399 tions were actually carried out. The commission, then, was to see to it that the new military units were set up as planned, but it gradually assumed nearly complete control of the military, organizing the recruiting of both ordinary and extraordinary regiments, as well as their transportation, outfitting, and maintenance. After the battle of Poltava in 1709, the defense commission was given responsibility for the recruiting for the whole army.’** Beginning in 1711, the krigskollegium began to recapture its former position and began to reassume its former responsibilities. This involved a return to the administrative system that had existed before the reign of Charles XI, with a centralization of the military administration in the hands of the krigskollegium. In 1714, finally, the defense commission was disbanded and a large number of its functions were transferred to the krigskollegium. The college’s fiscal administrative responsibilities concerning the maintenance of the military forces were restored to it during that same year, and thereafter the krigskollegium was to receive the accounts and bills concerning such things as the outfitting and maintenance of the army.^' There was a clear division of responsibilities between the krigskollegium and the amiralitetskollegium, and contacts between the two colleges only involved such common concerns as the delivery of weapons and ammunition to the navy, the requisitioning of transport vessels for the army, and the supply of soldiers to the navy. The position of the amiralitetskollegium differed from that of the other colleges in that it was not merely an administrative authority, but also functioned as the navy’s operational staff. The college was also responsible for the operations of the naval dockyards, which were one of the country’s largest industrial enterprises.^® The amiralitetskollegium, which was located at Karlskrona on the southern coast of the country, consisted of two main divisions, the college itself and a statskammarkontor. The latter was formally equal to the college, and they were both under the leadership of the president or admiral general. The statskammarkontoret was responsible for the admiralty’s accounts and for the disposition of the funds appropriated for the maintenance of the navy.^*' The admiralty was a tremendous economic enterprise and was described by Admiral General Hans Wachtmeister, the president of the college during the reign of Charles XI, “as a republic in itself, made up not '* Steckzén, II, 17—19. Ibid., 29—36. Einar Wendt et al., Amiralitetskollegiets historia (3 v., Stockholm & Malmö, 1950—1977), II, 156. '« Ibid., 11.
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