mutinies paper

8/9/2019 Mutinies Paper

1/11

Mutinies in the Swedish Army during Three Centuries

Mutiny precedes the establishment of a military legal system. Mutinies are in fact one of thereasons why such a system was implemented: the need to control officers and localcommanders, and to maintain discipline among the rank and file. Deserting has probably been

the most frequent crime against the military laws throughout time, but the single characteristictrait that distinguishes the military judicial system from civil jurisdiction is mutiny. Mutiny isalso one of the most important forms of counter-power that has prevailed as long as armieshave marched over the world and naval powers have claimed to rule the seas, but the historyof mutinies is still to be written.1

The development of the Swedish army in the 17th century played a crucial role for what hasbeen labeled the military revolution. The implementation of a military jurisdiction was a keyelement for this transformation of military organization, and according to Michel Foucaultalso for the evolution of the disciplinary technique. The actual workings of this system have,however, rarely been studied. One task of the military legal system was to handle mutinies

within the armed forces. A mutiny was not necessarily a violent affair, usually it was a refusalto fight until pay or bread had arrived.

I have studied mutinies in the Swedish army from late 16 th to 19th century, but alsodiscuss refusals to obey orders from commanding officers. A study of mutinies in the Swedisharmy fills a void in our knowledge about the history of mutinies and court martials, and isfurther motivated by the role that Foucault and other writers attach to the development of theSwedish army in the 17th century, and also to the early modern military forces as a model forthe creation of the modern, docile man.

In the military, mutinies may occur both on ships and in armies on land. The term may alsorefer to civilian insurrections at sea. But at least in Sweden the word in the early modern

period could be used for all kinds of rebellions.2 The earliest known instance when the termwas used occurred very timely in 1523, when the Swedish national state just had beenestablished under Gustav Vasa.3Furthermore, mutiny is not, according to most military lawsconfined to common acts of resistance, but also includes all kinds of violence aimed at a

person placed higher in the martial hierarchy, even if carried out single-handed. Other acts ofdisobedience, such as refusal to obey orders, frequently displayed by commanding officers,will also be considered in this article.

Farmers, soldiers and other lower class people often have rebelled when the demandsfrom the authorities have gone too far, or have been deemed unjust. But the nobility also fromtime to time have rebelled against attempts to increase royal power. Neither of the parties had

any revolutionary ambitions, in the millenarian sense, but wanted a just balance of power.There may have been a substantial political aim, demanding a change of the constitution, butbasically there was no sense of development or hope for progress.4

1 Some attempts have been made, so I would not go as far as the editors ofMutiny do not happen lightly (LouisHeath, Metuchen 1976), who laments the lack of books on the subject. A simple search in the British LibraryCatalogue renders over 900 hits a majority of which deal with the Great Indian mutiny.2 For example, in 1649 the peasants in the province of Halland are said to have committed mutiny, inBondeoroligheter (peasant insurrections), box of Justitierevisionens arkiv, National Archives, Stockholm.3 SAOB, http://g3.spraakdata.gu.se/saob/saob4.shtmlGustav Vasa was mainly concerned with the risk that German mercenaries should commit mutiny, but he needed

them to keep the Swedish farmers in check.4 E P Thompson, Customs in Common, London 1991, has argued that premodern revolts and protests alwayslook back to a golden age.

1
http://g3.spraakdata.gu.se/saob/saob4.shtmlhttp://g3.spraakdata.gu.se/saob/saob4.shtml


2/11

The frequency of military mutinies is at this point not possible to estimate, and there are nonumbers available for comparison with other countries. I will, however, try to see distinguish

between the rebels, were they mercenaries, soldiers or officers, did they have any politicalaims, were the mutinies successful or not, and what the effects did they have.

Military history from belowThe paradigm of social history that since the 1960s has grown to dominate the study of the

past has rarely been applied to the history of war. It seems like the modern historians havecarried their distaste for war and for the nationalistic propaganda of traditional military historyso far that they found it an unsuitable field to study. But it is quite possible to apply a social

perspective from below on military history, for example by research on the functions of themilitary legal system that developed in Europe during the early modern period.

Legal records have been a major source for the historian who wishes to approach the lives ofordinary men and women. But the material from courts martial has rarely been used to getinto the situation and mentality of soldiers and the social circumstances of military life.

