Everything about Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim totally explained
Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim [IPA:ka:rl gustɑv e:mil mɑn:erhei̥m] (
June 4,
1867 –
January 27,
1951) was the
Commander-in-Chief of
Finland's
Defence Forces,
Marshal of Finland, an astute politician and a successful military commander. He was Regent of Finland (1918–1919), and the sixth
President of Finland (1944–1946).
Mannerheim was born in the
Grand Duchy of Finland to a notable
Finnish noble family, that had emigrated to Finland from
Sweden. The family originated from
Germany, having emigrated to Sweden during the
17th century. He started his military career in the
Imperial Russian army, becoming the leader of Finnish government forces in the
Finnish Civil War of 1918 and during
World War II.
Ancestry and early life
The
Mannerheim family descends from a
German businessman and mill owner from Hamburg, Hinrich Marhein (1618-1667), who emigrated to
Gävle in
Sweden and changed his name to Henrik. His son Augustin Marhein changed his surname to Mannerheim, and was raised to the nobility in 1693. His son, an artillery colonel and a mill supervisor, Johan Augustin Mannerheim, was raised to the status of
Baron at the same time as his brother in 1768. The Mannerheim family came to Finland in the latter part of 18th century. It has long been believed that Hinrich Marhein had emigrated to Sweden from the
Netherlands, but recent studies have shown this belief to be erroneous.
Countess Hélène, mentally shaken by the crash and her husband's desertion, took their seven children to live with her aunt Louise at this aunt's estate in Sällvik. Hélène died the following year from a heart attack. The shame and depression of this turn of events, and the social isolation she was thrown into, caused her early death. Her death left the children to be brought up by relatives, making Gustaf Mannerheim's maternal uncle Albert von Julin his legal guardian.
Due to the worsened economic situation of the family and the fact that Gustaf Mannerheim had had serious problems with accepting discipline in school, Albert von Julin decided that Gustaf at the age of 15, was sent to the school of the
Finnish Cadet Corps in
Hamina in
1882 to learn self-discipline (something he excelled in as an adult) and maybe a profession. Gustaf was a poor boy now, and he'd to learn budgetting and economizing for a long time. He was humiliated by having to ask his uncle Albert for money for every small purchase. He was also forced to read his uncle's and other relatives' numerous exhortations to frugality and good conduct. But the disciplinary problems continued.
After spending some time with Albert von Julin's brother-in-law, Edvard Bergenheim, at
Kharkiv, in
Ukraine - where he received lessons in
Russian - Mannerheim attended the Helsinki Private Lyceum, passing his university entrance examinations in June
1887. Now he'd a better school report to show, than the one from the Finnish Cadet Corps. He wrote to his godmother, baroness Alfhild Scalon de Coligny, who had connections to the Russian court, to help him enter the Nicholas Cavalry School. His real wish was to join the
Chevalier Guard, but his relatives balked at the costs, so he dropped it. Her godmother invited him to her husband's country house, Lukianovka, in the summer 1887. There Gustaf worked hard to improve his Russian. While in Russia, he spent some time at a military camp at
Chuguyev, which strengthened his decision to choose a career in the military. He graduated in 1889 - passing as the second of his group - and was promoted to the rank of
Cornet. He was then posted to the 15th Alexandriyski Dragoons at
Kalisz in the borderland to Germany.
An officer in the Imperial Russian Army
Eventually, in January
1891, Mannerheim was transferred to serve in Her Majesty's
Maria Feodorovna's Chevalier Guard in St Petersburg. His godmother, countess Alfhild Scalon de Coligny with her friends among the aristocracy in St. Petersburg arranged for him to be married in 1892 to
Anastasia Arapova (
1872-
1936), the orphaned daughter of the Russian
Major-General Nikolai Arapov, largely for financial reasons. They had two daughters, Anastasie (
1893-
1977) and Sophie (
1895-
1963) the third child, a son, was
stillborn. Anastasie would later on convert to
Catholicism and become a
Carmelite nun in
London. Mannerheim's marriage with Anastasia Arapova ended in an unofficial separation of the spouses in
1902 and in a formal civil divorce in
1919.
