Mannerheim

Gustaf Mannerheim was one of the greatest figures of the twentieth century. As a young Finnish officer in Russian service he witnessed the coronation of the last Tsar and was both reprimanded for his foolishness and decorated for his bravery in the Russo-Japanese war. He spent two years undercover in Asia as an agent in the 'Great Game', posing as a Swedish anthropologist. Crossing China on horseback, he stopped en route to teach the 13th Dalai Lama how to shoot a pistol and spied on the Japanese navy. Having escaped the Bolsheviks by the skin of his teeth in 1917, he led the anti-Russian…