As long as there was no separate military system apart from the feudal lords ordinarycontrol over their subordinates, there could not develop a separate military legal culture. Theearly modern state was legitimized by upholding the law, exercising judicial power withequity. Contrary to the earlier political formations, this absolute state had pretensions on amonopoly of violence and the foremost instrument of this was a standing army. The militarylegal system served a crucial role in maintaining discipline and to control spontaneousviolence within the very instrument of monopoly of violence.

When military justice has received attention in research within the paradigm of nationalisticwriting of history there has been a strict perspective from above. Recruits that run away whennot getting paid as agreed, may be described as traitors and criminals, and if condemned torunning the gauntlet or even subject to capital punishment this is considered quite just, theyare getting a fair treatment and no worse than what they deserve.5

In the 17th century it seems that the local commanders still had a great freedom to act ashighest judge for the troops under their command as well as in the regions they happened tooccupy. For example the field marshal Arwid Wittenberg is told to have been as much feared

by his own men as by the enemy (not to mention civilians who had the ill luck to live in thecountries where he marched on). On the march from Pomerania to Poland to join the kingCharles X Gustav in 1654, he is said to have executed 500 of his own soldiers, in an army of17 000 by hanging mainly for theft or desertion.6

Historians have studied several single mutinies, though often from a nationalistic militaryhistory perspective, regarding them from above and therefore as treason and a failure to doones duty in the face of hardships. Sometimes a mutiny may change the course of history on agrand scale, for instance the great mutiny of the Sepoy troops in India in 1857. The Russianrevolutions both in 1905 and 1917 were also spurred by mutinies.7 Other mutinies were well-kept secrets, and the enemy missed the chance to take advantage of the situation. In themutinies at Spithead and Nore in 1797 the British navy was virtually taken out of action by

5 Grimberg Carl, Svenska folkets underbara den, bd III, 1913.6 I have not been able to find any evidence to support this story, told by Grimberg apparently as an example of

great manliness, Grimberg (1913) p 574.7 John Bushwell, Mutiny amid Repression, Russian Soldiers in the Revolution of 1905-1906, Bloomington 1985.John Williams, Mutiny 1917, London 1962.

2


3/11

discontented sailors.8A similar incident occurred in the French army during the First WorldWar.9

Geoffrey Parker has studied the role of court martials in the early modern period. Theestablishment of formal military courts in the Spanish army of the Netherlands in late 16 th

century is shown to have been the result of mutinies. Many letters with demands from the

mutineers are preserved, and it was a common demand that arbitrary punishments by theofficers should be prohibited, and fixed rules for military courts established. Mutinies weremainly started if the troops were not paid after a successful campaign, but the soldiers alsowanted a predictable legal system and no arbitrary verdicts. The military legal system wasthus implemented on request of the soldiers themselves, at the same time as it has been amajor factor in creating discipline in the early modern armies.10

Michel Foucault regarded discipline as a new technique of power, emerging from thereligious orders, via the educational system and the armies, especially the pious soldiers ofProtestantism, Maurice of Orange and Gustav Adolph of Sweden. There was a shift from abodily rhetoric of honor according to which there was inherited traits in a man that madehim suitable to become a soldier, to a belief that a soldier could be constructed out of any

man, if they were subject to the right discipline.11The organization of the Swedish army in early 17th century played a crucial role in the

development of what Foucault calls the disciplinary system as a technique of power. Physicalactivity was to be controlled by a timetable, and was given legitimization by the religiouscharacter of discipline.12 But while the art of warfare in Sweden seems to be pivotal, not muchis said about how military justice affected discipline in the Swedish armies. Though themetamorphosis of the penal system is his main topic, Foucault does not, in his analysis ofmilitary discipline pay much attention to the military legal system.

The Swedish system for military justice was clearly regulated in the 17th century. Anincreased degree of professionalism was marked by the implementation of specific postswithin the military legal system, such as audits and war-fiscals. Procedural law wasformalized, the means of control by central authority developed and a strict order of legalinstances established. This is especially evident in the war-articles of Charles XI 1683, whichare the foundation of the civil procedural law of 1734. It has therefore been argued that theSwedish military legal system at the time was ahead not only of British military law, but alsoof the Swedish civilian legal jurisdiction.13

Early mutinies

As the nation states in the 16th and 17th centuries gained power over the armies and establisheda monopoly of violence, there was a process of separation between the military and civilian

social spheres. The principles of discipline in the army and other fighting forces may have hada formative impact on the civil life and the civilizing process, leading to less violent behavior

