Why are some people disappointed with their fatherland? (Armfelt case)

Gustav Mauritz Armfelt
(1757-1819)

Kimmo Huosionmaa

In the history of Finland is one name, what might be interested in people. That name is Gustav Mauritz Armfelt (1757-1819) member of the committee of the cases of Finland and another kind of those things. He was the man who defended the city of Goteborg when Denmark invader to Sweden. The brother of the king wanted that man to be away from Sweden, and send him to Naples. There were many people, who were jealous of that man about his success in the defense of Göteberg in 1788, and because he was ordered the guarder of the prince of Sweden. Armfelt was the main negotiator couple of years later in 1790 peace talks with Russians and that made him the good target for the prosecutions and denigrated by the people, who wanted to make impress to the king.


After that, the man was charged with high treason, and judgment was death. After that Armfelt was fled to Denmark,  and his lover was also convicted to death, but the punishment was changed for public whipping and two years in imprisonment. The reason for that was that Armfelt was imprisoned by the Russian troops after he was wounded.  Or that was, of course, claimed because this man was the main negotiator in the peace discussions.


The reason why Armfelt had so many enemies, was that he was guarded of the underage son of the King of Sweden Gustav III. And in that position, this man got very powerful enemies. And the power in the Sweden was in the hands of Gustav Adolf Reuterholm (1756-1813) . The brother of the king had also very much support, and of course, he wanted also become the guarded of the Prince of Sweden. There were many people, who would want to see the crown of the country in the anyone else than Reuterholm’s hands.

Gustav Adolf Reuterholm
(1756-1813)

After that, the regent of Sweden Gustav Reuterholm was sent a letter to the Denmark, that all honorable medals of that man must be returned to Sweden, but Danish opinion was, that those charges were fabricated by political enemies of Armfelt. After that Armfelt was very disappointed to the Sweden, and after that, he went to Russian service. The history of that man you can read from Wikipedia if you want. But as you see, there is one historical thing, what you might want to know. The name Armfelt means the edge of the hand or the edge of the weapon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustaf_Mauritz_Armfelt

That name meant something big for Sweden, and that thing was, that Sweden was grown too big for one man’s control The Sweden was tyranny or autocratic state, and if the size of that state's land mass were too big, the control of the king was lost. At that time was no airplanes or airborne troops, what could transfer very fast to some point of the country. And when the land area was grown, the transfer of the troops was taken a long period. So that means that the king could not move his troops to the rebellious areas. The second problem of Swedish government was that there were very much people, who didn’t even speak Swedish, and the king's opinion was, that the royal officials should not even learn Finnish.


But the problem of that language was, that if the royal officials didn’t understand the worlds, the people who hated the king could speak or write everything that they want if they used Finnish. And of course, the area of Finland was the place, where battles were done, if there was become a conflict between Sweden and Finland. That was really painful for the people, who live in Finland. And if nobody teaches Swedish to the people, they ever could handle their own business with Swedish officials.


That’s why Armfelt was so tired of the King of Sweden. The judgment what was given to him was later noticed to be too heavy, and that was the reason, why Armfelt moved to the Russian. If he could not flee, his neck was cut and after that, if the judgment were noticed wrong, that thing was mean anything for Armfelt, who was sitting on the edge of the cloud.


Another thing what was tired Armfelt was that Reuterholm and other higher rank members of the Government just wanted to believe the enemies of the Armfelt, and that was not feeling good for his mind. Because this man was from Finland, he was not the member of the inner circle of the power and the royal guards. And that’s why he was the perfect victim for blaming if something went wrong. And because Sweden had no success in the 1790 war the man who was blamed was of course Armfelt.