Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim
Finnish military leader and statesman (1867–1951) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (Finland Swedish: [kɑːrl ˈɡʉstɑv ˈeːmil ˈmɑnːærhejm] ⓘ, 4 June 1867 – 27 January 1951) was a Finnish military commander and statesman.[2][3] He served as the military leader of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War (1918), as Regent of Finland (1918–1919), as commander-in-chief of the Finnish Defence Forces during World War II (1939–1945), and as the sixth president of Finland (1944–1946). He became Finland's only field marshal in 1933 and was appointed honorary Marshal of Finland in 1942.[4]
Born into a Swedish-speaking aristocratic family in the Grand Duchy of Finland, Mannerheim made a career in the Imperial Russian Army, serving in the Russo-Japanese War and the Eastern Front of World War I and rising by 1917 to the rank of lieutenant general. He had a prominent place in the 1896 coronation ceremonies for Emperor Nicholas II and later had several private meetings with him. After the Bolshevik coup of November 1917 in Russia, Finland declared its independence on 6 December, but soon became embroiled in the 1918 Finnish Civil War between the Whites, who were the troops of the Senate of Finland, supported by troops of the German Empire, and the pro-Bolshevik Reds.
A Finnish delegation appointed Mannerheim as the military chief of the Whites in January 1918; and he led them to victory, holding a triumphal victory parade in Helsinki in May. After spending some time abroad, he was invited back to Finland to serve as the country's second regent, or head of state, from December 1918 to July 1919. He secured the recognition of Finnish independence by multiple Entente powers[a] and, despite being a monarchist, formally ratified the republican Constitution of Finland. He then ran against K. J. Ståhlberg in the first Finnish presidential elections in 1919 but lost and quit politics. Mannerheim helped found the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare in 1920 and headed the Finnish Red Cross from 1922 to his death.[5] He was restored to a central role in national defence policy when President Svinhufvud appointed him as the Chairman of the Finnish Defence Council in 1931, tasked with making preparations for a potential war with the Soviet Union. It was also agreed that he would temporarily take over as commander-in-chief of the country's armed forces should there be a war.[3][6]
Accordingly, after the Soviet Union invaded Finland in November 1939 in what became the Winter War, Mannerheim replaced President Kyösti Kallio as commander-in-chief, and occupied the post for the next five years. He became a unifying symbol of the war effort and part of the core leadership of the country.[3] He personally participated in the planning of Operation Barbarossa[7] and led the Finnish Defence Forces in an invasion of the Soviet Union alongside Nazi Germany known as the Continuation War (1941–1944). In 1944, when the prospect of Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II became clear, the Parliament of Finland unanimously appointed Mannerheim as the President, and he oversaw peace negotiations with the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom. Already in declining health, he resigned the presidency in 1946 and spent much of his remaining life in a sanatorium in Switzerland, where he wrote his memoirs, and where he died in 1951.[8]
Participants in a Finnish survey taken 53 years after his death voted Mannerheim the greatest Finn of all time.[9] During his own lifetime he became, alongside Jean Sibelius, the best-known Finnish personage at home and abroad.[3] According to historian Tuomas Tepora[fi], a cult of personality began to be built around Mannerheim after the civil war.[10]
Given the broad recognition in Finland and elsewhere of his unparalleled role in establishing and later preserving Finland's independence from the Soviet Union, Mannerheim has long been referred to as the father of modern Finland,[11][12][13][14][15] and the New York Times called the Finnish capital Helsinki's Mannerheim Museum, memorializing the leader's life and times, "the closest thing there is to a [Finnish] national shrine".[13]
Remove ads
Early life and military career
Summarize
Perspective
Name
Carl was a common name in Mannerheim's family, and he was known by his middle name Gustaf. Because he disliked his third name, Emil, he wrote his signature as C. G. Mannerheim, or simply Mannerheim.[16] He often signed letters as Field Marshal G. Mannerheim, Field Marshal Mannerheim or G. Mannerheim.
During his career in the Russian military, he was known as Gustav Karlovich Mannergeim (Russian: Густав Карлович Маннергейм) or Karl Gustovich (Карл Густафович) in official documents, and while serving as Regent of Finland, he used the finnicised form of his name, Kustaa Mannerheim,[17] but later abandoned it. His first names are most commonly shortened as C. G. E., as reflected on his tombstone.
In a military fashion, he often signed military documents by just his military rank and surname.[18]
Ancestry
The Mannerheims, originally from Germany as Marhein, became Swedish noblemen in 1693. In the latter part of the 18th century, they moved to Finland, which was then an integral part of Sweden.[19][20] For a long time, it was thought that the Mannerheim family came from the Netherlands.[21] King Charles XI of Sweden ennobled Augustin Marhein in 1693 at which time the family name Marhein was changed to Mannerheim.[21]
After Sweden lost Finland to the Russian Empire in 1809, Mannerheim's great-grandfather, Count Carl Erik Mannerheim (1759–1837), son of the Commandant Johan Augustin Mannerheim,[22][23] became the first head of the executive of the newly-autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland, an office that preceded that of the contemporary Prime Minister. His grandfather, Carl Gustaf Mannerheim (1797–1854), was an entomologist and jurist.
Mannerheim's father, Carl Robert, Count Mannerheim (1835–1914), was both a playwright and industrialist, with modest success in both endeavours.[24]: 8 He was an exception to the family's tradition as he never became a soldier or an official.[25]: 14 Carl Robert Mannerheim was known for his radical political views, and when he inherited the title of Graf from his father, the officials disapproved of him, thinking of him as political satirist.[25]: 14 As a man with a sharp wit, Carl Robert Mannerheim clearly expressed his view of the Russian authorities. He spent a lot of time abroad, but after turning 50 years old, he moved to Helsinki, founded a shop selling office machinery of the "Systema" brand, and proved to be a busy and systematic businessman.[24]: 8
In 1862 Carl Robert Mannerheim married Hedvig Charlotta Hélène von Julin (1842–1881), the daughter of a wealthy industrialist, John von Julin (1787–1853). The Julin family had also moved to Finland from Sweden. The Mannerheim couple had seven children, four sons and three daughters: Sophie Mannerheim, Carl Mannerheim, Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (1867-1951), Johan Mannerheim, Eva Sparre, Anna Mannerheim (1872-1886) and August Mannerheim (1873-1910). Carl Robert Mannerheim had a further daughter by his second wife Sofia Nordenstam (1849-1915), Marguerite (Kissie) Gripenberg (1884-1958).[26]
Childhood
Gustaf Mannerheim was born in the Louhisaari Manor of the Askainen parish (currently Masku) on 4 June 1867.[27][21] After Mannerheim's heavily indebted father left the family in 1880 for his mistress, a daughter of Baron and General Johan Mauritz Nordenstam,[28] the young Mannerheim's mother and her seven children went to live with her aunt Louise; but Mannerheim's mother died the following year.[29][30] Mannerheim's maternal uncle, Albert von Julin (1846–1906), then became his legal guardian and financier of his later schooling.[31] The third child of the family, Mannerheim inherited the title of Baron.