8 See for example: Leonard Guttridge, Mutiny a history of naval insurrection, Annapolis 1992.9 Leonard Smith: Between mutiny and obedience, the case of the French Fifth Infantry Division during WorldWar I, Princeton/Chichester 1994.10 Parker, Geoffrey, Spain and the Netherlands 1559-1659, Ten Studies, London 1979.11 Michel Foucault:Discipline and Punish, the Birth of Prison, 1977, p 135.12 Foucault refers for instance to The Swedish Discipline, London 1632.13 Anners Erik, 1961: Den karolinska militra straffrtten och Peter den stores krigsartiklar, Nygren Rolf, 1981:Subordination och enskild integritet, Moder Kjell-ke, 1992: Karolinernas jurister : det militra rttsvsendets

aktrer under det karolinska envldet KF199,Niclas Bjlkenborn, Lpa 2 gnger gatlopp- Brottslighetenvid Narva garnisonsregemente 1695-1697. En detaljstudie av ett karolinskt vrvat regementesdombcker. Vxj1998.

3


4/11

and a legal culture where people were more confident in the workings of the legal system. 14

Certainly there was a correspondence between mutinies and civilian insurrections in earlymodern Europe. But to what degree that is true in Sweden remains uncertain.

Up till 1660 the Swedish monarchs managed to reign with the aid of the four estates,

balancing the ambitions of each social group against the others. The burghers were weak andthe clergy in favor of a belligerent policy, in order to defend the Lutheran faith. The churchfurthermore provided a justification for the aggressive foreign policy, by claiming that warswere a punishment that God used to chastise the sinful people.15 The nobility acquired a lot of

benefits from warfare, and tried to get better terms with the peasants, reducing their freedom,as well as with the king, surrounding his power with constitutional checks. The peasants hadrepresentation as one of the four estates at the Reichstag, but were not very powerful.

Aristocracy ruled during the minority of Christina (1632-1644) and of Charles XI(1660-1672). The skilful chancellor Axel Oxenstierna dominated the first of these periods,

prolonging the war in Germany in order to gain satisfactory territorial and economicreparations, which was successfully attained in the peace of Westphalia 1648.

Reports from mutinies in these early days are scarce. As the armies largely consisted ofmercenaries, the poor state of the finances gave cause for discontent that could develop intomutinies. Sometimes also ethnical animosity may have fueled rebellion. In 1573-74 theGerman mercenaries in Estonia attacked a force of Scotsmen, also hired by the Swedishcrown. 1 500 Scottish soldiers were reported to have been murdered and the mutineersafterwards entered Danish service, handing over several fortifications that they controlled tothe Danish duke Magnus.16

The mercenaries shared a common pan-European subculture. At some occasion theircode came into conflict with the demands of the early modern state and the monarchs ideasof justice. For instance the king Johan III forbade his troops to sack the city of Narva, when itwas stormed in 1581. But the commander, Jacob Dela Gardie was not able to prevent histroops from exacting their traditional three days plunder and something like 7 000 civiliansare reported to have been killed.17 No punishment has been reported for this act ofdisobedience.

Important sources of the time are memoirs and letters. Quite a lot of these are published,though not written with this purpose. Foremost in the study of mutinies in the early 17 th

century is the letters of the chancellor Axel Oxenstierna. Oxenstierna was the right hand ofGustav II Adolph (1611-1632), and then led the country during the minority of queenChristina till her coronation in 1644, and finally with less influence lived to see her abdication

ten years later.The chancellors letters are published in 15 volumes, and in the indexes to these theword mutiny (Swedish myteri, old spelling muetiun) is referred to 37 times. Sometimesone single mutiny is mentioned in several letters, of course, and occasionally the reference isgiven not to an actual mutiny, but only to a threatening situation. The frequency of mutinies isthus not possible to ascertain. Still there may be a lot to learn from the descriptions given.

14 That the people of Stockholm displayed an increased trust in the judicial sustem during the 17th century hasbeen demonstrated by Hans Andersson, Androm till varnagel det tidigmoderna Stockhoms folkligarttskultur i ett komparativt perspektiv, Stockholm 1998, pp 137.

15 See Andersson (1998), pp 99-101.16 Michael Roberts: The Early Vasas a History of Sweden 1523-1611, Cambridge 1968, page 258.17 Roberts (1968) pp 263-264.

