Leo von Heidenstam
The Duke of Dromund | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Portrait of Heidenstam in 1867 | |
| 1st Premier of Geatland | |
| In office 10 August 1867 – 12 December 1878 | |
| Monarch | Gunnar III |
| Preceded by | office created |
| Succeeded by | Baron Ingemar Ulf |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Leo Verner von Heidenstam 29 September 1798 Kungslandning, Ibsäm, Geatland |
| Died | 21 November 1882 (aged 84) Esholm, Geatland |
| Spouse | Greta Mulborg |
| Parents |
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| Awards | |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Geatland |
| Branch/service | Royal Geatish Army |
| Years of service | 1816–1867 |
| Rank | Field Marshal |
| Battles/wars | King Rudolf's War
|
Marshal of the Realm Leo Verner von Heidenstam, 1st Duke of Dromund (29 September 1798 - 21 November 1882) was a Geatish military commander and statesman who is most renowned for crushing the Engström Revolt and serving as Geatland's first premier. He is considered among the most predominant figures in contemporary Geatish history.
Leo von Heidenstam was born into a moderately wealthy and landed noble family in Kungslandning. As the second son of a army captain, Heidenstam was made to enlist in the Royal Geatish Army at age 18. After distinguishing himself in the army academy, Heidenstam rose rapidly through the ranks and became a captain at the age of 23 in 1821. When King Rudolf's War broke out between Geatland and Azmara, Heidenstam served with valor distinction, his most famous achievement being the siege of Fort Aalmsted in 1844. After King Rudolf's War, Heidenstam was promoted to field marshal and largely retired from his military duties, conducting mostly ceremonial matters. This changed when Gunnar III called on him to personally quell the Engström Revolt, a republican insurrection against the Geatish Crown. Heidenstam's brute force and decisive understanding of logistics proved vital in destroying the rebel forces.
After his distinguished service in the Engström Revolt, Heidenstam expected to resign from public life completely. However, in 1867 the Constitution of Geatland was ratified, and Gunnar III asked Heidenstam to serve as the nation's first premier, an offer Heidenstam reluctantly accepted. He would go on to be extremely popular in that position and enacted various policies aimed at democratizing the newly-minted constitutional monarchy and liberalizing its economy. During his ten years in office, Heidenstam established many precedents and traditions that continue in Geatland today. His most famous achievement is extending voting rights to property-less and non-Amendist men. Despite strong popular approval, Heidenstam declined to stand as premier for a fourth term in 1875, continuing an unbroken political precent in Geatland. He died in 1882 and was accorded a state funeral.
Heidenstam is among the mostly highly rated and celebrated premiers of Geatland. His military prowess as well as his close personal relationship with and understanding of his soldiers made him an extremely popular figure. He is considered the father of modern Geatland. In 2006, Heidenstam was declared the third greatest Geat to have ever lived, behind only Eric the Great and Otto IV. He and his descendants are among the only non-royal families to hold the title of duke in Geatland.
Early life and ancestry
Leo Verner von Heidenstam was born into an aristocratic Geatish family in the family's ancestral home in Kungslandning, Ibsäm County, on 29 September 1798. He was the second of four suriviving sons of Oskar von Heidenstam, Count of Kravall and Lady Marta Trausch. Through his father's side, he belonged to the von Heidenstam family, which was given landed rights around 1701. The von Heidenstams were minor nobility with limited connection to the realm's ruling royal elite. Leo was the third cousin twice removed of the reigning Geatish monarch at his birth, Eric X. His great-grandfather, Lord Sigmund von Heidenstam, was the deputy viceroy of Eldmark from 1705 to 1711.
The von Heidenstams were wealthy, though by the standards of the ruling elite they were relatively poor. Around Leo von Heidenstam's birth, the family estate had been falling into desrepair. Most of the family's wealth was reinvigorated when Oskar married Marta Trausch, the daughter of a wealthy Cislanian businessman, and thus received a large dowry. Trausch, originally a Catholic, converted to Amendism following her marriage to Heidenstam's father. Growing up, Heidenstam learned to speak Weranic through his mother, and he would hold a strong appreciation for Weranic culture for the rest of his life.
