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Ministry of Defence (Denmark)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Danish Ministry of Defence (MoD)
Forsvarsministeriet
BERJAYA
Map
BERJAYA
MOD headquarters since 2017
Ministry overview
Formed27 May 1950; 76 years ago (1950-05-27)
Preceding agencies
  • Ministry of War
  • Ministry for the Navy
Headquarters
Annual budget21 billion DKK (2016)
Minister responsible
Ministry executive
Websitefmn.dk
BERJAYA
Former Ministry of Defence headquarters prior to 2017

The Danish Ministry of Defence (Danish: Forsvarsministeriet, short FMN) is a ministry in the Danish government. It is charged with overall planning, development, and strategic guidance of the entire area of responsibility of the Minister of Defence, including the Danish Armed Forces and the emergency management sector. It is Denmark's ministry of defence and serves as the secretariat of the Danish Defence Minister.

It also employs the administrator of the easternmost land in Denmark, the small archipelago Ertholmene.

History

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The Ministry can trace its history back to 1660, when King Frederick III established a War Collegium (Krigskollegium) to administer the army in both war- and peacetime. A similar command had previously been created for the navy, the Admiralty (Admiralitetet) of 1655.

The War Collegium changed its name to Krigskancelliet in 1679 and later to Generalitets- og Kommisariatskollegiet. On March 21, 1848, the day after the de-facto end to absolute monarchy in Denmark, Anton Frederik Tscherning became the first War Minister of Denmark, with the Generalitets- og Kommisariatskollegiet changing its name to the Ministry of War (Krigsministeriet) on March 25, 1848. Likewise, on April 21, 1848, Adam Wilhelm Moltke became the first Marine Minister (while simultaneously being Prime Minister), while the Admiralitetet changed its name to the Marine Ministry (Marineministeriet).

The modern Ministry of Defence (Forsvarsministeriet) was established following the Danish defence law of May 27, 1950 (law #272), which reorganized the central structure of the military of Denmark. This combined the previous Krigsministeriet and Marineministeriet. The Minister of Defence had already been created in 1905 as the head of both ministries, though both still had branch (Army and Navy) chiefs as administrators.

Organisation

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See also

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References

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  1. Krog, Andreas (11 August 2023). "Ellemann fyrer sin departementschef". altinget.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  2. "Organisation chart" (PDF). Ministry of Defence. 1 January 2026. Retrieved 1 February 2026.