4


5/11

The references to mutinies are sometimes a bit unclear, and often the same incident ismentioned in several letters. In two letters dated at Elbing 28/2 and 8/3 1627, Oxenstiernatells the governor of Braunsberg, Anders Eriksson Hstehufuvud, that as lieutenantSchweinkopf has broken his honor and should be taken to the supreme court to be tried. Heshould be taken in custody, and later be sent from the garrison. In May Oxenstierna (Elbing

4/5, same year) demanded that the case should be tried again, especially with regard to captainCarnierens and staff sergeant Riese, whom have been mentioned in the earlier letters too. Thereason for the mutiny is now said to have been that the captain had withheld money that theking had supplied for the troops. The soldiers have committed mutiny but with good reason.The judicial roles are thus shifting; instead of being accused the dragoons are now plaintiffs.18

There are many letters concerning the pay of the soldiers, their quarters and supplies.Another recurrent cause for mutinies is for example mentioned in a letter dated in Elbing 27/41628. Some Finlandic cavalrymen have committed mutiny because they wanted to go backhome. According to the comments on the text, 30 of them have passed away but reading theletter I rather suspect that they have gotten away instead, that is: deserted.19

In 1630 the king Gustav Adolph moved his main forces to Pomerania, engaging in what wasto become the Thirty years war. He soon won spectacular victories over the armed forces ofthe Empire, and finally was killed in the battle of Ltzen, on November 6, 1632.

During the Thirty years war several mutinies occurred in then Swedish armies, thoughthe troops seem to have maintained their discipline quite well as long as the king lead hisarmies himself. The Swedish army was composed of soldiers drafted in Sweden and Finland,as well as large contingents of mercenaries. The letters of the chancellor show that there was aconstant worry over money to pay the mercenaries. The Swedish and Finnish soldiers seem tohave been more anxious to get back home, than concerned with wages. When mutiniesoccurred they were often lead by officers, and when there was no obvious leader, thechancellor always demanded that the persons he was writing to, should investigate if themutiny had not been spurred by any officers.

The demands of the mutineers are not given in full. Oxenstierna is only discussing thepoints he finds interesting, and these are invariably: payment, the soldiers wishing to leave thewar, and the role of the officers. There are no signs of discontent with arbitrary judgments orcruel officers, as a cause for mutinies, contrary to the findings of Parker in the Spanish armyin the Netherlands. And as there already was a functioning military legal system, there was noneed to demand its implementation.

It may be as the letters gives evidence of: the officers were the main perpetrators ofmutinies. But it is also possible that mutinies that did not get support by the officers (or wereinspired by them) remained local affairs and did not crave the attention of the chancellor. The

mutinies of the officers who demanded their pay may sometimes have been punished, butmore often it seems like an agreement have been reached. The chancellor managed to squeezemoney out of a town that was either occupied or supposed to be defended by the Swedishtroops. A few months pay was enough to get the soldiers back in to business they probablynever had expected to get full pay, even when first enlisted.

After the debacle at Nrdlingen in 1634, the Swedes were retreating back to the Balticcoast, and its German allies sued for peace with the emperor. The chancellor for a while wasarrested by his officers, demanding their payment, and negotiating with the enemy.

18Axel Oxenstiernas brev, 1:3, letters from 1625-1627. Stockholm 1900.19Axel Oxenstiernas brev 1:4, letter number 110. In Swedish the words omkommit and undkommit mayhave been substituted, as there are orders on how they should be treated if caught.

5


6/11

Courts martial are also mentioned at several occasions in the letters. As with mutinies, theseare mainly concerned with officers accused of different crimes. Again it may be surmised thatthe chancellor was not bothered when only ordinary soldiers were involved. One sign of a lessthan perfect functioning of the military system of justice is that he sometimes instructs thecourts to reach a summary judgment: decapitating a few scoundrels of this kind can do

wonders for the discipline of our army!20

Mutiny and popular legal culture

While the court records rarely give indications of popular attitudes to the justice system, thereare several leaflets and chapbooks that may have reflected a popular legal culture. Printedsongs from 17th and early 18th century usually display a religious zeal, where a repentingsinner hopes to be received in Paradise. The prisoner is said to have composed these textswhile awaiting capital punishment, but probably the minister assigned to prepare him (or her,quite a lot of women were executed in Sweden, as in most of western Europe, until late 18 th

century, mainly for infanticide). Among the chap books there are also several stories in prosewith narratives of crimes and executions. These songs and stories give indications of popular

ideas to crime and punishments, religion and justice and other aspects of the legal culture.21Usually the repentance is more pronounced, really the main theme of these kinds of

songs. Maybe soldiers were less likely to surrender to this feeling as in a case of mutinyfrom1715:

