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SPRENGTPORTEN, GORAN MAGNUS, COUNT (1...

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 738 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SPRENGTPORTEN, GORAN See also:MAGNUS, See also:COUNT (1740-1819) , See also:Swedish and See also:Russian politician, younger See also:brother of See also:Jakob Magnus Sprengtporten, entered the See also:army and See also:rose to the See also:rank of See also:captain during the Seven Years' See also:War. He assisted his brother in the revolution of 1772, and in 1775 was made a See also:colonel and brigadier in See also:east See also:Finland. Here he distinguished himself greatly as an organizer and See also:administrator. The military school which he founded at Brahelinnd subsequently became a See also:state II institution. Irritable and suspicious like his brother he also came to the conclusion that his services had not been adequately appreciated, and the flattering way in which he was welcomed by the Russian See also:court during a visit to St See also:Petersburg in 1779 still further incensed him against the purely imaginary ingratitude of his own See also:sovereign. For the next two years he was in the See also:French service, returning to Finland in 1781. It was now that he first conceived the See also:plan of separating the See also:grand duchy from See also:Sweden and erecting it into an See also:independent state under the See also:protection of See also:Russia. During the riksdag of 1786 he openly opposed Gustavus III., at the same See also:time engaging in a See also:secret and treasonable See also:correspondence with the Russian ministers with the view of inducing them to assist the Finns by force of arms. In the following See also:year, at the invitation of See also:Catherine II., he formally entered the Russian service. When the Russo-Swedish War of 1788—90 began, Sprengtporten received the command of a Russian army See also:corps directed against Finland. He took no See also:direct See also:part in the Anjala See also:conspiracy (see SWEDEN: See also:History), but urged Catherine to support it more energetically. His own negotiations with his See also:fellow countrymen, especially after Gustavus III. had brought the Finlanders back to their See also:allegiance, failed utterly.

Nor was he able to serve Russia very effectively in the See also:

field for he was seriously wounded at the See also:battle of Parosalmi (1790). At the end of the war, indeed, his position was somewhat See also:precarious, as the High Court of Finland condemned him as a traitor, while Catherine regarded him as an incompetent impostor who could not perform his promises. For the next five years, therefore (1793—1798), he thought it expedient to quit Russia and live at Toplitz in Bohemia. He was re-employed by the See also:emperor See also:Paul who, in 1800, sent him to negotiate with See also:Napoleon concerning the Maltese See also:Order and the interchange of prisoners. After Paul's See also:death Sprengtporten was again in disgrace for seven years, but was consulted in 1808 on the See also:eve of the outbreak of hostilities with See also:France. On the 1st of See also:December 1808 he was appointed the first Russian See also:governor-See also:general of Finland with the See also:title of count, but was so unpopular that he had to resign his See also:post the following year. The last ten years of his See also:life were lived in retirement. See Finska Tidskrift (See also:Helsingfors, 1877–1889); and Svenska Letteratursallskapets i Finland forhandlingar (Helsingfors, 1887). (R. N.

End of Article: SPRENGTPORTEN, GORAN MAGNUS, COUNT (1740-1819)

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