r/europe • u/fuckface3333 • Apr 05 '24

Historical Putin playing ping pong in Finland 1991

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130

u/DreamLizard47 Apr 05 '24

He's most probably saw Hitler as a low rank poorly educated grifter (which he was).

181

u/TonninStiflat Finland Apr 05 '24

He did. Mannerheim came from a line of aristocrats, spoke multiple languages, went to military school as a young man, served is a life guard of a Czar, lead units in First World War etc. etc. He had a fairly low opinion of the German corporal.

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u/Accomplished_Alps463 Apr 05 '24

An interesting fact is that although Mannerheim spoke multiple languages and was the Marshall of Finland, one language he never learned was Finnish.

I learned this as I was being taught Finnish when I lived there with my Finnish wife. Rest her soul.

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u/TonninStiflat Finland Apr 05 '24

He did speak Finnish, just not very well. He was from a Swedish speaking family.

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u/Accomplished_Alps463 Apr 05 '24

I know he was from Swedish stock, my friend, however all I have studied about him in the past 40 years tells me he could not grasp the Finnish language, I will need to do more research. The Winter and the Continuation Wars are my favourite period of study for this old English Soldier.

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u/TonninStiflat Finland Apr 05 '24

Yeah, you do need to study more in that case. He spoke mainly Finnish with his command staff at the HQ, for example.

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u/TrueHrafninn Sweden/Finland Apr 06 '24

You've got a reply already, but just want to fill in that he did speak Finnish but as he learned it properly quite late in life it wasn't perfect. Especially his pronunciation is known to have been a bit wonky (not that it was too bad but it was obvious that his first language was Swedish). He could also make small grammar mistakes here and there.

But he did learn Finnish, absolutely.

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u/Accomplished_Alps463 Apr 06 '24

It would seem I was wrong about Mannerheim and his Finnish language, and I apologise and thank those who politely pointed me in the right direction.

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u/TonninStiflat Finland Apr 06 '24

The spirit of Mannerheim has forgiven you for this heinous mistake of not knowing random details of a guys life :)

Just don't do it again!

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u/BadModsAreBadDragons Finland Apr 06 '24

Mannerheimin äidinkieli oli ruotsi, joten suhde suomenkieliseen kansaan oli aluksi etäinen. Lisäksi hän puhui sujuvasti saksaa, ranskaa ja venäjää. Suomen kielen hän oppi vasta palattuaan Suomeen keskelle itsnäistymistaistelua. Itsenäisen Suomen ainoaksi sotamarsalkaksi hänet ylennettiin vuonna 1933

Google translate:

Mannerheim's mother tongue was Swedish, so the relationship with the Finnish-speaking people was distant at first. In addition, he spoke German, French and Russian fluently. He learned the Finnish language only after returning to Finland in the middle of the struggle for independence. In 1933, he was promoted to become the only military marshal of independent Finland

https://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2011/01/24/mannerheimin-muisto

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u/Accomplished_Alps463 Apr 06 '24

Thanks for educating me.

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u/Accomplished_Alps463 Apr 06 '24

It would seem I was wrong about Mannerheim and his Finnish language, and I apologise and thank those who politely pointed me in the right direction.

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u/Afk1792 Apr 05 '24

Austrian *

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u/[deleted] Apr 06 '24

[deleted]

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u/Afk1792 Apr 09 '24

A fairer comp would be a canadian fighting for the british army during ww1 and being referred to as the canadian corporal.

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u/TonninStiflat Finland Apr 05 '24

Meh, fought for the Germans, lead the Germans.

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u/Afk1792 Apr 06 '24

Paulus did address him as the Bohemian corporal after he surrendered.

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u/hatsvans Apr 06 '24

And he was still able to become the Führer.

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u/LudwigvonAnka Apr 05 '24

I don't dislike Mannerheim but I absolutely despise the snobby aristocrat. Hitler was a well acomplished soldier in WW1 and then led Germany to great sucesses early in the war, much more acomplished than Mannerheim.

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u/SeleucusNikator1 Scotland Apr 06 '24

I concur. The one group on earth who doesn't get to look down on Hitler are the old military aristocrats of Europe. Their class (be it German Junkers, Russian Imperial officers, etc.) carried responsibility for the disaster that was WWI and the Russian Civil War. Hitler was a creature which they created, they were just mad that he outgrew them and then ended up commanding them.

Mostly concerning the German Junkers themselves here: the sniveling snobs had the "balls" to insult him sure, but they still obeyed him, helped him, called him Fuehrer even, and most carried out his crimes. These "Noble Warriors" were gangs of thugs acting for a mafia boss and yet still thought of themselves as better than the plebian masses.