Mannerheim is said to have enjoyed playing military games and "leading the troops".[32]: 92 He was first taught by a female Swiss home teacher, and at the age of seven he started going to school in Helsinki, where he lived with his father. From 1874 to 1879 he and his brother Carl attended the Böök private lyceum, where he was expelled for a year in autumn 1879 for throwing stones at the windows.[33]: 30
Education
From 1881 to 1882 Mannerheim went to a school in Hamina preparing students for the Hamina Cadet School, a state school educating aristocrats for the Imperial Russian Army. The Hamina Cadet School was the only school to give military education in Finland at the time.[25]: 18 However, Mannerheim felt hatred towards the city of Hamina,[25]: 17 which was also evident from his behaviour.
Mannerheim was accepted to the Hamina Cadet School in 1882 at the age of 14.[34][35][24]: 12 This can be seen as the start of his military career.[21]
However, Mannerheim was left behind in class for one year because he managed to score only seven points of twelve in an examination in June 1883. This extra year was of help, as in the next year Mannerheim was moved to the first general class with the second-best grades. He did best in French and Swedish as well as history, but did worse in Russian and Finnish.[25]: 19 Among other students of his age and younger cadets Mannerheim was in a clear leadership position.[24]: 12 The handsome young Baron towered over his classmates, standing 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m).
Mannerheim's financial situation was poor, and he often had to borrow money from his caretaker Albert von Julin. He also did not like his time at the Hamina Cadet School: he could not tolerate the atmosphere at the school or its tight regulations, and he was punished often.[25]: 20
Mannerheim had hoped that after the Hamina Cadet School, he would get to the Page Corps military academy in Saint Petersburg, which was one of the most prestigious military academies in the country. The academy only allowed students with a hereditary noble title. Another requirement was that the student's father, grandfather or great-grandfather had a military rank of at least lieutenant general or an equivalent civilian rank. Civilian ranks were contrasted to military officer ranks according to a system devised by Peter the Great.[36] Mannerheim got his father Carl Robert Mannerheim to leave an application to the Page Corps, but the academy's director major general Neovius did not recommend Mannerheim to the academy claiming his skills in French and Russian were not good enough.[25]: 22 Because of Neovius's letter, Mannerheim's application to the academy was rejected, and he fell into a deep depression.
His future is indeed bleak. He does not seem to have any ambition, nor any understanding to improve himself and to attend the Cadet School so he could support himself.
(Mannerheim's grandmother Eva about the young Cadet School student)[37]
Mannerheim's depression also manifested as rebellion towards the Hamina Cadet School, and he was expelled on 22 July 1886.[38][35] According to his memoirs, Mannerheim had left without permission and spent the night at the home of a registrar he knew, the 35-year-old deputy judge Hugo Elfgren. In the next morning, he was discovered there by a warrant officer at the Cadet School. According to education committee at the cadet board Mannerheim had "left later in the night with a person of ill repute to the countryside to this person's residence". The person this referred to was the chief of the telegraph station Agathon Lindholm, who was known to be possibly homosexual. The letter also mentioned Mannerheim's "immoral aberrations and degrading lecherousness".[39] The school could have put the strictest form of its expulsion policy into use, which would have prevented Mannerheim from studying at any Finnish school or university ever again, but the board held a vote and decided to use a more lenient policy on the condition that Mannerheim's family would leave a voluntary application for him to leave the school.[25]: 24
Mannerheim next attended the Helsinki Private Lyceum, where he passed the university entrance examinations in June 1887.[40] From 1887 to 1889, Mannerheim attended the Nicholas Cavalry College in Saint Petersburg.[41] Mannerheim was recommended to the Nicholas Cavalry College by the general Johan Fredrik Gustav Aminoff, who was friends with the college's director Pavel Adamovich von Plehwe.[42] The entry requirements to the college were practically having a noble title and having graduated from cadet school or matriculated.[35] On the best applicants were selected to the college and the entry requirements were strict.[43]
Mannerheim graduated from the Nicholas Cavalry College on 10 August 1889. His graduation examination had gone well, and especially his grades in Russian had improved. In the spring of the same year, before being promoted to cornet, Mannerheim had been promoted to a porte d'épée Junker. This rank corresponded to the rank of a soldier promoted from the rank and file to a junior officer, who could serve as the warrant officer of a troop.
In January 1891, Mannerheim joined the Chevalier Guard Regiment in Saint Petersburg.[44]
Service in the Imperial Russian Army
Mannerheim planned a career at the prestigious Russian Imperial Guard, at the Chevalier Guard regiment of Her Majesty Empress Maria Feodorovna, but at first he was rejected. On 22 August 1889 he was hired as a cornet into the 15th dragoon regiment of Alexander's His Imperial Majesty Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich the elder situated in Kalisz in Poland, which was not a guard regiment. Mannerheim was not happy with this situation,[25]: 32 but dreamed of entry to the Chevalier Guard.[45]
Finally an application by Mannerheim's godmother got the empress to accept him into the guard, but first he had to join the dragoons. Mannerheim served in Kalisz at the border of Poland and Germany from 1889 to 1890, until he was transferred to the Chevalier Guard in Saint Petersburg in 1891.[46]: 84 In Saint Petersburg he married Anastasia Arapova, the wealthy heiress of a Russian major general on 2 May 1892.[47] The marriage solved Mannerheim's financial problems which he had suffered from for his whole life. Mannerheim was the leader of the first group of the first troop of the regiment of the Chevalier Guard and in 1895 he started taking care of the regiment train. After a transfer to the highest court stables management the regiment's commander von Grünwald invited Mannerheim there to take care of the horses. Mannerheim was appointed to special duties at the court stables on 14 September 1897.
