Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim lived a long life. He was born on June 4, 1867 and died on January 27, 1951. Of the 83 years he lived, almost seventy were in the military. As Mannerheim himself writes: "I was 15 years old when in 1882 I entered the Finnish cadet corps. I was the first of three generations of Mannerheims who devoted themselves to a military career." The word "career", chosen by the author himself, does not accurately reflect the essence of his life. Anyone familiar with the biography of Mannerheim, it becomes clear that he did not make a career. He just served his country.
The opening of a memorial plaque in St. Petersburg to Lieutenant General of the Russian Army Gustav Karlovich Mannerheim raised a wave of dirty lies, including on the pages of LiveJournal. Not considering it possible to be indifferent to the distortion of the history of our country, we are publishing material that will set out the truth about this person.
Carl Gustav (Gustav Karlovich) Mannerheim was born into the family of Baron Carl Robert Mannerheim and Countess Hedwig Charlotte Helena von Julin on the Louhisaari estate near Turku. When Gustav was 13 years old, his father went bankrupt and, leaving his family, went to Paris. In January of the following year, his mother died.
In 1882, at the age of 15, Gustav Mannerheim entered the cadet corps, where he studied for two years - in 1886, dissatisfied with the new order (for minor violations, the cadets were kept in barracks for months, without the right to enter the city), "went AWOL ", for which he was expelled from the corps.
Gustav reacted calmly to the expulsion, since he had long dreamed of entering the Nikolaev Cavalry School. This decision did not raise any doubts from a patriotic point of view, since relations between Russia and the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland were very good at that time. Having entered the school in 1887, Gustav Mannerheim graduated with honors in 1889, having received the first officer rank cornet and sent to serve in the 15th Alexandria Dragoon Regiment, stationed on the border with Germany - in the Polish city of Kalisz. The cavalrymen of the regiment, where all the horses were black, were called "suicide hussars" - in memory of the time when this regiment was a hussar regiment and officers wore black dolmans with silver-plated galloons. After serving for a year in the Alexandria Dragoon Regiment, Gustav Mannerheim was transferred to the cavalry guard regiment, whose honorary chief was Empress Maria Feodorovna herself (daughter Danish king Christian IX, whom the Finns called Empress Dagmar).
In 1892, changes took place in Gustav Mannerheim's personal life, he married Anastasia Arapova, the daughter of Major General Nikolai Ustinovich Arapov, who was part of His Majesty's Retinue, also a cavalry guard in the past.
In 1901, the commander of the cavalry guards, General von Grunwald, who was appointed chief stable officer, offered the promising young officer a position in the imperial stables. The duties of Gustav Mannerheim, who was very fond of horses, included the purchase of breeding stock in Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium and England. During one of his trips to Germany, Gustav received a serious injury to his knee joint, the treatment took more than two months, mobility in the joint was partially lost, but Professor Bergman, the personal physician of Emperor Wilhelm II, who advised Mannerheim, consoled him: “Although it will be difficult for you to lead the squadron forward, you still you can perfectly command a regiment, and nothing will prevent you from becoming a general!
Soon after receiving the rank of captain in 1903, Gustav Mannerheim was appointed to the St. Petersburg Cavalry Officer School, which was led by cavalry general Alexei Alekseevich Brusilov.
Service in the officer cavalry school did not last long: on the night of February 9, 1904, without declaring war, Japanese ships blocked the Russian squadron in Port Arthur, the Russo-Japanese war began, for which Lieutenant Colonel Gustav Mannerheim signed up as a volunteer. In the period from December 25 to January 8, Mannerheim, as commander of two separate squadrons, took part in a cavalry operation, the purpose of the operation was to break through to the coast, capture the Japanese port of Yingkou with ships and, blowing up the bridge, cut off the railway connection between Port Arthur and Mukden. The participants in this battle did not yet know that Port Arthur was already in the hands of the Japanese, and the army of General Nogi rushed towards the location of the troops of General Kuropatkin. In January, the regiment in which Mannerheim served took part in the offensive near Sandepa, which was led by his compatriot Oscar Grippenberg. Mannerheim noted that the Japanese, skillfully using the terrain, were invisible in their khaki uniform (the Russian army did not yet have a field uniform) and had tactical superiority in artillery, using camouflaged artillery positions, while Russian artillery fired from open area.
Military operations on land ended with the defeat of the Russian army at Mukden, followed by a naval defeat - in May 1905, near the Tsushima Islands, the Japanese fleet completely destroyed the second Russian Pacific squadron. The consequences of the war with Japan were expected to be very severe, but according to the peace treaty signed on September 5, 1905 in Portsmouth, Russia lost quite a bit. Japan's only territorial acquisition was the southern part of Sakhalin Island. Russia, for its part, renounced the rights to the Liaodong Peninsula with the cities of Port Arthur and Dalniy and the concession for the railway in South Manchuria. Russia retained the rights to use the South China Railway. Korea was recognized as a sphere of influence of Japan. No claims for compensation were made.
According to Gustav Mannerheim, the military operations in Manchuria showed much brighter than all previous military clashes: war is not only the business of the army, it is the destiny of the whole nation, the Japanese showed the whole world a brilliant picture of unanimity and self-sacrifice in the name of victory.
Soon Gustav Mannerheim, who by that time had been awarded the rank of colonel, received an invitation to arrive in St. Petersburg, where the head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff, General Fyodor Fedorovich Palitsyn, offered him the task of organizing a horse expedition to Central Asia from Russian Turkestan through Chinese Turkestan and the Tien Shan mountains to the region of the Ili River, and further through the Gobi Desert in the provinces of Gansu, Shaanxi, Henan and Shanxi to the capital of China.
The expedition began on July 6, 1906, on the recommendation of the Russian Consul General in China, Mannerheim issued a Chinese passport in the name of Ma-ta-khan, which meant "Horse galloping through the clouds", this name caused a favorable reaction from officials who checked his documents.
Gustav Karlovich Mannerheim at a meeting with His Holiness the 13th Dalai Lama.
In June 1907, Gustav Mannerheim met with His Holiness the 13th Dalai Lama, who lived in exile after the recognition of Chinese rule in Tibet by Russia and England (the 13th Dalai Lama could return to Lhasa only after the Chinese revolution, the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty and the declaration of independence of Tibet, to unfortunately, his successor, the 14th Dalai Lama, living in exile, no longer hopes for such a prospect).
Mannerheim's expedition ended in August 1908 in Beijing, from where he returned to St. Petersburg, where he received an invitation to Emperor Nicholas II to tell about his journey.
Gustav Karlovich Mannerheim, Colonel of the Russian Imperial Army. Poland, 1909
In the autumn of 1908, Colonel Gustav Karlovich Mannerheim was appointed to the post of commander of the 13th Vladimir Uhlan Regiment, located in Novominsk (now Minsk-Mazowiecki) in Poland, where his military career began nineteen years ago. In 1911, on the recommendation of General Brusilov, Gustav Karlovich Mannerheim was awarded the rank of major general. In the summer of 1914, having refused an offer to take command of the second cuirassier brigade in Tsarskoe Selo, Mannerheim was appointed commander of the Separate Guards Cavalry Brigade, headquartered in Warsaw.
A few days after the assassination in Sarajevo of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia, the First World War became inevitable ...
The Finnish Museum of Photography / Eric Sundström/ Regent of Finland C. G. E. Mannerheim, 1919, Helsinki.
Gustav Mannerheim was a general of the Russian imperial army, a traveler-explorer, and then, during the period of independence, the commander-in-chief during three wars and twice the head of state.
Along with Sibelius, during his lifetime he became the most famous Finn both at home and abroad.
Already early in his career, he became the object of a somewhat mythologized admiration and respect, which was embodied in street names, monuments, and in a popular museum house. Admiration and respect have changed over time.
The winning side initially treated the commander-in-chief in the war of 1918 with admiration, this figure was so legendary. The losing side felt hatred.
Between 1939 and 1944 the enemy tried to stir up these already subsided negative moods again, achieving, however, rather the opposite result.
In the 1970s, during the period of activation of the left forces, criticism of Mannerheim was again voiced. Admiration, accordingly, was most emphasized in connection with the death and funeral of the marshal of Finland, in connection with the construction of an equestrian monument in the late 1950s, as well as in the 1980s and 1990s.
Mannerheim's personality has been the subject of active scientific study since the 1950s.
Gustav Mannerheim was born on June 4, 1867 at Louhisaari Castle in Askainen, north of Turku. He was the third child and inherited the title of baron. The family was a count, and the count's title passed to the eldest son. His father Count Carl Robert Mannerheim, as well as close relatives of his mother Hedwig Charlotte Helena (Helene) von Yulin, were industrialists and entrepreneurs, and his grandfather, President of the Court of Justice Count Carl Gustav Mannerheim, and great-grandfather, Senator Count Carl Erik Mannerheim, were high-ranking officials.
Among close relatives, admiral Johann Eberhard von Schanz, who made a brilliant career in the Far East and St. Petersburg, a traveler-researcher, Professor Baron Adolf Eric Nordenskiöld, who achieved worldwide fame and moved to Sweden, as well as cousins of his sister's grandfather, could serve as role models. Shernval (among them was one), who won success in the high society of St. Petersburg.
The initial stage of Mannerheim's military career in St. Petersburg was based both on family ties and recommendations from the paternal side, and on the financial assistance of relatives from the mother.
The bankruptcy of his father, his flight-like departure from Finland, the breakup of the family and the early death of his mother left a mark on Gustav Mannerheim's childhood and influenced his dispatch at the age of fifteen in 1882 to the Finnish Cadet Corps in Hamina (Friedrichsgam). The previously typical military career for the nobility now increasingly served others. life goals, an example of which was Mannerheim's father.
The rapidly deteriorating economic situation of the family and the ambitious and stubborn nature of Gustav were perfect for a military career, Mannerheim, however, was expelled from the Cadet School for violation of discipline in 1886.
He entered the private Böka Gymnasium in Helsinki and passed the matriculation exam in 1887. Immediately after that, he went to St. Petersburg, where in September 1887 he was able to enter the Nikolaev Cavalry School. In this demanding military institution, he successfully studied and was promoted to cornet in 1889.
Mannerheim's goal was to hit one of elite units Imperial Guard, but he was initially seconded to the provincial garrison in Poland. From there, a year later, he ended up in the cavalry regiment of Her Imperial Majesty's Guards, which was part of the Life Guards of His Imperial Majesty, using the recommendations of court ladies, relatives of the Empress, and with the financial support of his uncle.
Mannerheim was promoted to lieutenant of the guard in 1893, junior captain in the guard in 1899, and captain in the guard in 1902. Mannerheim remained loyal to the Empress (from 1894 Empress Dowager) Maria Feodorovna, who was considered the commander of this regiment, paid her courtesy visits in Denmark in the 1920s. and kept her photograph on the table in his salon in Helsinki next to a photograph of Nicholas II.
Thanks to his graceful appearance and good manners, Mannerheim played a prominent role at the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra in Moscow in 1896.
In 1892, he married Anastasia Arapova, a rich general's daughter. The marriage, arranged by relatives, saved Mannerheim from the financial difficulties that had previously darkened his life. Service in the guards regiment assumed such expenses for social life, for which the officer's salary was not enough. From the point of view of Anastasia Arapova, the brilliant Mannerheim, who enjoyed success in the world, was a good choice.
The couple, who had two daughters, Sofia and Anastasia, apparently spoke French at home in St. Petersburg; Russian and German were used on estates in the Moscow region and in Courland. However, a crisis arose in the relationship, and the couple separated, in fact in 1903, and officially a little later. However, they restored their relationship in the 1930s. In 1937, in Helsinki, Mannerheim participated in the funeral of his ex-wife in the Orthodox rite.
Apparently, Mannerheim's ideas about marriage were influenced by the image of an independent and enterprising Finnish woman and, above all, by the example of his elder sister Sophia, who was very close to him. Anastasia Mannerheim, in turn, was a type of woman, brought up in all respects for the secular life of high society. At the same time, she was characterized by religious sacrifice, which manifested itself when in 1901 she went on a humanitarian mission of the Red Cross to the Far East. Later, Baroness Mannerheim and her daughters moved to France.
Mannerheim rekindled his relationship with his daughters when he moved to Finland after World War I. Sophia visited Finland from time to time and learned a little Swedish. During Mannerheim's tenure as regent in 1919, she performed the representative functions of the hostess, and at the promotion ceremony at the Faculty of Philosophy she was assigned an honorary ceremonial role.
Mannerheim did not get into the Academy of the General Staff, apparently mainly due to insufficient knowledge of the Russian language. Instead, he became a horse specialist, both buying breeding and working horses for the army, and trying to run a stud farm on his estate on his own, partly following the example of his brother Johan Mannerheim, who moved to Sweden.
From 1903, he commanded an exemplary squadron and supervised the training of riding in the Guards Cavalry Regiments, and also achieved fame in riding competitions. Mannerheim, however, was looking for ways to further advancement.
When the war with Japan began in February 1904, he volunteered for the front, and was sent with the rank of lieutenant colonel to the 52nd Nezhinsky Hussar Regiment, which was on the Manchurian front.
At the same time, his older brother, bank director Count Karl Mannerheim, was exiled to Sweden as one of the leaders of the anti-government political opposition, and those circles to which he belonged were looking for contacts with Japan in order to foment an uprising in Finland.
Some other relatives also moved to Sweden, and arguments from both sides can be found in their correspondence. Mannerheim emphasized the importance of participation in the war for his career. In this way, he could compensate for the failure to enter the General Staff Academy and, along the way, alleviate the psychological and social problems associated with divorce.
At the front, Mannerheim acted proactively and sought to distinguish himself, but at the same time he had to deal with the inept conduct of the war and discord among the high command. The leadership appreciated him, and although he failed to receive the most coveted award, the George Cross, he was promoted to colonel for his courage in the battle of Mukden. The order was dated the day of the battle.
Even then, Mannerheim planned to organize a long reconnaissance expedition to little-known regions of Asia. He was exemplified by Nordenskiöld, Swedish and Russian explorers-travelers (Sven Hedin, Nikolai Przhevalsky), and some other officers.
At the same time, he believed that a successful expedition would allow him to distinguish himself, which he needed to advance in his career. Obviously, his goal was to command the guards regiment.
After returning from the Russo-Japanese War, Mannerheim in 1905-1906. spent some time in Finland and Sweden. As a representative of the baronial branch of his family, he participated for the first time in the Diet of Estates, the last in the history of Finland.
At the Diet, Mannerheim did not take part in public political discussions, but he made personal connections and became known as a person who, in the event of a possible change political situation, one could, according to the old tradition, be thought of as a candidate for senators or even ministers of state secretaries.
Carefully preparing for the expedition to Asia, to which he had already been appointed, Mannerheim simultaneously established relations with scientific and Fennoman circles. Perhaps the chief of the general staff, General Palitsyn, and his reformist entourage specifically wanted to keep Mannerheim away from the politically turbulent world in order to save him for future assignments as an unbiased person.
However, during the Asian expedition of Mannerheim, Palitsyn was forced to resign. However, later they still started talking about the idea of appointing Mannerheim as assistant minister of state secretary or minister of state secretary, but the political situation did not allow such a decision to be made in which the candidacy of minister of state secretary would suit both the emperor and the Finnish elite.
Mannerheim began his long expedition from Kashgar (Turkmenistan) in October 1906, his goal was Beijing. Accompanied by only a few people, he rode through the territory, almost entirely belonging to China.
His task was to explore these largely uninhabited mountainous and desert regions, which were of interest to Russia, China and Great Britain. Scientific goals expeditions were associated with the military - get as much as possible Full description territory.
Mannerheim demonstrated a notable scientific talent and ambition by researching the customs, languages and ethnicities of the tribes he encountered, archeology, collecting objects and taking photographs.
The collection came to Helsinki to the Finno-Ugric Society, which later published Mannerheim's detailed travel diary and helped him write a travel essay intended for the general public. Photographic materials were published in the 1990s, at the same time the collections were presented in the new Ethnographic Museum of Helsinki.
