Editing Charles XI of Sweden (section)

===Military restructuring===
In the 1682 assembly of the Riksdag of the Estates, the king put forth his suggestion for military reform, whereby each of the [[lands of Sweden]] were to have 1,200 soldiers at the ready, at all times, and two farms were to provide accommodations for one soldier. His soldiers were known as [[Caroleans]], trained to be skilled and preferring to attack rather than defend. Savagery and looting were strictly forbidden. Soldier huts around the country were the most visible part of the new [[Swedish allotment system]]. However, Charles also modernized the military techniques and worked to improve the skills and knowledge of the officers by sending them abroad to study.<ref name="ÅbergMil">Åberg (1958) pp. 125–134</ref><ref name="RystadMil">Rystad (2003), pp. 241–265</ref>

Charles XI was initially enthusiastic about warfare and combat and he was often portrayed as the soldier-King. In the years after the Scanian War however, during which he personally engaged in the fighting and saw the devastation of war, he would later come to view that war was something better to be avoided if possible. With the recent war in mind he wanted to strengthen the armed forces for a defensive war which he knew would come sooner or later.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rystad |first=Göran |title=Karl XI: en biografi |date=2001 |publisher=Historiska media |isbn=978-91-89442-27-6 |location=Lund |pages=240 |language=Swedish}}</ref>

The [[Swedish navy]] suffered major defeats against Danish-Dutch forces in the [[Scanian War]], revealing deficiencies in organization and supply, and disadvantages in basing the fleet at Stockholm. The navy was bolstered with the founding of an ice-free base at [[Karlskrona]] in 1680 which became the mainstay of future naval operations. Today it is a [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]].<ref name="ÅbergMil"/><ref name="RystadMil"/>