Mannerheim was not accepted to the academy for the general staff, and he remained as an expert of horses. In 1901 he was promoted to a captain in the cavalry.[24]: 13 He bought horses for the army and had a horse breeding farm in the countryside.[48] As a buyer of elite horses for the emperor he travelled all around Europe photographing horses.[49] In his duties in the court stables he visited Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium and the United Kingdom.[50]: 137
Mannerheim's marriage to Anastasia Arapova practically ended in 1902 when the couple entered an unofficial separation in residence.[51][52] From 1903 Mannerheim served as chief of the model troop and the director of horseriding teaching in the mounted regiments of the guard. He also made his name in competitive riding.[48] By his own request, in 1904 Mannerheim was transferred to the officer riding school in Saint Petersburg where he was commanded to already in the previous year. His service as the chief of the model troop of the riding school was very significant for a future commander of the cavalry.[24]: 14
Mannerheim served in the Imperial Chevalier Guard until 1904. In 1896, he took part in the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II, standing for four hours in his full-dress Imperial Chevalier Guard uniform at the bottom of the steps leading up to the imperial throne.[53] Mannerheim always considered the coronation a high-point of his life, recalling with pride his role in what he called an "indescribably magnificent" coronation.[53] An expert rider and trained horseman, Mannerheim bought horses for the Russian army as one of his official duties. In 1903, he was put in charge of the model squadron in the Imperial Chevalier Guard and became a member of the equestrian training board of the cavalry regiments.[54]
Mannerheim volunteered for active service with the Imperial Russian Army in the Russo-Japanese War in 1904. He was transferred to the 52nd Nezhin Dragoon Regiment in Manchuria, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. During a reconnaissance patrol on the plains of Manchuria, he first saw action in a skirmish and had his horse shot out from under him.[53] He was promoted to Colonel for bravery in the Battle of Mukden in 1905[55] and briefly commanded an irregular unit of Hong Huzi, a local militia, on an exploratory mission into Inner Mongolia.[56] During the war, Mannerheim also managed to lead a group of local bandits with whom he sought the rear of the enemy to defeat them.[57]
Journey to Asia
After returning from the Russo-Japanese war Mannerheim spent a little time in Finland and Sweden. As a representative of his family he took part in the 1905 Diet of the Estates in Helsinki from February to June 1905. This was the last Diet of the Estates in Finland.[24]: 16
Mannerheim, who had a long career in the Imperial Russian army, also rose to become a courtier of Emperor of all the Russias Nicholas II.[57] When Mannerheim returned to Saint Petersburg, he was asked to undertake a journey through Turkestan to Beijing as a secret intelligence officer. The cover story of this journey was a scientific exploration together with professor Paul Pelliot.[58] This became a journey that produced valuable geographical and ethnological research results.[21][59]: 16
The Russian General Staff wanted accurate, on-the-ground intelligence about the reforms and activities by the Qing dynasty, as well as the military feasibility of invading Western China: a possible move in their struggle with Britain for control of inner Asia.[60][61] Disguised as an ethnographic collector, he joined the French archeologist Paul Pelliot's expedition at Samarkand in Russian Turkestan (now Uzbekistan). They started from the terminus of the Trans-Caspian Railway in Andijan in July 1906, but Mannerheim quarreled with Pelliot,[60] so he made the greater part of the expedition on his own.[62]
Mannerheim undertook his journey through Asia to China on horseback. The total length of the journey was 14 thousand kilometres and it took two years from 1906 to 1908.[64]: 117 Mannerheim took his cover role seriously and collected a lot of ethnographic material from hitherto almost unexplored areas. Before his journey he had contacted the Finno-Ugrian Society where he had received a lot of instructions for scientific research. Kai Donner described him as an enlightened explorer.[24]: 18 Mannerheim also became familiar with Marco Polo's notes as well as exploration stories written by Nikolay Przhevalsky, Sven Hedin and Marc Aurel Stein.[65]: 22–24 He collected almost 1200 objects to the collection of the National Museum of Finland[66] and took about 1500 photographs. The photograph he took of Kurmanjan Datka in Kyrgyzstan is used in the 50 Kyrgyz som banknote. Kurmanjan Datka was the ruler of Kyrgyzstan at the time when the country was annexed to Russia. In part 27 of the journal of the Finno-Ugrian Society Mannerheim published a linguistically significant paper A visit to the Sarö and Shera Yögurs.[24]: 18 The most famous militarily significant result was the mapping of a road about 2000 kilometres in length.[24]: 14
With a small caravan, including a Cossack guide, Chinese interpreter, and Uyghur cook, Mannerheim first trekked to Khotan in search of British and Japanese spies. After returning to Kashgar, he headed north into the Tian Shan range, surveying passes and gauging the stances of the tribes towards the Han Chinese. Mannerheim arrived in the provincial capital of Urumqi, and then headed east into Gansu province. At the sacred Buddhist mountain of Mount Wutai in Shanxi province, Mannerheim met the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet, who was living in exile on Mount Wutai after the British had occupied Tibet. Mannerheim was only the third European to be granted an audience with the 13th Dalai Lama. Mannerheim and the Dalai Lama discussed Russia and the expenses of Mannerheim's journey to Asia. The Dalai Lama gave Mannerheim a white decorated cloth to give as a gift to emperor Nicholas II. In return, Mannerheim gave the Dalai Lama his pistol and showed him how to use it.[67][68][69]
He followed the Great Wall of China, and investigated a mysterious tribe known as Yugurs.[70] From Lanzhou, the provincial capital, Mannerheim headed south into Tibetan territory and visited the lamasery of Labrang, where he was stoned by xenophobic monks.[71] Mannerheim arrived in Beijing in July 1908, returning to Saint Petersburg via Japan and the Trans-Siberian Express. His report gave a detailed account of Chinese modernization, covering education, military reforms, colonization of ethnic borderlands, mining and industry, railway construction, the influence of Japan, and opium smoking.[71] He also discussed the possibility of a Russian invasion of Xinjiang, and Xinjiang's possible role as a bargaining chip in a putative future war with China.[72] His trip through Asia left him with a lifelong love of Asian art, which he thereafter collected.[67]
From Beijing, Mannerheim travelled to Japan and from there to Vladivostok, from where he returned to Saint Petersburg along the Trans-Siberian Railway. After returning to Russia in 1909, Mannerheim presented results of the expedition to Emperor Nicholas II. Mannerheim had originally planned to spend twenty minutes with the emperor, but the meeting lasted about an hour longer than that.[65]: 22–24 There are many artifacts still on display in the museum.[57] After that, Mannerheim was appointed to command the 13th Vladimir Uhlan Regiment in the Congress Kingdom of Poland. The following year, he was promoted to major general and was posted as the commander of the Life Guard Uhlan Regiment of His Imperial Majesty in Warsaw.
Mannerheim recorded his journey to Asia in two books: A visit to the Sarö and Shera Yögurs and A journey through Asia. The latter book was originally published in Russian but has since been translated to numerous other languages and has attracted a great deal of professional attention.[21]
Next Mannerheim became part of the Imperial entourage and was appointed to command a cavalry brigade.[73]
World War I and the end of the Russian Empire
At the beginning of World War I, Mannerheim served as commander of the Separate Guards Cavalry Brigade (the 23rd Army Corps), and fought on the Austro-Hungarian and Romanian fronts. In December 1914, after distinguishing himself in combat against the Austro-Hungarian forces, Mannerheim was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th class. In March 1915, Mannerheim was appointed to command the 12th Cavalry Division.[74]
Mannerheim received leave to visit Finland and Saint Petersburg in early 1917 and witnessed the outbreak of the February Revolution. After returning to the front, he was promoted to lieutenant general in April 1917 (the promotion was backdated to February 1915), and took command of the 6th Cavalry Corps in the summer of 1917. However, Mannerheim fell out of favour with the new government, who regarded him as not supporting the revolution, and was relieved of his duties. He retired and returned to Finland.[73] Mannerheim kept a large portrait of Emperor Nicholas II in the living room of his house in Helsinki right up to his death, and when asked after the overthrow of the House of Romanov why he kept the portrait up, he always answered: "He was my emperor".[67]
Remove ads
Marriage and daughters
Summarize
Perspective
In 1892 at the age of 25[47] Mannerheim married Anastasia Arapova (1872–1936), the wealthy heiress of a Russian major general of Russian-Serbian heritage.[75][76] Anastasia was five years younger than Mannerheim. They were married in an Orthodox way at the Church of the Saints Zachary and Elizabeth and later again in a Lutheran way at the house of the privy councillor Ivan Zvegintsev.[46]: 84 [77]
The marriage opened Mannerheim's way to the social life in Saint Petersburg and solved his financial problems which he had suffered from for his whole life.[78] The marriage resulted in two daughters: Anastasie "Stasie" (1893-1978) and Sophie "Sophy" (1895-1963).[48][79] Another child, a son, was stillborn in summer 1894.[80] The death of his son was a complete shock for Mannerheim.[78]
In practice, Mannerheim's marriage ended in 1902 in an unofficial separation of residence.[81] The marriage had been risky to begin with, as Mannerheim is said to have married the wealthy Anastasia under pressure from his family, and that he was really more interested in her little sister.[46]: 84 After spending a year and a half as a military nurse in the service of the Red Cross in the Asian Far East Anastasia Mannerheim left her husband and moved to Paris, France with her daughters[46]: 84 [78] and in 1903 via China to the United States together with her children. Ten years later, both daughters came to Finland to live at their relatives, because their father was in Warsaw in Poland and could not take his daughters to live with him.[47] Even though they were already practically separated, Mannerheim and Anastasia were not divorced as Anastasia feared a divorce would make her unwelcome to the social circles in Saint Petersburg.[78]
Mannerheim only officially divorced his wife in 1919.[78] The couple reconciled via letters in the 1920s.[77] They met each other in 1936 in Paris where they reconciled face to face. Anastasia died soon afterwards.[47][77] In his memoirs, Mannerheim devotes only one single sentence to his marriage and wife. After their parents' divorce, Anastasie and Sophie lived unmarried in the United Kingdom and in France.
