Bartels was born in Copenhagen in 1955, and is the son of Eyvind Bartels, who served as Danish ambassador in OEEC and later Washington, Knud Bartels, therefore spent much of his childhood abroad, living many years in Paris. He joined the army in 1972, and went to Royal Danish Military Academy the following year. He went on tour on the UN mission to Cypres in 1980, and became Denmark's Permanent Representative on NATO's Military Committee in 2006.
He was appointed as Danish Chief of Defence on 16 November 2009. He succeeded admiral Tim Sloth Jørgensen who resigned after being involved in the controversy around a fake Arabic translation of Jæger – i krig med eliten, a book by a former special forces soldier which he tried to suppress.
As Chief of Defence and Denmark's former Permanent Representative on NATO's Military Committee, General Bartels was Denmark's candidate for the post as Chairman of NATO's Military Committee. The new chairman succeeded Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola on 1 July 2012. General Bartels' tenure as chief of defence was due to expire on 30 April 2012. Although other Chiefs of Defence were considered for the top NATO job, in the final week before the vote the other candidates – as is the custom – sensing a lack of majority support for their own candidacy, withdrew from consideration so that the election of General Bartels could be unanimous when the Committee met to vote on Saturday 17 September 2011. The new chairman is appointed for a 3-year term, near the end of which he is normally approved for a one-year extension. Upon his election on 17 September 2011, General Bartels announced that he planned to step-down as Danish Chiefs of Defence on 30 April 2012 in order to prepare to take over as NATO Chairman effective 1 July 2012. However, following the resignation of Italian Prime MinisterSilvio Berlusconi on 12 November 2011, Italy's new Prime Minister, Mario Monti, announced on 16 November that he had appointed Admiral Di Paola as Italy's new Defense Minister: at the time of this announcement, Admiral Di Paola was in Kabul, Afghanistan on NATO business. The admiral resigned as NATO Chairman on 18 November, turning over to his deputy Lieutenant General Walter Gaskin, and flew to Rome. It was then announced that General Bartels would take over in Brussels on 2 January 2012, even though the new Danish government had not yet selected his replacement as Danish chief of defense. He retired on 15 July 2015, after 43 years of service.
Personal life
Bartels is married to Belgian Inge Vansteenkiste, where they have 4 children, 2 from each's former marriage. After his retirement, he was the first person to be given the position of Adjunct Professor at the Royal Danish Defence College.