Mannerheim returned to St. Petersburg in September 1908. The Emperor listened with interest to his report on the trip.
Now Mannerheim deserved the regiment, however, the issue was delayed until January 1909, when he finally received the coveted position of commander of the guards regiment, however, first in the provincial Novominsky garrison in Poland. Guards units were usually stationed in St. Petersburg, but there were also several in Poland, and one was based in Helsinki until 1905.
The Polish front was vital in preparing for a possible war with Germany and Austria-Hungary. Mannerheim established himself as a successful mentor commander both in Novominsky and in Warsaw, where he was transferred in 1911 as commander of His Imperial Majesty's Guards Lancer Regiment.
In 1911 he was promoted to major general, and in 1912 he entered the retinue of His Imperial Majesty, which corresponded to the rank of lieutenant general. With the liquidation of the retinue in 1917, he was promoted to lieutenant general.
In Warsaw, Mannerheim spent one of the happiest stages of his life: he achieved success in his career, perceived his work as important and enjoyable, established close and fruitful relationships with the highest circles of the Polish aristocracy, and was able to keep in touch with his brothers and sisters in Finland and Sweden. .
He became strongly attached to Princess Maria Lubomirskaya. Most of Mannerheim's letters addressed to her have survived and have been published. They give future generations the opportunity to recognize Mannerheim as a refined, sympathetic and sensual person. Letters to Mrs. Lubomirskaya were mainly sent from the front of the world war that began in August 1914.
Throughout the war, Mannerheim was in the army, mainly on the fronts against Austria-Hungary and in Romania. He had to spend these years in physically and psychologically difficult conditions and had a chance to experience both successes and failures. After the first setbacks, Russia managed to maintain its position, and the war dragged on.
On December 18, 1914, for his valor, he was awarded the long-desired George Cross. The February Revolution of 1917 immediately affected the situation in the army and the course of the war. Mannerheim was not favored by the new government and was relieved of his duties in September.
He was in reserve and tried to restore his health in Odessa. After the situation in Russia became more and more confused, and after the failure of a large-scale offensive Kornilov (the so-called Kornilov rebellion), Mannerheim began to think about resigning and returning to Finland.
But even in Finland in the autumn of 1917 the situation became more and more chaotic, the threat of civil war grew, when, with the collapse of the state machine, both the Red and White Guards began to be created. In January 1918, the bourgeois senate, chaired by P.E. Svinhufvuda and his military experts settled on Mannerheim's candidacy for the post of commander of the pro-government civil guard detachments (shutskor).
Mannerheim was considered the most suitable of the generals, Finns by origin, who served or are serving in the Russian army. Without a doubt, this assessment was based on his background and social contacts, as well as political connections, including with relatives who were in opposition.
The choice was not influenced by Mannerheim's anti-German and anti-antantophile convictions, which later led to a conflict, since Svinhufvud and, in general, the leading bourgeois circles of Finland, even earlier in the fall, relied on Germany, counting on military support for the separation of Finland from Russia.
Mannerheim was formally appointed to the post of commander-in-chief on January 16, 1918 and went to Seinäjoki, where he deployed his headquarters in an area that was a stronghold of the whites and favorably distinguished by the proximity of the main transport routes.
The Senate, the government of Finland, was located in Vaasa. He formed a staff of Finns who served in the Russian army and reinforced it with a significant number of Swedish volunteer officers who played an important military and political role.
Mannerheim did not want the Germans to be at the headquarters, and Germany, before the conclusion of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on March 3, 1918, was not ready to send its soldiers to Finland. When Germany later decided to take part in resolving the situation in Finland and send the Baltic Division under the command of General Count Rüdiger von der Goltz to this end, Mannerheim was forced, for political reasons, to change his strategy.
The war began in Pohjanmaa as a "war of liberation" with the disarmament of several Russian garrisons. This was of significant importance both in terms of acquiring weapons and the formation of a northern foothold, and in terms of legitimizing the war as a whole. Mannerheim's goal was now the formation of troops (was introduced military duty) and their training, as well as obtaining weapons from Sweden and other places. With the approach of German intervention, he decided to hasten the capture of Tampere, a stronghold of the Reds, which he managed to do after fierce fighting and heavy losses on both sides.
Simultaneously white army moved to Savo and south, and the headquarters was moved to Mikkeli. Mannerheim, no doubt, all this time proceeded from the possibility that the White Russians, with the help of the Western countries of the Entente, would sooner or later try to overthrow the Bolshevik government, and that Finland would participate in this operation.
To emphasize the Finnish ("non-German") character liberation war, May 16, 1918 in Helsinki, Mannerheim staged a grand victory parade of his "peasant army".
Von der Goltz and his troops had defeated the Red government and its military forces in Helsinki a month earlier, and pro-German sentiment was strong in the city. Now Mannerheim stood in opposition to the pro-German military-political orientation of the Senate, which, in the name of ensuring security from Russia and from its own Reds, completely placed Finland in the German sphere of influence.
When the Senate disagreed with Mannerheim's demands, he left the country on June 1, 1918, convinced that the Entente would win anyway. Thus, Mannerheim was not in the country at the final, fateful stage of the liberation war, marked by mass deaths from disease and starvation in huge concentration camps and lengthy trials.
Even during the war, he tried to stop the "White Terror" and objected to the mass arrests of the Reds, as well as to the practice of individual trials on charges of treason.
In the autumn of 1918, Mannerheim negotiated in London and Paris, and when in Finland, after the defeat of Kaiser Germany, the form of government was to be changed, in accordance with the forms of government of 1772 and 1789. Mannerheim was invited to the post of regent with the powers of the temporary exercise of the highest state power until the final resolution of the issue of the form of government, which became topical already in 1917.
In order to strengthen Mannerheim's position and his orientation towards the Entente, the interested powers sent large consignments of food to Finland, which saved the country from starvation.
In the spring of 1919, he succeeded in obtaining the recognition of Finland's independence by Great Britain and the United States, as well as the renewal of recognition by France, which had previously agreed to recognition, but then withdrew it.
Mannerheim used these recognitions and his official visits to Stockholm and Copenhagen, as well as other symbolic acts, to significantly strengthen the new sovereign status of Finland, trying to consolidate its orientation towards the victorious countries France and England, as well as Sweden.
The question of Russia's future, however, remained open. Mannerheim hoped that the power of the communists there, as in Finland and Hungary, could be overthrown. The biggest issue during Mannerheim's regency was the attitude towards the attempt of White Russian troops to capture Petrograd, which would probably lead to the overthrow of the Bolshevik government.
Mannerheim believed that Finland should have been involved in the operation, but negotiations with the White Russians proved difficult. Russian whites could not make decisions that were the prerogative of the national assembly, just as they could not guarantee the sovereignty of Finland.
Finland, on the other hand, having leaned on the side of Germany, having defeated the Reds, who advocated stronger ties with Russia, and then having consolidated sovereignty with the help of Western states, has already quite definitely opposed Russia, regardless of what she might become at the proposed national assembly.
As the border skirmishes on the Karelian Isthmus continued, especially in June 1919, the activists tried to persuade Mannerheim to use his monarchical power and launch an offensive. But Mannerheim refused these proposals, because he did not find sufficient political support for this idea in Finland.
July 17, 1919 he approved new form board, worked out as a result of a compromise decision in Parliament in June. Mannerheim did not personally intervene in the discussion on the form of government, but in a speech he delivered on May 16, 1918, for reasons of a domestic and foreign policy nature, he advocated a strong government power, and it could reasonably be assumed that he would not approve a purely parliamentary form board.
Since the idea of a monarchical form of government, proposed in the autumn, was closely linked to the defeated Germany, and since the choice of the king could not enlist the support of any great power as a guarantor of the security of Finland, the only option remained a compromise between monarchical and parliamentary forms of government - a presidential republic, sometimes referred to as an "elective monarchy".
Such a form of government assigned to the president such broad authority to issue decrees and some other rights that they were never fully applied in practice.
The form of government of 1919 appeared during the civil war in Russia and the state of war between Finland and Russia, and it showed its effectiveness, especially in difficult times from the point of view of foreign policy.
The period of Mannerheim's tenure as regent, in addition to the constitution and the recognition of independence by foreign states, is reminiscent of the Order of the White Rose of Finland, established by him, awarded for military and civil merit; the year before, he, as Commander-in-Chief, established the Order of the Cross of Liberty, which was revived as an award for military merit in 1939.
The insignia of these knightly orders was made by a famous artist
Gallen-Kallela, who was slightly older than Mannerheim, was one of his adjutants in 1919, later in the same year he received the title of honorary professor. They also developed other State symbols Finland, but most of them were rejected after the resignation of Mannerheim.
Elections for the President of the Republic, in accordance with the new constitution, were held on July 25, 1919, but not by electors, but, as an exception, by Parliament. Mannerheim received 50 MPs from the conservative National Coalition Party and the Swedish People's Party, but Kaarlo Juho Stolberg, the President of the Supreme Administrative Court, won with 143 votes, supported by the Agrarian Union, the Progressive Party and the Social Democrats.
A trusting relationship was not established between Mannerheim and Stolberg, and the plans to appoint Mannerheim as commander-in-chief of the army, or as commander-in-chief of the squadron detachments with very independent powers, did not materialize.
After that, Mannerheim went into private life, and a rather large fund was raised for him (“civil gift”), on the basis of which he could exist. He rented a villa in the Kaivopuisto park that belonged to the Fazer family and reconstructed it so that it would meet the needs of a man leading an everyday, modest soldier's life, but, on the other hand, would correspond to the status of a familyless aristocrat, a former head of state.
In the 1920s he devoted much of his time to the Finnish Red Cross and to the 1920 General Mannerheim Union for the Protection of Children. Within the framework of the latter, he fought for the unity of the nation and for smoothing out the contradictions generated by the civil war. In this he was helped by his sister, and later by the famous pediatrician, honored doctor Arvo Ylppö, as well as many other people.
Mannerheim also traveled abroad to hunt and to sanatoriums, and kept in touch with political and diplomatic circles. Obviously, to some extent, he missed an active life, not being completely satisfied with only humanitarian work, minor involvement in business (chairing the board of the Liittopankki bank, a summer cafe near his villa in Hanko), reading, attending concerts and social life .
The economic and political crisis that began in 1929 again actualized the status of Mannerheim, and some right-wing groups wanted Mannerheim to become a military dictator. He, however, was wary of the Lapuan movement and the various groups of its supporters and made no commitments; he closely followed the situation, preparing, probably, for the possibility of a seizure of power by the Lapuans.
In March 1931, Per Evind Svinhufvud, who became president at this turbulent time, shortly after his election appointed Mannerheim chairman of the Defense Council and commander-in-chief in case of war, thereby formally reintegrating him into the state system.
In 1933, Mannerheim received the rank of marshal. Changes in the world since 1933 have shifted the emphasis in Finnish defense policy. The enthusiasm for East Karelia and Ingermanland that had survived until then, as well as the ideology of Greater Finland, waned as Germany and the Soviet Union rapidly gained strength.
At the same time, the relative importance of the League of Nations, which was considered an important guarantor for Finland and other small states, weakened. Mannerheim participated in the recognition of the "Scandinavian orientation", a policy officially recognized in 1935, which, however, did not give Finland security guarantees.
The Scandinavian orientation, however, was of great political and psychological significance, and when war broke out between Finland and the USSR in 1939, this led to a volunteer movement and large-scale humanitarian and military aid from Sweden, and also aroused sympathy for Finland in Western countries.
In 1933–1939 Mannerheim, in addition to Sweden, actively developed relations with Great Britain. He represented Finland at the funeral of King George V and had contacts with the Royal air force and the UK aviation industry.
He maintained relations with Germany during hunting trips with Marshal Hermann Goering. However, during his seventieth birthday in 1937, as well as during the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the civil war in 1938 - both of these dates turned into national events - he emphasized the importance of national unity and closer ties with the Social Democrats, who first entered the government in coalition with the Agrarian Union than ties with Germany.
Despite constant pressure from Mannerheim, the main parts of the army by the autumn of 1939 were still poorly equipped. During the Finnish-Soviet border and security negotiations, Mannerheim believed that Finland did not have the capacity to stick to such a hard line as the government was pursuing, and recommended agreeing to territorial concessions and territory exchanges, threatening to resign several times.
When negotiations failed and the war broke out on November 30, 1939, Mannerheim assumed the duties of commander in chief and re-established headquarters in Mikkeli. He remained commander-in-chief until December 31, 1944, during which time he was mostly based in Mikkeli. Despite his age and health problems, he worked continuously throughout the war, with the exception of a couple of short holidays, thereby giving the headquarters, the entire army and the people an example of dedication in a critical situation.
During winter war the period that followed it, which was called the “truce”, and also during the “Continuation War” that began on June 25, 1941, Mannerheim was part of a group of 4–5 people that actually led the country.
In addition to Mannerheim, this circle included Risto Ryti, who became president in 1940, prime ministers J.V. Rangel and Edwin Linkomies, Foreign Ministers Väinö Tanner, Rolf Witting and K.H.W. Ramsay, as well as Lieutenant General Rudolf Walden, who has always held the post of Minister of Defense.
Thus, already in 1939-1940. Mannerheim significantly influenced the course of the Winter War and attempts to conclude peace. He emphasized that the army, despite the heroism shown in the defense, was weak and at the limit of its capabilities, and that therefore it was necessary to accept the difficult conditions of peace, which was done.
After the Winter War, Finland experienced constant pressure from the Soviet Union, which was associated with the situation in the world as a whole. The only counterbalance to this pressure could be Germany, but it was also in alliance with the USSR. However, from September 1940, Germany began to take Finland under its wing in its relations with the USSR, and from the beginning of 1941 military contacts between headquarters gradually became closer. Until the very last moment, it was unclear whether (and when) Germany would start a war against the Soviet Union.
During this period, Finland, however, was able to significantly improve the level of equipment of its army. Finland's entry into the war in the summer of 1941 aroused great research interest immediately after the war and in later periods; attempts were made to find out when Finland "finally" joined the German military preparations against the Soviet Union, and who in Finland led these preparations or knew about them.
Military leadership of Marshal Mannerheim during the war 1941-1944. had an important psychological significance: with his authority, he kept the generals at headquarters and front commanders, as well as members of the government, in submission and restrained internal conflicts and rivalries, common for a protracted war.
The political significance of his authority was also manifested in relations with Germany: Mannerheim, of the entire leadership of Finland, most clearly demanded - and could demand - the formal and real observance of the political and military independence of Finland.
An interesting example of this was the 75th anniversary of Mannerheim on June 4, 1942, when Adolf Hitler, the Fuhrer of Germany, personally came to congratulate Mannerheim, who had just been promoted to marshals of Finland. Mannerheim's behavior in this situation is considered an exemplary combination of emphasized politeness and firmness in maintaining his own authority.
This made it possible to reject Germany's claim to dictate over Finland, or the demand for a formal alliance treaty, thus making it possible to get out of the situation with the help of guarantees given by President Ryti in the summer of 1944, which remained in force for only a few weeks.
Mannerheim's psychological, nationally unifying role was emphasized during the war in various ways: for example, in the form of postage stamps, and also by the fact that on the day of his birth almost all cities in Finland had streets bearing his name. The Order of the Cross of Liberty was supplemented by the Mannerheim Cross with a cash prize awarded for special heroism.
The elderly marshal came to the front several times and attended various patriotic events, consoling war orphans and relatives of the dead.
The Soviet offensive in June-July 1944 forced the Finnish army to withdraw from East Karelia and retreat west of Vyborg on the Karelian Isthmus. As a result, there was a willingness to accept even the most difficult peace conditions. To do this, it was necessary to change the government and break off relations with Germany. Mannerheim agreed, and on August 4, 1944, the parliament elected him President of the Republic.