Mannerheim served in the Imperial Chevalier Guard until
1904, though he was posted to the Imperial Court Stables Administration from
1897 to
1903. Mannerheim specialised as an expert on horses, buying
stud stallions and special duty horses for the army. In
1903 he was put in charge of a display squadron and became a member of the
equestrian training board of the cavalry regiments..
After the separation with his wife, Gustaf Mannerheim's financial situation became again bleak. This was acerbated by losses in gambling. He became depressed, which he tried to solve through a change of environment. Mannerheim enlisted voluntarely in the
Russo-Japanese war 1904-1905. In October
1904, Mannerheim was transferred to the 52nd Nezhin Dragoon Regiment in
Manchuria, with the rank of
Lieutenant-Colonel. He was promoted to
Colonel for his bravery in the
Battle of Mukden in 1905.
On returning from the war, Mannerheim went on an informal vacation among his relatives in Finland and Sweden
1905-
1906. As a representative of the baronial branch of his family, he was present as a member of the
Estate of
Nobility in the last session of the
Diet of Finland.
When he returned to St.Petersburg he received a surprising proposal; would he like to make a journey through
Turkestan to
Beijing as an intelligence-officer and an ethnologist? He would join the French archeologist
Paul Pelliot's excursion to China. After much deliberation Mannerheim accepted this task. He started this journey in July 1906, a journey which would take all in all two years and the greater part of which would turn out to be a quite solitary enterprise.
He travelled from
Tashkent to
Kashgar from July to October
1906 together with Paul Pelliot. Shortly thereafter, he led a separate expedition into
Manchuria and
China until the autumn of
1908. He met with
13th Dalai Lama during his journey, giving him his own pistol as a gift. The expedition had strategic purposes, in addition to the ethnological and anthropological ones, because these areas in northern China were a potential point of crisis between
Russia and
China, and even the
United Kingdom (see:
The Great Game).
After the trip, in
1909 he was appointed commander of the 13th Vladimir
Uhlan Regiment at
Mińsk Mazowiecki in Poland. The following year, Mannerheim was promoted to
Major General and was posted as the commander of the Life Guard Uhlan Regiment of His Majesty in
Warsaw. In
1912 he became a part of the Imperial entourage, and the following year he was appointed as a cavalry brigade commander.
At the beginning of
World War I, Mannerheim served as commander of the Guards Cavalry Brigade, and fought on the
Austro-Hungarian and
Romanian fronts. After distinguishing himself in combat against the Austro-Hungarian forces, Mannerheim was in December
1914 awarded one of the highest honours of Imperial Russia, the
Order of St. George, 4th class. He has said after having received this award that "now he can die in peace." In March
1915 Mannerheim was appointed to command the 12th Cavalry Division.
He received leave to visit
Finland and
St Petersburg in early
1917 and, whilst in the Russian capital, he 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 he 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 one of the officers who didn't support the revolution. Actually, Mannerheim became a determined opponent of
communism. In September he was relieved of his duties, while he was on sick-leave after having fallen from his horse. He was now in the reserve and trying to recover his health in
Odessa. He began planning to retire and return to Finland to live a civilian life. He arrived in Finland on
December 18.
From gaining victory in the Finnish Civil War to becoming Regent
In January
1918 the
Senate of the newly independent Finland, under its chairman
Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, appointed Mannerheim as
Commander-in-Chief of Finland's almost nonexistent army, which was then not much more than a number of locally set up
White Guards. His mission was to defend the Government and its forces during the
Civil War that broke out in Finland. The Civil War was inspired by the
October Revolution in Russia
1917. He accepted the position despite his misgivings about the pro-
German stance of the present government. He established his headquarters in
Seinäjoki and began to disarm the remaining Russian garrisons and their troops of 42,500 men. During the ensuing
Civil War (or War of Liberty, as it was known among the "Whites"), Mannerheim was promoted to General of Cavalry (
Ratsuväenkenraali) in March
1918.