Two corporals, Jonas Trngren and Johan holm together with 22 soldiers of the Royal guard(Svea Livgarde) refused to obey their orders and board ships at Skeppsholmen, a small islandin Stockholm where the navy used to be stationed.22 They demanded to get their pay beforeembarking, shouting things like: he who goes before receiving his money is a thief and ascoundrel.23

They have also, as the prince of Hessen-Cassel passed by in his carriage, refused tosalute with their rifles. The mutineers tried to make other soldiers join them and said that thedevil should take their souls if they boarded the ships and left the island before receiving their

pay. One week later the sentence was already passed and they were all condemned to capitalpunishment. The final verdict, signed by the king, was that only the two corporals were to beexecuted. The rest were pardoned, but should be divided in groups of ten, and one man out ofevery group, selected by throwing dice on a drum, should run the gauntlet seven timesthrough lines of 300 men.24

One soldier, Helge Kllman is said to have uttered, when he was to throw the dice: isthis supposed to be called granting pardon.25 The court is very upset over the insolence and

20Axel Oxenstiernas brev 1:4 my translation.21 See Hans Andersson: Good manners on the scaffold Polylog 2003, and Jag mig njd under bilan

bjer... Slkt och hvd 2002/03, for a survey of the chap books referring to crime and legal culture. ArneJarrick,Krlekens makt och trar, en evig historia, 1996, also argues that the chapbooks may be interpreted asexpressions of a popular culture. Even if the authors, in his study of love songs usually are anonymous, you mayassume that the audience mainly contained people of lower social strata. Page 164-165.22 Generalauditrens arkiv, case 33, 4/4 1715. National Archives, Stockholm.23 My translation, from Swedish: en sklm och en tjuv r den som gr med frr n han fr penningar theword sklm, here translated as scoundrel, but originally derived from the German Schelm, denoting a (male)

person without honor, outside of the respectable society, or even a corpse. See Hans Andersson BlandTjuvkonor och hundsfottar on the conception of honor in early modern Sweden (Karolinska sllskapets rsbok1994).24

See Birger Wedberg for an account of this kind of justice in Sweden: Trningskast med livet som insats.Stockholm 1935. This kind of decimation is known from Roman times.25 My translation, from Swedish: skall detta heta eller r detta nd.

6


7/11

disrespect displayed by this soldier. As Kllman had shown contempt of the royal pardon,even in the presence of colonel lieutenant Trnflycht, he was also to run the gauntlet.

A problem when looking at the capital punishment in early modern Sweden is that we usuallydont know if a death sentence has been carried out. The two corporals were, however, put

before a firing squad and shot to death on February 22, as can be surmised from a chapbook,dated as: printed recently.26 This leaflet contains two short songs, said to have been writtenby the corporals in their prison, while awaiting their death. Contrary to most popular prints oncrime and executions of the time, the songs composed by the corporals, do not display anyregret or feelings of guilt. The nature of their crime is not explicitly told, only in the subtitle itis said that they are condemned for misshandel, which normally would mean assault.27 Thisomission does not have to be caused by the authorities censorship, but was quite common inthe small prints of the time. Focus was on the salvation of a repenting sinner, while the crimeitself often is left without definition. The author of the first poem says that he is 23 years:

Do not think about worldly things,

They will soon bring you in danger;Happiness is like a turning wheel,In its loop you may be ensnared

Do not enjoy what you all will see,Spectators know that Im satisfied with God;He will save me from harm even after hard death,And take care of my parents and brothers.

Apparently they have written one song each. The other corporal also says that he is satisfiedwith his fate, and he leaves his wife and small child in the hands of God. Similar themes aretouched upon:

Listen all of you who gather around,Do not make merry, God has bent my soul and mind,Unafraid I face death and expect salvation.

Farewell all falsehood, that will be forgotten,When the sound of fresh volleys are heard,And makes my age short. I leave my dear friend here,May God comfort her in our fatherland.

The principle of Axel Oxenstierna to set an example is here clearly put into practice. Andthe opinion of the soldiers is stated: this is not justice! Though the corporals do not repentthey seem quite convinced that God will provide, for them on the other side and thoughmaybe with less assurance also for their families left in this world. It may also be noted thatthere is neither any complaint about the punishment nor any kind of justification of theircrime. That the crime itself is not described in the text is quite typical at this time.28

26 Twenne bedrvliga wisor uthi fngelse componerade af Peter Tengreen och Johan holm, vilka varitkorpraler under K. Majts livgarde arkebuserade i stockholm den 22/2 1716 (tryckt nyligen) Skillingtryck(Chap books), serial O, Volume 100:32, Royal Library, Stockholm.27 Etymologically the meaning is bad conduct, and as such, the term could involve acts like mutiny.

http://g3.spraakdata.gu.se/saob/saob4.shtml28 For a thorough discussion of this kind of texts, see: Martin Bergman,Ddsstraffet, kyrkan och staten i Sverigefrn 1700-tal till 1900-tal, Lund 1996.

