Essay summary

                  The Swedish General Staff as a learning organisation; knowledge development in trench warfare during World War One.

Intention of this essay is to study the Swedish General Staff as a learning organisation during the period of 1914-1918 based on the theoretical work developed by the philosopher Bertil Rolf. Previous international research on the Prussian/German General Staff has shown that it is considered to be the first learning organisation in history. The Swedish General Staff was based on the German General Staff model, and the focus of this study is to compare the development of the tactics in Germany and Sweden regarding defence and attack in trench warfare. The questions are:

How were the possibilities for gathering and analysing information affected by the war?

Which conclusions were made for trench warfare in Swedish conditions?

What experien­ces from the war and exercises in the Swedish army were implemented in manuals and training?

Conclusion of the study is that the Swedish General Staff was functioning as a learning organisation during the WWI through the ability to follow the
international development, mainly in the Central Powers, and by modifying the experiences to the prevailing Swedish strategic and tactical conditions. During the war, the German lessons, primarily from the eastern front, were used as a model combining movement and trench warfare. The main reasons were that the conditions on the western front with the concentration of artillery and troops were considered as an anomaly. 

The learning was created by processing the war experiences and experiences from the annual field exercises in several studies. One additional condition for the learning process was the demanding selection process for the employment of new General Staff officers, a process which meant that only a minimal number of officers annually were appointed to general staff officers.