Both of Mannerheim's daughters ended up choosing female partners in life. Sophie fell in love with Alexandra "Alix" Demidoff-Depret-Bixio who had emigrated to France from Russia, while Anastasie chose the English Olive Rooney as her partner. Mannerheim had nothing against his daughters' choices, as his travels all around the world had made him open-minded.[78]
Anastasia Arapova died on New Year's Eve 1936. This came as a shock to her daughters.[78]
Remove ads
Political career
Summarize
Perspective
The White General and the Regent of Finland
In December 1917, Finland declared independence from Russia, now ruled by the Bolsheviks who had overthrown the Provisional Government in the October Revolution. The Bolsheviks accepted the secession for a variety of reasons, mostly because they could not control Finland; also, they hoped they could inspire a communist revolution there modeled after the Russian one. The Finnish parliament appointed P. E. Svinhufvud to lead the newly independent grand duchy's interregnum government. In January 1918, a military committee was charged with bolstering the Finnish army, then not much more than some locally organised White Guards. Mannerheim was appointed to the committee, but soon resigned to protest its indecision. On 13 January, he was given command of the army.[82] He had only 24,000 newly enlisted, mostly untrained men. The Finnish Red Guard, led by communist leader Kullervo Manner and backed by Soviet Russia, had 30,000 men; and there were 70,000 Red Russian troops in Finland. Mannerheim's army was financed by a fifteen million mark line of credit provided by the bankers. His raw recruits had few arms. Nonetheless, he marched them to Vaasa, which was garrisoned by 42,500 Red Russians.[83] He surrounded the Russian garrison with a mass of men; the defenders could not see that only the front rank was armed, so they surrendered, providing badly needed arms. Further weapons were purchased from Germany. Eighty-four Swedish officers and 200 Swedish NCOs served in the Finnish Civil War (or "War of Liberty", as it was known among the "Whites"). Other officers were Finns who had been trained by the Germans as a Jäger Battalion. In March 1918 they were aided by German troops landing in Finland and occupying Helsinki.
After the Whites' victory in the bitterly fought civil war, during which both sides employed ruthless terror tactics, Mannerheim resigned as commander-in-chief. He left Finland in June 1918 to visit relatives in Sweden.[84] In Stockholm, Mannerheim conferred with Allied diplomats, emphasizing his opposition to the Finnish government's policy; Finnish leaders were confident the Germans would win the war, and had chosen Kaiser Wilhelm II's brother-in-law, Frederick Charles of Hesse, to be the King of Finland. In the meantime Svinhufvud served as the first Regent of the nascent kingdom. Mannerheim's rapport with the Allies was recognized in October 1918 when the Finnish government sent him to Britain and France to attempt to gain Britain's and the United States's recognition of Finland's independence. In December, he was summoned back to Finland; Frederick Charles had renounced the throne, and in his stead, Mannerheim had been elected Regent. As Regent, Mannerheim often signed official documents using Kustaa, the Finnish form of his Christian name, to emphasize his Finnishness to those who were suspicious of his background in the Russian armed forces and his difficulties with the Finnish language.[85]
Mannerheim secured recognition of Finnish independence from Britain and the United States. In July 1919, after he had confirmed a new, republican constitution, Mannerheim stood as a candidate in the first presidential election, with parliament as the electors. He was supported by the National Coalition Party and the Swedish People's Party. He finished second to Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg, and withdrew from public life.[73]
Language skills
Mannerheim's mother tongue was Swedish. He spoke fluent German, French, and Russian, the last of which he learned serving in the Imperial Russian Army. He also spoke some English, Polish, Portuguese, Latin, and Chinese.[85] He did not start learning Finnish properly until after Finland's independence in 1918, but never became fluent.[46]
Interwar period
In the interwar years, Mannerheim held no public office, mainly because he was viewed by many politicians of the centre and left as a controversial figure for his ruthless battle with the Bolsheviks, his supposed desire for Finnish intervention on the side of the Whites during the Russian Civil War, and the Finnish socialists' antipathy toward him. They saw him as the bourgeois "White General". Mannerheim doubted that modern party-based politics would produce principled and high-quality leaders in Finland or elsewhere. In his gloomy opinion, the fatherland's interests were too often sacrificed by the democratic politicians for partisan benefit.[87][88]
After leaving his post as regent of Finland, Mannerheim spent his time on farming and was active in many communal duties. He kept busy heading the Finnish Red Cross (Chairman 1919–1951), was a member of the board of the International Red Cross, and founded the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare (Mannerheimin Lastensuojeluliitto). The foundation of the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare was possible with a sum of money collected through a petition in 1919. The sum amounted to 7.6 million markka (about 3 million euro in 2017).[89] Mannerheim stayed as the honorary chairman of the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare up to his death. He was also the director of the central cabinet of the Finnish Red Cross from 1922 up to his death. He was the founder of the Red Cross Hospital and served as the director of its construction board.[59]: 57
Mannerheim respected the scouts movement and was awarded the first honorary membership of the Finnish Scouts Association in 1919. He was the honorary director of the association from 1941.[59]: 54 He also founded the Mannerheim Buckle award on 15 February 1920.[90] The inspiration for this award came from meeting the scouts on many of his official trips while he was serving as the regent of Finland. The award was designed by the Finnish artist Akseli Gallén-Kallela.