7


8/11

In other cases, where officers refused to obey orders and were reluctant to face theenemy, the king showed greater leniency. One example was the general von Lybecker, whowas sentenced to death by a court martial for several crimes after losing Finland in 1714, andwas pardoned by Charles XII.29

Revolt and Repression during the Era of LibertyDuring the 18th century, the political system of Sweden passed through four stages. Atheocratic absolutism was replaced by a parliamentarian system in 1719, as the four estatesassumed almost total power. In 1772 Gustav III established a royally dominated balance of

power and some years later autocratic absolutism, now in the form of enlightened despotism,was restored. Of these systems the parliamentary rule seems to have been most prone to usethe death penalty against political opponents.

During the so called Era of liberty, between 1719 and 1772 there were several attemptsto create a more balanced system of power. Political trials and accusations of disobediencewere also used against the opposition or as a means to save the face of the ruling party.

Several political executions were carried out in 1743 and 1744. The aristocratic Hat-partyhad started war with Russia, to regain what had been lost by Charles XII, but virtually withoutany preparations, and temporarily lost Finland again. The generals Buddenbrock andLewenhaupt were held guilty for the failure and condemned to death. At the same time therewas a popular rising in the province of Dalecarlia, and an army of badly armed peasantsmarched to Stockholm. There aim was to shake the wigs of the heads of the lords, restorethe power of the king and punish the persons who were responsible for the unfortunate war.One of the demands of the peasants was to have a delegation present close by at the executionof Buddenbrock, to ascertain that the government did not replace him, to save this close friendof the powerless king. It may be noted that the provincial governor put forth the argument thatGod had stricken the generals with blindness, in order to punish the sinful people of Sweden,

but the Dalecarlian did not believe this.30

The reports from Buddenbrocks execution state that he walked fearless and held a goodspeech before being decapitated. Thus he won a lot of sympathy, even though he was hatedand the guards barely could save him from being stoned to death while transporting himthrough the streets. The farmers delegation was present, though the rebellion was alreadycrushed. About 50 dalecarlians had been shot to death in a square in central Stockholm andafterwards six leaders were executed at the same time. Only one of them had applied for

pardon, but in vain. The authorities had been merciful enough to arrange this ceremony so thatno one had to watch his comrades execution before being lead to his own.31

Twelve years later, another attempt to overthrow the parliamentary system was made, thistime by the new king, Adolph Fredric and his queen Lovisa Ulrica, sister of Fredric the greatof Prussia. The plot was, however, discovered and several persons, mainly belonging to thehigh nobility were condemned to death and at least 14 of the conspirators were executed.Among the leaders was count Eric Brahe. The minister who prepared him for death later

published the application of Brahe as well as his dying speech. Even though his applicationfor pardon was turned down, Brahe delighted in the fact that he would be buried in a Christian

29 Frans G Bengtsson,Karl XII: levnad, Lund 1935, p 288.30 Bjarne Beckman,Dalaupproret 1743... Gteborg 1930. A regiment from Dalecarlia had suffered heavy lossesin the war.

31 Tisell,Karolinen, general von Buddenbrock, Stockholm 1937.See also: Wahrhaffter Bericht wie der aus demGefngnus zu Stockholm in Schweden entwichene General Graf Lwenhaupt wieder ertappet, und das Todes-Urtheil in Ihm vollbracht worden. (anon, no date)

8


9/11

cemetery. That this grace was not given to general Lewenhaupt will be hard for the judges toaccount for in the divine court, he states.32

The political parties ruling the parliament during this era of liberty thus seems to have beenmore inclined to tough repression, than the autocratic kings in the preceding political system.

Anjala and Anckarstrm

The greatest mutiny in Swedish history occurred when King Gustav III in 1788 unlawfulldeclared war on Russia and tried to lead his army across the border. A league of officers,mainly noblemen opposed to the sovereignty of the king, assembled in the village of Anjalaand declared that the war had been illegally declared and that they wanted to negotiate withthe Russian empress. Some officers also had hopes of a separation between Sweden andFinland, to found an autonomous Finlandic state under the protection of Russia.