After the victory of the Whites in the war, Mannerheim resigned as Commander-in-Chief, dismayed at the increasing
German influence in Finnish military and political affairs. He feared the reaction of the
Allies to the seemingly pro-German policies of the Finnish government during the last months of World War I. Seeking to distance himself from the current Finnish government, Mannerheim left Finland in June 1918 to visit relatives in Sweden.
In Sweden, Mannerheim conferred with Allied diplomats in
Stockholm, stating his opposition to the Finnish government's pro-German policy, and his support for the Allies. In October 1918, he was sent to
Britain and
France, on behalf of the Finnish government, to attempt to gain recognition of Finland's independence by Britain and the
United States. In December, he was summoned back to Finland from Paris after he'd been elected temporarily to be
Regent (
Valtionhoitaja;
Riksföreståndare) of Finland. There were even
monarchists who wanted to make him
King of Finland.
After
Frederick Charles of Hesse who had been elected king of Finland, renounced the throne, Mannerheim secured recognition of the independence of Finland from
Britain and
U.S.. He also requested and received food aid from overseas to avoid
famine. Although he was an ardent anti-
Bolshevik, he eventually refused an alliance with the Russian White generals and their armies, because they probably wouldn't have accepted the independence of Finland. In July
1919, after he'd confirmed the new republican constitution, Mannerheim stood as a candidate in the first presidential election, supported by the
National Coalition Party and the
Swedish People's Party. He lost the election in the
Parliament to
Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg and retreated from public life.
Interwar period
In the interwar years, Mannerheim held no public office. This was largely due to the fact that he was seen by many politicians of the centre and left as a controversial figure due to his outspoken opposition to the
Bolsheviks, his supposed desire for Finnish intervention on the side of the
Whites during the
Russian Civil War, and the antipathy felt against him by the Finnish socialists, who saw him as the '
bourgeois' 'White General'. During the interwar years, Mannerheim's pursuits were mainly humanitarian. He headed the Finnish
Red Cross and founded the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare.
In the
1920s and
1930s, Mannerheim also returned to
Asia, where he travelled and hunted extensively. On his first trip in
1927, to avoid travelling through the
Soviet Union, he went by
ship from
London to
Calcutta. From there he travelled by land to
Burma, where he spent a month at
Rangoon, and in
Gangtok, in
Sikkim. He returned home by
car and
aeroplane, via
Basra,
Baghdad,
Cairo, and
Venice.
His second voyage, in
1936, was to
India, travelling by ship via
Aden to
Bombay. During his stay in India, Mannerheim met with various old friends and acquaintances from Europe. During his travels and hunting expeditions, he visited
Madras,
Delhi, and also
Nepal. While in Nepal, Mannerheim was invited to join in a
tiger hunt by the
King of Nepal. He killed a 2.23m long tiger which was one of the largest ever measured and which had reputedly killed two men. The pelt is on display at the Mannerheim Museum in
Kaivopuisto,
Helsinki.
In
1929, Mannerheim refused the
right-wing radicals' plea to become a
de facto military
dictator, although he did express a degree of some support for some of the demands of the right-wing
Lapua Movement (Screen, 2000). After President
Pehr Evind Svinhufvud was elected in
1931, he appointed Mannerheim as chairman of Finland's Defence Council. At the same time Mannerheim received the written promise that in the event of a war, he'd become the Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Army. (Svinhufvud's successor
Kyösti Kallio renewed this promise in 1937). In
1933 he received the title and rank of
Field Marshal (
sotamarsalkka,
fältmarskalk). By this time, Mannerheim had become seen by the public, including some former socialists, as less of a 'White General', and more of a truly national figure. This feeling was further enhanced by his many public statements of the time, urging reconciliation between those who had fought on opposing sides in the civil war, and the need to focus on national unity and defence.
