biography
| name: |
Mannerheim, Carl Gustav (Emil), vapaaherra (Baron)
|
pronunciation:
[manerhiym]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1867–1951)
|
| biography:
| Finnish soldier, statesman, and president (1944–6), born in Villnäs, SW Finland. Trained as an officer in the Tsarist army, he rose to the rank of general and, defeating the Finnish Bolsheviks (1918), he expelled the Russian forces from Finland. When Finland declared independence (1918), he became supreme commander and regent. Defeated in the presidential election of 1919, he was appointed chief of the National Defence Council (1930–9) and planned the Mannerheim Line, a fortified line of defence across the Karelian Isthmus to block any potential aggression by the Soviet Union. When Soviet forces attacked (1939), he was appointed commander-in-chief in the Winter War of 1939–40. He continued to command the Finnish forces in alliance with Germany until 1944, when he became president of the Finnish Republic. |
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