Mannerheim was also the chairman of the supervisory board of a commercial bank, the Liittopankki-Unionsbanken, and after its merger with the Bank of Helsinki, the chairman of the supervisory board of that bank until 1934, and was a member of the board of Nokia Corporation.[91] He offered to serve the French Foreign Legion in the Rif War (1925–1926), but was turned down.[92]
In the 1920s and 1930s, Mannerheim returned to Asia, where he travelled and hunted extensively.[93] On his first trip in 1927, to avoid going through the Soviet Union, he travelled through the British Empire, going by ship from London to Bombay. From there he travelled to Lucknow, Delhi, and Calcutta in the British India. From there he travelled overland to Burma, where he spent a month at Rangoon and Mandalay. He then went on to Sikkim and returned to Finland by car and aeroplane.[91]
In his second voyage, in 1936, he went by ship from Aden (a British territory in Southern Arabia) to Bombay. During his travels and hunting expeditions, he visited Madras, Delhi and Nepal, where he was invited by the Rana Prime Minister Juddha Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana to join a tiger hunt.[94] In the same year, Mannerheim made a private visit to the United Kingdom, where he was accompanied for the first time by security guards, who Prime Minister Winston Churchill himself had given Mannerheim to use during the trip. However, Mannerheim is known to have been bothered by the presence of security guards, because mainly as a fatalist, he firmly believed in fate, if it had to happen in the form of an untimely death, and in addition, he also strongly trusted his own authority.[95]
In 1936, Mannerheim represented the Finnish government at the funeral of King George V of the United Kingdom.[96]
In 1929, Mannerheim rejected a plea by right-wing radicals to become a military dictator. While he did express some support for the right-wing Lapua Movement, he distanced himself from the group after they became violent.[97] After President Pehr Evind Svinhufvud was elected in 1931, he appointed Mannerheim as chairman of Finland's Defence Council and gave him a written promise that in the event of war he would become the Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Army. (Svinhufvud's successor Kyösti Kallio renewed this promise in 1937).
In 1933, Mannerheim received the rank of Field Marshal (sotamarsalkka, fältmarskalk). The rank came with a substantial stamp duty of four thousand markka, equivalent of one month's pay of an army major, and by mistake, the bill was sent to Mannerheim himself. As Mannerheim was taking the money from his wallet he commented wryly: "It's a good thing they didn't make a bigger chief out of me."[98][99]
By this time, Mannerheim had come to be seen by the public, including some former socialists, less as a "White General" and more as a nonpartisan figure, enhanced by his public statements urging reconciliation between the opposing sides in the Civil War and the need to focus on national unity and defence: "we need not ask where a man stood fifteen years ago".[100] Mannerheim supported Finland's military industry and sought in vain to obtain a military defence union with Sweden. However, rearming the Finnish army did not occur as swiftly or as well as he hoped, and he was not enthusiastic about a war. He had many disagreements with various Cabinets, and signed many letters of resignation.[101][102]
1920 assassination attempt
After their defeat in the Civil War, some Red Guards attempted to assassinate Mannerheim. One of the would-be assassins, Eino Rahja,[103] was in charge of the Saint Petersburg International School of Red Officers. He began planning an assassination by assembling eight groups of Finnish Red Guards in Saint Petersburg for this purpose. The attempt happened in April 1920 during a White Guard's parade on Hämeenkatu in Tampere, in which General Mannerheim was to participate.[95]
The group gathered on 3 April at the Park Café in Hämeenkatu; and at this stage, group member Karl Salo was designated as a shooter and given a Colt pistol. However, the assassination attempt failed due to Salo's hesitation.[95] Salo's security detail in the crowd, consisting of Aleksander Weckman and Aleksanteri Suokas, who had been equipped with Walther and Colt pistols, lost sight of Salo and never had time to shoot Mannerheim either.[104]
On 6 April, Weckman, the operation leader, threatened to kill Salo if he had not assassinated either Mannerheim or Bruno Jalander, the Minister of War and Uusimaa County Governor, within a week.[105] This attempt was also unsuccessful, as Mannerheim and Jalander did not come to the Helsinki Conservation Party celebration after the authorities received a tip. Salo returned his pistol and escaped afterwards. Weckman and Suokas tried to escape to the Soviet Union with their two assistants but were arrested on the Helsinki-Vyborg train the night of 21 April. Salo was arrested in Espoo on 23 April.[104]
Commander-in-Chief
As chairman of the Finnish Defence Council, Mannerheim opposed war with the Soviet Union from the beginning. When the Soviets requested that Finland cede territory, he recommended that the Finnish government give into these demands, arguing that the Finnish Army was not strong enough to repel a Soviet attack.[106] When negotiations with the Soviet Union failed in 1939, and aware of the imminent war and deploring the lack of equipment and preparation of the army, Mannerheim resigned from the military council on 17 October 1939, declaring that he would agree to return to business only as Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Army. He officially became the supreme commander of the armies, at the age of 72, after the Soviet attack on 30 November 1939. In a letter to his daughter Sophie, he stated, "I had not wanted to undertake the responsibility of commander-in-chief, as my age and my health entitled me, but I had to yield to appeals from the President of the Republic and the government, and now for the fourth time I am at war."[85]
Mannerheim addressed the first of his often controversial orders of the day to the Defence Forces on the day the war began:
The President of the Republic has appointed me on 30 November 1939 as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of the country. Brave soldiers of Finland! I enter on this task at a time when our hereditary enemy is once again attacking our country. Confidence in one's commander is the first condition for success. You know me and I know you and know that everyone in the ranks is ready to do his duty even to death. This war is nothing other than the continuation and final act of our War of Independence. We are fighting for our homes, our faith, and our country.[85]
The defensive field fortifications they manned became known as the Mannerheim Line.
Field Marshal Mannerheim quickly organised his headquarters in Mikkeli. His chief of staff was Lieutenant General Aksel Airo, while his close friend, General Rudolf Walden, was sent as a representative of the headquarters to the cabinet from 3 December 1939 until 27 March 1940, after which he became defence minister.[101][102]
Mannerheim spent most of the Winter War and Continuation War in his Mikkeli headquarters but made many visits to the front. Between the wars, he remained commander-in-chief.[102] Although Mannerheim's main task was to lead the war, he also knew how to strengthen and maintain the will of the soldiers to fight. He was famed for this quote:
Forts, cannons and foreign aid will not help unless every man himself knows that he is the guard of his country.[107]
Mannerheim kept relations with Adolf Hitler's government as formal as possible. Mannerheim did not really appreciate Hitler,[108] even though he initially expressed an interest in his rise to power; his attitude towards Hitler turned negative at the point when Mannerheim's visit to Germany made him realize what kind of "ideal state" Hitler was building; he compared Hitler's rise in Germany to the 1917 rise of the Bolshevists in Russia.[109] Before the Continuation War, the Germans offered Mannerheim command over 80,000 German troops in Finland. Mannerheim declined so as to not tie himself and Finland to Nazi war aims;[110] Mannerheim was ready for cooperation and fraternity with Hitler's Germany, but for practical rather than ideological reasons because of the Soviet threat.[109] In July 1941 the Finnish Army of Karelia was strengthened by the German 163rd Infantry Division. They retook the Finnish territories annexed by the Soviet Union after the Winter War,[111] and went further, occupying East Karelia. Finnish troops took part in the Siege of Leningrad, which lasted 872 days.
