Georg Carl von Döbeln
Encyclopedia
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
friherre
Freiherr
The German titles Freiherr and Freifrau and Freiin are titles of nobility, used preceding a person's given name or, after 1919, before the surname...
(baron), Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
and war hero.
Early life
Georg Carl was born at the Stora Torpa manor in Segerstads parish in VästergötlandVästergötland
', English exonym: West Gothland, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden , situated in the southwest of Sweden. In older English literature one may also encounter the Latinized version Westrogothia....
(now Falköping Municipality
Falköping Municipality
Falköping Municipality is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Falköping....
) to Johan Jakob von Döbeln and Anna Maria Lindgren. When von Döbeln was eight years old the father died and he was put in school by relatives with the aim to become a priest. The boy however, showed affinity for a military life and he was enrolled at the Karlskrona
Karlskrona
Karlskrona is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with 35,212 inhabitants in 2010. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden's only baroque city and is host to Sweden's only remaining naval base and the headquarters of the...
naval academy in 1773. Upon graduating as an officer in 1775, he was directed by the family towards a career in law. Disliking this, he sought employment as a junior officer in 1778.
Military career
As a lieutenantLieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
, Döbeln took part in Gustav III's Russian War and was shot in the head at the Battle of Porrassalmi
Battle of Porrassalmi
The battle of Porrassalmi was a battle fought near the bight of Porrassalmi in Savonia on June 13, 1789. A Swedish force of about 700 Finnish men succeeded in stopping the northbound advance of a Russian force numbering 6,000-7,000 men.....
. The wound didn't heal properly and he was forced to wear a black silk
Silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
en bandanna
Kerchief
A kerchief is a triangular or square piece of cloth tied around the head or around the neck for protective or decorative purposes...
for the rest of his life. During the operation he stayed awake and wrote about it while looking at the whole process with the help of a mirror.
After this he rapidly advanced to colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
and took part in the Finnish War
Finnish War
The Finnish War was fought between Sweden and the Russian Empire from February 1808 to September 1809. As a result of the war, the eastern third of Sweden was established as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland within the Russian Empire...
. On 13 September 1808, he led the Swedish troops in the Battle of Jutas
Battle of Jutas
The Battle of Jutas was fought on September 13, 1808 between Swedish and Russian troops south of Nykarleby in Ostrobothnia, Finland. Before the battle the Swedish army was in retreat after the campaign of the previous summer. The main Swedish force was retreating from Vaasa to Nykarleby...
. For this, he would become legendary as the main hero of the war since Johan Ludvig Runeberg
Johan Ludvig Runeberg
Johan Ludvig Runeberg was a Finnish poet, and is the national poet of Finland. He wrote in the Swedish language....
wrote his epic Döbeln at Jutas in the Finnish National Poem Fänrik Ståls Sägner
The Tales of Ensign Stål
The Tales of Ensign Stål is an epic poem written in Swedish by the Finland-Swedish author Johan Ludvig Runeberg, the national poet of Finland...
(written in Swedish).
He successfully led the Swedish retreat from the Åland islands over the frozen Baltic sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
. Having re-organized his troops, he engaged hostile forces which ultimately stopped a planned Russian attack on the Swedish capital, Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
.
Döbeln was the commanding officer of the North Army on 8 October 1809, when the last formal ties between Sweden and Finland were cut through the dismissal of the last Swedish-Finnish army in the church park of Umeå
Umeå
- Transport :The road infrastructure in Umeå is well-developed, with two European highways passing through the city. About 4 km from the city centre is the Umeå City Airport...
in Västerbotten
Västerbotten
', English exonym: West Bothnia, is a province or landskap in the north of Sweden. It borders Ångermanland, Lapland, Norrbotten and the Gulf of Bothnia. It is famous for the cheese with the same name as the province.- Administration :...
North Sweden. Döbeln's last orders to the parading army, issued by mouth upon dismissal, is considered to be the very essence of rhetorics in Swedish, and has been taught to generations of school-children.
In the Second War against Napoleon he led troops in Swedish Pomerania
Swedish Pomerania
Swedish Pomerania was a Dominion under the Swedish Crown from 1630 to 1815, situated on what is now the Baltic coast of Germany and Poland. Following the Polish War and the Thirty Years' War, Sweden held extensive control over the lands on the southern Baltic coast, including Pomerania and parts...
. Von Döbeln sent troops to relieve Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, which was besieged by the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, without authorisation. For this, he was court-martialled and sentenced to be executed. However, he was pardoned by the king Charles XIV John of Sweden
Charles XIV John of Sweden
Charles XIV & III John, also Carl John, Swedish and Norwegian: Karl Johan was King of Sweden and King of Norway from 1818 until his death...
.