Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim
Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (Finland Swedish: [kɑːrl ˈɡʉstɑv ˈeːmil ˈmɑnːærhejm] , 4 June 1867 – 27 January 1951) was a Finnish military commander and statesman. 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 president of Finland (1944–1946). He became Finland's only field marshal in 1933 and was appointed honorary Marshal of Finland in 1942.
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 socialist 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 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. 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 in the event of a war.
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. He personally participated in the planning of Operation Barbarossa 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, leading to the Lapland War. 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.
Participants in a Finnish survey taken 53 years after his death voted Mannerheim the greatest Finn of all time. During his own lifetime he became, alongside Jean Sibelius, the best-known Finnish personage at home and abroad. According to historian Tuomas Tepora, a cult of personality began to be built around Mannerheim after the civil war.
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, 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".
Early life and military career
Name
As Carl was a common name in Mannerheim's family, 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. 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; briefly also as Karl Gustafovich, Russian: Карл Густафович) in official documents, and while serving as Regent of Finland, he used the finnicised form of his name, Kustaa Mannerheim, 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.
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. For a long time, it was thought that the Mannerheim family came from the Netherlands. King Charles XI of Sweden ennobled Augustin Marhein in 1693 at which time the family name Marhein was changed to Mannerheim.
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, 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, Count Carl Robert Mannerheim (1835–1914), was both a playwright and industrialist, with modest success in both endeavours. He was an exception to the family's tradition as he never became a soldier or an official. 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. 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.
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).
Childhood
Gustaf Mannerheim was born in Louhisaari Manor, in Askainen parish (currently Masku), on 4 June 1867. After Mannerheim's heavily indebted father left the family in 1880 for his mistress, a daughter of Baron and General Johan Mauritz Nordenstam, the young Mannerheim's mother and her seven children went to live with her aunt Louise; but Mannerheim's mother died the following year. Mannerheim's maternal uncle, Albert von Julin (1846–1906), then became his legal guardian and financier of his later schooling. 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". 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.
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. However, Mannerheim felt hatred towards the city of Hamina, which was also evident from his behaviour.
Mannerheim was accepted to the Hamina Cadet School in 1882 at the age of 14, where he began his military career.
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 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. Among other students of his age and younger cadets Mannerheim was in a clear leadership position.
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.
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.) 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. 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)
Mannerheim's depression also manifested as rebellion towards the Hamina Cadet School, and he was expelled on 22 July 1886. 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". 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.
After his expulsion, Mannerheim studied Russian in Kharkiv before passing his university entrance examinations as a private student at the Helsinki Private Lyceum in June 1887. From 1887 to 1889, Mannerheim attended the Nicholas Cavalry College in Saint Petersburg. 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. The entry requirements to the college were practically having a noble title and having graduated from cadet school or matriculated. On the best applicants were selected to the college and the entry requirements were strict.
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.
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, but dreamed of entry to the Chevalier Guard.
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. In Saint Petersburg he married Anastasia Arapova, the wealthy heiress of a Russian major general on 2 May 1892. 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. He bought horses for the army and had a horse breeding farm in the countryside. As a buyer of elite horses for the emperor he travelled all around Europe photographing horses. In his duties in the court stables he visited Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium and the United Kingdom.
Mannerheim's marriage to Anastasia Arapova practically ended in 1902 when the couple entered an unofficial separation in residence. 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. 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.
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. Mannerheim always considered the coronation a high-point of his life, recalling with pride his role in what he called an "indescribably magnificent" coronation. 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.
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. He was promoted to Colonel for bravery in the Battle of Mukden in 1905 and briefly commanded an irregular unit of Hong Huzi, a local militia, on an exploratory mission into Inner Mongolia. 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. Around the same time, Mannerheim's older brother, Carl Erik Mannerheim [fi], who had been driven into exile during the first period of oppression, traveled to America and was involved in creating the center of the Finnish resistance movement in New York.
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.
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. When Mannerheim returned to Saint Petersburg, he was asked to undertake a journey through Turkestan to Beijing as a secret intelligence officer.
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. The cover story for this intelligence-gathering operation was a scientific exploration together with the French archeologist Paul Pelliot. Disguised as an ethnographic collector, he joined 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, so he made the greater part of the expedition on his own.
Mannerheim undertook his journey through Asia to China on horseback. The total length of the journey was 14,000 kilometres and it took two years from 1906 to 1908. Mannerheim took his cover role seriously and collected a lot of ethnographic material from hitherto almost unexplored areas; thus the journey produced valuable geographical and ethnological research results. During his trip, Mannerheim demonstrated his ability in several languages, his knowledge of the world and his ability to network widely, in addition to which he was known for his systematicity, reliability and perceptiveness. Mannerheim also mastered the art of bribery with the locals to open their mouths.
Before his departure 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. Mannerheim also became familiar with Marco Polo's notes as well as exploration stories written by Nikolay Przhevalsky, Sven Hedin and Marc Aurel Stein. He collected almost 1200 objects to the collection of the National Museum of Finland 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. The most famous militarily significant result was the mapping of a road about 2000 kilometres in length.
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.
He followed the Great Wall of China, and investigated a mysterious tribe known as Yugurs. From Lanzhou, the provincial capital, Mannerheim headed south into Tibetan territory and visited the lamasery of Labrang, where he was stoned by xenophobic monks. 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. 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. His trip through Asia left him with a lifelong love of Asian art, which he thereafter collected.
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. Although the emperor thanked Mannerheim for the report, he failed to take advantage of its potential; Russia's attention had already begun to turn from China and Japan to Europe, where the atmosphere was beginning to tense on the eve of World War I.
There are many artifacts still on display in the museum. 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.
Next Mannerheim became part of the Imperial entourage and was appointed to command a cavalry brigade.
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.
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. 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".
Marriage and daughters
In 1892 at the age of 25 Mannerheim married Anastasia Arapova [fi] (1872–1936), the wealthy heiress of a Russian major general of Russian-Serbian heritage. 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.
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. The marriage resulted in two daughters: Anastasie "Stasie" (1893-1978) and Sophie "Sophy" (1895-1963). Another child, a son, was stillborn in summer 1894. The death of his son was a complete shock for Mannerheim.
Sophie spent periods in Finland and learned some Swedish. In 1919, when Mannerheim served as Regent, she took on the role of hostess at official functions, and also served as the general wreath-bearer at the grand promotion ceremony of the philosophical faculty that year.
In practice, Mannerheim's marriage ended in 1902 in an unofficial separation of residence. 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. 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 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. 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.
Mannerheim only officially divorced his wife in 1919. The couple reconciled via letters in the 1920s. They met each other in 1936 in Paris where they reconciled face to face. Anastasia died soon afterwards. 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.
Sophie lived with Alexandra "Alix" Demidoff-Depret-Bixio who had emigrated to France from Russia to whom she gave her inheritance until her death, while Anastasie briefly cohabited with her "petite amielle" the English Olive Rooney. She died alone in a nursing home.
Anastasia Arapova died on New Year's Eve 1936. This came as a shock to her daughters.
Achievements
- President of Finland (1944–1946)
- Chief of Defence (1939–1945)
- Regent of Finland (1918–1919)
- president
- Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour — 1939
- Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Lion of Finland — 1944
- Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the White Rose of Finland — 1919
- Educated at Nikolaevskaya Cavalry School and Hamina Cadet School