Mannerheim supported Finland's military industry and sought (in vain) to establish a military defence union with
Sweden. However, rearming the Finnish army didn't occur as swiftly or as well as he hoped and he wasn't enthusiastic about a war. He had many disagreements with various
Cabinets, and signed numerous letters of resignation.
Commander-in-Chief
When negotiations with the Soviet Union failed in
1939, Mannerheim on
October 17 again withdrew his resignation, thereby again accepting the position as
Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish army in case of war. Officially he became the Commander-in-Chief after the Soviet attack on
November 30. In a letter to his daughter Sophie, he stated his view that "I hadn't wanted to undertake the responsibility of commander-in-chief, as my age and my health entitled me, but I'd to yield to appeals from the President of the Republic and the government, and now for the fourth time I'm at war." (Cited in Jägerskiöld, 1986).
He addressed the first of his - often controversial - orders of the day to the Defence Forces as Commander-in-Chief on the same day as the war began:
Mikkeli. His strategic aide 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 till
27 March 1940, after which he became the Defence Minister.
Mannerheim himself spent most of the
Winter War and
Continuation War in his Mikkeli headquarters but made many visits to the front. Between the wars, he held on to the authority as Commander-in-Chief, which according to the letter of law should have gone back to the presidents (
Kyösti Kallio and
Risto Ryti) after the
Moscow Peace,
March 12,
1940.
Prior to the start of the Continuation War, the Germans offered Mannerheim command over the German troops in Finland, around 80,000 men. Mannerheim declined so as to not tie himself and Finland to the German war aims. Mannerheim kept relations with
Nazi Germany's government as formal as possible and successfully opposed their proposals for a treaty of alliance. Mannerheim also firmly refused to let his troops contribute to the
Siege of Leningrad.
Mannerheim's 75th birthday on
June 4,
1942, was a major occasion. The government granted him the unique title of
Marshal of Finland (
Suomen Marsalkka in
Finnish,
Marskalk av Finland in
Swedish). He was the first and only person to receive the title. A surprise visit by
Adolf Hitler in honour of Mannerheim's birthday was less pleasing to him and caused some embarrassment.
Visit by Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler had decided to visit Finland on
June 4,
1942, ostensibly to congratulate Mannerheim on his 75th birthday. But Mannerheim didn't want to meet in either his Headquarters at Mikkeli or Helsinki, as it would have seemed more like an official state visit. The meeting took place at a railway siding near the airfield at
Immola, in south-eastern Finland, and was arranged in secrecy.
From the airfield, Hitler, accompanied by President Ryti, was driven to where Mannerheim was waiting at a railway siding. Hitler, who was much shorter than Mannerheim, wore special high-heeled boots, and had asked his photographers to photograph him only from an angle that showed his height favourably alongside Mannerheim. After a congratulatory speech from Hitler, and following a birthday meal and conference between him, Mannerheim and other high ranking German and Finnish personnel, Hitler returned to Germany, having spent around five hours in Finland. Hitler had reportedly intended to ask the Finns to step up their military operations against the Soviets, but he apparently made no specific demands.
During the visit an engineer of the Finnish broadcasting company YLE, Thor Damen, recorded Hitler and Mannerheim in a private conversation, something which had to be done secretly as Hitler never allowed recordings of himself off-guard. Today this is the only known recording of Hitler not speaking in an official tone. The recording captures 11 and a half minute of the two leaders in private conversation. Hitler speaks in a slightly excited, but still intellectually detached manner during this talk. His manner of speech has been compared to that which was typical of the members of the working class at that time. Its turns of phrases reflect the speaker's educational level. The majority of the recording is a monologue by Hitler. In the recording, Hitler admits to having underestimated the Soviet Union's ability to conduct war. (Recording available
YLE's web-archive
(External Link
). Some English transcripts exist
(External Link),
(External Link))
There is an unsubstantiated anecdote that during his meeting with Hitler, Mannerheim lit a cigar. Mannerheim supposed that Hitler would ask Finland for help against the troops of the Soviet Union. Mannerheim was unwilling to do so. When Mannerheim lit up, all in attendance gasped, for Hitler's aversion to smoking in his presence was well known. Yet Hitler continued the conversation calmly, with no comment. In this way, Mannerheim was able to judge if Hitler was speaking from a position of strength or weakness. He was able to refuse Hitler the help he needed, knowing that Hitler and the Germans were in a weak position, and couldn't dictate to him.