The purpose of the mutiny was mainly to defend the constitutional checks that set limitsto the kings power. The primary demand acknowledged by the mutineers was the call for aReichstag and this was also done. Gustav managed with his typical theatrical gestures to

maneuver the Reichstag to invest himself with supreme power. Contrary to the purpose of themainly noble officers the mutiny spurred a popular support for the king and even to the war.The most diehard separatists fled to Russia, some to appear 20 years later.

The legal aftermath of the mutiny was quite bleak. The leading figure Hstesko wascondemned to death and actually executed in Stockholm. The other participants weresentenced to death, but pardoned, a few receiving some mild punishment one expelled fromthe country for a few years.33 As have been noted, a supreme monarch could afford to showleniency towards his erring subjects. Still he was regarded as a tyrant, and was assassinated afew years later.

There seems to have been a league of aristocrats behind this murder, but only the actualmurderer, captain Anckarstrm was prosecuted. He was caught immediately, disappointedthat the deed did not lead to a revolution. Anckarstrm was whipped on several squares inStockholm, and had his right hand cut off before the execution. It seems like a quite civilizedway of punishing regicide, when compared to Damiens (who had not even killed the king,

but only made a quite harmless effort) execution in 1757, as recalled by Foucault.34

The Anjala mutiny was a constitutional revolt, with political ambitions. In the following courtmartial every defendant stated that they had had no thoughts of autonomy for Finland, but theclear aim was to keep royal power within its legal boundaries. It was not a popular protest butcarried out mainly by officers of lower nobility. There is a contrast to earlier insurrections,

both by aristocrats and farmers that mainly aimed at increasing the royal power.

The peasants were in support of increased royal power, to keep the nobility in check.Fractions of aristocracy could also favor a stronger position for the king for idealistic reasonsor material gains. Mainly the nobles wanted to preserve their privileges, but beside of thisselfish aim they were opposed to royal despotism, thus fulfilling their historical role as bearersof the constitutional tradition in Europe. The aim of Anckarstrm may also have been in thisvein, but the result of the assassination was just to preserve the despotic regime, in this casefor another 17 years.

32 Magnus Troilius, Sal. fwerstens grefwe Eric Brahes mrkwrdiga och christeliga beredelse til dden r1756... Uppsala 177033 Colonel Hastfer was deported to the Swedish colony of St Barthelemy in the West Indies. Sprengporten

escaped to Russia, as did another key person Carl Henrik Klick. The pronounced separatists quickly fled fromthe country. The original letter of disobedience is preserved in the Dela Gardie archives, in Lbberd.34 See Foucault 1978, p 3-6.

9


10/11

A mutiny is a kind of revolt, sometimes just caused by day-to day grievances,sometimes with more politically reasons, that can be stretched even to revolutionaryambitions. But the political murder is of another root though the aims might be similar. Andas with the Russian 19th century terrorists, it has rarely lead to anything good, or at least not tothe goal the perpetrator had in mind.35

The case of general von Dbeln

In the war of 1808-1809 Sweden finally lost Finland to Russia, and the king Gustav IVAdolph was dethroned. As new king a French marshal, Jean Baptiste Bernadotte wasappointed, and was formally adopted by Charles XIII (brother of Gustav III). As king ofSweden he changed his name to Karl Johan. Many Swedes hoped that he would re-conquerFinland from the archenemy Russia, especially as Napoleon attacked that country. But he wasno admirer of Napoleon and saw the weakness of his despotic rule. The Swedish armymobilized in Pomerania, the Swedish bridgehead in northern Germany, and Bernadottenegotiated with the alliance formed against the French emperor.

A hero of the unfortunate war in Finland was George Carl von Dbeln, who formerly hadbeen in French service, in India and at the German border. He arrived early in May 1813, tocommand a division at Wismar. As a French army approached Hamburg he decided to sendsome troops to defend the city. When the crown prince arrived in Pomerania he was baffled,ordering a retreat. But von Dbeln refused to obey, stating that the orders made no sense, ashis vanguard had already reached Hamburg and in fact also had prevented the French fromtaking the city by assault.