From that moment began the peace process, for which Mannerheim, apparently, managed to find the optimal time. Germany was thought to be sufficiently weakened that, despite its military position and air control in the Baltics, to expend forces on the occupation of Finland (as happened in Romania), and German feeble attempts were rebuffed from the outset.
The Soviet Union, in turn, was no longer interested in the complete surrender or military occupation of Finland, since it concentrated its forces on the Baltic, Polish and German directions.
The Western powers and Sweden were ready to politically and economically support the separate peace of Finland. At the same time, the Finnish people, after the loss of Eastern Karelia, the Karelian Isthmus and Vyborg, were ready to accept difficult peace conditions, the adoption of which in the spring, when the army had not yet been defeated on the Svir and the Southern Isthmus, could lead the country and the army to a crisis of loyalty.
Thus, in August-September 1944, Mannerheim, with the support of the Finnish Ambassador in Stockholm, G.A. Gripenberga led the peace talks, simultaneously acting as President, Commander-in-Chief, and in practice both Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs (especially after Prime Minister Antti Hakzel was paralyzed during the negotiations).
Mannerheim on a short time concentrated all power in his hands; his authority was extremely important in terms of shaping public sentiment and leading the army. The army had to quickly reorient itself, since relations with Germany and German troops in Northern Finland were broken, and, accordingly, it was necessary to establish cooperation with the military, and soon with civilian representatives. former enemy, Soviet Union.
Mannerheim's authority retained its significance when, after the conclusion of the armistice in Helsinki, the Allied Control Commission began to operate and when the new one, formed by Yu.K. The Paasikivi political government in November 1944 replaced the short-term presidential ("technical") cabinets of Hakzel and Urho Castren.
At this point, the period of concentration of power in the hands of Mannerheim for the duration of the peace process ended, and, despite great doubts, he was forced to agree to the appointment of a communist representative, Interior Minister Yrjö Leino, to the Paasikivi government.
But even after that, Mannerheim remained a mainstay of the Paasikivi government, especially due to the suspicions of the right, although he did not actively support the government and its new political orientation, probably because he was not sure of the government's policy, and also because he wanted to preserve the possibility of a change office.
The degree of participation of Mannerheim in the leadership of the state also decreased due to deteriorating health. He went to Stockholm for an operation and then on holiday to Portugal.
And although Mannerheim was elected president for an emergency period, he, however, did not want to resign, for example, immediately after the parliamentary elections in the spring of 1945. This was partly due to the fact that the situation in the world remained uncertain, as the war in Europe continued until May 1945, and partly because Mannerheim was afraid of being sentenced to litigation over those responsible for the war, which was provided for by the terms of the Armistice Agreement, and which the Allied Control Commission insisted on as soon as possible.
However, both in the interests of the Finns and in the interests of the Soviet Union, it was to save Mannerheim from this, and when this circumstance became clear, he resigned in March 1946.
The students expressed their respect for him with a torchlight procession, which in those conditions was a significant event. The Communists were also ready to acknowledge Mannerheim's role in bringing about peace.
Subsequently, Mannerheim, whose health was deteriorating, was in Stockholm, but mainly in the Valmont sanatorium in Montreux (Switzerland). There he, along with assistants, which included Infantry General Erik Heinrichs and Colonel Aladar Paasonen, wrote memoirs. He talked about his life path assistants who wrote them down in the form of chapters of a future book.
After that, Mannerheim checked the manuscript, sometimes making significant corrections. By the time of Mannerheim's death on January 27, 1951 (January 28 Finnish time), the work was almost completed, and this allowed the publication of the first volume in the same year.
Mannerheim's body was brought to Finland, the coffin was placed with honors (lit de parade) in the Main Church of Helsinki (the current Cathedral), and tens of thousands of people passed him in silence.
On February 4, 1951, Mannerheim was buried with full military honors at the Heroes' Cemetery in Hietaniemi. On this frosty day, an honor guard of reserve soldiers, students, and scouts stretched across the city. For reasons of political caution, the government decided not to take part in the funeral ceremony. Despite this, Prime Minister Urho Kekkonen and Foreign Minister Oke Harz participated in the funeral procession.
The speech in the Main Church was delivered by the Chairman of the Parliament K.-A. Fagerholm. The fact that he was a Social Democrat symbolically pointed to the origins of the 1930s. and the understanding, strengthened during the war, of the idea of recognizing the historical national consensus in Finland. This was recognized by all social groups and the press, with the exception of the communists.
The funeral of Mannerheim, the attention and respect for his figure, which then manifested itself abroad and, in particular, at home, which increased significantly after the publication of his memoirs and the opening of the Mannerheim Museum in his house in Kaivopuisto, marked an ideological turning point, a transition from the "post-war" stage from its denial of the previous history to a new identity, implying the unity and continuity of the various stages of Finnish history - from tsarist times and the interwar period, including the war and the post-war years.
Back in 1937, with the consent of Mannerheim, a fund was created for the construction of an equestrian monument in his honor - the first in Finland. Some accused Mannerheim of vanity, but more significant, of course, was that he recognized the need for symbols to unite the nation. Mannerheim became a symbolic figure as early as 1918, and this role became even stronger in the 1930s. and during the war. In this "role" he could contribute to the development of national identity in the direction in which he considered necessary.
The main values for him were the European orientation, i.е. closeness to Sweden and Western European culture, the maintenance of combat readiness and, as a necessary condition for this, a strong national consensus, for which it was necessary to overcome the split that arose as a result of the conflict between reds and whites, as well as concern for the health and future of children and youth.
He opposed socialism as a doctrine and the Soviet Union as its embodiment, as well as against nationalism, which manifested itself in Germany in the form of National Socialism, and in Finland in the form of "ultra-Finnish" movements. On the language issue in Finland, he advocated an atmosphere of harmony.
He himself, who knew languages well and had extensive international experience, considered it important to maintain international contacts at various levels. He emphasized the great importance of foreign policy and understanding the balance of power in the world, in comparison with domestic political disagreements, petty politicking and legal literalism.
During the First World War, Mannerheim realized the need to preserve and care for the personnel, and during the wars of 1939-1944 (1945). he was especially concerned with minimizing casualties, caring for the wounded, and honoring the fallen.
The equestrian monument project was revived largely thanks to the initiative of the Students' Union of the University of Helsinki, and this led to three results: the increase in Mannerheim's fame through fundraising and the issuance of a special badge for this, to the erection of the monument itself, which, after several competitions, was completed by the sculptor Aimo Tukiainen and solemnly opened on June 4, 1960, and to the fact that, with the remaining funds, among other things, a historical monument was bought into state ownership - Mannerheim's native home, the Louhisaari estate.
Later, monuments to Mannerheim were erected in several cities in Finland: Mikkeli, Lahti, near Tampere and in Turku. Back in the 1930s. Two biographies of Mannerheim have been published (by Kai Donner and Annie Woipio-Juvas).
After his death, a film consisting of documentary footage appeared in 1957–1959. The first large-scale and detailed biography of Mannerheim was published, written by his close associate Infantry General Eric Heinrichs.
In the 1960s The Mannerheim Foundation, created according to his will, whose main task was to send Finnish officers to foreign higher military schools, opened the archive of letters, which the foundation inherited by will, for Mannerheim's relative, the Swedish professor Stig Jagerskjöld.
Very significant archival research in different countries, the discovery of letters and interviews conducted by Jagersheld resulted in a large-scale eight-volume work.
At the time when the Englishman D.E.O. Screen took up the study of the Russian period of Mannerheim's life, began to pay attention to the various stages of the Mannerheim cult. His image was addressed in novels and plays (in particular, Paavo Rintala, Ilmari Turja).
In the 1970s the left movement criticized Mannerheim, rather directed against his cult. From latest research about Mannerheim, the most significant is the book by Veijo Meri, a psychologically accurate biography of Mannerheim (1988).
Material taken from the One Hundred Remarkable Finns Biographies Collection on the website of the National Library of Finland © Biografiakeskus, Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, PL 259, 00171 HELSINKI
Application:
Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim, b. 4/6/1867, Askainen, died 27/1/1951, Lausanne. Parents: Count Karl Robert Mannerheim and Charlotte Helena von Yulin. Wife: 1892–1919 Anastasia Arapova, b. 1872. Died 1936b wife's parents: Major General Nikolai Arapov and Vera Kazakova. Children: Anastasia, b. 1893. died 1978; Sofia, b. 1895, died 1963.
Marshal Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim went from an officer in the Life Guards of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Finland. In this capacity, he twice led the Finnish army in the war against the USSR during the Second World War, and after its end, already being the head of state, he drew up the first draft of a treaty of friendship and mutual assistance between the two countries. Mannerheim held the high post of President of the Republic of Finland twice - in 1919 and in 1944. He was personally acquainted with the crowned persons - Tsar Nicholas II, the German Kaiser Wilhelm II, the English King Edward VIII, and with politicians - British Prime Minister W. Churchill, Fuhrer of the Nazi Reich A. Hitler, Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks A.A. Zhdanov.
POOR BARON AT THE COURT OF NICHOLAS II
Carl Mannerheim
1905
The Swedish Baron Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim was born on June 4 (June 16, New Style), 1867, on the Louhisaari estate in southwestern Finland, not far from Turku. The Mannerheims (originally the Marheims) were originally from Holland, but already in the 17th century. moved to Sweden and then partly to its province of Finland, and in 1693 were included in the nobility.
The Mannerheim family gave many commanders, statesmen and scientists from Sweden and Finland. The great-grandfather of the future marshal - Karl Erik - led the Finnish delegation, which in 1807 negotiated in St. Petersburg on the conditions for the transition of Finland from Sweden to Russia; his merit is that Finland received autonomy in the empire and had a class parliament. It was he who bought the Louhisaari estate with a three-storey residential building. Now it is an architectural monument, after the restoration of 1961 - 1967. there is a museum of Karl Huss and Emil Mannerheim. The father of the future marshal, Baron Karl Robert Mannerheim, changed family traditions and became an entrepreneur. He married Helen von Yulin, the daughter of an industrialist who bought himself title of nobility. Carl Gustav Emil was the third of seven children. The native language in the family was Swedish, but the French upbringing of the mother and the Anglophilia of the father provided the children with a versatile education, hence the perfect command of three languages - Swedish, French and English. Later he learned Russian, Finnish and German.
But the impulsive Karl Robert Mannerheim went bankrupt in 1879, left his family and left for Paris. The property had to be sold. To top it off, in January 1881, his mother died. Relatives took care of the children.
Carl Gustav Emil was mostly left to his own devices and, together with his peers, amused himself by smashing windows with stones, for which he was expelled from school for a year. Relatives had to think about his special education, which would not require a lot of money. The choice fell on the military school in Hamina, founded by Nicholas I, although there was a special propensity for military service the boy did not experience. Nevertheless, Carl Gustav Emil studied with enthusiasm, but because of his wayward nature, the leadership of the school did not like him. The nightly unauthorized departure of the young baron to the city literally on the eve of graduation overwhelmed the patience of the authorities, and the unlucky cadet was expelled from the school. The vain and self-confident young man, parting with his classmates, promised that he would finish his education at the privileged Nikolaev Cavalry School and become a guards officer.
And he kept his word: he entered the school in 1887, spending a year improving his Russian language with relatives who lived near Kharkov, educated at Helsingfors University and looking for patrons in St. Petersburg. Although Mannerheim graduated from the Nikolaev Cavalry School in 1889 among the best, to get into guards regiment, which means serving at court and receiving a large salary, which was important for the poor baron, did not immediately succeed. First, I had to pull the army strap for two years in Poland in the 15th Alexandria Dragoon Regiment.
Excellent service, connections and patrons helped Mannerheim in 1891 to return to St. Petersburg and get into the Life Guards Regiment, whose chief was Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna. The officers of this regiment served in the chambers of the Empress. The Finnish baron plunged headlong into secular life: new acquaintances among politicians, diplomats, military men. However, to maintain connections in high society, a lot of money was needed. Mannerheim got into debt. A brilliant Guards officer, he could count on a profitable marriage. Married in 1892 to Anastasia Alexandrovna Arapova, the rich but ugly and capricious daughter of a Russian general, Carl Gustav Emil improved his financial situation: he not only paid the colgi, but also bought the Apprinen estate in Latvia. A year later, the newlyweds had a daughter, who, in honor of her mother, was named Anastasia (died in 1978), and in 1895 - Sophia (died in 1963).
The marriage of convenience was not a happy one, and the birth of a dead son further complicated the relationship between the spouses. Anastasia Alexandrovna left for Khabarovsk in 1901 as a nurse, leaving her children to her father. When she returned a year later, family life Mannerheim did not go well. The couple decided to leave. Anastasia Alexandrovna, taking her daughters with her, went abroad. After long wanderings, she and her youngest daughter finally settled in Paris, and the eldest moved to England. The official divorce of the Mannerheims took place only in 1919, when the press became interested personal life candidate for the presidency of Finland.
Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim, thanks to his tall stature and elegant demeanor in the saddle, participated in many palace ceremonies. In the photograph of the coronation of Nicholas II in 1896 in Moscow, he is depicted on horseback at the head of a solemn procession [Lieutenant Baron Carl Gustav Mannerheim was a junior assistant to Nicholas II].
Passion for horses - the baron successfully competed at the races several times - helped Mannerheim the following year to become a high official in the management of the royal stables and receive a colonel's salary: he selected thoroughbred horses for the purchase. Frequent business trips abroad, new acquaintances broadened the horizons of the 30-year-old cavalryman, he began to show interest in political affairs. Even the German Kaiser Wilhelm II was introduced to him because of the horse incident. During the next trip to Berlin, when Mannerheim personally checked the horses selected for the royal stable, one of them severely injured his knee. He was forced to be treated in the hospital for two months. Wilhelm II, a great connoisseur and connoisseur of thoroughbred horses, became interested in the incident, before Mannerheim left for Russia, he received him in his palace.
In 1903, moving up the ranks, Mannerheim became the commander of an exemplary squadron at the cavalry officers' school. He received this honorary position on the recommendation of General A.A. Brusilov and Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich.
GENERAL'S epaulettes
When the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 broke out, Mannerheim volunteered to go to the front as a volunteer. He wanted to reinforce his later career with the experience of a combat officer. Brothers and sisters, as well as his father, who had returned to Finland by that time, did not approve of his intentions. If the entry of the young Mannerheim to serve in the Russian army did not cause much objection from his relatives and acquaintances - many Scandinavian noblemen had served the tsar before - then the voluntary desire to fight for tsarist Russia should be regarded as complete solidarity with the policy of autocracy in Finland. Carl Gustav Emil understood and to some extent shared the arguments of his relatives, but he did not change his decision: it was ashamed to lead a secular life when fellow officers shed blood in the war.
So the St. Petersburg Life Guards captain became a lieutenant colonel of the 52nd Nezhinsky Dragoon Regiment. He received two squadrons under his command and showed himself to be a brave and competent officer. At the beginning of 1905, Mannerheim conducted reconnaissance operations in the vicinity of Mukden, which gave the high command valuable information about the plans of the Japanese, and their executor - the rank of colonel. At the end of the war, he carried out similar operations in Mongolia.
Mannerheim's reconnaissance abilities were noticed in St. Petersburg. In 1906, the General Headquarters offered him a secret task: to find out the military-political situation on Chinese territory adjacent to the borders of Russia. Mannerheim, as a subject of the Grand Duchy of Finland, was more suitable than anyone for such a goal. For disguise, he had to deal with ethnographic and other scientific research. In addition, the Finnish researcher, who traveled under the auspices of the tsarist government, was included in the expedition of the French sinologist, Professor P. Pallio of the Sorbonne. Preparing for the execution of his mission, Mannerheim got acquainted with the results of travels in China by other European explorers. The scientific side of the expedition, the opportunity to visit places that Europeans had never visited before, was so captivating that neither the travel time - about two years, nor the fact that he would have to celebrate his 40th birthday in unknown lands, prevented him from accepting the offer.
