In the beginning of the English Wars, Crown Prince Frederick established general commands throughout Denmark. Initially, they had limited power and were planned to be disbanded after the war, it was however decided to keep them. Following the ascension of Christian VIII, the general commands' power and authority were expanded to exceed real military control. This led to a change in the overall command structure, as the field commanders and chiefs of the general commands held the same authority. This problem came to light during the First Schleswig War and the appointment of as the commander of the field army (). Since Hedemann did not have any control within general command areas, there were often conflicts between him and the chiefs of those commands. On 27 March 1849, Gerhard Christoph von Krogh who earlier had replaced Hedemann, was named supreme commander of "the entire active Army and over the fortifications and batteries in Jutland, on Als and on Funen as well as army magazines and depots set up in those areas". Additionally, it was stipulated that "the active army in all respects was to be independent of the General Commands, which [...] were to assist the army when it was either wholly or partly in the General Command District. While this arrangement ensured there would be no conflict between the supreme commander and the general commands, there were still no unified peacetime commander.