According to many existing narratives, the eighteenth century witnessed a decline of Sweden's position in the European states system as it tried to come to terms with a rising Russian Empire in the east and a growing Prussian state in the south. According to the same narratives, Sweden tried to compensate for this declining geopolitical position by expanding long-distance trade in Asia, the Americas and the Mediterranean, and by promoting internal cultivation. Unlike the bellicose seventeenth century, wars and preparations for wars have therefore not been seen as drivers of economic, political and social developments in Sweden during the eighteenth century, even though Sweden participated in several of the major conflicts during the period 1700-1815: the Great Northern War (1700-1721), the Russo-Swedish War of 1741-1743, the Seven Years' War (1757-1762), the Russo-Swedish War of 1788-1790 and the Napoleonic Wars (1805-1814). In my presentation, I will show that the narrative of decline is too simplistic, and that there were several changes made in both the financial and military infrastructure to improve the capacity of the Swedish state to cope with the changing international states system. I will pay particular attention to the system of credit and its implications for warfare; but the capacity of the military to procure necessary goods will also be examined.