On August 11, 1906, Mannerheim, accompanied by 40 Cossack volunteers and guides, crossed the Russian-Chinese border in the Osh region and soon separated from the French expedition. Colonel Mannerheim, according to the instructions of the General Staff, had to clarify how much support could be counted on by the local population in the event of an invasion of Russian troops into Inner Mongolia. He made a trip to the borders of India, explored the situation in the Chinese provinces of Xinjiang and Shanxi neighboring Inner Mongolia, paid a visit to the Tibetan Dalai Lama, who lived and was in exile on the southern border of the Gobi Desert, in whom the tsarist government saw its ally in a possible future clash with China. At the same time, Mannerheim conducted anthropological, ethnographic, linguistic and other studies, diligently kept a diary, sent letters to his relatives and friends, in which he talked about all kinds of adventures in an exotic country. Two years later, having visited Japan on his way back, he returned through Beijing and Harbin to St. Petersburg. Upon his return, the colonel wrote a secret report for the General Staff and published an ethnographic article in scientific journal, edited his diary and letters for a long time. They were published only in 1940 and translated into many languages.
Mannerheim considered these two years the most interesting in his life, he loved to talk about adventures in China. In his Memoirs, the chapter "Riding through Asia" is one of the longest and most vividly written. His adventures also interested Nicholas II. In October 1908 Mannerheim's audience with the tsar, instead of the planned 20 minutes, lasted 80 minutes and would have continued longer if the baron, as he writes, had not looked at his watch.
During the audience, Mannerheim asked the king to give a regiment under his command. In 1909 he received it. The 13th Vladimir Lancers was stationed in the small town of Novominsk (now Minsk-Grodzinsk), 44 km east of Warsaw. Taking into account the experience of the Russo-Japanese War, Mannerheim forced the dashing lancers in the exercise to give preference not to a saber, but to a rifle, to act not only on horseback, but also on foot. The colonel managed to break the dissatisfaction of the cavalry officers and prove to the authorities the expediency of innovations. In 1912, he was appointed commander of His Majesty's Life Guards, the Uhlan Regiment stationed in Warsaw. Thanks to the new appointment, Mannerheim received another title major general and free access to the king, since this position made him a courtier. Immediately before the First World War, a new promotion followed: Major General Mannerheim was appointed commander of His Majesty's Special Life Guards Warsaw Cavalry Brigade, which, in addition to his regiment, also included the Grodno Hussar Regiment and an artillery battery.
Almost six years before the outbreak of the First World War, Mannerheim, without breaking close relations with Finland, served in Poland. He easily found a common language with the Polish aristocracy, which was not distinguished by Russophilia. The general was fond of horse riding, became a member of elite hunting, sports and jockey clubs.
Before the outbreak of the First World War, the Mannerheim brigade was transferred to the south of Poland in the Lublin region. Already on August 15-17, 1914, she fought bloody battles in the vicinity of Opole with the main forces of the advancing Austro-Hungarian troops, Mannerheim used active defense tactics, which later was characteristic of him and brought success: he sent a third of his troops behind enemy lines and thus forced him to stop the offensive and go on the defensive. It was one of the few successful operations of the Russian army at the beginning of the war. Mannerheim received a military award - the Order of St. George on the hilt checkers. Subsequently, his brigade was forced to retreat, but managed to maintain order and avoid heavy losses.
In March 1915, the commander of the army, General Brusilov, Mannerheim's former chief from St. Petersburg times, transferred the 12th cavalry division to his control. In 1915 - 1916. he, as a division commander - and in fact a corps, since, as a rule, other units numbering up to 40 thousand people were subordinate to him - participated with varying success in many operations. The troops under the command of Mannerheim in 1916 liberated Romania from the invading Austro-Hungarian troops.
For the successful operation, Mannerheim received leave in early 1917 and spent it in Finland. Returning to his division through Petrograd in the days February Revolution, the baron almost became a victim of the crowd. The general had to, dressed in civilian clothes, run through the back door from the Evropeyskaya Hotel and then hide from patrols until he managed to leave Petrograd and return to service in Romania. There, his actual position as commander of the corps was formalized legally: he received the rank of lieutenant general. His corps participated in the failed summer offensive. One of the reasons for the defeat was the continued demoralization of the Russian army due to the strengthening of the power of the soldiers' councils, in which the Bolsheviks played an increasingly important role. When the army commissar, contrary to the agreement, refused to sanction the severe punishment of the soldiers who arrested the officer for pro-monarchical statements, Mannerheim realized that it was pointless to continue commanding the corps. At this time, he just received a slight leg injury. Taking the opportunity, he went to Odessa for treatment. After unsuccessful attempts to induce the officers who were in the city to do at least something against the decomposition of the army, the general actually removed himself from command of the troops.
On September 9, 1917, Mannerheim was officially relieved of his duties as a corps commander and transferred to the reserve.
After the Bolsheviks seized power, Mannerheim decided to return to his homeland. On December 6, 1917, Finland was proclaimed an independent state, which was recognized by the head of the Soviet government V.I. Lenin on 31 December. But it was difficult to return there in mid-December 1917 even with a Finnish passport - the Bolsheviks who came to power demanded to take permission to enter Smolny, but the general had no desire to go there. Mannerheim secretly managed to arrive in Finland on 8 December. He still hoped to save tsarism in Russia with the help of the army. Therefore, a week later, the general returned to Petrograd, but after making sure that the supporters of the overthrow Soviet power With little help from the army, at the end of December 1917 he finally left Russia, in whose army he served for 30 years.
In the summer of 1917, Mannerheim turned 50 years old. The most difficult days and responsible tasks were ahead. In the book "Memoirs" Mannerheim wrote that a fortune-teller in 1917 in Odessa almost accurately predicted his further ups and downs.
In "Memoirs" he outlined the reasons why, in his opinion, the Russian army was defeated in the Japanese and the First World Wars. Noting many objective reasons - primarily the backwardness of industry, especially the defense industry - Mannerheim also put forward subjective ones. In his opinion, in 1915, Nicholas II made a big mistake when he removed from the post of commander-in-chief Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich, a skilled military leader who had great authority in the army, and took this place himself. The tsar was a mediocre person with a mild character and did not have military leadership skills. Mannerheim met with him several times and drew conclusions based on his own observations. In addition, Nicholas II thus distanced himself from the people, from the political leadership, and the people began to associate the failures of the army with the tsar and his regime.
Mannerheim also characterized - partly on the basis of personal observations - some prominent generals tsarist army. He highly appreciated the generals A.A. Brusilov and A.G. Kornilov, as well as the Minister of War, General V.A. Sukhomlinov, and regarding the generals A.M. Krylov and A.I. Denikin, with whom he dealt, spoke out very critically. For example, when Mannerheim in 1916, on the basis of intelligence, reported to his neighbor on the front, divisional commander Denikin, that the Germans were sending reserves into battle, he did not heed this warning and the consequences were disastrous. Mannerheim wrote: "Russians arrogantly underestimate those facts that, for one reason or another, do not fit into their plans".
In 1916, Mannerheim fought with Krylov on the Romanian front. Mannerheim was subordinate to a number of Russian and Romanian units. Krylov, who occupied the left flank, retreated without permission, putting Mannerheim in a difficult position. As it turned out later, he justified his actions by the lack of confidence in the Romanian army. Mannerheim was also indignant at the fact that General A.F. Ragoza, in the presence of a Romanian liaison officer, insulted the Romanians as soldiers. Mannerheim objected to him, referring to the bravery of the brigade of the Romanian colonel Sturdza. When he later learned that Sturdza and his brigade went over to the Austrians, he was not surprised, since he himself had little hope for the loyalty of the Romanians, but he believed that it was impossible to insult the allies even when you had a low opinion of them.
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE FINNISH ARMY
The young Finnish state was engaged in the formation of its structures, it was necessary to think about its protection - this is how the defense committee arose. Arriving in Helsinki, the baron became a member. The committee consisted mainly of the same as Mannerheim, Finnish officers and generals who served in the tsarist army and after its collapse were unemployed; There were also those who returned from German captivity.
In Finland, a self-defense corps began to form - shutskor - an armed organization of wealthy people, including officers who received military training during the First World War in the 20th Jaeger Battalion in Germany. The Self-Defense Corps had little connection with the committee, which had a very vague function. He was more like a circle of intellectuals who were arbitrarily arguing about what should be done, and did not make any decisions.
But the internal political situation became more and more tense. In opposition to the Schützkor, the Red Guard began to form, skirmishes began between them, and terrorist actions were undertaken. The Red Guard received weapons and support from units of the Russian army that were in Finland and were heavily Bolshevikized. The Red Guard was supported by the industrialized southern part of Finland. They were opposed by the peasant South-Northern flax (province).
On January 14, 1918, at the end of the third meeting of the defense committee, which was held in the manner of a salon conversation, Mannerheim announced that he was depressed by the inactivity of the committee and was leaving it. To a reasonable question about his proposals in the current situation, Mannerheim put forward the idea that same night to leave Helsinki to the north and create the headquarters of the future army there. This plan received the approval of Prime Minister P.E. Svinhufvud.
The next day, Mannerheim became chairman of the committee, which meant that Mannerheim would become commander-in-chief of an army that did not yet exist.
On the night of January 19, 1918, the baron went to the eastern coast of the Gulf of Bothnia to the city of Vaasa with a fake passport in the name of the merchant Malmberg. The Red Guards checking the train seemed suspicious of the military bearing and excellent Russian language of a man dressed in civilians, and they wanted to arrest him. But the Finnish railroad employee, to whom Mannerheim addressed popvedski, convinced the soldiers that the "merchant" had documents in order, and the baron was released.
Many officers, in particular members of the defense committee, left for Vaaz. Contact was quickly established with the local shutskor, the backbone of the army began to take shape, the possibility of creating which in a country where there was no military obligation, Svinhufvud doubted. Mannerheim and his associates saw the main danger to independence and order in Finland in the Bolshevik units of the former tsarist army and set the goal of disarming them. By order of Mannerheim, the action was to take place on the night of January 23, but on the advice of Helsinki, the date was postponed to the night of January 28. The next senior officer in Mannerheim's headquarters, Major General Ernst Löfström, was against this action: it was futile to fight against military units that outnumbered the Finnish corps in the north in terms of numbers and weapons. On January 27, Svinhufvud sent a telegram demanding another postponement of the speech. Mannerheim, without telling anyone about the telegram, began to act according to the plan. The operation was a success, although clashes took place, which delayed its implementation for several days. Within four days, approximately 5 thousand servicemen of the former tsarist army were interned in Northern Finland, captured a large number of military equipment, including 37 guns.
On the same night that Mannerheim began his action in the north, the Red Guards in the south of the country overthrew the government. A red government was formed - the Council of People's Deputies, which included left-wing Social Democrats headed by K. Manner. As a result, 4/5 of the territory of Finland remained under the rule of the former government (most of its members managed, some through Berlin, to get to Vaasa), and densely populated areas with the most major cities Helsinki, Tampere, Turku, Viinuri were controlled by the Red Guard. Both sides were preparing for decisive battles. There were local battles.
Mannerheim took care to create a combat-ready army from the Shutskor detachments. He regrouped his forces, reorganized the headquarters, moving it from Vaaz a little to the east to Seinayski, replenished the officers and non-commissioned officers. The troops were constantly conducting exercises, work was underway to organize communications and rear services, general mobilization was announced - a rather risky step, because the poorer strata in the north also sympathized with the Reds.
There were no problems with the volunteers who came from Sweden. The situation was more complicated with the jaeger battalion that had returned from Germany to its homeland. Mannerheim wanted to disband it, use its fighters as junior and middle officers in various military units and divisions. But the huntsmen wanted to fight together, refused to obey the Finnish generals who had previously served in the tsarist army, mainly, like Mannerheim, Swedish-speaking generals. Mannerheim had to use all his authority, tact, and persuasiveness to basically carry out his course in the formation of the army, although with some elements of compromise.
The outstanding artist A. Gallen-Kallela, who volunteered for the government army, Mannerheim assigned to the headquarters, instructing him to develop sketches of the Finnish orders. Friendly relations between them survived until the end of the life of the artist, who died in 1931.
In March 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was concluded between Germany and Russia, which contained a clause on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Finland. In early March, Mannerheim was opposed to the Finnish government asking Germany for military assistance. However, this request was made.
The request was transmitted in December 1917. Finnish historians have not yet reached a consensus on whether Mannerheim's statement is true that during his first meeting with Svinhufvud he insisted that Svinhufvud not ask Germany and Sweden for help with regular troops, but Svinhufvud deceived him in regard to Germany.
The commander-in-chief, set up pro-Entantes, decided to occupy the industrial center - the city of Tampere (Tammerfors) on his own before the Germans arrived. Using his extensive military knowledge and experience, he carried out the offensive combat operation that began on March 15 in accordance with all the rules of military art. The battles were bloody. The Red Guards put up stubborn resistance, sometimes going on the counteroffensive, but they were inferior to Mannerheim's army both strategically and tactically. Tampere fell, though three days after the German landing under the command of General R. von der Goltz in Hanko. On the other hand, the White Finnish command managed to transfer the main contingent of its troops to the southeast to the Lahti-Viinuri (Vyborg) region, to the Karelian Isthmus, and by the end of April, having defeated the Red Guard detachments, reach the border with Russia. A certain contribution to the success of this operation was provided by the landing of German formations in the Loviisa region, which until then had occupied the western and middle part of the northern coast of the Gulf of Finland with the cities of Turku and Helsinki without a fight.
The press advertised the joint actions of the armies of Mannerheim and von der Goltz, calling them "brothers in arms." But everything was not so simple. On the one hand, the Germans were not satisfied that, by agreement, the von der Goltz division was subordinate to Mannerheim. On the other hand, in Finland itself, many did not like either the brilliant career of the commander-in-chief in the Russian army, or his Swedish origin and sympathy for Sweden; some suspected Mannerheim of dictatorial habits.
In order to strengthen his influence and the prestige of the army, Mannerheim on May 16 - just a month after the arrival of the Germans - marched the army into the capital with a parade march. Ahead of the troops, General of the Cavalry Mannerheim rode on horseback - this rank was assigned to him by the government in February. The general answered the greeting of the chairman of the parliament in Finnish, which he still did not speak fluently enough. and even gave "instructions" to the indecisive government. It would seem that the triumph is complete. But already on May 30, 1918, Mannerheim resigned as commander-in-chief, and a day later he left Finland. What happened, why twice, on May 20 and 27, did the commander-in-chief submit his resignations? Historians are almost unanimous that the main motive for Mannerheim's behavior is set forth in his memoirs: he could not come to terms with the government's plans to reorganize the Finnish armed forces along the German lines on the wave of pro-Germanism and thereby doom himself to the role of a "wedding general". But in military circles, Mannerheim was appreciated. And after him, in Sweden, where the retired commander-in-chief had left, a message came that General K. Enkel, who in 1887 expelled him from the Hamina military school, being the head of the school graduates club, awarded him the title of honorary member of the club.
HEAD OF STATE
After leaving Finland, Mannerheim lived for some time in Sweden, established friendly relations with envoys of the Entente countries in this country, and sometimes traveled to Finland. When the success in the world war began to accompany the Entente, the general agreed to go to England and France as a semi-official representative of the Finnish government. He arrived in Aberdeen (Scotland) on November 11, 1918, the day the Compiègne armistice was signed.
In the Entente countries celebrating the victory, the attitude towards Finland, which joined Germany (Kaiser Wilhelm's brother-in-law - Friedrich Karl of Hesse - was even elected King of Finland) was cool, but Mannerheim managed to meet with the heads of the foreign affairs departments of England and France - with Foreign Ministers A. Balfour and S. Pichon and gain their favor. Old connections also helped: both in London and Paris, his old acquaintances became influential people, the Special Emissary of the Finnish government was able to receive American food aid. On December 12, Parliament elected him in absentia as regent in place of Svinhufvud, who had resigned and compromised himself by close cooperation with Germany. Mannerheim was so successful in doing business that at the end of his tour he officially represented the supreme power of Finland. On December 22, 1918, the baron returned to his homeland. At the same time, the first batch of foreign food aid came, which he achieved abroad.
