Carl Gustav Mannerheim Born 1867 to Swedish-Finnish Aristocrats.
This is a man who would lead Finland through three major wars, and ultimately, kept Finland
independant.
“Carl Gustav Mannerheim towers above all other characters in the annals of the Winter
War. Arguably the greatest Baltic statesman since Gustavus Adolphus, he was an elusive,
complex, enigmatic, and powerful man who urgently deserves a good English-language biography.
He is unlikely to get it, if only because of the linguistic difficulties of the kind
of research that would be required to do justice to the subject.” - Trotter
He joins the military at the age of 14, goes AWOL at 19 and gets expelled from the Finnish
Corps of Cadets.
Instead he joins the tsar’s Nikolaevski Cavalry School, graduating in 1889.
He wins a posting to the elite Chevalier Guards and is in charge of the dress and bearing
of the sentries at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg.
He has almost daily contact with the Russian royal family.
Mannerheim is present at the last Romanov coronation in 1896, standing motionless at
the steps of the throne.
This is an event he never forgets - referring to it later as “indescribably magnificent”.
During the Russian and Japanese war his horse is shot out from under him during a reconnaissance
patrol.
And he’s also promoted to Colonel.
After the war he goes on an expedition throughout Asia, covering 9,000 miles and, among other
sites, visits the holy city of Lhasa.
There he established a warm relationship with the Dalai Lama, which he gave lessons on how
to shoot a pistol.
WW1 breaks out and Mannerheim fights under General Brushilov.
In 1915 he becomes commander of the 12th Cavalry Division, rising to rank of a corps commander
by the end of the war.
Once again falling from his horse, Mannerheim is recuperating in Odessa when the October
revolution breaks out on the 7th of November 1917.
Rather than travel incognito, Mannerheim hires a pullman car and travels in full military
corps commander uniform, across Bolshevik territory towards Finland.
At Petrograd he writes - “It disgusted me to see generals carrying their own kit. However,
I found two soldiers who quite willingly took charge of mine.”
He crosses into Finland after they declare independance.
As the most experienced soldier that the Whites have, Mannerheim is thrown into the conflict,
slaughtering the Reds when given the opportunity, and his men burn villages and mutilate bodies.
This is when he earns the nickname “The Bloody Baron” - mainly for his role in the
White Terror.
Some hold Mannerheim responsible for every death; some say he didn’t know about what
was happening on the periphery of his command.
The historical debate still rages over this issue, let us know what you think in the comments
below.
Mannerheim wins the campaign, freeing Finland from Russian dominance.
Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany even rewards Mannerheim with the Iron Cross.
Mannerheim is therefore the only military commander who fought against Germany to receive
this medal.
Finland becomes a democracy - something Mannerheim isn’t fond of, mainly because of its reliance
on political parties, but also because he was an aristocrat.
“His ideals came from a lost world, a world where gentlemen in glittering uniforms conducted
their business over sherry in gilded drawing rooms, and then adjourned, tiara-clad ladies
at their sides, for an evening at the Imperial Ballet.” - Trotter
He loses an election for President in 1919, and is unemployed later in the year.
So Mannerheim goes on to found the Mannerheim Child Welfare Association in 1920, and becomes
chairman of the Finnish Red Cross in 1922.
In 1931, he is given the post of chairman of the Defense Council, resigning in 1937
after numerous disagreements with the budget and bureaucracy.
Stalin demands territory from Finland in October 1939, and Mannerheim urges the government
to concede.
He understands that the Finnish military, at least on paper, is not capable of defeating
the largest army in the world.
When the Winter War breaks out, Mannerheim is instantly made commander in chief of Finnish
forces.
I’m not going to cover in detail Mannerheim’s exploits during the Winter War or the Continuation
War, mainly because I may cover these wars in my future Battlestorm documentary videos.
But he basically maneuvered Finland through both wars, ultimately to keep Finland independant
from the Soviet Union.
What most people imagine about the Winter War is the Finnish ski troops running circles
around the Soviets and slaughtering them.
And while that did happen, Finland also fought a more traditional and positional war in the Karelian Isthmus in
the south of the country.
Here the terrain didn’t favour ski troops and guerrilla warfare.
And the Mannerheim Line in the Karelian Isthmus was named after Mannerheim.
Some (mainly pro-Soviet historians) claim the line was an incredibly tough nut to crack,
whereas others (mainly pro-Finnish historians) claim it was barely a series of log-dugouts
and trenches.
The truth is probably somewhere in between.
What is known is that the line, manned by inexperienced but determined Finnish troops,
stops the Soviets dead in their tracks.
This allow the Finns to conduct their famous ski-troop actions in the north, where they
resort to guerrilla tactics to run rings around the Soviets.
Eventually though, thanks to a lack of anti-tank guns and a renewed Soviet effort costing many
lives, the Soviets do manage to break the line.
Gathering 80 artillery pieces per mile, Timoshenko sends wave after wave of Soviet tanks and
men against the Mannerheim Line.
“One by one, the Finnish strong points went under, submerged beneath waves of fanatically
brave Soviet infantrymen who pressed forward ruthlessly. Time after time Finnish fire would
mow down hundreds of men in the first waves of these attacks so that those pressing forward
from behind were forced to climb over windrows of dead and dying comrades. As each successive
attack dashed itself to pieces, the rows of dead were closer and closer to Finnish lines,
until ultimately the assault swept into the trenches and the horror of hand-to-hand combat
would erupt. Eventually, no matter how many Russians died in such costly assaults, every
Finnish strong point subjected to these attacks were overwhelmed.” - Trotter
Yet it took 10 days to break through the Mannerheim Line, and it cost the Soviets many losses.
During the Continuation War, it was Mannerheim who made the decision not to advance and take
part in the siege of Leningrad.
This would have massive implications on the Eastern Front of WW2.
He became president of Finland in 1944 at the age of 77, remaining in the post for just
19 months due to exhaustion.
He then resigns and retires… to Switzerland, where he remains for five more years before
passing away on the 28th of January 1951.
Legend now surrounds him, although there’s no denying that he had many successes and
failures during his life.
He was an aristocrat - he hated Bolshevism - and his physical presence was overpowering.
“When Hitler met Mannerheim for the first time, in June 1942, it was the fuhrer who
bowed, while the Baron remained stiffly at attention.” - Trotter
He cared about Finland, but was not nationalistic - which was perhaps a blessing during 1944.
Mannerheim was one of the great leaders of the 20th Century.
He led Finland to independence and kept it there.
Not bad for someone who didn’t even speak Finnish properly.
Yep, you heard me, Mannerheim spoke Swedish, was fluent in Russian and French, and could
get by speaking English, Polish and German.
But needed Finnish translators with him until he was 50 years old, after the Civil War,
and apparently he never mastered the language.
Love him or hate him, Mannerheim forged Finland’s independence, and for that, he is remembered.
The source I used for this video comes from the Winter War by William Trotter.
Highly recommend picking up a copy of this book if you want a good introduction to the
Winter War.
If you haven’t done so already, check out my other history videos, including my Battlestorm
series - which are filthy detailed documentaries on various WW2 battles.
I’ll see you soon.
Thanks for watching, bye for now.