Assessment of Mannerheim's leadership
Mannerheim's wartime record as the Finnish Commander-in-Chief isn't easy to assess. At the time, and even to this day, Mannerheim's immense prestige made criticism of his conduct of war almost tantamount to treason (especially as the criticism often came from Soviet sources and Finnish communists). It is perhaps easiest to divide Mannerheim's role in two: Mannerheim the military commander and Mannerheim the politician.
As a military commander Mannerheim was generally very successful. Under his leadership the Finnish Defence Forces fought a generally successful war that in the end saved Finland from Soviet occupation. Mannerheim took great care not to waste the lives of his soldiers, and avoided unnecessary risks. Perhaps his greatest shortcoming was his unwillingness to delegate. While he'd a number of very able subordinates, foremost among them
Lieutenant General Aksel Airo, Mannerheim insisted that all the department heads in the Finnish General Headquarters report directly to him, leaving Chief of General Staff General of Infantry
Erik Heinrichs little to do. Indeed, Mannerheim said that he didn't want to be 'one man's prisoner'. Mannerheim overwhelmed himself with work, and as a result coordination between the different departments in the General Headquarters suffered. It has been suggested that one reason why the Soviet offensive in Karelian Isthmus in June
1944 took Finns by surprise was that Mannerheim was unable to see the forest for the trees. There was no other authority save Mannerheim who could collect all the intelligence and turn it into operational directives.
On the other hand, it can be argued that Mannerheim excelled in politics. Even though he was a soldier, and as such not supposed to take part in politics, Mannerheim couldn't help but be a highly political figure. A vital question during the war was when to make peace with the
Soviet Union. Too early would mean that
Nazi Germany would be in a position to retaliate. Too late risked a Soviet occupation of Finland. As soon as
1942, it became increasingly clear that Germany wouldn't necessarily vanquish the
Soviet Union. Mannerheim was kept, as it were, in reserve, in order to potentially take the leadership of the nation and lead it to peace. Mannerheim played this role very skilfully; he'd a clear vision how Finland should conduct its war in the sensitive situation when the war's ultimate end was unclear. He knew how to treat the Germans to secure as much military support as possible without involving Finland in any binding treaties. For example, during the build-up for the Continuation War in
1941 Mannerheim was offered the command of all German forces on Finnish soil. While such an arrangement could have made prosecuting the war simpler, Mannerheim recognized that Hitler wouldn't give the Finns a free hand in directing this part of the German offensive. As Mannerheim wanted at all costs to avoid a situation where he'd have to take directives or orders from Berlin, he refused the offer.
End of the war and a brief presidency
In June
1944 Gustaf Mannerheim, to ensure German support at a time a major Soviet offensive was threatening Finland, thought it necessary for Finland to agree to the pact the German Foreign Minister
Joachim von Ribbentrop demanded. But even then Mannerheim managed to distance himself from the pact and it fell to the Finnish President
Risto Ryti to sign the pact that came to be known as the
Ryti-Ribbentrop Agreement. The Marshal's policy reached its logical conclusion when the agreement was revoked with the resignation of President Ryti in July 1944. Mannerheim succeeded him as president.
At the moment 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. It became clear that Marshal Mannerheim was the only person who had sufficient
prestige, both internationally and domestically, that was required to extricate Finland from the war. He enjoyed the confidence of a large majority of the Finnish people, and was effectively the only statesman with the authority necessary to guide Finland in the transition from war to peace.
