Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim

Ancestry

The Mannerheims, originally from Germany as Marhein, became Swedish noblemen in 1693. In the latter part of the 18th century, they moved to Finland, which was then an integral part of Sweden. For a long time, it was thought that the Mannerheim family came from the Netherlands. King Charles XI of Sweden ennobled Augustin Marhein in 1693 at which time the family name Marhein was changed to Mannerheim.

After Sweden lost Finland to the Russian Empire in 1809, Mannerheim's great-grandfather, Count Carl Erik Mannerheim (1759–1837), son of the Commandant Johan Augustin Mannerheim, became the first head of the executive of the newly-autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland, an office that preceded that of the contemporary Prime Minister. His grandfather, Carl Gustaf Mannerheim (1797–1854), was an entomologist and jurist.

Mannerheim's father, Count Carl Robert Mannerheim (1835–1914), was both a playwright and industrialist, with modest success in both endeavours. He was an exception to the family's tradition as he never became a soldier or an official. Carl Robert Mannerheim was known for his radical political views, and when he inherited the title of Graf from his father, the officials disapproved of him, thinking of him as political satirist. As a man with a sharp wit, Carl Robert Mannerheim clearly expressed his view of the Russian authorities. He spent a lot of time abroad, but after turning 50 years old, he moved to Helsinki, founded a shop selling office machinery of the "Systema" brand, and proved to be a busy and systematic businessman.

In 1862 Carl Robert Mannerheim married Hedvig Charlotta Hélène von Julin (1842–1881), the daughter of a wealthy industrialist, John von Julin (1787–1853). The Julin family had also moved to Finland from Sweden. The Mannerheim couple had seven children, four sons and three daughters: Sophie Mannerheim, Carl Mannerheim, Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (1867-1951), Johan Mannerheim, Eva Sparre, Anna Mannerheim (1872-1886) and August Mannerheim (1873-1910). Carl Robert Mannerheim had a further daughter by his second wife Sofia Nordenstam (1849-1915), Marguerite (Kissie) Gripenberg (1884-1958).

Childhood

Gustaf Mannerheim was born in Louhisaari Manor, in Askainen parish (currently Masku), on 4 June 1867. After Mannerheim's heavily indebted father left the family in 1880 for his mistress, a daughter of Baron and General Johan Mauritz Nordenstam, the young Mannerheim's mother and her seven children went to live with her aunt Louise; but Mannerheim's mother died the following year. Mannerheim's maternal uncle, Albert von Julin (1846–1906), then became his legal guardian and financier of his later schooling. The third child of the family, Mannerheim inherited the title of Baron.

Mannerheim is said to have enjoyed playing military games and "leading the troops". He was first taught by a female Swiss home teacher, and at the age of seven he started going to school in Helsinki, where he lived with his father. From 1874 to 1879 he and his brother Carl attended the Böök private lyceum, where he was expelled for a year in autumn 1879 for throwing stones at the windows.

Education

From 1881 to 1882 Mannerheim went to a school in Hamina preparing students for the Hamina Cadet School, a state school educating aristocrats for the Imperial Russian Army. The Hamina Cadet School was the only school to give military education in Finland at the time. However, Mannerheim felt hatred towards the city of Hamina, which was also evident from his behaviour.

Mannerheim was accepted to the Hamina Cadet School in 1882 at the age of 14, where he began his military career.

However, Mannerheim was left behind in class for one year because he managed to score only seven points of twelve in an examination in June 1883. This extra year was of help, as the next year Mannerheim was moved to the first general class with the second-best grades. He did best in French and Swedish as well as history, but did worse in Russian and Finnish. Among other students of his age and younger cadets Mannerheim was in a clear leadership position.

Mannerheim's financial situation was poor, and he often had to borrow money from his caretaker Albert von Julin. He also did not like his time at the Hamina Cadet School: he could not tolerate the atmosphere at the school or its tight regulations, and he was punished often.