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin pressured Churchill to declare war against Finland, a decision that was particularly difficult for Churchill due to his acquaintance with Mannerheim. Churchill delayed the declaration and sent a personal note to Mannerheim, in which he recalled their past encounters and warned Mannerheim about the impending declaration. Mannerheim thanked Churchill for his thoughtfulness and responded that his mission was to ensure Finland's security.[112]
On 20 June 1942, Mannerheim was inspecting Finnish front line troops in Poventsa when he and his staff were engaged by a Soviet anti-tank gun with direct fire. One shell exploded near Mannerheim who, on varying accounts, took cover either in a trench or behind tree trunks until Finnish counter-battery fire neutralized the attacker. Captain Ahti Petramaa, section commander during the inspection, lost fingers from flying shrapnel and was escorted to an aid station where he was promoted to major by Mannerheim.[113][114][115]
Visit by Adolf Hitler
Mannerheim's 75th birthday, 4 June 1942, was a national celebration. The government granted him the unique title of Marshal of Finland (Suomen Marsalkka in Finnish, Marskalk av Finland in Swedish). So far he is the only person to receive the title.
A surprise birthday visit by Hitler occurred on the day as he wished to visit the "brave Finns (die tapferen Finnen)" and their leader Mannerheim.[101][102] When president Risto Ryti telephoned Mannerheim and told him Hitler would be arriving within a week, Mannerheim's first reply was "Vad i helvete gör han här?" (Swedish for: "What the bloody hell is he doing here?").[108]
Mannerheim did not want to meet him at his headquarters or in Helsinki, as then it would seem like an official state visit. The meeting took place near Imatra, in south-eastern Finland, and was arranged in secrecy.[101] From Immola Airfield, Hitler, accompanied by President Ryti, was driven to where Baron Mannerheim was waiting at a railway siding. A speech from Hitler was followed by a birthday meal and negotiations between him and Mannerheim. Overall, Hitler spent about five hours in Finland; he reportedly asked the Finns to step up military operations against the Soviets, but apparently made no specific demands.[101]
During the visit, an engineer of the Finnish broadcasting company Yleisradio, Thor Damen, succeeded in recording the first eleven minutes of Hitler's and Mannerheim's private conversation. This had to be done secretly, as Hitler never allowed off-guard recordings. Damen was assigned to record the official birthday speeches and Mannerheim's response and therefore placed microphones in some of the railway cars. However, Mannerheim and his guests chose to go to a car that did not have a microphone in it. Damen acted quickly, pushing a microphone through one of the car windows onto a net shelf just above where Hitler and Mannerheim were sitting. After eleven minutes of Hitler's and Mannerheim's private conversation, Hitler's SS bodyguards spotted the cords coming out of the window and realized that the Finnish engineer was recording the conversation. They gestured to him to stop recording immediately, and he complied. The SS bodyguards demanded that the tape be destroyed, but Yleisradio was allowed to keep the reel after promising to keep it in a sealed container. It was given to Kustaa Vilkuna, head of the state censors' office, and in 1957 returned to Yleisradio. It was released to the public a few years later. It is the only known recording of Hitler speaking outside of a formal occasion.[116][117]
.jpg)
There is an unsubstantiated story that while conversing with Hitler, Mannerheim lit a cigar. Mannerheim expected that Hitler would ask Finland for more help against the Soviet Union, which Mannerheim was unwilling to give. When Mannerheim lit up, all in attendance gasped, for Hitler's aversion to smoking was well known. Nevertheless, Hitler continued the conversation calmly, with no comment. By this test, Mannerheim could judge if Hitler was speaking from a position of strength or weakness. He refused Hitler, knowing that Hitler was in a weak position, and could not dictate to him.[101][102]
Shortly thereafter, Mannerheim returned the visit, travelling to Hitler's headquarters in East Prussia.[118]
End of war and presidency
In June 1944, Baron Gustaf Mannerheim, to ensure German support while a major Soviet offensive was threatening Finland, thought that it was necessary to agree to the pact the German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop demanded. But even then Mannerheim distanced himself from the pact, and it fell to President Risto Ryti to sign it, so it came to be known as the Ryti-Ribbentrop Agreement. This allowed Mannerheim to revoke the agreement upon the resignation of President Ryti at the start of August 1944. Mannerheim succeeded Ryti as president.[101][119]
When Germany was deemed sufficiently weakened, and the USSR's summer offensive was fought to a standstill (see Battle of Tali-Ihantala) thanks to the June agreement with the Germans, Finland's leaders saw a chance to reach a peace with the Soviet Union.[120] At first, attempts were made to persuade Mannerheim to become prime minister, but he rejected them because of his age and lack of experience running a civil government. The next suggestion was to elect him head of state. Risto Ryti would resign as president, and parliament would appoint Mannerheim as regent. The use of the title regent would have reflected the exceptional circumstances of Mannerheim's election. Mannerheim and Ryti both agreed, and Ryti submitted a notice of resignation on 1 August. The Parliament of Finland passed a special act conferring the presidency on Mannerheim on 4 August 1944. He took the oath of office the same day.[101][119]
A month after Mannerheim took office, the Continuation War was concluded on harsh terms, but ultimately far less harsh than those imposed on the other states bordering the Soviet Union. Finland retained its sovereignty, its parliamentary democracy, and its market economy. Territorial losses were considerable; a portion of Karelia and all Petsamo were lost. Numerous Karelian refugees needed to be relocated. The war reparations were very heavy. Finland also had to fight the Lapland War against withdrawing German troops in the north, and at the same time demobilize its own army, making it harder to expel the Germans;[121] Mannerheim appointed Lieutenant General Hjalmar Siilasvuo as the high commander of the army to take this action.[122][123] It is widely agreed that only Mannerheim could have guided Finland through these difficult times, when the Finnish people had to come to terms with the severe conditions of the armistice, their implementation by a Soviet-dominated Allied Control Commission, and the task of post-war reconstruction.[119]
Before deciding to accept the Soviet demands, Mannerheim wrote a missive directly to Hitler:[124]
Our German brothers-in-arms will forever remain in our hearts. The Germans in Finland were certainly not the representatives of foreign despotism but helpers and brothers-in-arms. But even in such cases foreigners are in difficult positions requiring such tact. I can assure you that during the past years nothing whatsoever happened that could have induced us to consider the German troops intruders or oppressors. I believe that the attitude of the German Army in northern Finland towards the local population and authorities will enter our history as a unique example of a correct and cordial relationship ... I deem it my duty to lead my people out of the war. I cannot and I will not turn the arms which you have so liberally supplied us against Germans. I harbour the hope that you, even if you disapprove of my attitude, will wish and endeavour like myself and all other Finns to terminate our former relations without increasing the gravity of the situation.
Mannerheim's term as president was difficult for him. Although he was elected for a full six-year term, he was 77 years old in 1944 and had accepted the office reluctantly after being urged to do so. The situation was exacerbated by frequent periods of ill-health, the demands of the Allied Control Commission, and the war responsibility trials. He was afraid throughout most of his presidency that the commission would request his prosecution for crimes against peace. This never happened. One of the reasons for this was Stalin's respect for and admiration of the Marshal. Stalin told a Finnish delegation in Moscow in 1947 that the Finns owed much to their old Marshal. Due to Mannerheim, Finland was not occupied.[125] Despite Mannerheim's criticisms of some of the demands of the Control Commission, he worked hard to carry out Finland's armistice obligations. He also emphasised the necessity of further work on reconstruction in Finland after the war.[101][119]
Mannerheim was troubled by recurring health problems during 1945, and was absent on medical leave from his duties as president from November until February 1946. He spent six weeks in Portugal to restore his health.[126] After the announcement of the verdicts in the war crimes trials in February, Mannerheim decided to resign. He believed that he had accomplished the duties he had been elected to carry out: The war was ended, the armistice obligations carried out, and war responsibility trials finished.