In March 1919, a new parliament of Finland was elected. A little more than half of those elected in 1917 remained: the Social Democrats did not participate in the elections, many of them died in the civil war or fled from Finland after the defeat of the Red Guards. By May, the parliament had drafted and approved a new constitution. Finland became a republic. However, in order to please the monarchists, who were in the minority in parliament, but, according to the procedural rules, were able to influence the adoption of the constitution, the president was given broad powers, especially in the field of foreign policy.
These democratic reforms were unpleasant to the regent. The elections gave the upper hand to the centrists and the moderate left. The Social Democrats regained their positions: they received 80 out of 200 seats in parliament. Although the radical wing of the party separated from its representatives in exile in August - September 1918, the Communist Party of Finland was formed, which was immediately banned and was in opposition to the social Democrats, moderate Social Democrats also did not get along with the white general. In the left circles, the winners were called butchers (lahtari) for the subsequent terror: mass executions, high mortality in the prisoner camps due to malnutrition, torture, epidemics. Although the fault of Mannerheim, who left the post of commander-in-chief shortly after the end of the war, was debatable, he was also hated.
Mannerheim's attitude towards white terror in Finland subsequently thoroughly studied, although this did not lead to complete clarity. The documents basically show that Mannerheim demanded compliance with international standards for the treatment of prisoners of war and an individual approach, severe punishment only for those who participated in criminal offenses.
The conservative Mannerheim was a supporter of the monarchy and strong power. However, after some doubt, he not only approved the new constitution, but also agreed to become a presidential candidate. According to the constitution, the president of Finland is elected by electors. But the first president was elected by parliament. Mannerheim collected only 50 votes. 143 votes of centrists and leftists elected the first president of Finland a centrist - a prominent lawyer, one of the drafters of the republican constitution K.Yu. Stolberg. Mannerheim managed to take revenge only in 1944, at a difficult time for Finland, and this will be more of a burden than a victory.
WITHOUT STATE POSTS
A small consolation for Mannerheim was that at the end of May 1919 he received the title of an honorary doctor of philosophy from the University of Helsinki. In this, of course, there was a large share of sycophancy, although formally there was a reason - the publication of generalized ethnographic studies of the general from the time of his Tibetan-Chinese journey, jointly with Finnish scientists. A great consolation for the general was the money collected in his fund - 7.5 million marks after he was relieved of the post of regent. This was enough for many years of a prosperous life in a fashionable area of Helsinki.
In the summer of 1919 he was offered to become ambassador in Paris. Mannerheim considered this post too insignificant for himself: he was not going to leave the political arena of Finland. During August 1919, negotiations were underway on his appointment as commander of the Finnish army, which, however, did not give a positive result, since Mannerheim, in the opinion of the president, demanded too much. Appointments in the armed forces, the imposition of martial law, the declaration of a state of war between Finland and Soviet Russia - all this was to be the responsibility of the commander.
Aggressive plans for a number of territories Soviet Russia(capture of Petrograd, Karelia) Mannerheim has been nurturing since the time of the civil war. In 1918, the former prime minister of Russia in 1916, A.F. Trepov and Wilhelm II advocated the overthrow of the Bolshevik regime in Petrograd with the help of troops under the command of a Finnish general. During the regency of Mannerheim, intensive negotiations were going on with the participation of representatives of the Entente on a joint campaign of the army of General N.N. Yudenich and the armed forces of Finland against Petrograd.
This possibility was seriously taken into account by the military command of Soviet Russia. Having launched an offensive south of the Gulf of Finland after the collapse of Germany, it left a large contingent of troops on the border with Finland, primarily on the Karelian Isthmus. However, the aggressive plans of the White Guards did not materialize for various reasons. Among them, in the first place was the unwillingness of the White Russian generals to recognize the independence of Finland. When it turned out that the Whites were unable to cope with the Bolsheviks, Mannerheim returned to the plan of a campaign against Petrograd by one Finnish army under his command.
Although the centrist Finnish leadership did not support Mannerheim, he found like-minded people in France in the person of J. Clemenceau and F. Foch. At that time, Yudenich's last offensive against Petrograd was in full swing, and Denikin's troops were moving towards Moscow. Representatives of Admiral A.V. Kolchak and the northwestern government of S.A. formed in August 1918 in Tallinn. Lianozova, in order to eliminate the contradictions between the Estonian government and the Whites, led by Yudenich, under pressure from the British, they asked Finland for help. According to Mannerheim's information, France supported this appeal. At the end of October 1919, Mannerheim sent from France open letter Finnish President Stolberg with an appeal to participate in the capture of Petrograd. According to him, this would be of world significance, contributing to the fall of Bolshevism. But in Helsinki they did not react to this appeal: the White Guards still did not recognize the independence of Finland, and the troops of Yudenich and Denikin had already begun to suffer defeat.
From France, Mannerheim went to Poland. The Finnish general was given a magnificent reception, he met with Prime Minister J. Pilsudski. Representatives of both former grand duchies Russian Empire were unanimous that Bolshevism in Russia must be overthrown. Mannerheim and Pilsudski came to the conclusion that they should cooperate with Russian liberal circles, which are ready not only to recognize the independence of Finland and Poland, but to build Russia on a new democratic and federal basis.
Piłsudski was going to start an anti-Bolshevik campaign in 1920 and tried to draw others into it. Mannerheim liked this idea, and he promoted it on his way back to his homeland in England and France. But the offensive of the Polish troops in 1920 against Soviet Russia did not find a response in Finland. Yes, and Mannerheim himself did not show proper activity.
It should be noted that the white general, who occupied the highest positions in the political and military hierarchy of the country in the first years of the existence of independent Finland, did not have a state post until 1931. It is curious that when in 1921 the leadership of the Shutskor elected their honorary chief Mannerheim as acting chairman, President Stolberg did not approve this decision. All this did not please the influential right-wing forces of the country. In the days of particular strained relations between Stolberg and Mannerheim, the latter's fans even suggested that he arrange a military coup, Mannerheim refused. He considered it possible to defend his views only by constitutional methods.
Freed from public service, the general did not lead an idle life. He was invited to various army ceremonies, he made presentations. Mannerheim was elected chairman of the board of the bank - at first the United Bank, after the merger - the Helsinki Joint Stock Bank. But financial affairs were of little interest to him, and in 1936 he finally resigned from the post of head of one of the most influential banks in the country.
Mannerheim paid special attention to activities, as a rule, not characteristic of the military - charity and medicine. In 1920, he founded the Union for the Protection of Children with the aim of promoting the physical and spiritual development of the younger generation. Achieving national reconciliation, this union took special care of the children of the poor population of Finland, in particular the children of the former Red Guards. Not believing in the sincerity of the general, the Social Democratic Party refused to cooperate with the Union for the Protection of Children.
Through the efforts of General's elder sister Sophia (died in 1928), who had medical education and by this time a prominent figure in the field of medical charity, Mannerheim was elected chairman of the Red Cross in 1922. Under his leadership, the Finnish Red Cross paid much attention to the training of medical personnel in case of war. On the business of this organization, the general visited a number of countries in Western Europe.
These posts were not burdensome for Mannerheim. He traveled a lot, met his daughters (one of them was a nun for some time), reconciled with his ex-wife. Once a year he hunted in the Tyrolean Alps, and at the end of 1927 he went to India to hunt tigers; her result is the skins of three tigers. This trip also had political overtones. The 10th anniversary of the victory of the White Army in Finland was approaching.
Relations between the baron and the ruling circles were strained, and Mannerheim, not wanting his participation in the events on the occasion of this date to become the object of political controversy, went to India for hunting trophies. But he was persistently invited to return to his homeland, and in May 1928 he nevertheless attended these events.
The world economic crisis of 1929-1933, which made itself felt in Finland already in 1928, brought more right-wing forces to power in the country: as a result, the first head of the Finnish state in 1917-1918. Svinhufvud became Prime Minister in June 1930 and was elected President of Finland in February 1931. The day after taking up this post - March 2, 1931 - he offered Mannerheim the post of commander of the armed forces and confidentially commander in chief in case of war. According to the constitution of Finland, the president was the commander-in-chief. Mannerheim refused the post of commander - too much routine work - but agreed to become chairman of the defense committee. So the 64-year-old general again ended up in public service. In 1933, in connection with the 15th anniversary of the end of the civil war, he was awarded the rank of marshal.
CAREFUL POLITICAN STRENGTHENS THE ARMY
In the complex system of military leadership in Finland - the commander in chief, the commander of the armed forces, the chief of the general staff, the minister of defense - the defense committee was an honorary, but unimportant body: it could only make recommendations. With his authority, Mannerheim achieved an increase in the importance of the committee, in particular, in 1933, the legal right to give orders to the command in matters military training countries.
Mannerheim began active work in this direction. On his initiative, the land forces of Finland were reorganized according to the territorial principle. Thus, a high mobilization readiness and good interaction with the shutskor were ensured. Building fortifications on the border and rearmament required money, and politicians did not particularly believe in the likelihood of war. Nevertheless, after the end of the economic crisis, budgetary spending on military needs was increased. At the initiative of Mannerheim, the construction of fortifications on the Karelian Isthmus was intensified, which in Finland and abroad began to be called the "Mannerheim Line". The old cavalryman, he became interested the latest species weapons - tanks and aircraft.
Eagerness to know what's new military equipment prompted Mannerheim to undertake frequent trips abroad to France, England, and Sweden. In Germany, as a guest of the Prime Minister of Prussia and the "chief forester of the Reich" G. Goering, he hunted with him. Mannerheim's aristocratic manners were the best suited for official representative missions, especially since in the West he, a former tsarist general, was known as an almost legendary personality. During his trips, Mannerheim warned Western politicians about the dangers of communism, called for the creation of a joint front against the USSR, but in the face of aggravated relations between Nazi Germany and Western democracies, his calls were unsuccessful. At Mannerheim's suggestion, Finnish military orders were placed mainly in England and Sweden.
Marshal's political activity revived. The course towards national reconciliation, shown in the actions of the Union for the Protection of Children, found a clear political expression in a speech on May 16, 1933, at the celebrations on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the White Army's entry into Helsinki. Gradually improved relations with the leader of the Social Democrats V. Tanner. This was all the more important because in 1936 the Social Democratic Party became the ruling party, having formed a "red-green" cabinet together with the agrarians.
Mannerheim was also very active in the field of foreign policy. The rapprochement between the USSR and France and its entry into the League of Nations puzzled the Finnish leaders. In their opinion, the League of Nations could no longer be a guarantor against the Soviet Union. They were also alerted by the statement in 1935 of the Soviet plenipotentiary E.A. Asmus that if Germany starts a war, the Red Army will enter the territory of Finland. These warnings were repeated by the Soviet leaders in 1936-1937. As a result, on the initiative of the marshal and his associates, Finland ceased to be guided by the League of Nations and became a supporter of pro-Scandinavian neutrality, which was announced in Parliament on December 5, 1935.
In the second half of the 1930s, Finland sought to take a neutral position between Hitler's Germany and the Western democracies, to ensure communications for help. from both rival groups of Western powers if Finland finds herself at war with the USSR. First of all, Finland hoped to receive military assistance from Sweden, with which confidential negotiations on this issue had been going on since 1923.
Mannerheim has always advocated close relations between Finland and Sweden. True, in 1918-1919, when Sweden claimed the Åland Islands and sent its troops there, and Mannerheim categorically opposed this, relations with some Swedish ministers escalated, but King Gustav V of Sweden always welcomed Mannerheim. As soon as the Åland conflict was settled, Mannerheim became an active supporter of Finnish-Swedish rapprochement in general and military cooperation in particular. But this was met with internal complications - relations between Finns and Swedes in Finland itself escalated. The stumbling block was the question of what language to teach in universities? Mannerheim, together with two like-minded generals - R. Walden and H. Ignatius, published a statement in which he insisted on resolving the conflict, emphasizing that its continuation could negatively affect the state's defense capability. The marshal himself, continuing to improve his Finnish, adhered to the rule that official language in the Finnish armed forces - Finnish, and on official occasions he always spoke Finnish. Even with those officers who, like him, were Swedes by nationality.
Mannerheim welcomed the coming to power of the Nazis in Germany in 1933, believing that they would more energetically fight against communism than the sluggish Western democrats. But by 1939, his views had changed: Hitler's aggressively lumpen behavior in domestic and foreign policy disgusted the aristocrat Mannerheim. But he believed that Finland should not have quarreled with Berlin. Marshal considered a real threat of war with the USSR and prepared for it. And at the same time, he advised to pursue a cautious policy towards the USSR, especially after the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact in 1939.
Mannerheim hurried with the rearmament of the army, the construction of fortifications, persistently demanded money for this. Not having received enough of them, he twice in 1939 - June 16 and November 27 - submitted his resignation. At the same time, he insisted that the leaders of Finland should be more flexible in their negotiations with Moscow. He advised the government to meet Moscow's proposals to transfer to the Soviet Union the demilitarized Finnish islands in the Gulf of Finland, which, according to him, were not of particular importance for Finland, but were important for the security of Leningrad and Kronstadt. Even on the issue of the main confrontation in the negotiations - the Soviet demand for the lease of the Hanko Peninsula for construction there military base- Mannerheim was looking for a compromise. He recommended giving the USSR the island of Yussare near the Hanko Peninsula.
Most Finnish politicians underestimated the military-strategic and political intentions of the then Soviet leadership. The realist Mannerheim was aware of the seriousness of the situation, as the former tsarist general knew the strategic interests of Russia, was politically flexible, and decisive in military matters. In addition, in early November, Mannerheim received a letter from Goering stating that Germany would not be able to support Finland at that time. Most of the leaders of Finland, in particular the Minister of Foreign Affairs E. Erkko, continued to rely on Germany.
The marshal was not taken by surprise by the outbreak of war with the USSR on November 30, 1939. Meeting with President Kallio on the same day, Mannerheim said that in the new circumstances he considered it his duty to take back the resignation that had just been submitted and was ready to assume the post of commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Finland.
Already on October 17, 1939, Mannerheim became commander of the armed forces of Finland, and General H. Estermann, who previously held this post, was appointed commander of the Karelian army. On November 30, President Kallio delegated to Mannerheim the post of supreme commander, which, according to the constitution, belongs to the president.
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF IN "WINTER WAR"
With the active participation of Mannerheim, on December 1, 1939, a new government was formed in order to remove from power those responsible for the ongoing foreign policy, to eliminate obstacles to a political solution to the conflict with the Soviet Union. Foreign Minister Erkko lost their portfolios - he was appointed to Stockholm as charge d'affaires - and Prime Minister Kajander, but the political base of the government remained the same. Many ministers have retained their posts.
It soon became clear that the possibility of political negotiations was blocked by the Finnish communists from the "People's Government of the Finnish Democratic Republic" who were in the Soviet Union, headed by O.V. Kuusinen, moreover, the Soviet leaders concluded an agreement on friendship and cooperation with them. Helsinki's attempts to contact Moscow via Stockholm were rejected on the pretext that the Soviet Union recognized the Kuusinen government as the Finnish leadership, and not the Helsinki government. Finland's desire to attract, at least indirectly, Sweden as an ally in the war against the CCCP - she was offered to occupy the Åland Islands - suffered, as in the negotiations before the war, a failure.
In early December, Mannerheim left for a prearranged headquarters in the city of Mikkeli (eastern Finland) and remained there throughout the "winter war". The command of the troops did not prevent him from following political events. Through his representative to the government, General R. Walden, as well as in the course of daily telephone conversations, Mannerheim managed to influence the political leadership of the country. In difficult moments, politicians came to him for advice. Marshal talked a lot with influential foreigners, used his extensive personal connections. Sometimes the leaders of Western countries addressed him directly, bypassing the political leadership of Finland.