Until the age of 12, Heidenstam attended a local grammar school. Teachers often remarked that he was lonesome and shy but excelled in academia, especially in mathematics. He suffered from a bad stammer for which he was bullied and mocked. One tutor remarked that he was an "affectatious, insignificant boy of no remark." On Heidenstam's personal insistance, his father found him a private tutor, and he educated at home until he was eighteen. His father personally taught him horseback riding and shooting. In his later years, Heidenstam wrote, "I am my father's work."
Early career
Enlistment and the academy
As was tradition for young nobility, Heidenstam was enlisted into the Royal Geatish Army, an instutition he would serve for over fifty-six years. As a retired captain's son, he was destened for a career as an officer. Therefore, he was required to attend training at the King Eric VI Army Academy in Blåstad. He formally enlisted in September 1816. Training at the Academy would normally last for no more than two years at most during peacetime, even less during wartime. However, during his service at the academy, Heidenstam was frequently stricken with malaria, which rendered him bedrid. Not wishing to lose out on valuable information he may have lost while ill, Heidenstam applied for an extention of service at the Academy with the written consent of his superior officer. His petition was accepted.
While in academic training, Heidenstam was frequently praised for his erudition and sagesse. By adulthood, his stammer had disapeared, and he was commonly described as a fit and athletic man. He was frequently selected among his peers to lead parades and welcome guests. Instructors and superiors at the academy encouraged Heidenstam's veracious reading habit. In 1819, Heidenstam graduated the Academy with full distinction.
Upon his graduation from the academy, Heidenstam was immediately promoted to lieutenant. This decision was rather unprecedented, as promotions of this speed were typically reserved for the sons of high-standing nobility or members of the royal family. Upon his promotion, he was assigned as an aide-de-camp to Major Ernst Byström and stationed in Esholm. While in Esholm, Heidenstam engaged in the city's social culture, often frequently bars and gambling with fellow officers. During this time, he cultivated his skills in the violin and sometimes filled in as a reserve for various Esholm orchestras. He was, however, diligent in his duties and praised for his efficacy.
Rise to captain
In recognition of his superlative qualities and industriousness Major Byström petitioned for Heidenstam to be made a captain. Byström's petition was successful and, at the age of 23, he was gazetted in 1820. Heidenstam was one of the youngest ever militarymen to assume the position of captain who had not otherwise purchased their commission. Upon his successful promotion, Heidenstam petitioned to be sent as a military attaché to Cislania, his mother's homeland. Heidenstam's father and mother objected to his request, instead preferring that their son remain in Geatland and find a suitable, high-born woman to marry. Nevertheless, Heidenstam's request was granted and he was created the chief arms officer at the Geatish embassy in Cislania, where he began his tour on January 1821. Heidenstam's decision to leave against his family's advice created a rift between him and his father, and upon arrival in Cislania Heidenstam wrote to his mother and father less and less frequently. During his posting he would later be promoted to major.
Because he could speak Weranic at a native fluency, Heidenstam quickly rose to prominence among his fellow officers in Wiesstadt. His rank and position, as well as his connection to certain Cislanian aristocratic families through his mother, offered him entry into various high-society clubs, bars and establishments. Although these activities were not officially sanctioned by the Geatish embassy, Heidenstam's popularity and attention to duty elsewhere afforded him a degree of impunity. Contemporary accounts, however, relate that Heidenstam's free-going nature landed him in some trouble. In August 1822, for instance, Heidenstam was admonished for entering into a drunken brawl.
Most of Heidenstam's time was occupied in reading and research. Disgruntled by the lack of military manuals and literature in his native land, Heidenstam read videly in tactical combat, military history, and military supply-chain management. After his service in Cislania finished, Heidenstam brought back many of his Weranic books to Geatland. They would go on the be extremely formative in his command style. During this time, Heidenstam reunited briefly with his mother's family and was reintroduced to Catholicism. Although he was choose not to convert, he reportedly greatly sympathized with the religion. Many scholars have taken this to reflect Heidenstam's tolerant stance towards Catholics in Geatland, especially as regards his decision to give Catholic men voting rights and to allow Catholic churches limited rights to proselytize.
Marriage
In April 1823, while at a dinner party hosted by the Amendist Mulborg family, Heidenstam met Greta Mulborg, the youngest of four daughters. Heidenstam initially dismissed Mulborg as too affectacious and childlish, though he soon developed a close affinity for her, and he would often visit the Mulborg family residence in downtown Weisstadt in order to see Greta. In his private journals, Heidenstam wrote longingly of Greta's youth and nymphlike beauty. In a letter to his mother, Heidenstam wrote: "She [Greta] is surely the most beautiful creature in all of Creation." Although the Mulborg family entended for Geta to be betrothed to another man, they warmed up to the match. Though the Mulborgs were wealthy, they were not nobility and therefore cherished the opportunity to marry into the landed upper class. Heidenstam formally proposed marriage in December 1823 to Greta's father, who accepted.