Mannerheim had hoped that after the Hamina Cadet School, he would get to the Page Corps military academy in Saint Petersburg, which was one of the most prestigious military academies in the country. The academy only allowed students with a hereditary noble title. Another requirement was that the student's father, grandfather or great-grandfather had a military rank of at least lieutenant general or an equivalent civilian rank. (Civilian ranks were contrasted to military officer ranks according to a system devised by Peter the Great.) Mannerheim got his father Carl Robert Mannerheim to leave an application to the Page Corps, but the academy's director major general Neovius did not recommend Mannerheim to the academy claiming his skills in French and Russian were not good enough. Because of Neovius's letter, Mannerheim's application to the academy was rejected, and he fell into a deep depression.

His future is indeed bleak. He does not seem to have any ambition, nor any understanding to improve himself and to attend the Cadet School so he could support himself.(Mannerheim's grandmother Eva about the young Cadet School student)

Mannerheim's depression also manifested as rebellion towards the Hamina Cadet School, and he was expelled on 22 July 1886. According to his memoirs, Mannerheim had left without permission and spent the night at the home of a registrar he knew, the 35-year-old deputy judge Hugo Elfgren. In the next morning, he was discovered there by a warrant officer at the Cadet School. According to education committee at the cadet board Mannerheim had "left later in the night with a person of ill repute to the countryside to this person's residence". The person this referred to was the chief of the telegraph station Agathon Lindholm, who was known to be possibly homosexual. The letter also mentioned Mannerheim's "immoral aberrations and degrading lecherousness". The school could have put the strictest form of its expulsion policy into use, which would have prevented Mannerheim from studying at any Finnish school or university ever again, but the board held a vote and decided to use a more lenient policy on the condition that Mannerheim's family would leave a voluntary application for him to leave the school.

After his expulsion, Mannerheim studied Russian in Kharkiv before passing his university entrance examinations as a private student at the Helsinki Private Lyceum in June 1887. From 1887 to 1889, Mannerheim attended the Nicholas Cavalry College in Saint Petersburg. Mannerheim was recommended to the Nicholas Cavalry College by the general Johan Fredrik Gustav Aminoff, who was friends with the college's director Pavel Adamovich von Plehwe. The entry requirements to the college were practically having a noble title and having graduated from cadet school or matriculated. Only the best applicants were selected to the college and the entry requirements were strict.

Mannerheim graduated from the Nicholas Cavalry College on 10 August 1889. His graduation examination had gone well, and especially his grades in Russian had improved. In the spring of the same year, before being promoted to cornet, Mannerheim had been promoted to a porte d'épée Junker. This rank corresponded to the rank of a soldier promoted from the rank and file to a junior officer, who could serve as the warrant officer of a troop.

In January 1891, Mannerheim joined the Chevalier Guard Regiment in Saint Petersburg.

Service in the Imperial Russian Army

Mannerheim planned a career at the prestigious Russian Imperial Guard, at the Chevalier Guard regiment of Her Majesty Empress Maria Feodorovna, but at first he was rejected. On 22 August 1889 he was hired as a cornet into the 15th dragoon regiment of Alexander's His Imperial Majesty Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich the elder situated in Kalisz in Poland, which was not a guard regiment. Mannerheim was not happy with this situation, but dreamed of entry to the Chevalier Guard.

Finally an application by Mannerheim's godmother got the empress to accept him into the guard, but first he had to join the dragoons. Mannerheim served in Kalisz at the border of Poland and Germany from 1889 to 1890, until he was transferred to the Chevalier Guard in Saint Petersburg in 1891. In Saint Petersburg he married Anastasia Arapova, the wealthy heiress of a Russian major general on 2 May 1892. The marriage solved Mannerheim's financial problems which he had suffered from for his whole life. Mannerheim was the leader of the first group of the first troop of the regiment of the Chevalier Guard and in 1895 he started taking care of the regiment train. After a transfer to the highest court stables management the regiment's commander von Grünwald invited Mannerheim there to take care of the horses. Mannerheim was appointed to special duties at the court stables on 14 September 1897.