Marshal was depressing that the Finnish army, mobilized in advance, easily lost ground in front of the line of fortifications on the Karelian Isthmus and that Soviet troops were developing an offensive north of Lake Ladoga in the direction of the Finnish-Swedish border. In the Finnish military plans, given the lack of roads, this was not foreseen. But Soviet builders managed to build new roads. Mannerheim quickly orientated himself, sent there additional units, inferior to the Soviet troops in terms of numbers and armament, but superior in mobility (on skis), using his tactics of encirclement and fragmentation of enemy troops. Finnish troops stopped the Soviet divisions. The first successes of the Mannerheim army were achieved in mid-December northwest of Ladoga in the vicinity of Tolvajärvi and in the north in the Suomussalmi region, and then in some other directions. The Soviet offensive was stopped in the north, as well as at the first line of fortifications on the Karelian Isthmus. This situation continued until mid-February 1940.
The successes achieved at the first stage of the "winter war" cheered up the Finnish politicians. Plans were discussed to create an anti-Stalinist government headed by A.F. Kerensky and L.D. Trotsky, who would lead the overthrow of Stalinism in Russia. It was also proposed to Western countries to organize an offensive from the north through Soviet Karelia to Leningrad. In the West, especially in France, the actions of the USSR were condemned. Germany stood apart, which, having given Finland as a sphere of influence to the Soviet Union under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, did not join the chorus of condemnation "but secretly also sympathized with Finland. When it became clear that Stalin's blitzkrieg in Finland had failed, interest in Finland in the west increased.
After the expulsion of the Soviet Union from the League of Nations on December 14, 1939, on December 21 the Supreme Allied Council adopted a rather vague decision on aid to Finland. At the end of December, France and England sent a note to Sweden and Norway demanding that their troops and weapons be allowed through the territory of the latter to help Finland. But in Sweden and Norway, they unraveled the plan of the Allies, about which the Prime Minister of England, N. Chamberlain, said: to kill two birds with one stone, namely, to help Finland, but also to occupy Northern Sweden on the way there, from where iron ore was exported through the Norwegian port of Narvik to Germany. The latter, of course, would intervene, and the whole of Scandinavia would become the scene of hostilities. The notes of England and France were answered in the negative.
With this in mind, Finland rearranged its plans. Mannerheim was especially active. In a reply letter to French Prime Minister E. Daladier in early 1940, he insisted on Anglo-French operations in the White Sea and specified that the landing of troops should take place in the Arkhangelsk area so that Germany would have no reason to intervene. He also proposed to attack the USSR in the Baku region. Mannerheim also insisted that the fighters of the regular armies of various Western countries - about 30 thousand people - come to Finland as volunteers, much like German and Italian troops were sent to participate in the Spanish Civil War. He raised this issue several times before the official representatives of both the Western Allies and Sweden.
On December 2b, Mannerheim ordered the creation of a special group of officers to receive "volunteers". But the "volunteers" came mostly from Sweden. Most of them had no military training. They still needed to be trained. The part formed from "volunteers" got to the front only at the end of the war. Armaments from the West also arrived little and belatedly.
During the "winter war" 11,370 volunteers arrived in Finland, of which 8482 were Swedish. A small number of them ended up at the front.
At the end of January 1940, Moscow informed the Finnish leadership through Tallinn and Stockholm that it was ready to negotiate with the Helsinki government on the terms put forward by the Soviet side in the autumn of 1939. Without consulting Mannerheim, the Finnish government prepared a negative response, but, on the advice of Sweden, he was transferred to the USSR in a restrained form. Relations with Moscow became even tougher when in Helsinki they learned about the decision of the Supreme Allied Council, i.e. political and military leadership of England and France, on February 5, 1940 to send an expeditionary force to Finland. But it was not possible to convince the Swedish government to let him through.
On February 10, Prime Minister R. Ryti and Minister of Foreign Affairs V. Tanner arrived for a meeting at the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief. Mannerheim, after consulting with the generals, preferred to conclude peace, but was not particularly categorical. At least he did not influence the position of Foreign Minister Tanner - the next day he published an official statement in the press that Finland was conducting successful operations, aid from the West was arriving and there were no peace negotiations with the USSR.
After the regrouping of forces, the Red Army resumed the offensive, on February 13, 1940, wedged into the first lane of the "Mannerheim Line" near the village of Lyakhte and expanded the bridgehead there in the following days. In order to avoid encirclement, the Finnish military leadership decided to retreat. The battle for the city of Viipuri (Vyborg) began. Mannerheim's reserves were dwindling.
With the success of the Red Army, Soviet demands became tougher: to restore the borders of the time of Peter I, i.e. occupy the entire Karelian Isthmus with the city of Viipuri, as well as the lands north and northwest of Ladoga with the cities of Sortavala and Kyakisalmi, thereby depriving Finland of access to Ladoga. About one tenth of the population of Finland lived in this territory, and it gave the same part of the national income of the country. By the end of February 1940, the Finnish leadership was inclined to give in to the demands of the USSR. This alarmed the Allies, especially France, who promised to expedite the sending of a large expeditionary force to Finland. The Allies demanded that Finland make an official request to them to send troops. The Finnish leaders, including Mannerheim, thought for several days - they did not answer Moscow and did not formally request the West to send troops.
Nevertheless, on March 6, 1940, the Finnish delegation headed by Ryti went to Moscow for negotiations. It turned out that the Soviet leadership again increased its territorial claims to Finland at the expense of the northern lands. The head of the Soviet government and People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs V.M. Molotov was very tough. The political leadership of Finland requested the opinion of the commander in chief. On March 9, Mannerheim, after conferring with the generals, gave the answer to sign peace, since a tired army could hold the front against superior enemy forces for no more than a week. On March 13, 1940, a peace treaty was signed in Moscow on the terms dictated by the Soviet side.
DISAPPOINTMENT WITH LONDON AND PARIS
Both sides were not satisfied with the provisional and compromise Moscow peace treaty. The leaders of the Soviet Union wanted to subjugate Finland, the ruling circles of Finland - to destroy Bolshevism and create Great Finland. After the "winter war" of 1939-1940. Mannerheim's popularity in the country increased greatly. The hatred towards him of the poor sections of the population, which arose during the civil war and persisted for many years, receded into the background. This was facilitated by Mannerheim's proposal to cancel the "white holiday" on May 16 - on this day, 1918, the victorious white army of Mannerheim entered Helsinki - and rename it the day of memory of all the Finns who died in the wars.
The political influence of Mannerheim in the country also increased. In the government reformed after the war, R. Ryti became Minister of War trusted person Mannerheim - General Walden. He and Mannerheim himself entered the so-called "inner ring", which also included the prime minister and the minister of foreign affairs. The "inner ring" solved the most important problems of the country, while consulting little with other ministers and parliament.
Martial law was not lifted and Mannerheim remained commander in chief. Parliament now gave him as much money as he required for the military. Immediately after the war, the construction of fortifications on the new state border began, and the term of service in the armed forces in peacetime was extended. Their numbers have increased.
But there were difficulties with rearmament. After the occupation of Norway by Germany in April 1940, weapons delivered there for Finland from Western countries fell into the hands of the latter, and Hitler's ban on the supply of German weapons to Finland remained in force.
In the summer of 1940, the country's political situation became more complicated: the Wehrmacht defeated France, and the Baltic countries were annexed to the Soviet Union. Helsinki received conflicting information about the concentration of Soviet troops on the border with Finland. At the same time, the USSR presented Finland with a number of additional requirements which were interpreted in Helsinki as threatening independence; transit traffic by rail between the CCCP and the Soviet base at Hanko, the creation of a joint Soviet-Finnish company to operate Finnish nickel mines.
In the summer of 1940, the Nazi Reich began active preparatory measures to implement the plan for the Attack on the USSR. Hitler believed that Finland was interested in participating in his eastern campaign. On August 18, 1940, Goering's emissary I. Fel'tjens arrived in Helsinki with a top-secret letter from his boss to his "old hunting companion" Mannerheim. It reported that Hitler decided to supply the Finnish army with weapons and asked Finland to allow the transit of German troops to Northern Norway through its territory. Mannerheim said that he would accept weapons, and on the second issue he recommended that Feltyens contact the country's political leadership, which subsequently granted Hitler's request. In September 1940, the transit operation began. After Molotov's visit to Berlin in November 1940, Goering, through the Swedish intermediary Baron K. Rosen, as well as Feltjens, informed Mannerheim that the "Fuhrer" had rejected the USSR's wish to include Finland in his sphere of interests and took it "under his umbrella."
In 1946, during the trial of the Finnish perpetrators of the war, the Prime Minister of 1940, Ryti denied that he met with Feltjens, but documents later found in German archives show the correctness of Mannerheim's version.
This began the German-Finnish military cooperation in preparation for an attack on the USSR. Later, specific agreements were reached during mutual visits of high-ranking officers: in January 1941, Chief of the General Staff of Finland E. Heinrik to Germany, in February, Oberkvartmeister H.-G. Seidel and the Chief of Staff of the Army "Norway" E. Buschenhagen to Finland, in March, the Chief of the Finnish military intelligence L. Melander to Germany and the head of the department " foreign armies East" by E. Kinzel to Finland, as well as through military attachés - H. Resing in Finland, V. Horn in Germany. Both sides were careful, they talked about coordinating actions in the event of a new threat from the east, in confidential conversations the issue of an attack was discussed At the end of May - beginning of June 1941, as a result of a new round of mutual visits, an agreement was reached on the deployment of German ground forces in northern Finland and the transfer of the Finnish troops stationed there under German command, on the basing of German aviation and fleet in the south of the country.
Mannerheim instructed his subordinates to act, but warned that reports on these actions were given only orally. He himself kept in the background, but in a letter to Goering, which his emissary, General P. Talvela, handed over to the addressee in December 1940, it was said about joint operations in the northwestern part of the USSR. In May 1941 Mannerheim, impressed by the German victories in the Balkans, told his schoolmates that he was disappointed with his old Anglo-French orientation and preferred Germany.
Still, the marshal remained cautious. He, like the political leadership of the Sgrane, avoided signing any written agreements with Germany. In Helsinki, they did not rule out the possibility that the Anglo-French coalition would be the winner in the world war, and tried, both for external and internal political reasons, to create the impression that Finland would be drawn into the war on the side of Germany against her will. On June 14, 1941, on the day of the publication of a statement by the Soviet telegraph agency TACC that Germany allegedly had no aggressive intentions against the USSR, Mannerheim received a telegram signed by Keitel from Berlin stating that the German-Soviet war would begin by June 22. On June 17, a day later than planned, Mannerheim announced a general mobilization.
JOINTLY WITH GERMANY AGAINST THE USSR
After the Soviet aviation on June 25, 1941, raided those facilities in Finland where the German armed forces were located, Finland announced that it was at war with the USSR. Mannerheim with his headquarters again moved to Mikkeli, but remained a member of the "inner ring". Before making any important political decision, the country's leadership consulted with him. Sometimes Mannerheim took independent political action. The trend towards the formation of two centers of power, which had already been outlined in the "winter war", was intensifying.
In the armed forces of Finland, including auxiliary units, there were 648 - 60 thousand people, which accounted for 16% of the total population and 33% of men. This was in percentage terms more than in any other country. The firepower of the army was 2.5 - 3 times greater than in the "winter war". Commander-in-Chief Mannerheim, judging by his belligerent orders at the beginning of the war, was going to "participate in the world-historical crusade against Bolshevism", forever eliminate the "Russian threat to the North of Europe", create "Greater Finland and include Soviet Karelia there." The government found it necessary to dissociate itself from some of the provisions of these orders, especially about the creation of Greater Finland.
The marshal was very carried away, but, as always, he was able to soberly assess the changing situation faster than the political leadership, when he saw that events were not developing as he expected. Already in August 1941, in conversations with the Germans, he said that he was disappointed with the way military operations were developing on the Soviet-German front. Having exactly fulfilled all the wishes of the German command in the first days of the war, Mannerheim at the end of July 1941 told the German liaison officer V. Erfurt, who was seconded to his headquarters, when disagreements arose between them, that it was not Erfurt who commanded the Finnish troops, but he, Mannerheim.
The first military-political crisis came in late August - early September 1941, when the Finnish troops reached the old border not only north of Ladoga, but also on the Karelian Isthmus, capturing Vyborg. Keitel then turned to Mannerheim with a letter in which he proposed, in addition to the initial plan for the joint encirclement of Leningrad and a meeting on the Svir River, to continue the offensive on the Karelian Isthmus to Leningrad. At the same time, the USSR, through the mediation of the United States, offered Finland peace within the borders of 1939. There was something to think about.
Mannerheim had long dreamed of taking the city on the Neva. But the situation was not right. First successes at the beginning new war the Finnish army got a lot of blood and one could expect especially staunch resistance near Leningrad, and the capture of the territory of the Karelian-Finnish SSR and its further inclusion in Greater Finland could be delayed. Mannerheim decided to limit himself to only imitation of an attack on Leningrad, but to go to the Svir River with a further turn to the north, to Soviet Karelia. In September 1941, when this task was completed, the Nazis demanded a further offensive to the south, although they themselves were unable to break through to the planned connection with the Finns on the Svir River. Mannerheim, on the other hand, proposed to Keitel his plan: to attack Belomorsk in the north by joint efforts and cut off Murmansk and Arkhangelsk from the center of Russia.
Finnish troops moved in this direction, capturing Petrozavodsk in early October 1941. But this led to another political crisis in late October - early November 1941. England and the United States sent notes of protest to Helsinki, as their northern communications route with the USSR was in danger. England, which had threatened Finland with a declaration of war, did so in December 1941. At the same time, the internal political and economic situation in Finland was complicated - the country was threatened with famine, and without partial demobilization it was difficult to ensure the functioning of the economy. The soldiers were reluctant to wage a grueling war on foreign soil.
Mannerheim hesitated. On the one hand, it was undesirable to aggravate relations with England and the USA, on the other hand, it was desirable to contribute to the defeat of the USSR by cutting off its communications with the outside world. He replied evasively to Churchill's letter about the immediate suspension of the offensive. Mannerheim had previously been hinted from Berlin that he could take command of the entire Finnish-Soviet front, including the German forces in the north. This time he was so angry with the clumsy actions of the German General N. von Falkenhorst, commander of the army "Norway", that he himself expressed to Erfurt a wish to take command of the entire front.
Mannerheim's hesitation was put to an end by the Soviet counter-offensive on the Tikhvin-Volkhov front in November-December 1941. When Finnish troops reached the Maselga Isthmus between Onega and Segozero in the north of the Karelian-Finnish SSR in December, Mannerheim ordered them to stop and go on the defensive. The discussion with the German command of the issue of the campaign to Belomorsk continued. If at first Mannerheim was very interested in this operation, then in February 1942 he changed his mind: "I won't step again", he said. The Soviet-Finnish front froze until the early spring of 1944. Sometimes the German command put forward proposals to intensify hostilities, but usually Mannerheim rejected them under the pretext that the Finns did not have enough strength, since the Germans failed to capture Leningrad and thus Finland had no reserves, so how she should also keep her troops near Leningrad.
There are disputes about Mannerheim's attitude to the city on the Neva, the city of his youth. There is a lot of evidence that Mannerheim in 1941, as in 1919, wanted to participate in the capture of this city, considering this an important matter in the liberation of Russia from Bolshevism. But in view of the stubborn resistance of the Soviet troops, he preferred that the Nazis take the brunt of the operation to capture Leningrad. Finnish troops took part in the blockade of Leningrad, but they did not shoot at the city. According to the diary entry of Hitler's adjutant Major Engel, it was Mannerheim who suggested to Hitler that Leningrad be wiped off the face of the earth. But the reliability of this evidence is questionable. Further research showed that most likely only once Mannerheim expressed himself in this way. But much more often he expressed the opposite opinion. As early as August 30, 1941, he told Erfurt that if the Germans destroyed Leningrad, the Russians would rebuild it. If we compare the position of different leaders of Finland at that time about the fate of the city on the Neva, then Mannerheim looks the most moderate against their background.