Mannerheim resigned as president on 4 March 1946, giving as his reason his declining health and his view that the tasks he had been selected to carry out had been accomplished.[127] He was succeeded as president by the conservative Prime Minister J. K. Paasikivi.[119]
Remove ads
Final days and death
Summarize
Perspective
After his resignation, Marshal Baron Mannerheim bought Kirkniemi Manor in Lohja, intending to spend his retirement there. In June 1946, he underwent an operation for a perforated peptic ulcer, and in October of that year he was diagnosed with a duodenal ulcer. In early 1947, it was recommended that he should travel to the Valmont Sanatorium in Montreux, Switzerland, to recuperate and write his memoirs. Valmont was to be Mannerheim's main residence for the remainder of his life, although he regularly returned to Finland, and also visited Sweden, France and Italy.[128]
Because Mannerheim was old and sickly, he personally wrote only certain passages of his memoirs. He dictated some other parts. The remaining parts were written from his recollections by Mannerheim's various assistants, such as Colonel Aladár Paasonen; General Erik Heinrichs; Generals Grandell, Olenius and Martola; and Colonel Viljanen, a war historian. As long as Mannerheim was able to read, he proofread the typewritten drafts of his memoirs. He was almost totally silent about his private life, and focused instead on Finland's history, especially between 1917 and 1944. When Mannerheim suffered a fatal bowel obstruction in January 1951,[129] his memoirs were not yet in their finished form. They were published after his death.[88]
Mannerheim died on 27 January 1951 (28 January Finnish time), in the Cantonal Hospital in Lausanne (French: L'Hôpital cantonal à Lausanne; modern Lausanne University Hospital[130]), Switzerland. At the Marshal's bedside in his last moments were his Swedish personal physician Nanna Svartz, his adjutant Colonel Olof Lindeman, and the Envoy of Finland to Bern, Reinhold Svento.[131] When the news of Mannerheim's death reached Finland, President J. K. Paasikivi told the Finnish people on the radio about his death, saying that "one of the greatest men and most brilliant figures in Finnish history had left us".[88]
Mannerheim's coffin arrived at Helsinki-Malmi Airport on 2 February, after which the public had the opportunity to visit Helsinki Cathedral to pay their respects for two days. He was buried on 4 February 1951 in the Hietaniemi Cemetery in Helsinki in a state funeral with full military honours. Prime Minister Urho Kekkonen and Foreign Minister Åke Gartz attended the funeral as representatives of the government, and the State's greetings to the late Marshal were presented by the Speaker of Parliament K. A. Fagerholm.[46][132] The funeral procession was 3.7 kilometres (2.3 mi) long and was followed by 100,000–150,000 people.[133]
Remove ads
Legacy
Summarize
Perspective
Today, Mannerheim retains respect as Finland's greatest statesman. This may be partly due to his refusal to enter partisan politics (although his sympathies were more right-wing than left-wing), his claim always to serve the fatherland without selfish motives, his personal courage in visiting the front lines, his ability to work diligently into his late seventies, and his foreign political farsightedness in preparing for the Soviet invasion of Finland years before it occurred.[101] Although Finland fought alongside Nazi Germany during the Continuation War and thus in co-operation with the Axis Powers, a number of leaders of the Allies still respected Mannerheim. These included, among others, the then British Prime Minister Winston Churchill; at a 2017 conference in London, war historian Terry Charman said it was difficult for Churchill to declare war on Finland at Stalin's demand due to his previous uncomplicated co-operation with Mannerheim, which led Churchill and Mannerheim to exchange polite and apologetic correspondence about the prevailing circumstance, with deep respect for each other.[134]
Mannerheim's birthday, 4 June, is celebrated as Flag Day by the Finnish Defence Forces. This decision was made by the Finnish government on the occasion of his 75th birthday in 1942, when he was also granted the title of Marshal of Finland. Flag Day is celebrated with a national parade, and rewards and promotions for members of the defence forces. The life and times of Mannerheim are memorialised in the Mannerheim Museum.[91] The most prominent boulevard in the Finnish capital was renamed Mannerheimintie (Mannerheim Road) already in the Marshal's honour during his lifetime; along the road, at the Kamppi district, stands Hotel Marski, which is named after him. Mannerheim's former hunting lodge and resting place known as the "Marshal's Cabin" (Marskin Maja), which now serves as both a museum and a restaurant, is located at the shores of Lake Punelia in Loppi, Finland.[135]
Various landmarks across Finland honour Mannerheim, including most famously the Equestrian statue located on Helsinki's Mannerheimintie in front of the later-built Kiasma museum of modern art. Mannerheim Parks in both Turku and Seinäjoki include statues of him. Tampere's Mannerheim statue depicting the victorious Civil War general of the Whites was eventually placed in the forest some kilometres outside the city (in part due to lingering controversy over Mannerheim's Civil War role). Other statues, for examples, were erected in Mikkeli and Lahti.[136] On 5 December 2004, Mannerheim was voted the greatest Finnish person of all time in the Suuret suomalaiset (Great Finns) contest.[9]
From 1937 to 1967, at least five different Finnish postage stamps or stamp series were issued in honour of Mannerheim; and in 1960 the United States honoured Mannerheim as the "Liberator of Finland" with regular first-class domestic and international stamps (at the time four cents and eight cents respectively) as part of its Champions of Liberty series that included other notable figures such as Mahatma Gandhi and Simon Bolivar.[137][138][139]
1941 Finnish postal stamp portraying the then-Field Marshal Mannerheim (he was appointed Marshal of Finland in 1942).
Marshal Mannerheim on two United States commemorative stamps, 1960 issue, part of the Champion of Liberty issues.
