Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt - View of Armfelt

View of Armfelt

Together with Göran Magnus Sprengtporten, Armfelt is regarded as one of the fathers of Finnish independence. Because of his unpopularity among the anti-Gustavian Swedish nobility and the fact that he "turned Russian", Armfelt has been up to the present day a rather mysterious and generally unknown character in Swedish history.

Ignorance of Armfelt and his accomplishments persisted for well over a century in Sweden and not until recently has a more nuanced, positive approach to Armfelt emerged there. In Finland, he has always been highly regarded as a great patriot and statesman.

Because Armfelt chose to remain loyal to Finland and its people rather than to its former ruler, he was labeled as a traitor in Sweden and sentenced to death for treason. The Swedish public could not accept at the time the loss of Finland, which had been part of the realm for over 600 years. Their anguish was exacerbated by the fact that the province had been lost to Sweden's arch-enemy, Russia. Armfelt's death sentence, though, had no actual meaning outside of Sweden as there was never a realistic Swedish attempt launched to recapture Finland. Politicians mainly just threatened action in order to gain favour among the nobles and populace. Already 1812 Sweden allied with Russia, and the sentence was annulled.