Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim

Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (, 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. 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. 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". 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. 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.

Childhood

left|thumb|The Mannerheim siblings, 1880; Gustaf is standing on the right

Gustaf Mannerheim was born in Louhisaari Manor, in Askainen parish (currently Masku), on 4 June 1867. 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

thumb|Mannerheim (right) with a fellow student, [[Antanas Ričardas Druvė, in Nicholas Cavalry College, Saint Petersburg, late 1880s.|left]]

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, 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.</blockquote>

Mannerheim's depression also manifested as rebellion towards the Hamina Cadet School, and he was expelled on 22 July 1886. 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. The entry requirements to the college were practically having a noble title and having graduated from cadet school or matriculated.

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,

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 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. Around the same time, Mannerheim's older brother, , 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. The cover story for this intelligence-gathering operation was a scientific exploration together with the French archeologist Paul Pelliot. Disguised as an ethnographic collector,]]

thumb|The expedition of Mannerheim

thumb|right|[[Kurmanjan Datka on horseback, photograph taken by Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim]]

Mannerheim undertook his journey through Asia to China on horseback. The total length of the journey was 14 thousand kilometres and it took two years from 1906 to 1908. 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. 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.

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.

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 married (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.

Interwar period

thumb|"Mannerheim the Executioner" (Pyöveli-Mannerheim); the [[caricature of Mannerheim from 1940 as part of communist and socialist propaganda is strong evidence of how

Mannerheim heavily divided opinions, especially in the aftermath of the Civil War.]]

thumb|[[Svinhufvud, Kyösti Kallio and Mannerheim in 1937]]

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. 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. The White Guard suggested Mannerheim as the new commander-in-chief. However, president Ståhlberg declined to confirm Mannerheim as the new commander-in-chief as he feared this would give Mannerheim too much power. President Ståhlberg ended up appointing the young Jäger lieutenant colonel Lauri Malmberg as the new commander-in-chief.

Mannerheim declined to appear as a candidate in the 1925 Finnish presidential election. In the same year, Mannerheim made a private visit to the United Kingdom, where he was accompanied for the first time by security guards, who Prime Minister Winston Churchill himself had given Mannerheim to use during the trip. However, Mannerheim is known to have been bothered by the presence of security guards, because mainly as a fatalist, he firmly believed in fate, if it had to happen in the form of an untimely death, and in addition, he also strongly trusted his own authority. On his way to the United Kingdom Mannerheim met the new king Edward VIII and talked with him about the commercial relations between Finland and the United Kingdom as well as the rising threat posed by Germany. King George VI awarded Mannerheim the Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in 1938.

In 1929, Mannerheim rejected a plea by right-wing radicals to become a military dictator. While he did express some support for the right-wing Lapua Movement, he distanced himself from the group after they became violent. After President Pehr Evind Svinhufvud was elected in 1931, he appointed Mannerheim as chairman of Finland's Defence Council and gave him a written promise that in the event of war he would become the Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Army. (Svinhufvud's successor Kyösti Kallio renewed this promise in 1937).

In 1933, Mannerheim received the title of Field Marshal (sotamarsalkka, fältmarskalk). The title came with a substantial stamp duty of four thousand markka, equivalent of one month's pay of an army major, and by mistake, the bill was sent to Mannerheim himself. As Mannerheim was taking the money from his wallet he commented wryly: "It's a good thing they didn't make a bigger chief out of me." "Field marshal" was not an official military rank but instead a title presented to general of the cavalry Mannerheim. Even after being appointed field marshal he continued to appear as a general of the cavalry in the list of military officers in the Republic of Finland. Mannerheim was appointed Marshal of Finland on his 75th birthday on 4 June 1942. This marked his progress in titles. Many other countries, such as the German Reich, had a practice where the next senior rank from Kriegsmarschall was Reichsmarschall. In the German Reich Reichsmarschall was an official military rank.

By this time, Mannerheim had come to be seen by the public, including some former socialists, less as a "White General" and more as a nonpartisan figure, enhanced by his public statements urging reconciliation between the opposing sides in the Civil War and the need to focus on national unity and defence: "we need not ask where a man stood fifteen years ago". Mannerheim supported Finland's military industry and sought in vain to obtain a military defence union with Sweden. However, rearming the Finnish army did not occur as swiftly or as well as he hoped, and he was not enthusiastic about a war. He had many disagreements with various Cabinets, and signed many letters of resignation.