Mannerheim was not accepted to the academy for the general staff, and he remained as an expert of horses. In 1901 he was promoted to a captain in the cavalry. He bought horses for the army and had a horse breeding farm in the countryside. As a buyer of elite horses for the emperor he travelled all around Europe photographing horses. In his duties in the court stables he visited Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium and the United Kingdom.

Mannerheim's marriage to Anastasia Arapova practically ended in 1902 when the couple entered an unofficial separation in residence. From 1903 Mannerheim served as chief of the model troop and the director of horseriding teaching in the mounted regiments of the guard. He also made his name in competitive riding. By his own request, in 1904 Mannerheim was transferred to the officer riding school in Saint Petersburg where he was commanded to already in the previous year. His service as the chief of the model troop of the riding school was very significant for a future commander of the cavalry.

Mannerheim served in the Imperial Chevalier Guard until 1904. In 1896, he took part in the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II, standing for four hours in his full-dress Imperial Chevalier Guard uniform at the bottom of the steps leading up to the imperial throne. Mannerheim always considered the coronation a high-point of his life, recalling with pride his role in what he called an "indescribably magnificent" coronation. An expert rider and trained horseman, Mannerheim bought horses for the Russian army as one of his official duties. In 1903, he was put in charge of the model squadron in the Imperial Chevalier Guard and became a member of the equestrian training board of the cavalry regiments.

Mannerheim volunteered for active service with the Imperial Russian Army in the Russo-Japanese War in 1904. He was transferred to the 52nd Nezhin Dragoon Regiment in Manchuria, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. During a reconnaissance patrol on the plains of Manchuria, he first saw action in a skirmish and had his horse shot out from under him. He was promoted to Colonel for bravery in the Battle of Mukden in 1905 and briefly commanded an irregular unit of Hong Huzi, a local militia, on an exploratory mission into Inner Mongolia. During the war, Mannerheim also managed to lead a group of local bandits with whom he sought the rear of the enemy to defeat them. Around the same time, Mannerheim's older brother, Carl Erik Mannerheim, who had been driven into exile during the first period of oppression, traveled to America and was involved in creating the center of the Finnish resistance movement in New York.

Journey to Asia

After returning from the Russo-Japanese war Mannerheim spent a little time in Finland and Sweden. As a representative of his family he took part in the 1905 Diet of the Estates in Helsinki from February to June 1905. This was the last Diet of the Estates in Finland.

Mannerheim, who had a long career in the Imperial Russian army, also rose to become a courtier of Emperor of all the Russias Nicholas II. When Mannerheim returned to Saint Petersburg, he was asked to undertake a journey through Turkestan to Beijing as a secret intelligence officer.

The Russian General Staff wanted accurate, on-the-ground intelligence about the reforms and activities by the Qing dynasty, as well as the military feasibility of invading Western China: a possible move in their struggle with Britain for control of inner Asia. The cover story for this intelligence-gathering operation was a scientific exploration together with the French archeologist Paul Pelliot. Disguised as an ethnographic collector, he joined Pelliot's expedition at Samarkand in Russian Turkestan (now Uzbekistan). They started from the terminus of the Trans-Caspian Railway in Andijan in July 1906, but Mannerheim quarreled with Pelliot, so he made the greater part of the expedition on his own.

Mannerheim undertook his journey through Asia to China on horseback. The total length of the journey was 14,000 kilometres and it took two years from 1906 to 1908. Mannerheim took his cover role seriously and collected a lot of ethnographic material from hitherto almost unexplored areas; thus the journey produced valuable geographical and ethnological research results. During his trip, Mannerheim demonstrated his ability in several languages, his knowledge of the world and his ability to network widely, in addition to which he was known for his systematicity, reliability and perceptiveness. Mannerheim also mastered the art of bribery with the locals to open their mouths.