STORM AFTER CALM
1942 passed relatively calmly for Mannerheim. There were almost no battles at the front, and the commander-in-chief was not busy with long-term planning of military operations. But that was not in his nature. He, as always, worked hard, strictly asked his subordinates, tried to keep his word and disliked those who did not do so. He led an almost domestic lifestyle: his favorite riding, swimming, at dinner - funny stories from his life for the generals.
June 4, 1942 Mannerheim turned 75 years old. His anniversaries in Finland were celebrated with magnificent celebrations. But in wartime, the place of celebration was kept secret. There were few invitees. Ryti, who became president in 1940, gave the commander-in-chief the military rank of "Marshal of Finland" instead of "simple" marshal. The sensation was the arrival of Hitler with his retinue. In a one-on-one conversation, both commanders-in-chief stated that the stubborn resistance of the Soviet troops was a surprise to them, in a further monologue, Hitler apologized that he could not help Finland in the "winter war".
Hitler's visit attracted the attention of the world community. It was assumed that the "Fuhrer" would force Mannerheim to launch a new offensive on the Finnish-Soviet front, and therefore the United States diplomatically offered Helsinki not to submit to pressure from Berlin. However, Hitler did not demand from Finland to intensify hostilities, since the German command in 1942 led an offensive against Stalingrad and the Caucasus.
Mannerheim's courtesy return visit to Germany followed a month later. Hitler and his generals talked about their military plans all over the world. This had a depressing effect on Mannerheim. Discussing the results of the visit, Mannerheim and his entourage came to the conclusion that such a global strategy is doomed to failure. The German army was stopped at Stalingrad, and when the Nazis once again raised the issue of storming Leningrad in the autumn of 1942, Mannerheim reacted to this with great restraint, although some preparatory measures were taken from the Finnish side. At the same time, Mannerheim helped the Finnish authorities to stop extraditing Jewish refugees to Germany.
In 1942, the entire Finnish military leadership, headed by Mannerheim, stepped up the course of withdrawing individual Finnish units from the subordination of the German command in northern Finland. On occupied territories on the Karelian Isthmus, primarily north of Ladoga, including the Maselk Isthmus, the construction of fortifications began. The hope was cherished that Finland would gain a foothold in these positions while the armed forces of the great powers, primarily Germany and the USSR, would exhaust each other in bloody battles.
1943 and the first months of 1944 were also calm at Mannerheim's headquarters. The political leadership of Finland, in consultation with Mannerheim, was looking, mainly through the United States, for ways for Finland to get out of the war on favorable terms for her. At the end of 1943, confidential contacts were established with the USSR. Experienced Mannerheim was in this regard more pessimistic than most politicians in his country. He said that "one cannot demand better conditions from the winner of the war than those that existed at the beginning of the war".
This applied, first of all, to the borders of 1940, which caused particular rejection in Finland. For purely military reasons, it was Mannerheim who thwarted the conclusion of peace already in the first months of 1944. The first point of the Soviet peace conditions was the internment of the German armed forces stationed in Finland by the Finnish troops. Mannerheim believed that without armed clashes this would hardly be possible, and in the meantime the Red Army would try to occupy Finland. At the same time, the Finnish army was not able to fight against the German and Soviet armed forces. It was hard to imagine that such an argument would be able to convince Western countries are allies of the Soviet Union. When the Soviet proposals were finally rejected in April 1944, the Finnish authorities put forward another argument, also recommended by Mannerheim: the war reparations demanded by the Soviet Union were too much for Finland.
Hitler decided to punish Finland for entering into negotiations with Moscow: he stopped the supply of weapons, Mannerheim, however, managed to achieve their resumption, although not in full.
On June 10, 1944, the Vyborg-Petrozavodsk offensive operation of the Red Army began. In the early days of the offensive troops of the Leningrad Front under the command of L.A. Govorov and the Petrozavodsk Front under the command of K.A. Meretskov developed successfully, the front line of the Finnish fortifications on the Karelian Isthmus was broken, and then Vyborg was taken. But Mannerheim managed to organize stubborn resistance by transferring part of his troops from Soviet Karelia to the Karelian Isthmus. There, too, the retreat took place in an organized manner and the Finnish troops managed to avoid encirclement. By mid-July, the front had stabilized somewhat east of the Soviet-Finnish border of 1940.
A certain role in this outcome was played by the transfer of parts of the German army from Estonia to help the Finns. Mannerheim very energetically sought this support. On the night of June 22, 1944, he sent a letter to Hitler, in which he reported, referring to his conversation with the political leadership of the country, that Finland was ready "closer to the Reich". The German leadership, which since the spring of 1943, after the first signs of Finland's desire to conclude a separate peace, unsuccessfully sought a political agreement with it, decided to quickly use the opportunity.
Germany and Finland did not have such a political agreement as with their other allies. Finland was also not a prisoner member in the autumn of 1940. tripartite alliance Germany with Japan and Italy, which was joined by the Balkan allies. In November 1941, Finland only became a member of the Anti-Comintern Pact.
On June 22, 1944, Ribbentrop arrived in Helsinki and many days of difficult negotiations with Ryti began, ending in a compromise. Referring to the fact that the parliament would not approve the treaty, Ryti achieved its replacement with his personal public letter stating that Finland was negotiating with the Soviet Union and would make peace with it only in mutual understanding with Germany.
Some Finnish politicians, including Mannerheim, advised Ryti to formalize the agreement with Germany in this way and for other reasons: if Ryti leaves the presidency, his successor will not be legally bound by his promise.
MARSHAL-PRESIDENT EXITS THE WAR
Further German defeats on the Soviet-German front and the opening Western allies The USSR of the second front in Europe led to the withdrawal of the German troops transferred to Finland and exacerbated the issue of the conclusion by Finland of a separate peace with the USSR. To do this, it was necessary to concentrate political and military power in the country in one hand. It was believed that only Mannerheim could be this person. His candidacy was supported by the so-called peaceful opposition: representatives of various parties who, since 1943, had been in favor of Finland's early withdrawal from the war. There were reports from Stockholm that the USSR was demanding a replacement of the president and government, but had nothing against the marshal of Finland: it was believed that Mannerheim was able to take Finland out of the war. The Government of Sweden was of the same opinion. On July 28, Ryti, Walden and Tanner went to Mikkeli.
The question of electing Mannerheim as head of state was raised before almost all presidential elections, making sure that victory in the elections was not guaranteed, Mannerheim refused to stand as a candidate every time. In the summer of 1944, the 77-year-old commander-in-chief, after some hesitation and reference to old age and poor health, agreed. On August 4, 1944, the Parliament approved the Finnish Marshal Mannerheim as President of the country by a special law without a vote. It was his revenge for his defeat in the presidential election in 1919.
First of all, Mannerheim formed a new government. Prime Minister Z. Linkomies and Foreign Minister H. Ramsay resigned, replaced by Karl Enkel, who spoke Russian well, the son of the general who expelled Mannerheim from the Haminsky military school in his youth. In general, the two Mannerheim governments that quickly replaced each other, in the formation of which the former leaders of Finland who had left their posts actively participated, consisted of conductors of the former political course and personal friends of the president.
Mannerheim then began to prepare Finland's exit from the war. He did it slowly. On August 17, the president-marshal told Keitel, who arrived in Finland, that he, as the new president, was not bound by Ryti's letter to Hitler about the conclusion of peace by Finland only with the consent of Germany.
There is a discussion among Finnish historians about whether such a step, envisaged already during the negotiations between Ryti and Ribbentrop, was not prompted by Mannerheim himself. Of course, this was one of the possible, but not the only option for policy planning.
On August 25, 1944, Mannerheim addressed the Soviet government through Sweden with a written request whether Moscow agreed to receive a Finnish delegation to conclude peace or a truce. On August 29, a positive answer was received under two conditions: Finland would openly announce the severance of relations with Germany and demand the withdrawal of German armed forces by September 15 at the latest. If the Germans do not leave, they must be disarmed and handed over as prisoners of war to the Allies.
Mannerheim tried to maneuver between the USSR and Germany, to get Finland out of the war without complicating relations with Berlin. On September 2, he reported to Moscow that the Finnish troops themselves could ensure the voluntary evacuation of German troops or interne them along the line of the Ouluyski River - Lake Oulujärvi - Sotkamo, i.e. to the line, to the north of which the German troops were mainly stationed. On the same day, he sent a letter to Hitler, saying that Finland was forced to withdraw from the war, and promising that the weapons received from Germany would never be used against the Germans.
September 3, 1944 ended hostilities on the Soviet-Finnish front. On September 19, 1944, an armistice agreement was signed in Moscow, dictated, as at the end of the "winter war", by the Soviet side, but this time agreed with England. The Soviets tightened their initial terms: they demanded - and achieved - the establishment of a naval base instead of Hanko at Porkkala, only 17 kilometers from Helsinki. During the negotiations, the Soviet side sharply raised the issue of expulsion from the territory of Finland German troops which has already expired.
Mannerheim failed to keep his word given to Hitler. The representative of the Finnish General Staff agreed with the headquarters of the German group of troops in the north of Finland (about 200 thousand people) about its slow retreat and imaginary pursuit by the Finns.
On September 21, 1944, the first representatives of the Allied (Soviet) Control Commission arrived in Helsinki, who became interested in the Finnish plan for the internment of German troops, but there was none. At the same time, the Nazi troops behaved defiantly: on September 15 they tried to capture the Finnish island of Sur-Sari, they began to blow up bridges. The President-in-Chief decided to act energetically. On September 22, he ordered Lieutenant General H. Siilosvuo, who had been subordinate to the German command in northern Finland since the second half of 1941, to move north and prepare for the internment of German troops. On October 1, Siilosvuo troops landed in the Finnish city of Tornio on the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, in the rear of the retreating German troops; A battle ensued with the German garrison. Correspondents from foreign newspapers reported the details of the battle to the whole world, which helped to improve the attitude of the world community towards Finland.
Thus began Finland's third war during World War II, the so-called Lapland War in Finnish Lapland, this time against Germany. It continued until the spring of 1945 - the complete expulsion of German troops from the territory of Finland. The first battles were the most bloody. In late autumn and winter, it was difficult for the Finnish troops to advance - the retreating German units thoroughly destroyed roads, bridges, and crossings. Through the joint efforts of the Finnish and Swedish authorities, the population was evacuated to Sweden in advance.
THE PRESIDENT RETIRES
In November 1944, parliamentary circles forced Mannerheim to abandon the right-wing government, which did not get along with the Allied (Soviet) Control Commission, and appoint the spiritual leader of the "peaceful opposition" Yu.K. Paasikivi. With great reluctance, Mannerheim agreed with Paasikivi's intentions to include leftist forces, in particular the communists, in the government. The latter, after the armistice agreement with the CCCP came into force, were popular among the population. According to the armistice agreement, fascist organizations were to be banned in Finland. The Allied (Soviet) Control Commission determined their list, which also included the shutskor - the old stronghold of Mannerheim. Mannerheim approved the idea of transferring the property of the shutskor to the Red Cross, which was close to him.
There were discussions about the interpretation of the demilitarization clause in the armistice agreement. The Soviet side demanded that the coastal defense batteries be destroyed. Mannerheim did not want to go for it. He picked up the idea suggested to him of concluding an agreement on mutual assistance between Finland and the USSR in the event of an attack on them in the Baltic basin and drafted it in early 1945. The document was discussed with Paasikivi and the new commander of the armed forces of Finland, Heinrichs, and approved by the chairman of the Allied (Soviet) Control Commission A.A. Zhdanov. It was decided to postpone the project until the conclusion of a peace treaty. But Mannerheim saved the coastal batteries in this way.
In March 1945, parliamentary elections were held in Finland, in which the left forces strengthened their positions. This was also reflected in the composition of the new Paasikivi government. Power was concentrated in the hands of the prime minister. Mannerheim receded into the background: the elderly president's health deteriorated. As Mannerheim himself noted, he had no opportunity to influence the government, since, as a result of the parliamentary elections, parties alien to him dominated there.
After the armistice, many Finnish officers feared that the Soviet Union would try to occupy the country. To manage in such a case guerrilla war weapons were hidden all over the country. In the spring of 1945, these warehouses were discovered. Their creation was a dangerous undertaking for the development of Soviet-Finnish relations and thus for the country. In a letter to Mannerheim, the Chief of the Operations Department of the General Staff of the Ground Forces, Lieutenant Colonel U. Haakhti, took all the blame. The president said he believed him, but the leadership of the armed forces was replaced against the will of the president.
A sharp political struggle unfolded in Finland in 1945 on the issue of the implementation of the 13th article of the armistice agreement - the punishment of the perpetrators of the war. This article was not coordinated with the existing legislation, and in September a special law on its implementation was adopted. The country's former political leaders became defendants. The attitude towards them in the country was ambivalent: on the one hand, they were justified, since Finland's participation in Hitler's war against the CCCP was considered a consequence of the "winter war" of 1939-1940. On the other hand, allied relations with Hitler did not do honor to Finland. An investigation into the mechanism of the German-Finnish rapprochement since the summer of 1940 showed that Mannerheim also played a significant role in it. He was also asked questions during the investigation. Some members of the government raised the issue of the president's long trip abroad for medical treatment or his resignation so that he does not end up in the dock. Mannerheim, who was in the hospital with a stomach ulcer, went to Portugal for treatment at the end of October, when the trial of the perpetrators of the war had already begun. Zhdanov tried to prevent Mannerheim's departure, but, having received new instructions from Moscow, he disavowed his veto on this trip.
Returning in early 1946 to Helsinki, Mannerheim was again in the hospital. A representative of the Allied (Soviet) Control Commission paid him a visit and informed him that the Soviet government had no claims against him, despite the facts revealed at the trial of the perpetrators of the war. Members of the government headed by the prime minister, who also visited the patient, suggested that he resign, referring mainly to poor health. Mannerheim promised to leave, but after the end of the process.
He kept his word. The process ended on February 21st. On March 3, Mannerheim left the hospital, wrote his last angry letter as president to the acting commander of the armed forces, General J. Lundqvist, in which he condemned the latter’s intentions to dismiss several generals from the army, and the next day submitted a letter of resignation. In addition to poor health, he justified his decision by the fact that with the end of the trial of the perpetrators of the war, all the tasks of withdrawing Finland from the war and fulfilling the armistice agreement were completed, for the sake of which he, Mannerheim, held such a responsible post at the general request.
Mannerheim was right - he fulfilled his duty. But although all Finnish politicians thanked Mannerheim, and in particular his successor as president, Paasikivi, uttered laudatory words in his honor, the fact remains that during the year and a half of Mannerheim's presidency, the political situation in Finland changed so much that the honored marshal turned out to be an extra person in the political Olympus.
HAPPEN TO FINISH MEMOIRS
Freed from public duties, Mannerheim was able to pay more attention to his health. In September 1947 he underwent an operation in Stockholm. When the disease weakened, Mannerheim kept cheerful. He often met with people close to him, striking his interlocutors with his knowledge in various fields, He traveled a lot, lived, on the advice of doctors, mainly in sunny lands - in Switzerland, France, Italy, took care of his unmarried and childless daughters. Mannerheim enjoyed talking with young women, he even fell in love. He became seriously interested in Princess Gertrud Arko, the sister of the Swedish bankers Wallenberg.
Over time, Mannerheim became more and more modest - he met his 80th birthday in the village among friends, without unnecessary celebrations. The marshal's political pessimism deepened. Representatives of the USSR tried to behave correctly and put forward demands that did not contradict the armistice agreement. But some of these demands were harshly worded and the Finns interpreted them as interference in their internal affairs. Since the summer of 1946, the activity of the Finnish communists has sharply increased. Mannerheim often repeated: they will crush us. Once, when he got tired of Paasikivi with his pessimistic forecasts, he could not resist and said: "If that's the case, then we'll both have to go into the woods and put a bullet in our heads.".
In the autumn of 1947, after the ratification of the peace treaty, the Soviet side again raised the issue of concluding a mutual assistance treaty, the first draft of which was prepared by Mannerheim at the beginning of 1945. In the conditions of the Cold War, President Paasikivi, together with Mannerheim, with whom he conferred, hesitated. But in February 1948, the agreement was nevertheless concluded.
