Georg Magnus Sprengtporten

Count Georg Magnus Sprengtporten (Russian: Георг Магнус Спренгтпортен), or Göran Magnus Sprengtporten, as he preferred to call himself (16 December 1740 – 13 October 1819), was a Swedish, Finnish and Russian politician, younger brother of Jacob Magnus Sprengtporten.

Sprengtporten was born in Porvoo (Swedish: Borgå), Uusimaa (Swedish: Nyland), Kingdom of Sweden (now Finland). He entered the army and rose to the rank of captain during the Seven Years' War. He assisted his brother in the revolution of 1772, and in 1775 was made a colonel and brigadier of the Savolax brigade in east Finland. Here he distinguished himself greatly as an organizer and administrator. The military school which he founded at Haapaniemi (then Tuhkaniemi), Kuopio (1 August 1780 until 1 May 1781 when it was moved to Haapaniemi estate in Rantasalmi, where it operated until a transfer to Hamina in 1819) subsequently became a state institution (Hamina Cadet School).

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 court during a visit to Saint Petersburg in 1779 still further incensed him against the perceived ingratitude of his own sovereign. For the next two years he was in the French service, returning to Finland in 1781. Due in part to contacts with Benjamin Franklin who was there contemporaneously he conceived of the idea of separating the grand duchy from Sweden. This aim was first approached through the Walhalla-orden subversive secret society and scheming with the kings brother, Charles XIII of Sweden. This scheming was apparently stillborn, as Charles informed his brother of the schemers approaches.

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