1920 assassination attempt

After their defeat in the Civil War, some Red Guards attempted to assassinate Mannerheim. One of the would-be assassins, Eino Rahja, was in charge of the Saint Petersburg International School of Red Officers.

Rahja began planning an assassination by assembling a group of eight Finnish Red Guards in Saint Petersburg for this purpose. The group included Aleksander Weckman, August Enroth, Aleksanteri Suokas, Karl (Kaarle) Salo, Väinö Luoto, Hjalmar Forsman, Emil Kuutti and Antti Pokkinen. The group was led by Weckman and he, Suokas and Salo were chosen as the actual assassins. They travelled to Helsinki under falsified passports in March 1920.

The attempt happened in April 1920 during a White Guard's parade on Hämeenkatu in Tampere, in which General Mannerheim was to participate. The group gathered on 3 April at the Park Café in Hämeenkatu; and at this stage, group member Karl Salo was designated as a shooter and given a Colt pistol. However, the assassination attempt failed due to Salo's hesitation.

On 6 April, Weckman, the operation leader, threatened to kill Salo if he had not assassinated either Mannerheim or Bruno Jalander, the Minister of War and Uusimaa County Governor, within a week. This attempt was also unsuccessful, as Mannerheim and Jalander did not come to the Helsinki Conservation Party celebration after the authorities received a tip. Salo returned his pistol and escaped afterwards. Weckman and Suokas tried to escape to the Soviet Union with their two assistants but were arrested on the Helsinki-Vyborg train the night of 21 April. Salo was arrested in Espoo on 23 April.

Commander-in-Chief

thumb|[[Field Marshal (Finland)|Field Marshal Baron Mannerheim in 1940]]

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 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.

Mannerheim kept relations with Adolf Hitler's government as formal as possible. Mannerheim did not really appreciate Hitler, even though he initially expressed an interest in his rise to power; his attitude towards Hitler turned negative at the point when Mannerheim's visit to Germany made him realize what kind of "ideal state" Hitler was building; he compared Hitler's rise in Germany to the 1917 rise of the Bolshevists in Russia. Before the Continuation War, the Germans offered Mannerheim command over 80,000 German troops in Finland. Mannerheim declined so as to not tie himself and Finland to Nazi war aims; Mannerheim was ready for cooperation and fraternity with Hitler's Germany, but for practical rather than ideological reasons because of the Soviet threat.

Visit by Adolf Hitler

thumb|[[Adolf Hitler (left) and Mannerheim (right) on the Marshal's 75th birthday on 4 June 1942]]

thumb|right|Discussion with Hitler, [[Field Marshal (Finland)|Marshal Mannerheim and President Ryti. Hitler visited Mannerheim on his 75th birthday.]]

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. 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. 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;

thumb|right|Marshal of Finland Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim visit in Germany, 1942

There is an unsubstantiated story that while conversing with Hitler, Mannerheim lit a cigar. Mannerheim expected that Hitler would ask Finland for more help against the Soviet Union, which Mannerheim was unwilling to give. When Mannerheim lit up, all in attendance gasped, for Hitler's aversion to smoking was well known. Nevertheless, Hitler continued the conversation calmly, with no comment. By this test, Mannerheim could judge if Hitler was speaking from a position of strength or weakness. He refused Hitler, knowing that Hitler was in a weak position, and could not dictate to him.

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. After delivering his oath of office, Mannerheim was so exhausted that he dropped his marshal's baton on his way out of parliament.

thumb|right|[[Marshal of Finland|Marshal Baron Mannerheim leaves the Presidential Palace in Helsinki on 4 March 1946 after his short presidency]]

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.

Hitler received the news with unusual calm, commenting only: "Bah, that Mannerheim is an excellent soldier but a poor politician." The German press was similarly mild in its treatment of Finland.