Mannerheim appears as a main character in Ilmari Turja's 1966 play and its the 1970 film adaptation The Headquarters, directed by Matti Kassila. In both the play and the film, Mannerheim was played by Joel Rinne.[140] Mannerheim was also played by Asko Sarkola in the 2001 television film Valtapeliä elokuussa 1940, directed by Veli-Matti Saikkonen.[141]
Remove ads
Military ranks
Ranks
In the Russian Army
- 1 July 1888: Non-commissioned officer
- 10 August 1889: Cornet
- 27 July 1891: Cornet of the Guard
- 30 August 1893: Lieutenant of the Guard
- 22 July 1899: Captain of the Guard, Junior grade
- 6 December 1902: Captain of the Guard
- 7 October 1904: Lieutenant Colonel
- 29 November 1905: Colonel
- 13 February 1911: Major General
- 25 April 1917: Lieutenant General
In the Finnish Army
- 7 March 1918: General of Cavalry
The titles Field Marshal (19 March 1933) and Marshal of Finland (4 June 1942) were not official military ranks although they are often thought of as such. Mannerheim's official military rank in the Finnish Army was General.[142]
Supreme Command
- 1918: Commander-in-Chief of the White Guard: from January to May 1918
- 1918: Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Defence Forces: from December 1918 to July 1919
- 1931: Chairman of the Defence Council: from 1931 to 1939
- 1939: Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Defence Forces: from 1939 to 1946
Remove ads
Awards
Summarize
Perspective
In the course of his lifetime, Mannerheim received 82 military and civilian decorations.[144]
National
Republic of Finland:
- Grand Cross with Swords and Diamonds of the Order of the Cross of Liberty (1940; Grand Cross with Swords: 1918)[145][146]
- Knight of the Mannerheim Cross, 1st and 2nd class, of the Order of the Cross of Liberty (1941)[147][148]
- Grand Cross with Collar, Swords and Diamonds of the Order of the White Rose (1944; Grand Cross with Collar: 1919)[149][150]
- Grand Cross with Swords of the Order of the Lion of Finland (1944)[151]
Russian Empire:
- Order of St. Anna, 1st class (1914; 2nd class: 1904; 3rd class: 1900)[152]
- Order of St. Stanislaus, 1st class (1914; 2nd class: 1904)[153]
- Order of St. Vladimir, 2nd class (1916; 3rd class: 1914; 4th class: 1909)[154]
- Gold Sword for Bravery (1906)[155]
- Order of St. George, Knight 4th class (1914)[156]
Kingdom of Sweden:
- Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the Sword (1918)[157]
- Knight of the Order of the Seraphim (1919)[158]
- Knight Grand Cross 1st Class of the Order of the Sword (1942)[157]
Foreign
Austro-Hungarian Empire: Knight of the Order of Franz Joseph (1895)[159][152]
Independent State of Croatia: Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of King Zvonimir with Swords (1942)[160]
Kingdom of Denmark: Knight of the Order of the Elephant (1919)[161]
Republic of Estonia:
- Military Order of the Cross of the Eagle, 1st Class with Swords (1930)[162]
- Grand Cross of Order of the Estonian Red Cross (1933)[163]
French Republic: Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour (1939; Officer: 1910; Knight: 1902)[164]- Germany:
German Empire: Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class (1918)[165]
Nazi Germany:
- Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (1944; Knight's Cross: 1942; Clasp to the Iron Cross: 1942)[166]
- Grand Cross of the Order of the German Eagle in Gold with Star (1942)[167]
- Grand Cross of the German Red Cross Decoration with Oak Leaves (1937)[168]
Kingdom of Greece: Officer of the Order of the Saviour (1902)[169]
Kingdom of Hungary: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Kingdom of Hungary with the Holy Crown of St. Stephen (1942)[170]
Kingdom of Italy:
- Officer of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (1902)[171]
- Grand Officer of the Military Order of Savoy (1942)[172]
Empire of Japan: Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers (1942)[173]
Republic of Latvia: Honour Cross of the Latvian Red Cross (1938)[174]
Republic of Lithuania: Order of the Cross of Vytis, 2nd class, 2nd degree (1933)[175]
Kingdom of Romania: Order of Michael the Brave, 1st class (1941)[176][177][178]
United Kingdom: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) (1938)[179]
Remove ads
Works
- C.G. Mannerheim, Across Asia From West to East in 1906–1908. (1969) Anthropological Publications. Oosterhout N.B. – The Netherlands
- Across Asia : Vol. 1 – digital images
Mannerheim as a person
Summarize
Perspective
Religion
Mannerheim had been baptised into the Lutheran faith. Before his marriage to Anastasia Arapova, her parents tried to pressure him to convert to Orthodoxy, but in vain. Both of Mannerheim's daughters were Orthodox (one of them later converted to the Catholic faith).[180][77]
During the Winter War and the Continuation War Mannerheim regularly attended Lutheran services at the Mikkeli Cathedral as well as Orthodox services at the Holy Trinity Church in Helsinki.[180] During his final years in Switzerland Mannerheim attended Orthodox services at the Church of the Great Martyr Varvara in Vevey.[77]
Mannerheim can be seen as religiously tolerant and broad-sighted. He also had seventeen godchildren from several different faiths.[77]
Culinarism
Mannerheim was a great friend of good food, and he often wrote down recipes he liked. The food did not have to be fine or special cuisine, only good. He especially enjoyed stuffed pork, crayfish, crêpes, ruffe soup, fårikål and vorschmack.[181][182] Mannerheim's name is connected to the famous liqueur "Marskin ryyppy", and at his home in Kaivopuisto he also had a large collection of the French wine Château Tertre Dauguay de Vassal, vintage 1929.[183]
Style
Mannerheim was very careful about his style, which had been influenced by both his Victorian family and the imperial army of Russia which had a strict sense of etiquette among the officers. Mannerheim's appearance and clothes were highly groomed: he made sure his moustache was correctly shaped and his boots were thoroughly shined. According to John E. Screen, Mannerheim understood the importance of maintaining a public image: during the Continuation War Mannerheim forbade publishing photographs of him where he appeared tired. Mannerheim also took care of his health and washed his teeth with a water shower every day.[184]
Cars
Mannerheim was famous for his cars, especially the ones donated to him by Germany during the Continuation War.[185] Mannerheim was invited to be the honorary chairman at the Finnish Automobile Club at its first annual meeting in 1920.[186] During Mannerheim's term as the regent of Finland from 1918 to 1919 his personal official car was a 1915 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, which has been preserved as a museum car to this day.[187]
The most famous of Mannerheim's cars was an armoured Mercedes-Benz 770 donated to him by the German Führer Adolf Hitler in December 1941 as recognition of Finland's military prowess at the eastern front. The car was given to Mannerheim by Hitler's personal chauffeur Erich Kempka in Mikkeli. After the end of the wars, the car was sold to Sweden where it later ended up in the United States.[188]
During his term as President of Finland Mannerheim used two official cars, Cadillacs from 1930 and 1938. Kalle Westerlund, the official chauffeur of the President of Finland from 1927 to 1963 recollects that Mannerheim's style was different from his predecessors. Mannerheim insisted that the chauffeur kept both hands on the steering wheel while driving. He also steadfastly insisted that the driver must not speak to the person sitting next to him while driving. Mannerheim also insisted on absolute punctuality down to the exact minute. According to Westerlund Mannerheim enjoyed fast driving, and if the journey had been relatively smooth, Mannerheim gave his thanks to the chauffeur.[185]
Despite research from numerous archive sources it was uncertain for a long time whether Mannerheim himself had a driver's license. A license having belonged to Mannerheim was accidentally found at the National Archives of Finland among his other personal papers in December 2014. The Helsinki police department had given the license to Mannerheim in 1929 for a period of five years and it also allowed him to drive a passenger car and a motorcycle in private traffic. One of Mannerheim's private letters from 1928 shows that he already had a driver's license at that time.[189] According to the June 1925 issue of the Moottori magazine published by the Finnish Automobile Club Mannerheim had made a long car journey to Europe in May 1925.[190]
Remove ads
See also
Notes
- Including the United Kingdom, the United States, the Empire of Japan and the Kingdom of Italy; see Independence of Finland#List of recognition.
References
Bibliography
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads