ARHIVSKI VJESNIK 42. (ZAGREB, 1999.)

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M. Kehrig, The position of military archives in the frame of archival service Independence or integration?, Arh. vjesn., god. 42 (1999), str. 113-128 these three areas fall within the competence of the State or National Archives, whichever designation is used in a particular country. By their origins, archives are subordinate bodies to the state administration; that is manifested in the word archaion, which means nothing other than an administrative body or office. Important documents of state administration are kept in this archaion, particularly those which possess legal authority vis-a-vis other countries and citizens, and which in general documented the state administration's concern for its tasks in the interests of the rule of law. These bodies were initially chanceries with a special character which, over time, increased markedly in size and became significant for scientific enquiry when it was necessary to reconstruct the development of a state in the interests of self-legitimisation and the self-assurance of its citizens. Five thousand years ago there were archives in Mesopotamia, and four thousand years ago ancient Egypt had these same bodies, which have been excavated for many years by the German Archaeological Institutes in Baghdad and Cairo. During the course of these excavations, German and French scientists made the interesting discovery that these archives had separate rooms for the preservation of military documents, in other words that the differentiation of state activities had found its way into the archival organisation and had led to archives of military significance being treated in a special manner. A similar state of affairs existed in the Imperial Roman archives, the tabularium, as we know from the studies of Theodor Mommsen on Roman state law and administration. It is therefore an interesting phenomenon that military documents were given a separate status within the early development of the archival system. This surely also relates to the fact that archives are always necessarily created when state organisation and human culture have reached a particular level of development. The important fact to bear in mind is, therefore, that in antiquity the archival system already in large measure provided for the administration of separate military repositories. The organisation of the military archival system is variously arranged throughout the world. Military archives either belong as independent organisations within the competence of the defence minister, or as military departments within the National or State Archives. The first group itself displays varying characteristics, being in some cases at the same time research organisations for the armed forces whereas in other instances the military archives are separated from the research organisation. Some states have a hybrid organisation, whereby the military archives are a part of the National Archives but are subject to important prerogatives on the part of the defence ministry as a result of the latter's traditional self-understanding or its prominent functions. In most cases these developments are the result of the historical evolution of the military archive systems, which I now propose to analyse in order to ga116