Before his departure he had contacted the Finno-Ugrian Society where he had received a lot of instructions for scientific research. Kai Donner described him as an enlightened explorer. Mannerheim also became familiar with Marco Polo's notes as well as exploration stories written by Nikolay Przhevalsky, Sven Hedin and Marc Aurel Stein. He collected almost 1200 objects to the collection of the National Museum of Finland and took about 1500 photographs. The photograph he took of Kurmanjan Datka in Kyrgyzstan is used in the 50 Kyrgyz som banknote. Kurmanjan Datka was the ruler of Kyrgyzstan at the time when the country was annexed to Russia. In part 27 of the journal of the Finno-Ugrian Society Mannerheim published a linguistically significant paper A visit to the Sarö and Shera Yögurs. The most famous militarily significant result was the mapping of a road about 2000 kilometres in length.

With a small caravan, including a Cossack guide, Chinese interpreter, and Uyghur cook, Mannerheim first trekked to Khotan in search of British and Japanese spies. After returning to Kashgar, he headed north into the Tian Shan range, surveying passes and gauging the stances of the tribes towards the Han Chinese. Mannerheim arrived in the provincial capital of Urumqi, and then headed east into Gansu province. At the sacred Buddhist mountain of Mount Wutai in Shanxi province, Mannerheim met the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet, who was living in exile on Mount Wutai after the British had occupied Tibet. Mannerheim was only the third European to be granted an audience with the 13th Dalai Lama. Mannerheim and the Dalai Lama discussed Russia and the expenses of Mannerheim's journey to Asia. The Dalai Lama gave Mannerheim a white decorated cloth to give as a gift to emperor Nicholas II. In return, Mannerheim gave the Dalai Lama his pistol and showed him how to use it.

He followed the Great Wall of China, and investigated a mysterious tribe known as Yugurs. From Lanzhou, the provincial capital, Mannerheim headed south into Tibetan territory and visited the lamasery of Labrang, where he was stoned by xenophobic monks. Mannerheim arrived in Beijing in July 1908, returning to Saint Petersburg via Japan and the Trans-Siberian Express. His report gave a detailed account of Chinese modernization, covering education, military reforms, colonization of ethnic borderlands, mining and industry, railway construction, the influence of Japan, and opium smoking. He also discussed the possibility of a Russian invasion of Xinjiang, and Xinjiang's possible role as a bargaining chip in a putative future war with China. His trip through Asia left him with a lifelong love of Asian art, which he thereafter collected.

From Beijing, Mannerheim travelled to Japan and from there to Vladivostok, from where he returned to Saint Petersburg along the Trans-Siberian Railway. After returning to Russia in 1909, Mannerheim presented results of the expedition to Emperor Nicholas II. Mannerheim had originally planned to spend twenty minutes with the emperor, but the meeting lasted about an hour longer than that. Although the emperor thanked Mannerheim for the report, he failed to take advantage of its potential; Russia's attention had already begun to turn from China and Japan to Europe, where the atmosphere was beginning to tense on the eve of World War I.

There are many artifacts still on display in the museum. After that, Mannerheim was appointed to command the 13th Vladimir Uhlan Regiment in the Congress Kingdom of Poland. The following year, he was promoted to major general and was posted as the commander of the Life Guard Uhlan Regiment of His Imperial Majesty in Warsaw. Mannerheim recorded his journey to Asia in two books: A visit to the Sarö and Shera Yögurs and A journey through Asia. The latter book was originally published in Russian but has since been translated to numerous other languages and has attracted a great deal of professional attention.

Next Mannerheim became part of the Imperial entourage and was appointed to command a cavalry brigade.

World War I and the end of the Russian Empire

At the beginning of World War I, Mannerheim served as commander of the Separate Guards Cavalry Brigade (the 23rd Army Corps), and fought on the Austro-Hungarian and Romanian fronts. In December 1914, after distinguishing himself in combat against the Austro-Hungarian forces, Mannerheim was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th class. In March 1915, Mannerheim was appointed to command the 12th Cavalry Division.

