It is my intention to give a short description of the development of Swedish colours and standards during the 18th century. In reality I will start in 1686 and end in 1815. In this way I will cover The Great Northern War as well as the Napoleonic Wars. The article is intended to he in four parts. In the first I will cover standards and guidons of cavalry and sonic dragoon regiments. The second will cover guards and provincial infantry regiments while the third and fourth will cover recruited and provisional units, mainly infantry.

Raising Units

As students of the Swedish army knows it had units raised in two different ways.

Primarily there are the "indelta" regiments also known as provincial or national regiments. They were raised by a cantonal system mostly known as the "indelningsverket".

Secondly there are the units raised by normal recruiting often known as "varvade". This category included guards, artillery, garrison regiments, some light units and regiments raised for wartime use. At the end of 1691, on the eve of the Great Northern War, Sweden had 55 regiments (18 cavalry and dragoons, 37 infantry) of which 19 were recruited (3 cavalry, 1 dragoon and 15 infantry). After the war the army was reduced so in 1725 Sweden had 40 regiments (12 cavalry and dragoons, 28 infantry) of which 6 infantry regiments were recruited. Due to some changes during the 18th century Sweden had in 1807 48 units (11 cavalry and 37 infantry) of which 14.5 were recruited (2 cavalry and 12.5 infantry).

A problem for this study is that when it became fashionable to write regimental histories and other military history books most remaining regiments were ex-indelta. In 1901, when the indelningsverket was abolished Sweden had 36 infantry and cavalry regiments. Of these were 4 ex-recruited and 3 ex-conscript raised during the 19th century. Today there are only one ex-recruited left (Svea Livgard) but with the present defence policy it probably won't last so very long. Units raised in Finland have received some attention (but mostly in Finnish which I don't read). Recruited units disbanded before 1900 have had nearly no attention at all.

During the actual period Sweden had eight kings and queens. The reigning monarchs cypher wasn't uncommon as motif so the regents are given below with time of reign and a short description of their cypher. See also pictures 1 to 6.

Karl XI 1660-1697 Double C
Karl XII 16917-1718 Double C with XII
Utrika Eleonora 1719-1720 UERS (probably never used)
Fredrik I 172D-1751 Double F
Adolf Fredrik 1751-1771 A and double F
Gustav III 1771-1792 Double G
Gustav IV Adolf 1792-1809 GA
Karl XIII 1809-1818 Double C with XIII

If nothing else is said there was a crown above the cypher.

The motif or device on the flags of indelta regiments was the arms of the province in which the regiment was raised. I will give a short description of all but not depict more than a few selected (so I don't overtax my abilities to sketch). There are other sources showing these provincial arms. One that ought to be easy available is "The Swedish army in Germany 1756-63" by Pengel & Hurt, There is also "Swedish Colours and Standards in the Great Northern War" by D Schoff, but I haven't had the opportunity to see that one yet.

More 18th C. Swedish Military Flags

Part I
Introduction
Standards and Guidons
Illustrations (slow: 154K)

Part II

Introduction
Regiments
Illustrations (very slow: 282K)

Part III

Introduction
Regiments