Beitrag zur Kaefer-Fauna der Aleutischen Inseln, der Insel Sitkha und Neu-Californiens (Classic Reprint) (German Edition)
(Excerpt from Beitrag zur Kaefer-Fauna der Aleutischen Ins...)
Excerpt from Beitrag zur Kaefer-Fauna der Aleutischen Inseln, der Insel Sitkha und Neu-Californiens
Welt, gemachten entomologischen Entdeckungen veröffentlicht hatte, blieb doch ein grosser Theil des gesammelten Materials Unbenuzt liegen, da am Mai 1831 der Tod diesen thatigen Mann dahinraffte und so der Naturgeschichte einen der gründlichsten und ausgezeichnetesten Entomologen unseres Zeitalters entriss. Die persönliche Bekannt schaft, die ich mit dem Herrn Doctor Eschsc/zoltz, schon vor seiner zweiten Reise um die Welt, an kniipfte und die seine freundschaftlichen Gesin nungen gegen mich mit jedem Tage vermehrte, von denen ich die angenehmsten Erinnerungen durch das ganze Leben behalten werde, gab die Ve ranlassung zu einem fleissigen Briefwechsel zwischen uns. Auch während der Weltumschiffung von 1823 bis 1826 theilte er mir in Briefen aus Sitkha und Californien die von ihm auf der Reise gemachten überaus interessanten entomologischen Beobach tungen mit und heimgekehrt bereicherte er vorzugsweise meine Sammlung mit seinen vielen neuen Entdeckungen, so dass mein entomologi sches Kabinet eines der vollständigsten in Hinsicht derselben werden musste. Seitdem unterhielt er mit mir uber diese Gegenstände eine äusserst be ehrende Correspondenz undpftmals war ich ge sonnen die daraus gezogenen Aufklärungen über die entomologischen Schätze dieser entlegenei1 Gegenden im Druck bekannt zu machen. Allein es kamen mir manche Hindernisse in den Weg die diese Absicht vereitelten. Lange waren unsere.
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Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim was a Finnish military leader and statesman. Mannerheim served as the military leader of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War, Regent of Finland (1918–1919), commander-in-chief of Finland's defence forces during World War II, Marshal of Finland, and the sixth president of Finland (1944–1946).
Background
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim was born on June 4, 1867 in Villnas, near Turku. Mannerheim's father, Carl Robert, Count Mannerheim , was a playwright who held liberal and radical political ideas, but he was also an industrialist whose success varied. Mannerheim's mother, Hedvig Charlotta Helena von Julin (1842–1881), was the daughter of a wealthy industrialist. As the third child of the family, Mannerheim inherited the title of Baron (only the eldest son would inherit the title of Count). His father went bankrupt in 1880; he was forced to sell the family home and his other landed estates to his sister, as well as his large art collection. Mannerheim's father left his wife, Countess Hélène, and moved to Paris with his mistress. He returned to Helsinki and founded the Systema company in 1887, and was its manager until his death. Countess Helene, shaken by the bankruptcy and her husband's desertion, took their seven children to live with her aunt Louise at the aunt's estate in Sällvik. Hélène died the following year from a heart attack. Her death left the children to be brought up by relatives, making Mannerheim's maternal uncle, Albert von Julin, his legal guardian
Education
Because of the worsened family finances and Mannerheim's serious discipline problems in school, Julin decided to send him to the school of the Hamina Cadet School in 1882. The Cadet Corps was a state-run military school educating boys of aristocratic families for careers in the Military of the Grand Duchy of Finland and in the Russian Armed Forces. Besides his mother tongue, Swedish, Mannerheim learned to speak Finnish, Russian, French, German, and English.
The disciplinary problems continued. Mannerheim heartily disliked the school and the narrow social circles in Hamina. He rebelled by going on leave without permission in 1886, for which he was expelled from the Finnish Cadet Corps. Mannerheim next attended the Helsinki Private Lyceum, and passed his university entrance examinations in June 1887. Now he had a better school report to show than the one from the Finnish Cadet Corps. He wrote to his godmother, Baroness Alfhild Scalon de Coligny, who had connections at the Russian court, to help him enter the Nicholas Cavalry School. His real wish was to join the Chevalier Guard; but his relatives balked at the costs, so he dropped it. Mannerheim's godmother invited him to her husband's country house, Lukianovka, in summer 1887. There Gustaf worked to improve his Russian. While in Russia, he spent some time at a military camp at Chuguyev, which strengthened his decision to choose a career in the military.