Mannerheim received leave to visit Finland and Saint Petersburg in early 1917 and witnessed the outbreak of the February Revolution. After returning to the front, he was promoted to lieutenant general in April 1917 (the promotion was backdated to February 1915), and took command of the 6th Cavalry Corps in the summer of 1917. However, Mannerheim fell out of favour with the new government, who regarded him as not supporting the revolution, and was relieved of his duties. He retired and returned to Finland. Mannerheim kept a large portrait of Emperor Nicholas II in the living room of his house in Helsinki right up to his death, and when asked after the overthrow of the House of Romanov why he kept the portrait up, he always answered: "He was my emperor".

Religion

Mannerheim had been baptised into the Lutheran faith. Before his marriage to Anastasia Arapova, her parents tried to pressure him to convert to Orthodoxy, but in vain. Both of Mannerheim's daughters were Orthodox (one of them later converted to the Catholic faith).

During the Winter War and the Continuation War Mannerheim regularly attended Lutheran services at the Mikkeli Cathedral as well as Orthodox services at the Holy Trinity Church in Helsinki. During his final years in Switzerland Mannerheim attended Orthodox services at the Church of the Great Martyr Varvara in Vevey.

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

Language skills

Mannerheim's mother tongue was Swedish. He spoke fluent German, French, and Russian, the last of which he learned serving in the Imperial Russian Army. He also spoke some English, Polish, Portuguese, Latin, and Chinese. He did not start learning Finnish properly until after Finland's independence in 1918, but never became fluent.

Interwar period

In the interwar years, Mannerheim held no public office, mainly because he was viewed by many politicians of the centre and left as a controversial figure for his ruthless battle with the Bolsheviks, his supposed desire for Finnish intervention on the side of the Whites during the Russian Civil War, and the Finnish socialists' antipathy toward him. They saw him as the bourgeois "White General". Mannerheim doubted that modern party-based politics would produce principled and high-quality leaders in Finland or elsewhere. In his gloomy opinion, the fatherland's interests were too often sacrificed by the democratic politicians for partisan benefit.

After leaving his post as regent of Finland, Mannerheim spent his time on farming and was active in many communal duties. He kept busy heading the Finnish Red Cross (Chairman 1919–1951), was a member of the board of the International Red Cross, and founded the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare (Mannerheimin Lastensuojeluliitto). The foundation of the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare was possible with a sum of money collected through a petition in 1919. The sum amounted to 7.6 million markka (about 3 million euro in 2017). Mannerheim stayed as the honorary chairman of the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare up to his death. He was also the director of the central cabinet of the Finnish Red Cross from 1922 up to his death. He was the founder of the Red Cross Hospital and served as the director of its construction board.

Mannerheim respected the Scout movement and was awarded the first honorary membership of the Finnish Scouts Association in 1919. He was the honorary director of the association from 1941. He also founded the Mannerheim Buckle award on 15 February 1920. The inspiration for this award came from meeting the scouts on many of his official trips while he was serving as the regent of Finland. The award was designed by the Finnish artist Akseli Gallén-Kallela.

Mannerheim was also the chairman of the supervisory board of a commercial bank, the Liittopankki-Unionsbanken, and after its merger with the Bank of Helsinki, the chairman of the supervisory board of that bank until 1934, and was a member of the board of Nokia Corporation. He offered to serve the French Foreign Legion in the Rif War (1925–1926), but was turned down.

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

In June 1921 president Ståhlberg dismissed the commander-in-chief of the Finnish White Guard Didrik von Essen because of the so-called White Guard Affair. The White Guard suggested Mannerheim as the new commander-in-chief. However, president Ståhlberg declined to confirm Mannerheim as the new commander-in-chief as he feared this would give Mannerheim too much power. Demonstrations and citizens' meetings were held in support of Mannerheim in Loviisa and Porvoo. President Ståhlberg ended up appointing the young Jäger lieutenant colonel Lauri Malmberg as the new commander-in-chief.