As Karl Johan was still negotiating with the enemies of Napoleon over the conditionsfor Sweden to enter the alliance he found that one of his generals had started a war of his own.He swiftly decided that von Dbeln was to be dismissed from his command and that theSwedish troops should leave Hamburg. The city was conquered and remained in French handstill Napoleon was on Elba. There have been attempts to defend von Dbelns action with theargument that heforgotthat there was no war going on between France and Sweden, whichseems a bit farfetched!36

Von Dbeln, however, stated that he rather would stand before a firing squad than giveup his command. But, as most nationalistic writers fail to notice, he was not even indicteduntil he himself demanded a court martial. The general was accused of disobedience andcondemned to prison for a year. Karl Johan wanted to make an example of a new kind ofdiscipline for the Swedish army. The habit of the officers to make politics had beendisastrous, as had been proven by the past one hundred years of Swedish military history.

ConclusionIt has been said that the mystery of mutinies lies not in the fact that they occur, but why theydo not happen more often why do men accept their fate rather then risk their life ininsurrection?37 Most societies are founded on the fact that men tend to accept a subordinate

position in a hierarchy, as long as it is deemed fair and provides some kind of return. Whenthings are pressed beyond what is reasonable the subject of power revolts. The single factorthat most often has made a situation unbearable and leading to mutiny, is lack of pay.

Mutinies are a kind of revolt, a form of counter power, today primarily referring toinsurrections at sea. Historically all kinds of civilian and military revolts could be labeled as35 Camus, Mnniskans revolt, 2002 (1953), pp 195.36 Waller, Carl Georg von Dbeln studier i Sveriges miltriska och politiska historia 1808-1813, Lund 1947,

pp 277-278.37 In military and naval history the actors are almost always men, and though the gender issue is of great interest,for example the construction of the soldier as a male identity, it has not been in focus of this article.

10


11/11

mutinies. A study of mutinies in the Swedish army fills a void in our knowledge about thehistory of mutinies and court martials, but it is further motivated by the crucial role thatFoucault and other writers attach to the development of the Swedish army in the 17 th century,and also to the disciplinary system of early modern military forces as a model for other partsof the society, and the creation of the modern, docile man.

How soldiers are recruited affect their behavior, their methods of protest and their use of themilitary legal system. Some early mutinies in Sweden were carried out by ordinary soldiers,

but more often by mercenaries.I cannot say that I have found any evidence that the occurrence of mutinies was a major

force behind the development of a military judicial system, as argued by Parker in his study ofthe Spanish army in the Netherlands. On the other hand it appears that the systemimplemented by Oxenstierna and Gustav Adolph sometime was not efficient enough, forupholding the discipline. And sometimes the chancellor ordered swift executions andsummary procedures when he found it suitable.

The constant worry expressed by Axel Oxenstierna that officers may have been involved

in the insurrections was not unfounded. The majority of the mutinies I have found were led byofficers, though there certainly may be a bias in the material. If these mutinies had moreserious impact, or even were successful the material concerning the officers revolts are morelikely to be better preserved. This holds true for regular mutinies as well as other forms ofdisobedience, refusal to follow orders, and reluctance to engage the enemy. During the 18th

century the officers seem to have become more prone to try to make politics by revolting.The most remarkable result is that my mutineers, with the exception of von Dbeln,

were a peaceful lot. Mutiny was not a violent affair, but rather a strike of soldiers, a refusal tofight, either by putting down the weapons till pay had arrived, or by retreating or refusing toengage the enemy. There is a social distinction ordinary soldiers could refuse to fight, ifthey had been drafted, they usually had no interest in the war. But if they were mercenariesthey sometimes had to fight they could not be principally against war. To become dangerousa mutiny was either to be led or started by officers and these mutinies also had politicalconsequences. The popular resistance might have been against war, or at least to personallytake part in them. But looking at the mutineers at Skeppsholmen 1715, they had a morehumble aim. The soldiers wanted to get the pay that they had been promised; that theauthorities should keep their word but they were disappointed.

The mutiny of over 100 officers in Anjala was an act of constitutional opposition, butwas deemed as high treason and crushed. The road was paved for both despotism and politicalassassination. It is an irony of history that the last major insurrection was an attempt to fight

Napoleon (or one of his army groups) single handed by a young general while most of his

predecessors for a hundred years had been retreating or if they committed mutiny for politicalreasons, it was to preserve the peace.Repression could be hard against mutineers of both higher and lower standing, but in the

end it was the peaceful mutineers that got the upper hand, and opened the way for democracy by bringing a new dynasty to the Swedish throne and discipline was maintained bypunishing, though leniently so, a belligerent officer that thought it still was possible to makepolitics within the army.

Hans Andersson

11

mutinies paper

Documents