From 1887 to 1889, Mannerheim attended the Nicholas Cavalry School in St. Petersburg. In January 1891, Mannerheim was transferred to the Chevalier Guard Regiment in St. Petersburg.
Career
He received his early military training in imperial Russia and early showed courage and adaptability to the vigorous life.
He explored Central Africa, served in the Russo-Japanese War, and was commander of Russia's VI Cavalry Corps on the Romanian front in World War I. With Russia's collapse he returned to a Finland in turmoil.
On January 4, 1918, the president of the Finnish Senate had received from the Soviets recognition of Finnish independence in a document signed by Stalin, Trotsky, and Lenin.
In the interim he tried without success to prevent the Germans from entering the struggle as allies.
With unneeded German aid the Reds were defeated, and by the middle of the summer the Red bloodbath had been followed by a White one.
Mannerheim meanwhile labored to erect a republic of Finland free of German and Soviet ties.
On the first election under the new constitution, however, he was defeated by Professor Kaarlo J. Ståhlberg and left office in July 1919.
Mannerheim realized that Finland had to live amicably with the Soviets, but he also knew that the Russians understood strength.
At the age of 72 Mannerheim was called back as commander in chief and successfully guided Finnish defenses during the Winter War, which ended in March 1940.
The relatively favorable peace settlement was violated by the Soviet Union in June 1941, and Mannerheim remained as commander in chief until peace was negotiated in August 1944.
Controversial though he was, the bulk of the Finnish people sincerely mourned his passing.
When Germany was deemed sufficiently weakened, and the USSR's summer offensive was fought to a standstill thanks to the June agreement with the Germans, Finland's leaders saw a chance to reach a peace with the Soviet Union. At first, attempts were made to persuade Mannerheim to become prime minister, but he rejected them because of his age and lack of experience running a civil government. The next suggestion was to elect him Head of State. Risto Ryti would resign as President, and parliament would appoint Mannerheim as Regent. The use of the title "Regent" would have reflected the exceptional circumstances of Mannerheim's election. Mannerheim and Ryti both agreed, and Ryti submitted a notice of resignation on 1 August. The Parliament of Finland passed a special act conferring the presidency on Mannerheim on 4 August 1944. He took the oath of office the same day.
Mannerheim was troubled by recurring health problems during 1945, and was absent on medical leave from his duties as president from November until February 1946. He spent six weeks in Portugal to restore his health. After the announcement of the verdicts in the war crimes trials were announced in February, Mannerheim decided to resign.
Mannerheim died on 27 January 1951, in the Cantonal Hospital in Lausanne, Switzerland. He was buried on 4 February 1951 in the Hietaniemi Cemetery in Helsinki in a state funeral with full military honours.
Achievements
Today, Mannerheim retains respect as Finland's greatest statesman. This may be partly due to his refusal to enter partisan politics (although his sympathies were more right-wing than left-wing), his claim always to serve the fatherland without selfish motives, his personal courage in visiting the frontlines, his ability to work diligently into his late seventies, and his foreign political farsightedness in preparing for the Soviet invasion of Finland years before it occurred.
In a Finnish survey 53 years after his death, Mannerheim was voted the greatest Finn of all time.
In a Finnish survey 53 years after his death, Mannerheim was voted the greatest Finn of all time. Given the broad recognition in Finland and elsewhere of his unparalleled role in establishing and later preserving Finland's independence from Russia, Mannerheim has long been referred to as the father of modern Finland, and the Finnish capital Helsinki's Mannerheim Museum memorializing the leader's life and times has been called "the closest thing there is to a [Finnish] national shrine".
He advocated for a close alliance with the West, and opposed both German National Socialism, and Soviet Communism. Although he was an ardent anti-Bolshevik, he eventually refused an alliance with Russian White generals because they would not have recognized Finnish independence.
Connections
In 1892, Mannerheim's godmother, Countess Alfhild Scalon de Coligny, arranged for him to be married to a wealthy and beautiful noble lady of Russian-Serbian heritage, Anastasia Arapova (1872–1936). Mannerheim and she had two daughters, Anastasie and Sophie. Mannerheim separated from his wife in 1902, and the couple divorced in 1919.
