Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim

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)

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.

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.

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 (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.

Political career

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 ultimately 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. 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. 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. 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.

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.

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). 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.

Mannerheim respected the Scout 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. He also founded the Mannerheim Buckle award on 15 February 1920. 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. He offered to serve the French Foreign Legion in the Rif War (1925–1926), but was turned down.

In the early 1920s Mannerheim had no interest to become involved in politics. A stark conflict between Mannerheim and president Ståhlberg kept Mannerheim away from government and defence duties. This caused some criticism. For example Rabbe Axel Wrede thought that the weakness of the democratic government was that Mannerheim's unquestionable abilities and hard-workingness were not being utilised for the good of Finland. A lack of demanding duties was troubling Mannerheim, and for a while he considered applying to the service of some other European power - such as France - as he was not given any duties in Finland.

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. 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."

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. 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. Within the Finnish military leadership, Marshal Mannerheim's position as Commander-in-Chief was entirely exceptional and highly centralized, but in practice, Airo and Mannerheim maintained a close working relationship, leading Airo to be widely regarded as "the Marshal's right-hand man" and the true brains behind General Headquarters.

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. 4 June was designated as the flag day of the Finnish Defence Forces and the street Heikinkatu in Helsinki was renamed as Mannerheimintie. Mannerheim's birthday was celebrated with many events both in the army and at the home front. The festivities emphasised the importance of the commander-in-chief as a nationally collective great man in difficult times. The Marshal himself would have wanted to celebrate his birthday as discreetly and modestly as possible. Of the congratulations he received, Mannerheim most liked the greeting from the trade union association describing the reuniting of the people.

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. The news that Hitler would be arriving to visit Finland only arrived on the day previous to the visit, and ensuring the security of the high-ranking visitor required quick special arrangements. When president Risto Ryti telephoned Mannerheim and told him Hitler would be arriving, Mannerheim's first reply was "Vad i helvete gör han här?" (Swedish for: "What the bloody hell is he doing here?").

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 in a salon railway coach at the railway yard of the Kaukopää factory near Imatra, in south-eastern Finland, and was arranged in secrecy. From Immola Airfield, Hitler, accompanied by President Ryti, was driven to where Baron Mannerheim was waiting at a railway siding. Hitler gave Mannerheim a portrait of him painted by Karl Truppe as a gift. As well as Hitler and President Ryti, the entourage included Prime Minister of Finland Jukka Rangell, Ambassador of Germany to Finland Wipert von Blücher and Hitler's chief of staff field marshal Wilhelm Keitel. 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.

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.

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.

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. 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. Mannerheim initially hesitated to accept the presidency, both because of his poor health and because he disliked politics. He nonetheless concluded that he was the only candidate at that moment whom the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union would accept. After delivering his oath of office, Mannerheim was so exhausted that he dropped his marshal's baton on his way out of parliament.

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; Mannerheim appointed Lieutenant General Hjalmar Siilasvuo as the high commander of the army to take this action. 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.

Final days and death

Even during his presidency Marshal Baron Mannerheim had been a sick man. After he had become sure he would not be found guilty of war crimes at the war-responsibility trials in Finland, the sickly Mannerheim resigned from his duties as President of Finland at the age of 78 in March 1946. He spent most of his retirement years abroad. In 1946, Mannerheim bought Kirkniemi Manor in Lohja, intending to spend his retirement there. He was the fourth marshal to have lived in the manor. 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. The ulcer developed suddenly in June 1946 when he was visiting Jakobstad. The difficult operation was performed by the doctor Runar C. Öhman. 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.

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, his memoirs were not yet in their finished form. They were published after his death.

In 1948 Mannerheim underwent another major surgery, this time in Stockholm. For a few years, the surgery yielded good results. In January 1951 Mannerheim had a serious peptic ulcer case and on 23 January he was taken to the Cantonal Hospital in Lausanne (French: L'Hôpital cantonal à Lausanne; modern Lausanne University Hospital), Switzerland.

Mannerheim died on 27 January 1951 (28 January Finnish time), in the Cantonal Hospital. 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. 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".