Mannerheim's term as president was difficult for him. Although he was appointed for a full six-year term, he was 77 years old in 1944 and had accepted the office reluctantly after being urged to do so. The situation was exacerbated by frequent periods of ill-health, the demands of the Allied Control Commission, and the war responsibility trials. He was afraid throughout most of his presidency that the commission would request his prosecution for crimes against peace. This never happened. One of the reasons for this was Stalin's respect for and admiration of the Marshal. Stalin told a Finnish delegation in Moscow in 1947 that the Finns owed much to their old Marshal. Due to Mannerheim, Finland was not occupied. Despite Mannerheim's criticisms of some of the demands of the Control Commission, he worked hard to carry out Finland's armistice obligations. He also emphasised the necessity of further work on reconstruction in Finland after the war. After the announcement of the verdicts in the war crimes trials in February, Mannerheim decided to resign. He believed that he had accomplished the duties he had been elected to carry out: the war was ended, the armistice obligations carried out, and war responsibility trials finished.

Mannerheim resigned as president on 4 March 1946, giving as his reason his declining health and his view that the tasks he had been selected to carry out had been accomplished. He was succeeded as president by the conservative Prime Minister J. K. Paasikivi. 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.), Switzerland.

thumb|right|Mannerheim's funeral parade in [[Helsinki Senate Square on 4 February 1951.]]

thumb|right|Monument to Mannerheim in [[Montreux, Switzerland, next to Lake Geneva]]

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".

Mannerheim's coffin arrived at Helsinki-Malmi Airport on 2 February, after which the public had the opportunity to visit Helsinki Cathedral to pay their respects for two days. He was buried on 4 February 1951 in the Hietaniemi Cemetery in Helsinki in a state funeral with full military honours. Prime Minister Urho Kekkonen and Foreign Minister Åke Gartz attended the funeral as representatives of the government, and the State's greetings to the late Marshal were presented by the Speaker of Parliament K. A. Fagerholm. The funeral procession was long and was followed by 100,000–150,000 people. As well as a show of respect to a national great man, the funeral ceremony had a dash of a patriotic protest.

The General Gustaf Mannerheim national fund had been founded as a citizens' gift for Mannerheim on 25 July 1919. In the will and testament Mannerheim had signed on 16 August 1945 he wrote that his fortune should be donated to this fund (currently known as the Mannerheim Foundation) and that the money should be primarily used to give grants for Finnish officers for studying at foreign military academies. The fund is also responsible for maintaining the Mannerheim Museum founded in 1951.

Mannerheim's horse, Käthy, was shot on a military order on 25 February 1953. There is a monument to the horse in Ypäjä.

Legacy

thumb|A bronze [[Equestrian statue of Marshal Mannerheim in Helsinki, with the House of Parliament and the National Museum in the background.]]

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.

thumb|left|The [[Marshal's Cabin, Mannerheim's hunting lodge]]

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.

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.

File:Mannerheim-50p-1941.jpg|1941 Finnish postal stamp portraying the then-Field Marshal Mannerheim (he was appointed Marshal of Finland in 1942).

File:Baron Karl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, 4c & 8c,1960 issues.jpg|Marshal Mannerheim on two United States commemorative stamps, 1960 issue, part of the Champion of Liberty issues.

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With the full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine that began in 2022, Mannerheim has become a source of inspiration for warfare leadership. He has been compared to, among other things, the Ukrainian hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky, who was known as a friend of Mannerheim. The Ukrainian translation of Mannerheim's memoirs has become a bestseller in Ukraine, where it has also received several Book of the Year awards.

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

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

thumb|right|Mannerheim on his 75th birthday in 1942 in a rare colour photograph

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. 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.

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.

thumb|[[Mercedes-Benz 770 vehicles donated by Hitler to Mannerheim]]

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. 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

thumb|right|Mannerheim's home in [[Kaivopuisto in Helsinki. The house has served as the Mannerheim Museum since 1951.]]

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.

In 2016, the Ukrainian band ("Mannerheim Line") was formed in response to the ongoing Russian hybrid offensive in Donbas. According to the band, Mannerheim is "a symbol of how society can unite to defend independence and resist aggression."

Notes

References

Bibliography

Koskikallio, Petteri. Asko Lehmuskallio, and Harry Halén. C. G. Mannerheim in Central Asia 1906–1908. Helsinki: National Board of Antiquities, 1999. .
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External links

Mannerheim's Journey Across Asia including interactive Google maps, slide shows, videos and more
C. G. E. Mannerheim in the history of Finland
Mannerheim Museum
Audio recordings of Hitler and Mannerheim's public and private talk (), 4 June 1942
On Mannerheim's role in defending Jews
Mannerheim League for Child Welfare English website
C. G. E. Mannerheim in The Presidents of Finland