Mannerheim declined to appear as a candidate in the 1925 Finnish presidential election. As the "White General" Mannerheim enjoyed a great deal of prestige, which allowed him to be involved in matters related to the defence and the White Guard.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Mannerheim returned to Asia, where he travelled and hunted extensively. On his first trip in 1927, to avoid going through the Soviet Union, he travelled through the British Empire, going by ship from London to Bombay. From there he travelled to Lucknow, Delhi, and Calcutta in the British India. From there he travelled overland to Burma, where he spent a month at Rangoon and Mandalay. He then went on to Sikkim and returned to Finland by car and aeroplane.

In his second voyage, in 1936, he went by ship from Aden (a British territory in Southern Arabia) to Bombay. During his travels and hunting expeditions, he visited Madras, Delhi and Nepal, where he was invited by the Rana Prime Minister Juddha Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana to join a tiger hunt.

In 1936, Mannerheim represented the Finnish government at the funeral of King George V of the United Kingdom. On his way to the United Kingdom Mannerheim met the new king Edward VIII and talked with him about the commercial relations between Finland and the United Kingdom as well as the rising threat posed by Germany. King George VI awarded Mannerheim the Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in 1938.

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

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

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

1920 assassination attempt

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

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

The attempt happened in April 1920 during a White Guard's parade on Hämeenkatu in Tampere, in which General Mannerheim was to participate. The group gathered on 3 April at the Park Café in Hämeenkatu; and at this stage, group member Karl Salo was designated as a shooter and given a Colt pistol. However, the assassination attempt failed due to Salo's hesitation. Salo's security detail in the crowd, consisting of Aleksander Weckman and Aleksanteri Suokas, who had been equipped with Walther and Colt pistols, lost sight of Salo and never had time to shoot Mannerheim either.

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

The Helsinkian smith Teodor Sädevirta who had been assisting Weckman testified at the trial against the would-be assassins. As a revenge for this, the members who were still free organised a hand grenade attack against him on 26 August. The attack killed Sädevirta's bride. Of the remaining members of the group, Pokkinen, Forsman and Luoto escaped to Russia, but Enroth, who had organised the revenge attack, was arrested. Kuutti had already been arrested in Helsinki on 11 July. Both were sentenced to life in prison. Weckman and Enroth were deported to the Soviet Union in a secret prisoner exchange in June 1926. A group of policemen were rewarded with money for stopping the assassination attempt. Because of his testimony, Teodor Sädevirta was released and later worked as a smith in Kalvola. He died in 1958. It has been speculated that he could have been a police informant who had infiltrated the group.

Jari Tervo's historical novel Troikka (2008) is about a fictive version of the background of Mannerheim's assassination attempt.

Commander-in-Chief

As chairman of the Finnish Defence Council, Mannerheim opposed war with the Soviet Union from the beginning. When the Soviets requested that Finland cede territory, he recommended that the Finnish government give into these demands, arguing that the Finnish Army was not strong enough to repel a Soviet attack. When negotiations with the Soviet Union failed in 1939, and aware of the imminent war and deploring the lack of equipment and preparation of the army, Mannerheim resigned from the military council on 17 October 1939, declaring that he would agree to return to business only as Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Army. He officially became the supreme commander of the armies, at the age of 72, after the Soviet attack on 30 November 1939. In a letter to his daughter Sophie, he stated, "I had not wanted to undertake the responsibility of commander-in-chief, as my age and my health entitled me, but I had to yield to appeals from the President of the Republic and the government, and now for the fourth time I am at war."

