Rask, Resolut, Trogen de indelta soldaterna i det svenska agrarsamhället : Västerbotten 1860-1901

Sammanfattning: My study concerns the social recruitment of infantry soldiers in the Swedish standing army ( indelta armén). The 19th century Swedish army was composed of three parts : hired troops , the conscripts and above all the ”indelta armén”. Indelta armén was unique in the world because of its organizational form. It consisted of infantry soldiers, naval men and cavalry soldiers, which were supported by the landowning farmers. Normally two farmers had the responsibility to find an infantry soldier, to pay him an annual wage and to give him a small-crofters holding; at least this was intended when the system was first organized in the 1680s. The famous author Vilhelm Moberg has written a well-known novel ”Raskens” about one of these soldiers portraying also the whole system as well as the surrounding peasant society. All of the 20000 concerned soldiers lived in the Swedish countryside among the rest of the population. They all got special names,( for example meaning Quick, Prompt, Faithful) still existing as family names of Sweden today. The study concentrates on the question of the social importance of this system in a period of rapid transformation of Swedish society, i.e the end of the 19th century. The most important questions dealt with are: the ones concerning social and geographical recruitment of soldiers (i.e. those ôf the indelta armén), the means of support and education given to these soldiers in special army training schools. One part of the book concerns social mobility among ex-soldiers and a minor study treats their family structure.