Moving away from the active political activity, Mannerheim set about his last great work - writing memoirs. Preparing for it
began after the release from the duties of the president. But he sat down at the desk only in the autumn of 1948 in Val Monte in Switzerland. Unfortunately, in the fall of 1945 and in February 1948, Mannerheim burned most of his archive. And he had to resort to the help of the nearest employees. But the main work, sometimes interrupted by trips and bouts of illness, he did himself. By the beginning of 1951, the monumental two-volume book was basically ready for publication.
In Finland in 1948, i.e. almost simultaneously with the beginning of the writing of Mannerheim's memoirs, the communists were withdrawn from the government and were defeated in the parliamentary elections. A right-wing counteroffensive began, albeit timidly. The actions of Mannerheim's army against the threat of the Bolshevization of the North became again held in high esteem. It became the leitmotif of his memories. At the same time, he simply hushed up some dubious deeds, for example, his pro-Hitler and by no means defensive orders in the first weeks of the war against the USSR in 1941. Mannerheim went even further - in the introduction to his memoirs, he accused the USSR of unleashing the Second World War in connection with an agreement with Hitler in August 1939, in plans to conquer the whole world and expressed his anti-communist convictions in very strong words. His colleagues, including Paasikivi, did not object in principle to his point of view, but recommended that these lines not be published. They feared that this could aggravate Finnish-Soviet relations. Mannerheim partly but reluctantly went to meet them. In the version printed after his death, the introduction is abbreviated much more than the author himself was ready for.
On January 19, 1951, the 83-year-old marshal, who was honing his memories, fell seriously ill. Exacerbated stomach ulcer. Ero was rushed to a hospital in Lausanne. Smiling weakly, he said to the doctor; "In many wars I have fought... but now I think I will lose this last battle".
After another operation, Mannerheim felt better for a few days, but then a sharp deterioration followed, and on January 27, 1951, he died.
Ero's body was taken to Finland. Even after the death of Mannerheim, the political battles associated with him continued. The government was afraid that the funeral could turn into a large nationalist demonstration, which would lead to foreign policy complications. We argued for a long time. The majority unanimously decided that members of the government would not participate in the funeral. But a number of them, including Prime Minister W.K. Kekkonen, whose relationship with Mannerheim during his lifetime was very difficult, nevertheless went.
The funeral took place on February 4 with a large gathering of people. They brought the last horse of the once dashing cavalryman. Speaker of Parliament K.-A. Fagerholm in his farewell speech showed the outstanding importance of Mannerheim as a political and military figure in Finland. Mannerheim was buried in the Hietaniemi cemetery next to his former comrades-in-arms, soldiers who fell in wars.
On June 16, 2016, a memorial plaque to the Finnish Field Marshal was opened on the facade of the building of the Military Logistics Academy on Zakharyevskaya Street, where Mannerheim served.
Name: Carl Gustav Mannerheim
Age: 83 years old
Place of Birth: Askainen, Finland
A place of death: Lausanne, Finland
Activity: Finnish military and statesman
Family status: was married
Carl Gustav Mannerheim biography
Before becoming a national hero, regent and president of Finland, the Swede Mannerheim managed to be a hero of Russia and her own enemy.
Lately the name Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim is associated with an ugly history in St. Petersburg, where a memorial plaque was opened in his honor. As a result of several acts of vandalism and protests from citizens of leftist views, it was removed. The man, from whose birth a century and a half has passed, still excites Russian society.
Childhood, the family of Karl Manerheim
Carl Gustav was born on June 4, 1867 into a family of Swedish aristocrats. After the Nikolaev Cavalry School in St. Petersburg, he served in the elite Cavalier Guard Regiment and took part in the coronation of Nicholas II. Historian Leonid Vlasov wrote: “The emperor had to go from temple to temple and pray. And since it is impossible to enter the church with weapons, Nikolai unfastened his saber before each new church and gave it to his assistant. And at one of these moments, an ominous and symbolic incident happened.
Taking off his weapon, the tsar touched the chain of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, and it broke off. But Mannerheim managed to catch the falling order, so that no one noticed anything. The order that flew off during the coronation is a bad omen for the future king. Mannerheim kept the secret all his life. In general, the Russian emperor played a huge role in the life of Carl Gustav. silver medal from the coronation was his talisman, and on the desktop there was always a portrait of the sovereign with an autograph.
Carl Gustav Mannerheim biography of personal life
Mannerheim married rather early on an unattractive general's daughter, Baroness Anastasia Nikolaevna Arapova. And soon he found a hobby on the side - the beautiful Countess Elizaveta Shuvalova. He was always a heartthrob - tall, slender, strong, with aristocratic manners. The wife knew about the affair of the faithful, and relations in the family were strained.
The desperate woman went along with the sanitary unit to the Chinese campaign of the Russian army in order to be next to her husband. This forced Carl Gustav to be an exemplary family man for some time. Alas, it did not last long - after the death of Mannerheim's son in infancy, the marriage actually broke up. Karl Gustav lost interest in Shuvalova too, dragging himself after one or another beautiful, noble and, most importantly, influential person ...
He also disposed of his wife's dowry wisely: he started breeding thoroughbred horses. It was extremely prestigious - even members of the royal houses were fond of horse breeding. So the ambitious officer began to acquire connections that were useful to him in the future.
Combat biography of Mannerheim
Karl Gustav received his first combat experience during the Russo-Japanese War - his dragoons made daring raids behind enemy lines. Then he went on a scientific - actually reconnaissance - expedition to China.
the first world war Mannerheim graduated with the rank of Major General. For getting out of the encirclement, he was awarded the St. George weapon. However, his service at the front was interrupted by an old injury - a knee damaged by a horse's hoof. The general returned to Petrograd, where he met the February Revolution.
The relationship between Mannerheim and the Provisional Government is a complicated issue. The negative attitude towards the new government is evident from his letters. But do not forget that he swore military units to this government.
The October coup found Mannerheim in Odessa. There is evidence that the general was still there trying to organize resistance to the Bolsheviks. But, having come across the passivity of the other commanders, he left for Finland, which, with a stroke of Lenin's pen, turned from a Grand Duchy within the empire into an independent state.
The general hastily began to form national army. At the same time, the Red Finns staged a coup d'état in Helsinki. Although the civil war turned out to be more than short-lived: having begun on January 28, it ended on May 15 with Mannerheim's unconditional victory. But bloody excesses occurred in this war as well. So, in Vyborg, Finnish troops staged a terror against the communists, which resulted in an anti-Russian pogrom.
Regent Mannerheim
Kolchak's proud phrase went down in history: "I do not trade in Russia!" It was uttered in response to Mannerheim's proposal to attack Bolshevik Petrograd on obviously impossible conditions: the deployment of a Finnish corps in the former Russian capital, the demilitarization of the Baltic Sea, and the annexation of certain regions of Russia to Finland. The negotiations between the Finns and General Yudenich, who was advancing on Petrograd, also ended in nothing. The only help of the Finnish commander-in-chief was the sympathetic notes in his papers. This is understandable: the Finns were afraid that if the Bolsheviks were defeated, their country would lose its independence.
Meanwhile, German influence increased in Finland. Mannerheim, who had long established contacts with England, had to leave high posts and leave for London. However, the "exile" did not last long: the pro-German government lost power after the end of the First World War. Mannerheim became regent - the title of the Finnish ruler under the 18th century constitution. But soon the country finally became a republic. Mannerheim put forward his candidacy for the presidency, but was defeated in the elections.
For a while, he retired from government activities: he led the Helsinki Joint Stock Bank, founded the Society for the Protection of Children, and headed the Finnish branch of the Red Cross. The Swedish aristocrat von Rosen, knowing Mannerheim's interest in Tibet, handed over to Carl Gustav the first Finnish military aircraft with the image of a swastika on the wings - an ancient sign adopted in Tibetan mysticism. This machine became the basis of the Finnish Air Force, and the swastika is still their symbol.
In 1931, Mannerheim headed the National Defense Committee, and soon became the first Finnish field marshal. He was preparing the country for a Soviet invasion. The line of fortifications on the Soviet-Finnish border was modernized. It will go down in history as the Mannerheim Line - a powerful frontier that stopped the Red Army.
The “Winter War” of 1939, which ended with the loss of territories for Finland, pushed Mannerheim towards an alliance with Nazi Germany. This fact is the main argument of the opponents of perpetuating his memory in Russia. Yes, Mannerheim's troops played a role in the blockade of Leningrad, and about 4,000 ethnic Russians died of starvation in Finnish concentration camps.
At the same time, the field marshal did not allow Hitler to place long-range artillery on the Karelian Isthmus and in every possible way prevented the passage of the Wehrmacht through Finnish territory, and he himself did not launch an attack on Soviet positions near Leningrad and Murmansk. Thanks to this, the Karelian front was the most stable and was distinguished by relatively small losses.
In 1944, Mannerheim finally became president, and in the same year Finland withdrew from the war. After that, she entered into a conflict with Germany, called the Lapland War. Mannerheim ruled until 1946, retired and died peacefully in 1951 in Switzerland.
Mannerheim's place in the history of Finland is obvious - a national hero who saved the country. But for Russia, he remains an ambiguous character ...
Two Mannerheim lines
The name of Karl Mannerheim is known not only in Finland, but far beyond its borders. He was an outstanding military and political figure who defended the interests of Finland in the international arena. Although Mannerheim himself was not a Finn by origin, having been born in 1867 in neighboring Sweden. The family nest was located in Finland, not far from the city of Turku, where the Louhisaari estate was located. His parents lived here - Count Karl Robert and Countess Helen Mannerheim, and the boy's childhood also passed.
Childhood and environment
The ancestors of the Mannerheims from Holland moved to Germany, and from there to Sweden (approximately in the 17th century). One of the representatives of the family, being in the service of Charles XI, was able to receive the nobility, which changed the social status of the Mannerheims.
In the mid 1820s. Carl Gustav Mannerheim's great-grandfather received the title of count from the Russian Emperor Alexander I, holding an important state position in the Imperial Council. Karl Mannerheim was the youngest son in the family, so he did not get the title of count. He became a baron.
As a child, the boy was a rather complex and difficult child, which is why he was constantly expelled from educational institutions. First, they were expelled from the lyceum, and then the cadet corps. Nevertheless, teachers and mentors allowed the young man to finish the cavalry school in St. Petersburg.
The beginning of a military career
After graduation educational institution Mannerheim was sent to serve in the Alexandria Dragoon Regiment, which was stationed in the west of the country. From there he was transferred to the Cavalier Guard Regiment, which was considered an elite one and was stationed in St. Petersburg. Unlike the previous duty station, where there were strict rules and discipline, the new appointment dragged Mannerheim into a series of balls, races, ceremonies. At the same time, he was training cavalrymen and commanded a squadron at the Officers' School.
In 1906, he achieved a transfer to the front, where he took part in the Russo-Japanese War for several months. He was wounded, and Mannerheim ended up in the hospital, during the treatment the war ended, and the count was promoted to colonel.
Scout career
In 1906, Mannerheim accepted an assignment from the Main Directorate of the General Staff to the East. He was supposed to study the political development of China, its resources, population, and also draw up maps of roads that can be laid in the Middle Kingdom.
During the trip, Mannerheim mapped paths, roads, communicated with Chinese military personnel, followed how military reform was being implemented in China.
In 1908 he secretly met with the Dalai Lama. The Chinese rulers did not know about this visit. Then Mannerheim went to Beijing, and then returned to Russia. A detailed report was submitted to the General Staff with planned routes along which a military campaign to seize China could be carried out. Successful Journey was marked by a new appointment - this time Mannerheim was sent to the Warsaw Military District, where already in 1911 he received the rank of general and leadership of the cavalry brigade.
As Regent
Signing Treaty of Versailles in 1918 opened a new page in Mannerheim's biography. He was approached by representatives of England and France, who asked him to take the position of regent of Finland, since the crown prince had renounced the throne.
Carl Gustaf was regent for only half a year, but during this time he carried out significant transformations in Finland. These include:
- Strengthening and strengthening the army;
- Recognition of the country's independence by the international community;
- Carrying out a general amnesty;
- Conduct of parliamentary and presidential elections. According to the results of the latter, Karl Stolberg was elected president of the country.
Mannerheim, after resigning, took up active social activities. In particular, he headed the Red Cross, created an organization that was engaged in the protection of children.
Finnish period
During the First World War, the baron helped liberate Poland from the Germans, commanded a division in Brusilov's army. In 1917 he received the next title of lieutenant general and led the cavalry corps. Not supporting the Provisional Government, Mannerheim joined the supporters of General Lavr Kornilov and took part in his rebellion against the Communists. The coup attempt failed, and a purge of personnel and enlisted personnel in the army was carried out. Mannerheim was transferred to the reserve in September 1917.
The lieutenant general secretly crossed from Odessa to Finland, arriving in Helsinki in December 1917. At that time, an uprising began in the capital between the Communists and the White Finns, led by Mannerheim. In his army were soldiers from the Russian army, "jaegers", who had previously served in german army, as well as Swedish volunteers. The fighting continued until the next spring, when the Finnish army finally managed to seize the initiative in the war and drive out the Bolsheviks.
In May of the same year, Mannerheim resigned and spent almost twelve years in state and political affairs. In the early 1930s he was appointed to the post of head of the Defense Council, in 1933 he received the rank of Marshal of the Army of Finland. While heading the Defense Council, he managed to achieve the following decisions from the president and government:
- Funding for the army and armed forces was significantly increased;
- Contributed to the development of military aviation;
- He began the modernization of defensive structures throughout the country, including those that were located on the Finnish-Soviet border. Thus arose a system of defensive ramparts and objects known as the Mannerheim Line.
With the outbreak of the Winter War in 1939, the marshal became the head of the army, which broke the offensive of the Red Army. As a result of the peace agreement, Finland lost the Karelian Isthmus. As a result, the leadership of the country and Mannerheim himself began to look for support on the side, finding it from Germany. Hitler was supposed to help the Finns return Karelia and the Karelian Isthmus, where the Finnish army was active against the Red Army.
Mannerheim did everything possible to keep his army from being drawn into World War II. The army commander tried to save the country from destruction, and the population from death and occupation by foreign states.
Personal life
The first time Mannerheim married in 1892 was Anastasia Arapova, a representative of one of the noble families of Russia. In this marriage, two girls were born - Anastasia and Sofia. The couple also had a son, but he died during childbirth. Eleven years later, Arapova left for Paris with her children; an official divorce followed only in 1919.
Back in 1895, Mannerheim met Countess Elizaveta Shuvalova, who became his civil wife and mistress for many years. Being officially married and having a mistress, Carl Gustav cheated on both women. The number of his mistresses is not precisely established. Historians say that most of the ladies were representatives of high society - ballerinas, actresses, countesses.
A bit of presidency
The main government post was taken by Mannerheim in 1944, who managed to avoid the establishment of authoritarianism. His policy was approved by representatives of all the political forces of the country, who hoped that the authority of Carl Gustav would help him reach agreements with Stalin.
Mannerheim, a few months after his election, announced that Finland was withdrawing from the war, a truce was concluded with the USSR (September 1944). Then a peace treaty was signed, thanks to which Finland was able to retain all its territories and got a chance to develop a market economy.
After the war, it was necessary that Mannerheim resign. This was due to the fact that the Fuhrer awarded the Marshal the Iron Cross for special services to Germany. With such an award, it was difficult for the president to build a dialogue with political forces in the country and foreign states.
Mannerheim's departure was demanded by the left political forces, the USSR and the highest diplomatic circles in Finland. In 1946, the President resigned his powers. He was not persecuted, he was not tried, because he brought Finland out of the war, preserving its independence.
He died in Switzerland, where he went for treatment. IN last years life wrote memoirs and practically did not appear in society. The marshal's body was taken to Finland, where Mannerheim was buried.
