ma text:

Syrén Syrén is a Swedish surname. * Håkan Syrén (born 1952) Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces from 1 January 2004 to 25 March 2009; he was the first Supreme Commander to come from the Navy. *Mikael Syrén (born 1965), writer and director. ...

bar:göranson from: 2009 till: 2015 color:ar text: Göranson bar:bydén from: 2015 till: $now color:fv text: Bydén Every time a new Supreme Commander is to be appointed, there is some debate between the different services. Some feel that some kind of rotational system would be appropriate. In actuality, most Supreme Commanders have come from the

, and only one,

, from the

. Because he is a

of the Amphibious Corps, there has to this day not been a single Admiral to hold the office.

List of Deputy Supreme Commanders

Until 30 June 1994, the Chief of the Defence Staff was the second most senior member of the

. When the Swedish Armed Forces was reorganized on 1 July 1994, the Chief of the Defence Staff position was abolished. Lieutenant General

Percurt Green Lieutenant General Per Kurt (Percurt) Green (born 2 December 1939) is a Swedish Army officer whose senior commands have included commanding officer of the Joint Operations Command, Deputy Supreme Commander and military commander of the Middle Mi ...

became the first Deputy Supreme Commander who took office on 1 July 1994. He also held the post of head of the Joint Operations Command (''Operationsledningen'', OpL). In conjunction with the

reorganization in 1998, a special position was created as Deputy Supreme Commander to relieve the Supreme Commander. The Deputy Supreme Commander led the Headquarters work through coordination of the operations. He also exercised employer responsibility for the staff in the Headquarters. In order to coordinate the operations he had a Coordination Department. The Deputy Supreme Commander also acted as the Deputy Agency Executive (''Ställföreträdande myndighetschef''). A formal position of head of the Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters was established in 2002. From 1 October 2005, the post of Deputy Supreme Commander became the

Director General of the Swedish Armed Forces The Director General of the Swedish Armed Forces ( sv, Generaldirektör för Försvarsmakten, GD) is the director general of the Swedish Armed Forces and is the deputy head of the agency. The director general reports directly to the Supreme Comman ...

held by a civil servant.

Footnotes

References

Notes

Print

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External links

* {{Chief of military by country Military appointments of Sweden * Sweden Heads of Swedish State agencies 1939 establishments in Sweden