Privately, Heidenstam's father staunchly opposed the marriage and instead wished that his sons to marry into Geatish nobility. When the Mulborg family promised a large dowry, however, his father tacitly accepted the marriage proposal. The army gave Heidenstam leave to return to Geatland for a month and marry. They couple were wed in the garden of Heidenstams' ancestral home in Kungslandning on 6 July 1824. Soon after the wedding was over, however, it was revealed that much of what the Mulborg family promised as a dowry was fabricated. Although he condemned divroce, Heidenstam's father was furious with Greta and his son. Heidenstam was also disapointed with his new family in law, though he chose to return to his posting in Cislania. Heidenstam would grow very close and loyal with his wife; there is no evidence Heidenstam or Greta were unfaithful to each other despite both often undergoing months of separation. In 1836, Greta gave birth to the couple's first son, Oskar.
In 1925, Heidenstam's father contracted pneumonia and died. Upon hearing of the news, Heidenstam was heartbroken, especially since he could not return to Geatland to see his father off owing to logistical constraints. Heidenstam particularly regretted having soured his relationship with his father, and he was particularly devestated to learn that no lands were left for him, effectively making him reliant on his income and pension from the army.
Heidenstam was still stationed in Weisstadt when the Weranian Revolution of 1828, a republican revolt, erupted in Werania. The events quickly escalated into the establishment of a second Weranian republic and the overthrow of the Cislanian royal family in favor of the appointment of Ulrich von Bayrhoffer as Minister-President of Cislania. Heidenstam and his wife were therefore forced to flee to Geatland. On his return, Heidenstam railed seethingly against republicanism in his private journals and lobbied for army leaders to follow the events in Cislania more closely, to no avail. Heidenstam published a few anti-republican pamphlets, though because republicanism was not yet a widespread movement in Geatland they were only in limited circulation.
Return to Geatland
Upon returning to the Geatish Islands, Heidenstam and his wife settled down in Blåstad, where the family would raise the rest of their children. Heidenstam took up a post at the King Eric VI Army Academy, his former place of study. His instruction at the academy was mainly devoted to discipline and regimen. As a second son and therefore minor nobility, he was offered very little room for advancement beyond his rank of major. Heidenstam wrote often to his wife and family complaining about the assignment, as Heidenstam would have preferred to teach army strategy and logistics. Nevertheless, Heidenstam's position as chief disciplinarian grew on him, and when offered a chance to transfer to an academic position, Heidenstam reportedly refused.
In 1841, Heidenstam was chosen to represent his family at the coronation of Rudolf V of Geatland after Heidenstam's elder brother, Karl, had fallen ill. Upon meeting Heidenstam, King Rudolf reportedly took to him and enjoyed his company. Heidenstam was a frequent guest at the royal palace and often acted as an unofficial, impromptu advisor to the king, who valued Heidenstam's insights. In recognition of his services, Rudolf V promoted Heidenstam to lieutenant colonel in 1843 and later to colonel in 1845. At the time of his promotion, Heidenstam was the among highest ranked members of the Geatish army who did not hold official noble title or an estate. By 1850, Heidenstam would frequent the palace less and focus more on his duties at the Academy, though he remained steadfastly loyal to the Geatish monarch and retained close correspondance with Rudolf V. In his private diary, Heidenstam remarked that his service to the king at court was "perhaps among the times when I was most proud of who I was."
War against Azmara
Heidenstam was called to action in Rudolf V declared war against Azmara in 1852. Although the majority of the fighting theatre was exclusive to sea skirmishes, Heidenstam was placed under the command of Field Marshal Björn von Beyermann, known popularly as "Red Björn". At the war's outset, Heidenstam helped organize the standing Geatish marine force. In this role he served effectively, and despite his lack of experience in traditional naval warfare was able to organize various succesful boarding parties against Azmaran naval vessels in the North Sea. Marshal von Beyermann wrote very approvingly of Heidenstam, commending him for his skill at both commanding infantry and observing the sail. Heidenstam would continue to add regiments under his command, at von Beyermann's request.