At first attempts were made to persuade Mannerheim to become prime minister, but he rejected this proposal on account of his age and lack of knowledge of the detailed techniques of government. The next suggestion was to elect him as the
Head of State. Risto Ryti would resign from the office of president, and the parliament would elect Gustaf Mannerheim as Regent. The use of the title 'Regent' would have reflected the exceptional circumstances of his election. Mannerheim and Ryti both agreed to this proposal, and Ryti resigned as president on 29 July, giving as his reasons the state of his health and the necessity of combining civil and military authority in one person at that key moment. Mannerheim then decided that he wished to be elected as president to avoid any misconceptions about the nature of his office. Due to the difficult conditions general elections couldn't be held, and therefore the
Parliament elected Mannerheim as President of the Republic of Finland on
August 4, 1944. He took the oath of office later on the same day.
The dangerous state that Finland found itself in at that moment was reflected in Mannerheim's inauguration speech before the
Finnish Parliament:
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,
parliamentary democracy and
market economy. The territorial losses were considerable, especially due to the numerous
Karelian refugees that needed to be housed, and the
war reparations were heavy. Finland also had to fight the
Lapland War against the withdrawing German troops in the north, and at the same time demobilize its army. It was 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.
Mannerheim's term as president was a difficult period for him. Although he was elected for a full six-year term, he was in his late seventies, and had accepted the office reluctantly after being urged to do so by various politicians. The situation was exacerbated by his frequent periods of ill-health, and the pressure of 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 that he himself would be tried as one of the '
war guilty, but this never happened. One of the reasons to this was Stalin's respect for and admiration of the Marshal. Stalin told a Finnish delegation in Moscow in 1947 that the Finns have a great indebtedness to their old Marshal. Due to him Finland wasn't occupied. Despite Mannerheim's criticisms of some of the demands of the Control Commission, Mannerheim worked hard to carry out Finland's armistice obligations. He also emphasised the necessity of further work on reconstruction in Finland after the war.
Mannerheim was troubled by recurring health problems during
1945, and was absent on medical leave from his duties as president from November of that year until February
1946. He spent six weeks during that time in
Portugal on a break to restore his health. After the announcement of the verdicts in the war crimes trials had been announced in January, Mannerheim decided to resign. He concluded that he'd accomplished the duties he'd been elected to carry out. The war had been ended, the armistice obligations were being carried out, and the war crimes' trial was finished.
Mannerheim resigned as a president on
March 4 1946, giving as his reason his declining health and his view that the tasks he'd been elected to carry out had been accomplished. Even the Finnish
communists, his enemies in
1918, recognised his peacemaking efforts and his role in maintaining the unity of the country during a difficult period. He was succeeded by his
conservative prime minister
Juho Kusti Paasikivi.
Later life and legacy
After his resignation, Mannerheim bought Kirkniemi Manor in
Lohja, intending to spend his retirement there. But in June 1946 he'd a life-saving operation carried out on a perforated
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 place of residence for the remaining years of his life, although he regularly returned to stay in Finland, and also visited Sweden, France, and Italy.
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim died on
January 27,
1951 (which was already January 28 in Finland) in the Cantonal Hospital in
Lausanne, Switzerland. He was buried on
February 4 1951 in the
Hietaniemi Cemetery in
Helsinki in a
state funeral with full military honours, and today retains respect as Finland's greatest
statesman.
Mannerheim's birthday, the fourth of June, is celebrated as the
Flag Day of 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. The flag day is celebrated with a national parade, and rewards and promotions for members of the defence forces.
Military ranks and postings
Ranks
Postings
15th Alexandrijski Dragoon Regiment (1889)
Her Majesty Maria Feodorovna's Chevalier Guards (1891-1904)
Imperial Court Stables Administration (1897-1903)
Chief of the Model Squadron of the Cavalry School (1903-1904)
52nd Nezhin Dragoon Regiment (1904-1909)
Commander, 13th Vladimir Uhlan Regiment (1909)
Commander, Life Guard Uhlan Regiment of His Majesty (1911)
Commander, Separate Cavalry Brigade of the Guard (1913)
Commander, 12th Cavalry Division (1917)
Commander, 6th Cavalry Corps (1917)
Mannerheim was Commander-in-Chief of the White Guard from January to May 1918. He was also Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Defence Forces from December 1918 to July 1919, and from 1939 to 1946. He was Chairman of the Defence Council from 1931 to 1939.
