Mannerheim’s Lessons on Russia
After Russia’s attack on Ukraine on February 24, 2022, a website I use professionally silently posted a link to the memoirs of Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (1867–1951), an allusion to Finland’s heroic resistance to Russia, most notably during the Winter War.
By a strange coincidence, a book I started reading two days before the war mentioned the first visit of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, to Finland in 1988, when he showed interest in Mannerheim and visited his museum in Helsinki. His Holiness was obviously intrigued not only by the Baron’s travels to Asia and his encounter with the 13th Dalai Lama in 1908, but also by Finland’s experience in dealing with a powerful and menacing neighbor — something Tibetans can relate to. And that experience may also be pertinent to the struggles Ukraine currently undergoes.
The Memoirs of Marshal Mannerheim (aptly titled The Lifeline. How I separated from Russia in the abridged Russian edition) is a fascinating and instructive read. There’s a couple of striking things in the book. First is how Mannerheim’s account is dehumanized, especially when he describes the events that happened after he became a statesman. Politics and war seem like just a massive game of chess, without ethics or morals. Individual lives hardly matter to policy makers, especially when it comes to war.
It’s also telling how, when explaining how Finland was forced to collaborate with Germany during World War II due to logistical dependence and the Soviet invasion, Mannerheim almost entirely ignores the ethical side of Nazism. He only mentions in passing that he wasn’t aware of the atrocities in concentration camps, but he surely was aware of what the Nazi ideology is all about. The same we can witness today: perverted nationalistic and imperialistic ideas for some and fossil fuel supplies and business interests for others are more important than some petty human lives.
Another striking thing is how Finland’s fate is similar to that of Ukraine. For a long time, Finland was a part of the Russian Empire, then declared independence and encountered unreasonable territorial demands and accusations that led to several bloody conflicts which started with false flag attacks.
When trying to draw lessons from the book, there are at least five of them that are especially relevant to the current situation in Ukraine.
1. Russian imperialism is incurable
Regardless of whether it’s called Russian Empire, Soviet Union, or Russian Federation, it invariably strives to expand, to crush and absorb its neighbors, to dominate. The very idea of the “Great Russia” has hardened throughout the centuries and is now deeply entrenched in the collective psyche. Time will tell whether Russian ambitions can be humbled the way those of Germans were after WWII.
2. Russia is a threat to the civilized world
Mannerheim first mentions it in regards to bolshevism when describing the Finnish War of Liberation of 1918, and then reiterates it when narrating about the Winter War of 1939–1940. And today it is more obvious than ever with all the Russian aggressive anti-Western rhetoric, which, unfortunately, many in the West not only fail to understand, but even parrot believing it’s their own independent contrarian opinion.
3. Russia can’t be trusted
If some semblance of nobility and integrity existed in the Russian Empire due to Western influences in the 19th and early 20th centuries, then it completely disappeared after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 when the worst elements of the Russian quagmire came to power. And the worst of the worst are at the helm of Russia today. Right now we are witnessing the same mendacious propaganda and accusations (Finland allegedly threatened the security of Petrograd/Leningrad both in 1918 and 1939), false flag attacks, and failure to meet obligations. Russians simply can’t be as good as their word.
4. The West’s indecision and passivity are costly
Again, Mannerheim criticized the Western countries’ reluctance to act both in 1918 and 1939 which led to dire consequences not only for Finland, but also for the world order as a whole. The issue is even more urgent today. The unwillingness to act quickly and decisively due to fear or short-sighted self-interest not only leads to horrible destruction and tens of thousands of deaths, but may also mean the defeat of the values the West claimed to stand for.
5. Russia is not as strong as it may seem
Baron C. G. E. Mannerheim served in the Russian army and witnessed its failures from the inside during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905 and World War I, and then was able to observe that nothing had changed during the Winter War and World War II. Supply issues, obsolete equipment, poor planning, inadequate personnel training, and internal squabbling all repeatedly led to the mind-boggling disproportion between invested resources and achieved results. This means Russia is a threat that can and should be confronted instead of running away or making concessions.
Conclusion
History exists to learn from and to avoid repeating the same mistakes. The five lessons listed above are worth taking seriously, analyzing and drawing conclusions from. It’s not easy to answer what and how exactly needs to be done, but it’s clear that inaction kills and that propitiating the monster leads to tragic outcomes.