In October 1944, Geatish forces had decisively won the Battle of the Line Islands and secured control of the waters around the Line Islands. Fort Aalmsted, staffed with over one thousand Azmaran troops, had held out on the island of New Aalmsted. Heidenstam and a fellow colonel, Tomas "Tommy" Hansson, were charged with capturing the fort and securing the island for Geatland. Heidenstam and Hansson's forces landed on New Aalmsted on October 21 and were able to form a beachhead along the islands southern coast. Geatish forces advanced through the island towards the fort, positioned in what was relatively the islands center. On October 23, as the Geatish troops advanced through the town of Hyflik, a surprise Azmaran guerrila infantry mobbed them. In response, Geatish troops were forced to retreat further south, though Heidenstam fought a successful rearguard action that secured the Geatish line.
After clearing significant tracks of land, Heidenstam and Hansson prepared for an outright siege on Fort Aalmsted. At Hansson's request, Heidenstam assumed command of the operation. Using military intelligence he had acquired, most likely from spies within the Azmaran ranks, Heidenstam deduced that the Fort Aalmsted's left wing was in serious disrepair. Heidenstam ordered Hansson and a smaller regimen to attack the fort's right. This was a rouse, as Heidenstam had been counting on Fort Aalmsted's commander to devote troops to defending the right, thereby leaving the left open. Heidenstam's prediction was borne out, and, on October 26 he attacked the fort's left wall. Added by cannonfire smuggled onto the island by the Geatish navy, Heidenstam was able to confuse Azmaran forces in the fort, who scrambled to defend the lightly defended left side. Their defense was unsuccesful, and soon Heidenstam laid siege to the entire fort. A successful flanking maneuver by Hansson prevented men trapped in the fort from escaping, though Hansson himself succumbed to musket fire and died.
The Siege of Fort Aalmsted was a major victory for Geatland and a triumph for Heidenstam, who successfully drove the Azmaran military off New Aalmsted. Heidenstam reportedly mourned the loss of Hansson, who he sent back to Geatland to be buried with military honors. Upon hearing of Heidenstam's victory, Rudolf V sent a personal letter of thanks to Heidenstam and promoted him to major general. Heidenstam later participated in the Battle of Karvanan, where he played a smaller role overseeing the Geatish defensive line and securing Geatland's supply lines. Heidenstam's role at the war's close was dimished on account of a staph infection.
Field Marshal
After Geatish victory in King Rudolf's War in 1845, Heidenstam returned to his family home in Blåstad as a general. According to Heidenstam's diary, he had considered resigning his position because of frequent bouts of illness, but was dissuaded from doing so by his wife. Heidenstam wrote intermittantly for Krimbul, a Geatish broadsheet newspaper then focused on the armed forces.
In 1846, Field Marshal Björn von Beyermann died of an unexpected heart attack. According to traditional Geatish custom, nobleman General Theodor, Count of Olander was next in line to succeed von Beyermann. Given Heidenstam's minor nobility status, he may have been traditionally passed up. However, Rudolf III preferred to make Heridenstam field marshal on account of their close personal relationship and Heidenstams' gallantry in war. Rudolf's advisors convinced him to appoint the Count of Olander as field marshal, and Heidenstam was made next in line. However, soon after his promotion, the Count of Olander developed a brain tumor and died. So, in May 1847, Heidenstam was officially made field marshal.
In times of peace, the position of field marshal was relatively ceremonial, and therefore Field Marshal Heidenstam was relieved of all but the most ceremonial of his duties. Heidenstam lived in Blåstad for most of the year, though he occasionally summered at his brother's estate in Kungslandning. During his offtime Heidenstam journaled regularly and practiced woodworking. On occassion, he supervised operations at King Eric VI Army Academy.
Engström Revolt
The Engström Revolt initially began as a tax protest against heavy taxation of free farmers' land, but quickly turned into a pro-republican and anti-monarchist revolt against the Geatish Crown. When the revolt began in March 1866, Heidenstam had been on leave in his family home in Kungslandning, and therefore news of the insurrection was somewhat slow to reach him. As with most Geatish military and political officers, Heidenstam initially brushed off the serious threat posed by the revolt. In his private journal, Heidenstam referred to Henrik Engström, the revolt's leader, as a "petty vagrant" and "cockroach". Nevertheless, Heidenstam cut his leave of absence in Kungslanding short and returned to Blåstad to oversee the armed response. Heidenstam's indirect management saw the commitment of small numbers of troops against the republican rebels, whom Heidenstam viewed as small and poorly equipped. Instead, however, Engström's guerilla forces were able to outrun and pick off the forces sent against them. Geatish commanders had minimal experience quelling armed insurrections against guerilla opponents, and so many of them buckled. What was once a nuisance became a major threat when Engström's forces successfully captured the city of Varssala in September 1866. At the urging of King Gunnar III, Heidenstam took personal command.