Mannerheim addressed the first of his often controversial orders of the day to the Defence Forces on the day the war began:

The President of the Republic has appointed me on 30 November 1939 as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of the country. Brave soldiers of Finland! I enter on this task at a time when our hereditary enemy is once again attacking our country. Confidence in one's commander is the first condition for success. You know me and I know you and know that everyone in the ranks is ready to do his duty even to death. This war is nothing other than the continuation and final act of our War of Independence. We are fighting for our homes, our faith, and our country. The defensive field fortifications they manned became known as the Mannerheim Line.

Field Marshal Mannerheim quickly organised his headquarters in Mikkeli. His chief of staff was Lieutenant General Aksel Airo, while his close friend, General Rudolf Walden, was sent as a representative of the headquarters to the cabinet from 3 December 1939 until 27 March 1940, after which he became defence minister. Within the Finnish military leadership, Marshal Mannerheim's position as Commander-in-Chief was entirely exceptional and highly centralized, but in practice, Airo and Mannerheim maintained a close working relationship, leading Airo to be widely regarded as "the Marshal's right-hand man" and the true brains behind General Headquarters.

Mannerheim spent most of the Winter War and Continuation War in his Mikkeli headquarters but made many visits to the front. Between the wars, he remained commander-in-chief. Although Mannerheim's main task was to lead the war, he also knew how to strengthen and maintain the will of the soldiers to fight. He was famed for this quote:Forts, cannons and foreign aid will not help unless every man himself knows that he is the guard of his country.

Mannerheim kept relations with Adolf Hitler's government as formal as possible. Mannerheim did not really appreciate Hitler, even though he initially expressed an interest in his rise to power; his attitude towards Hitler turned negative at the point when Mannerheim's visit to Germany made him realize what kind of "ideal state" Hitler was building; he compared Hitler's rise in Germany to the 1917 rise of the Bolshevists in Russia. Before the Continuation War, the Germans offered Mannerheim command over 80,000 German troops in Finland. Mannerheim declined so as to not tie himself and Finland to Nazi war aims; Mannerheim was ready for cooperation and fraternity with Hitler's Germany, but for practical rather than ideological reasons because of the Soviet threat. In July 1941 the Finnish Army of Karelia was strengthened by the German 163rd Infantry Division. They retook the Finnish territories annexed by the Soviet Union after the Winter War, and went further, occupying East Karelia; Mannerheim had sworn that he would not rest until Karelia was re-incorporated into the "Greater Finland". Finnish troops took part in the Siege of Leningrad, which lasted 872 days.

On 20 June 1942, Mannerheim was inspecting Finnish front line troops in Poventsa when he and his staff were engaged by a Soviet anti-tank gun with direct fire. The first shell exploded at a spot where Mannerheim had just before entered a trench. He took cover in the trench until Finnish counter-battery fire neutralized the attacker. Captain Ahti Petramaa, section commander during the inspection, lost fingers from flying shrapnel and was escorted to an aid station where he was promoted to major by Mannerheim.

Visit by Adolf Hitler

Mannerheim's 75th birthday, 4 June 1942, was a national celebration. The government granted him the unique title of Marshal of Finland (Suomen Marsalkka in Finnish, Marskalk av Finland in Swedish). So far he is the only person to receive the title. 4 June was designated as the flag day of the Finnish Defence Forces and the street Heikinkatu in Helsinki was renamed as Mannerheimintie. Mannerheim's birthday was celebrated with many events both in the army and at the home front. The festivities emphasised the importance of the commander-in-chief as a nationally collective great man in difficult times. The Marshal himself would have wanted to celebrate his birthday as discreetly and modestly as possible. Of the congratulations he received, Mannerheim most liked the greeting from the trade union association describing the reuniting of the people.

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

End of war and presidency

In June 1944, Baron Gustaf Mannerheim, to ensure German support while a major Soviet offensive was threatening Finland, thought that it was necessary to agree to the pact the German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop demanded. But even then Mannerheim distanced himself from the pact, and it fell to President Risto Ryti to sign it, so it came to be known as the Ryti-Ribbentrop Agreement. This allowed Mannerheim to revoke the agreement upon the resignation of President Ryti at the