Carl Gustaf Armfelt

Carl Gustaf Armfeldt; Portrait of David von Krafft

Carl Gustav Armfelt , also Carl Gustaf Armfeldt (born November 9th ^July / November 19,  1666 ^reg. In Ingermanland ; † October 24th ^July / November 4th  1736 ^reg. In Isnäs in Pernå , Finland ) was a Swedish general .

Armfeldt was born as the youngest son of the Swedish Lieutenant Colonel Gustaf Armfelt († 1675) and his wife Anna Elisabet Brakel († after 1666). At the age of 17 he joined the Nylands kavalleri cavalry regiment , but left it in 1685 to enter French military service. There he initially served as a simple soldier in the regiment of Prince Ferdinand von Fürstenburg, where he distinguished himself during the War of the Palatinate Succession (1688-1697). In 1700 he returned to Sweden and married Lovisa Aminoff there . During the Great Northern War (1700-1721) he received under King Charles XII. various troop commands after serving as adjutant general in the Finnish army during the first years of the war. He was then tasked with defending Finland against Russian troops . In 1713 he became known for his unsuccessful defense of Helsinki , to which almost the entire city fell victim. In the following year Armfeldt was defeated in the Battle of Storkyro (March 2, 1714) to the troops of the Russian admiral Apraxin (1661-1728) and then had to retreat to Österbotten .

In 1717 Armfeldt was promoted to Lieutenant General. In September 1718 he set out with a corps of almost 10,000 men to conquer the Danish city ​​of Trondheim in Norway . The time of year was too far advanced for the siege, so Armfeldt had to retreat in the middle of winter. Across the Tydalsfjelle past Røros , he had to watch how almost his entire army perished from the cold and hunger ( → Death March of the Carolinians ). It was not until January 1719 that he reached the Swedish lines with only about 500 soldiers. Although he was appointed governor of Viborg in the same year , this transfer was without consequences, as it had already been occupied by Russian troops. He later commanded again in Norway.

After the war he was promoted to general of the infantry (1735), baron (1731) and commander- in -chief in Finland. He died in 1736, living on Liljendal Manor in Pernå municipality in Finland.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Hanneken: Armfelt , in: Bernhard von Poten : Concise dictionary of the entire military sciences , Vol. I, Leipzig / Bielefeld 1877, p. 247

literature

• Hanneken: Armfelt , in: Bernhard von Poten : Concise dictionary of all military sciences , Vol. I, Leipzig / Bielefeld 1877, p. 247.
• Armfeldt , in: Hermann Hofberg (Hrsg.): Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon , Stockholm 1906.

Web links

Commons : Carl Gustaf Armfelt  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files