Commander-in-Chief of the Swedish Armed Forces
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The Commander-in-Chief of the Swedish Armed Forces (Swedish Överbefälhavaren, ÖB) is the highest military officer in Sweden and the supreme commander of the Swedish Armed Forces in both peace-time and war-time. The Commander-in-Chief is normally the only active officer to hold the highest rank of the services (being a four-star General or Admiral).
In earlier times, the King commanded the forces himself (not seldom on location during war campaigns). This remained the case formally until the constitutional reform of 1975. In 1936 however, the office of Commander-in-Chief was designed to be created as necessary at war-time, and on December 1, 1939, during World War II, the first Commander-in-Chief, General Olof Thörnell, was appointed. In 1942 it was decided to keep this office even after the end of the war. The Commander-in-Chief answered to the King until 1975, and after that to the Government.
Every time a new Commander-in-Chief 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 Commanders-in-Chief have come from the Army, and only one, the present, from the Navy. Because he is a General of the Amphibious Corps, there has to this day not been a single Admiral to hold the office.
Lately there has also been some debate aiming to change the name of the office, and officially acknowledge that the Prime Minister is actually Commander-in-Chief during peace-time. This would bring the Swedish system closer to that of most other Western countries, but nothing has yet been decided on the matter.
List of Commanders-in-Chief
- General Olof Thörnell (Army), 1939-1944
- General Helge Jung (Army), 1944-1951
- General Nils Swedlund (Army), 1951-1961
- General Torsten Rapp (Air Force), 1961-1970
- General Stig Synnergren (Army), 1970-1978
- General Lennart Ljung (Army), 1978-1986
- General Bengt Gustafsson (Army), 1986-1994
- General Owe Wictorin (Air Force), 1994-2000
- General Johan Hederstedt (Army), 2000-2003
- General Håkan Syrén (Marines), 2004-(2009)sv:Överbefälhavaren