The Swedish allotment system was a system used in Sweden for keeping a trained army at all times. The oldest variant of the system came into use in around 1640, and in 1682 an updated system was introduced. Both systems relied on estates and farms that provided housing, salary and some military equipment for a soldier or horseman. In exchange, all other men in households providing soldiers escaped conscription, and households providing a horseman gained a large tax reduction. The system provided a well-trained, fast-mobilized and relatively cheap army that had large success on the battlefields of Europe during the 17th century, but the system also took its toll on the population. The allotment system was not replaced until the early 1900s, when the Swedish Armed Forces started using a conscription system.
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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1192: Third Crusade: Conrad of Montferrat, the elected King of Jerusalem, was assassinated by the Hashshashin. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_of_Montferrat)
1789: Fletcher Christian led a mutiny aboard HMAV Bounty against Commander William Bligh. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutiny_on_the_Bounty)
1952: Occupied Japan: Japan was once again an independent state, when the Treaty of San Francisco entered into force. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupied_Japan)
1996: A spree shooter in the Port Arthur Massacre killed 35 people, and seriously injured 37 in Tasmania, Australia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Arthur_massacre)
2001: Dennis Tito became the world's first fee-paying space tourist, riding the Soyuz TM-32 spacecraft to the International Space Station. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_tourism)
_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:
"War: first, one hopes to win; then one expects the enemy to lose; then, one is satisfied that he too is suffering; in the end, one is surprised that everyone has lost." -- Karl Kraus (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karl_Kraus)