Svea Life Guards dates back to the year 1521, when the men of Dalarna chose 16 young able men as body guards for the insurgent nobleman Gustav Vasa in the Swedish War of Liberation against the Danish-dominated Union of Kalmar, thus making the present-day Life Guards one of the world's oldest regiments still on active duty.

However the Swedish Army has begun to expand once again, due to an increasing threat from the east with a resurgent Russian Federation and its attack on neighboring Ukraine in 2014 / 2022.

Thus resulting in longtime neutral Sweden to become a full-fledged member of the 75 year old Western / Central European and North America democratic and military alliance of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The currently active regiments and their main peacetime subordinate units are: The Swedish Army distinguishes an administrative from an operational structure.

The administrative structure includes the peacetime depot units (depåförband), which are responsible for the training, equipment and combat readiness of the forces.

This plan, however, was considered by the Supreme Commander to be impossible due to the economic situation at the time.

[9] In 2013, the Armed Forces issued a statement saying that the reorganisation would only suffice for a reasonable defence of Swedish territory for one week.

During WWII smaller or larger parts of the wartime establishment were also called up for periodical stand-by duty (up to 6 months).

From 1942 onwards, the Swedish government embarked upon a massive and ambitious militarisation program in which conscription was strictly enforced and compulsory service was extended.

Since the late winter of 1945 the size of the army was slowly decreased as entire reserve battalions and brigades were gradually demobilised, and by late 1947 the size of the army was around 170,000 soldiers who could be mobilised and was planned to stabilise at such a quantity of personnel.

However, due to the rise in tensions between the East and West over the political landscape of Europe, the threat from the Soviet Union in 1949 and 1950, coinciding with the start of the Cold War, led to a return to the militaristic policy by the Swedish government.

[citation needed] From the 17th century until 1901, Swedish Army recruitment was based upon the allotment system.

Upon completion of conscript service with sufficient service marks, conscripts are eligible to apply for commissioned officer training, NCO/Warrant Officer or from 2007 stay in the Army as a professional private, mainly to be employed in the Nordic Battle Group.

The government stated that the number of conscripts may increase in response to foreign events.