Heidenstam acted first to seed out and block Engström's supply lines, which were maintained clandestintly by secret agents across the Geatish Islands. Wherever Heidenstam's army landed, he declared immediate marshal law and declared that any person found abetting Engström's war effort would face certain summary execution. Heidenstam organized a complete mobalization of the Geatish Army, something which many of his contemporaries thought was excessive, and forced country folk to quarter troops in their homes. He entrusted command of smaller, more mobile unites to commanders beneath him to quell flames of rebellion along Gormö's western seabord while Heidenstam committed himself to countering Engström in his headquarters at Varssala. By November, most of the rebellion had been snuffed out, though significant resistance remained in Varssala.
Upon amassing his forces at Varssala, Heidenstam sent a warning to the rebels, promising to raze the city. Heidenstam appealed for the rebels to evacuate the city's civilian population. The rebels initially refused, but acquised on November 8. Heidenstam's forces began shelling Varssala. However, rather than risking the destruction of the city outright, Heidenstam instead chose to conduct attrition warfare against the Geatish Republican Front in the city. Heidenstam intermittently shelled the republican garisson, though he was forced to temporarily divert his forces when republican stirrings were detected elsewhere. Varssala fell in January 1867, though Heidenstam and a small contingent fled to the countryside.
Heidenstam personally gave chase to Engström, cornering him and a small escort outside of Firf on 9 February 1867. After a brief shoot-out and a botched attempt to escape, Engström surrendered to Heidenstam the next day. Although he had grown to respect Engström for his surrender, Heidenstam advocated for his execution and was ultimately responsible for overseeing it on 13 February, when Engström and fifty other republicans were hanged.
Premiership
Domestic policy
Foreign policy
Universal male suffrage
Decision to retire
Retirement and later life
Death and funeral
Personality and leadership style
— Heidenstam's famous last words
Heidenstam was known for being quiet, reserved and loyal. He often spoke in a low, often hushed tone, and he often criticized overweening and boastful subordinates. Although he was particularly active in social circles during his posting in Cislania, Heidenstam never much enjoyed court life, and he actively shunned it in his later life. Heidenstam was respected in court circles, though he was not particularly well-liked, as most courtiers saw him as stiff, cold and distant.
In marriage, Greta was particularly faithful to his wife, Greta, and never chased after women. Their marriage was loving despite long bouts of separation, and after Heidenstam's death Greta went into mourning until her death in 1887.
As a military officer, Heidenstam had a close relationship with his troops and often concerned himself with their care and safety. At one point during King Rudolf's War, Heidenstam served as an impromptu medic during a shortage. Heidenstam's attention to the common rank and file won him the admiration of his men as well as the respect of his fellow officers. Heidenstam would often seek the council of ordinary foot soldiers, a practice that was rather unheard of in the Geatish Army. Heidenstam was always cautious in his military maneuvers, and he often consulted military manuels while on campaign. In a letter about Heidenstam to the king, Field Marshal Björn von Beyermann wrote:
"When I arrived, I saw, of all the men under the sun, that there was none more willed in his conviction, none more cunning in his style, and yet none more heedful of the needs and desires of his men than [Heidenstam]. There may be no greater pleasure, no greater honour available to any soldier of Geatland than to serve under such a man, for verily this Heidenstam is a man first among all other men."
Heidenstam's command strategy greatly informed his premiership. As Geatland's first head of government, Heidenstam rarely took action without extensive consultation of his cabinet and advisors. Heidenstam therefore saw himself as a first among equals rather than a natural superior to his cabinet ministers. Compared to Heidenstam's successor Ingemar Ulf, who was often characterized as headstrong and intransigent, Heidenstam preferred to build agreements through consensus. Nevertheless, Heidenstam was assertive in his views and often ignored his cabinet members' advice. A much cited example is Heidenstam's commitment to introduce universal male suffrage against the advice of many of his closest advisors, including Ulf.