author
Wilhelm Thesleff
1880–1941
A Finnish general and statesman who also left behind a firsthand wartime memoir, he wrote from direct experience of the upheavals surrounding World War I and Finland’s early independence. His surviving work offers a personal window into a turbulent moment in Nordic and European history.
1 Audiobook
Upplevelser under krigsåren 1914-1918
by Wilhelm Thesleff
About the author
Born on July 27, 1880, in the Viipuri area of the Grand Duchy of Finland, Wilhelm Aleksander Thesleff built his career in the military and later became a notable figure in the early Finnish state. Reliable biographical sources describe him as a Finnish general, Finland’s first Minister of Defence, and for a short time commander in chief of the Finnish army.
He is also known as the author of Upplevelser under krigsåren 1914–1918, a memoir published in Swedish. Project Gutenberg and library records identify the book as his work, and it is presented as an account of his experiences during the war years, drawing on his perspective as a military officer moving through a period of major political and military change.
Thesleff died in Helsinki on March 26, 1941. For audiobook listeners, his appeal lies in that combination of public life and personal testimony: he was not only present during dramatic events, but also wrote about them in his own voice.