Honours and other positions
Knight (1902), Officer (1910), Grand Cross (1939), the Legion of Honour (France)
Order of St. Anna, 2nd degree (Russian Empire) (1906)
Order of St. Stanislaus, 2nd class (Russian Empire/Poland) (1906)
Order of St. Vladimir, 4th degree (Russian Empire) (1906)
Knight 4th class, the Order of St. George (Russian Empire) (1914)
Cross of Liberty, 4th class, the Order of the Cross of Liberty (Finland) (1918)
Commander Grand Cross, the Order of the Sword (Sweden) (1918)
Knight of the Order of the Seraphim (Sweden) (1919)
Knight of the Order of the Elephant (Denmark) (1919)
Iron Cross, 2nd and 1st class (1918) with 1939 bars (1942) and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (1942) with Oak Leaves (1944) (Germany)
Knight Grand Cross, the Order of the British Empire (GBE) United Kingdom (1938)
Knight of the Mannerheim Cross, 1st and 2nd class, the Order of the Cross of Liberty (Finland) (1941)
Order of Michael the Brave, 1st class (Romania) (1941)
Honorary Doctor of Philosophy (University of Helsinki) (1919)
Honorary Commander-in-Chief, Suojeluskunta (1919-1944)
Honorary President, General Mannerheim's Child Welfare Association (1920-1951)
Chairman of the Union Bank of Finland (1920-1931)
Chairman of the Finnish Red Cross (1922-1951)
Honorary Colonel, Uusimaa Dragoon Regiment (1928)
Chairman of the Incorporated Bank of Helsinki (1931-1935)
Honorary Chairman, Finnish Boy Scouts (1936)
Trivia
Mannerheim stood at 187 cm (6' 2") in height.
Besides his native language, Swedish, he also spoke Finnish, Russian, French, German, English, Polish, Portuguese, and understood some Mandarin Chinese. Having lived much of his life in Russia until the 1917 revolution Mannerheim had forgotten most of the Finnish he'd learned in his childhood.
He was the only person who received military decorations from both sides of the conflict in both the First World War and the Second World War. He was also decorated by Sweden, a neutral country.
In his time at the Chevalier Guard the guardsmen were entitled to one shot of vodka each day. The shot glass was filled to the brim so that each man would be certain to get the same amount as the others. The glass was to be emptied without spilling. Mannerheim continued this tradition in his later life. Mannerheim was also not satisfied with the spirits available in Finland at the time, and therefore always requested that gin and dry French vermouth were to be blended into available aquavit. The resulting beverage is widely known in Finland as "Marskin ryyppy" (The Marshal's drink/shot).
On 4th June, 1942 he was given as a birthday present a hunting cottage in Lieksajärvi in the Finnish speaking Soviet Karelia. This was a log building built by the ordinary soldiers defending that area. However, when the war fortune started to change, this building was dismantled, transported to Finland and re-erected in Loppi. It is currently a tourist attraction known as "Marskin maja" (the 'Marshal's cottage').
Due to his rheumatism he slept in a very simple collapsible military cot.
Of all the military commanders in World War II, Mannerheim had held the highest rank during World War I, having been a full General of Cavalry (Ratsuväenkenraali) at the war's end in 1918.
On December 5, 2004, Mannerheim was voted as the greatest Finnish person of all time in the Suuret suomalaiset (Great Finns) contest.
Carl Gustaf Emil didn't like his last Christian name, so he signed C. G. Mannerheim, or simply Mannerheim.
During his period as regent of Finland 1918 - 1919 he sometimes signed official papers using the Finnish form of Gustaf, Kustaa (Mannerheim).Further Information
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External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://carl_gustaf_emil_mannerheim.totallyexplained.com">Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
