Gustaf Mannerheim (Oldenburg Sweden)

Gustaf (Carl Gustaf Emil) Mannerheim was a Swedish Count, officer and prime minister. He was born 4 June 1867 at Villnäs Castle, Åbo County, Finland (Sweden), and died 27 January 1951 in Lausanne, Switzerland.

He was an officer in the Swedish army, and was a colonel in Åbo regiment (Åbo regemente/Turun rykmentti). 1917 he entered the National Conservative Party, and the next year, 1918, he succeeded Arvid Lindman as prime minister and chairman of that party. Mannerheim was the first, and yet only, prime minister to be born in Finland, although Swedish was his mother tongue.

Mannerheim was conservative, but he did expand the welfare programs to include more of the country's poor. He emphasized the need for Sweden to find its place among the Western countries.

Mannerheim resigned 1950, and was succeeded by Bertil Ohlin.