Legacy

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. 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.

Mannerheim's birthday, 4 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. 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. 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.

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. On 5 December 2004, Mannerheim was voted the greatest Finnish person of all time in the Suuret suomalaiset (Great Finns) contest.

Military ranks

Ranks

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

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.

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

Awards

In the course of his lifetime, Mannerheim received 82 military and civilian decorations.

National

Foreign

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

Personality

As commander-in-chief of the army, Mannerheim was a very self-conscious and power-hungry supreme authority who did not tolerate his decisions being questioned, even by his trusted generals; Mannerheim's dissatisfaction with his subordinates could very quickly lead to the loss of his positions. Mannerheim did not follow the line staff leadership, which is the traditional way of leading in the General Staff, but led through individuals; when it came to commanders, he did not necessarily care about seniority or qualifications, but chose those who were most suitable for him, and if they were not suitable, he very quickly dismissed them. Well-known examples included General Paavo Talvela, who was a close associate and trusted officer of Mannerheim even before the Winter War; he constantly tested the nerves of the headquarters and tried to choose his own subordinates according to his own wishes, ending up in the Continuation War from the position of army corps commander to Mannerheim's "special envoy" to the German army headquarters in Berlin. During wartime, Mannerheim considered it of primary importance to maintain the Finland's social balance by providing support to those in need; Mannerheim knew that all people in society played an important role, even if it did not seem so in peacetime.

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).

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. During his final years in Switzerland Mannerheim attended Orthodox services at the Church of the Great Martyr Varvara in Vevey.

Mannerheim can be seen as religiously tolerant and broad-sighted. He also had seventeen godchildren from several different faiths.

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. 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.

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.

Cars

Mannerheim was famous for his cars, especially the ones donated to him by Germany during the Continuation War. Mannerheim was invited to be the honorary chairman at the Finnish Automobile Club at its first annual meeting in 1920. 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.

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.

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.

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. 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.

Mannerheim in popular culture

The first fictive film about Mannerheim was The Headquarters (1970) by Matti Kassila, based on Ilmari Turja's play by the same name. In the film Mannerheim was played by Joel Rinne who had already performed in the same role at the National Theatre of Finland.

In the 2000s Renny Harlin was planning a biographical film about Mannerheim for a long time. The project was cancelled. Mannerheim would have been played by Mikko Nousiainen.

In 2012 Yleisradio made a film about Mannerheim titled The Marshal of Finland. The film was shot in Kenya and encountered mixed reception in Finland, but in Kenya it was awarded the Kalasha prize by the Kenya Film Commission.

There are also many television series and films about Mannerheim's life. In the television series Mummoni ja Mannerheim (1971) based on Paavo Rintala's novel trilogy the marshal was played by Helge Herala. In the drama series Sodan ja rauhan miehet (1978) about the years after World War II Mannerheim was played by Rolf Labbart, in the television film Valtapeliä elokuussa 1940 he was played by Asko Sarkola, and in the historical drama series Presidentit (2005) by Antti Litja. In the films Beyond the Front Line (2004) and Tali-Ihantala 1944 (2007) by Åke Lindman Mannerheim was played by Asko Sarkola. The five-part documentary Mannerheim - Jörn Donnerin kertomana was shown on YLE TV1 in January 2011. In the documentary Donner sought to show a contrastual whole image of Mannerheim.

The puppet animation film The Butterfly from Ural directed by Katariina Lillqvist raised a controversy in 2008 because it portrayed Mannerheim as homosexual or bisexual.

The character of Mannerheim appears at the end of the Kyrgyz drama film Kurmanjan Datka (2014) where he takes a photograph of the main character Kurmanjan Datka (1811-1907) in 1906. The photograph appears in the 50 Kyrgyz som banknote.

Mannerheim's relationship with Catharina "Kitty" Linder has also interested writers and the media. The monthly supplement of Helsingin Sanomat published an article about Kitty Linder and Mannerheim in 2013. In 2017 the character "Kitty" has appeared as Mannerheim's bride in Juha Vakkuri's novel Mannerheim ja saksalainen suudelma.