The armed forces of Sweden during the Swedish - Russian war in 1788-1790
Basic facts, colours and uniforms of the units in the army of Gustav III (1788-90)
The organisation of the forces
The army and navy were basically organised in the same way as during the Great Nordic War (GNW) 1700-1721. The army was organised in regiments, but for tactical use the regiment was divided into two battalions. Often one battalion was sent to the front while the other was kept at home for recruiting and training replacements or to serve as a reserve in case of a war in a new direction. It was quite common that the one regiment served on different fronts. There were no fixed organisations like divisions or brigades, except the Savolax-brigade in Finland.
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| Approximate areas of where the allotted regiments were living in peace time. To the left the cavalry and to the right the infantry. The areas not marked was either allotting personnel for the navy, or there was just to few people living there to support a regiment. |
The changes within the army were that the former Danish province of Scania (Skåne), recruited two allotted cavalry regiments. Due to the loss of the greater parts of Carelia to Russia, one cavalry regiment was disbanded and the Wiborgs infantry regiment was reduced to a small Jaeger battalion.
The most important changes were the forming of the Archipelago fleet (Skärgårdsflottan), also known as the Army's fleet (Arméns flotta). The names give a good description of its role. Equipped with vessels specially designed for operations in the archipelagos they were to conduct offensive landings in the rear of the enemy front, and to prevent the enemy to do the same. In that way they could fill the gap between the land forces and the “Great Navy”.
Recruiting the soldier
The regiments were recruited in two ways, enlisted (värvade) or through the “allotment” system (indelnings verket). The enlisted units were full time soldiers and were kept as garrison units in the major cities, or on guard duty at the Russian and Norwegian borders. The allotment system was a unique Swedish system that may require some additional explanation. The allotted (indelta) soldiers were professionals as the enlisted, but were recruited and paid in a different way. A group of households (3 to 5) were responsible to recruit and to support a soldier. While on contract the soldier had a small cottage and a piece of land to feed himself and his family. Maybe he was more a farmer than soldier, but they had on several occasions proved to be equals or superior to many foreign enlisted armies. Why? The fact that they wasn't forced into service can be one reason. It was in fact, among the “little people” it was regarded as a good job and the soldier had a rather high social status in the village.
Uniform m/1779
When the war broke
out, the army was equipped with uniform m/1783. The uniform was designed by King
Gustav III and it’s quite obvious that it’s main purpose was to look good, not
to be suitable in field. It was regulated that the soldiers were to use powder or
a white wig at all time.
Most of the units had uniforms of the same cut, but the colours on some details differed. In general it was different combinations of dark blue, yellow, red and white. The hat was black and it was decorated with a yellow plume and some feathers in various colours. The band around the hat was white (officers yellow metal). The jacket was dark blue and short. The colour of the cuffs, collar differed. Some units also had the lapels in a distinctive colour.
The pants were of the regular model, tight and of knee length. The colour was blue, white or yellow. The stockings were also in blue, white or yellow. The shoes was called “Hungarian boots”, light and pointy. The belts were all white.
The officer’s uniform differed in some details, but had the same colours as the troops but it was made in a finer quality. Firstly the jacket had shoulder pads. Secondly, the waistband was made of blue silk. Third, a white tie was worn around the left arm to honour the coup d state of Gustav III in 1772.
To view details of the uniforms, please go to the Swedish War archive’s web-site at: http://www.ra.se/KRA/bilder/roosuniformer/index.html
Freicorps and reserves, the so called "Vargering"(NEW)
The "Vargering" was a system created in order to be able to rapidly replace casualties among the allotted units. Initially the function of system was that for each two allotted soldier, there should also be one Vargerings man recruited and ready to fill any slot. He was to be trained and equipped by the regiment but was not given a cottage like the ordinary soldiers. From time to time the Vargering was summoned and sent to war as separate battalions.
During the war of 1788-90 a number of "Freicorps" and temporary units was established. Some of the troops was drawn from all ready existing regiments but a large number was raised on a more or less voluntarily basis. These new recruits was equipped in the same manner as the Vargering.
In a royal letter from 1789, the soldiers in the vargering and the freicorps was to have a uniform of blue cloth. The pants should be wide reaching down to their heals, and a jacket that would reach down to a point 4 inches above the knee. They should also have a fur coat to wear under the jacket in the winter. The headgear is not described in any letter.
The picture is taken from the Carpelan family crest and is believed to show a soldier, ether from the Kajana battalion or one of the freicorps. The hat looks like a grenadier cap but my theory is that these troops were issued a regular black hat of felt or a traditional Karpus. Note that the soldier is wearing regular long pants and not the charivades of the line regiments.
(Source: Ole Gripenberg, Finsk krigsmannabeklädnad)
It is not likely that all the Vargering and the Freicorps could be issued according to the royal letter. My guess is that the units showed up in a mix of newer and older uniforms but also to a large extent in their old civilian cloth.
Colours and Standards (NEW)
Colours was used buy infantry units while standards was normally used by cavalry. However later into the period some dismounted units maintained their standards. Light units such as jaegers or hussars possessed none. In most cases the two sides of the infantry colours was identical. They measured 3 x 2 1/4 aln (1,8 x 1,3 m).
The cavalry standard was 3½ quarters, 44,5 cm in square (one quarter is 1/4 of an aln). The guidons used by the dragoons had the size of the standards but was extended by two tongues as well.
(Aln, in English ell, is the length from the elbow to the tip of the little finger. 1 aln = 59,4 cm)
On top of this each unit carried two different colours or standards, the life colour/standard and the company colour/standard.
The life colour/standard was issued to the first company, also known as the life company of each regiment. The colours/standards was basically of the same design for all units in the army. It was all white and had the Swedish great coat of arms painted in the centre. In the upper inner corner, each allotted regiment carried their provincial symbol. Later when the colours was embroidered, the size of the coat of arm was reduced, but at the same time the provincial symbol was embroidered as the proper coat of arm. The enlisted units had colours of the same design but instead of the provincial coat of arms they had a royal crown or the kings monogram in each of the four corners.
These sample life colours are not drawn from any real colours, they are merely there to demonstrate the principal design.
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| Generic model for enlisted units | The Smålands regiment | The Kalmar regiment |
Company colours/standards was issued to all the other companies of the regiment. The basic design was made in 1686 but as time passed the design was refined and adjusted to to the current fashion. The colours used by the infantry that I present on my pages is generally known as model 1686B (m/1686B). The difference is that the motif is now embroidered and in a smaller size in order to cut the costs. From now on the motif only covered 1/3 of the height of the colour. In the 1760's a new design was introduced. The colour maintained the the over all design as colours and motif, but from now on the green laurel wreath was replaced by a golden ornament. The design of the ornament varied a bit, but for simplicity I have used the one called type 2b for all colours.
The allotted cavalry had their provincial emblem on the left (or inner side). On the other side they carried the the embroidered monogram of the king that had presented them with the standard.
To cut the costs, a decision was taken in 1731 that each regiment was to be issued with only four colours (one life- and three company colours) Ten years later an order was given that no regiment was allowed to field more then four colour, despite the fact that several did units posses up to eight. For some reason, these rules did not apply to the cavalry.
In 1819 a completely new the system of colours, standards and guidons was introduced.
Basic facts, colours and uniforms of the units in the army of Gustav III (1788-90)
Pictures: Preben Kannik, Uniformer i färg, Stockholm 1969,
Lars Rössle, Uppsala 2004.