As a young Tsarist cavalryman, Finland's national hero, Gustaf Mannerheim, served with distinction in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). Yet his decision, while stationed in St. Petersburg, to volunteer for this campaign was deeply controversial for his relatives. The Mannerheims were a patriotic, liberal, aristocratic family, with long traditions of public service in the autonomous duchy of Finland, and appalled by the oppressive Russification policy aiming at the destruction of Finnish institutions. How could Gustaf, at the height of the crisis (indignation in Finland had just come to a head with the murder of the Russian governor-general), risk his life for a Tsar and a system of government responsible for these measures? Gustaf's own brother, Carl, a young Helsinki lawyer, had recently been exiled for his attempts to oppose Russification on constitutional grounds. Volunteering for the Far East seemed a betrayal not only of Finland but also of the Mannerheim family. Gustaf's father, Count Carl Robert, traveled to St. Petersburg to discuss the situation with his son. His brothers, Carl and Johan, wrote him sharply critical letters. The family suggested that Gustaf should resign altogether from Russian service. Strong mutual loyalty and affection had always characterized the Mannerheims; now Gustaf was risking a rupture with his nearest and dearest. Yet, he defended his decision, in a thoughtful and articulate letter to Carl, dated June 28, 1904. He began by assuring his family that he was as deeply disturbed as they were by the Russification policy and his brother's exile. Yet, he continued:...A year ago, when we felt extreme bitterness over your banishment, I would have regarded throwing everything up as only a justified expression of opinion. What would then have been a justified expression of opinion would assume a totally different character and name today- in other words, it is at present absolutely impracticable...
Most if not all opinions are usually represented within a country's army. To demand the voluntary repudiation of all opinions other than the official one only helps indirectly to strengthen a cause which does not command support. So long as you do not come into a direct conflict of loyalty, I cannot see the advantages of this principle. On the contrary, I see the most practicable course as being to try to obtain as strong a position for yourself as possible, taking an active part in all that concerns the army and using every opportunity to try to develop your abilities and gain experience. Although not a soldier, you must easily realize that nothing corresponds to this aspiration, which in my opinion is an absolutely creditable one, so much as participation in a thoroughly serious campaign. In a foreign war the individual is not fighting for a régime but rather for the country to whose army he belongs...
You must also understand and recognize that seventeen years' service and residence in a place must form certain bonds and impose certain obligations which men of all opinions have to respect...Besides these purely theoretical reflections, I have several personal reasons as well. I am thirty-seven years old. Serious campaigns do not occur often, and if I do not take part in this one, there is every chance that I shall become a mere armchair soldier, who will have to keep silent while more experienced comrades make the most of their wartime impressions. After a war such as this the number of the "more experienced" will run into thousands.
(Mannerheim: Marshal of Finland, by Stig Jägerskiöld, 1986, pp. 14-15)
These arguments failed to convince Gustaf's relatives, yet, in the end, they loyally accepted his principled decision, and family relations continued to be warm and affectionate. The war proved to be an important stage in Mannerheim's career and development, and, undoubtedly, contributed to the military and political skill he would later put so brilliantly to his country's service. So, on the whole, his participation in the Russo-Japanese War probably aided not only Russia but Finland.
What do you think of his decision?
2 comments:
Another thing I didn't know about Mannerheim. I wonder what lessons he did take from that conflict; certainly one of the most shocking wars of all time. I wonder if the Soviets had any fears when they invaded Finland when thinking back to that disaster inflicted on them by a small country no one really took seriously. Maybe something, maybe nothing. The US sent observers to that conflict as well and yet continued to severely underestimate the Japanese right up until the morning of Dec 7, 1941.
Yes, there were some interesting parallels between the Russo-Japanese War and the war between Japan and the US. In both cases, the Japanese began with a surprise attack, without a previous declaration of war.
As for the Soviets, they seemed utterly blinded at the time of the Winter War by their superior numbers and resources. One order even warned the Russian troops against blundering into Sweden by mistake, so sure were they of conquering Finland rapidly.
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