text:
Talk:Bondage (BDSM)

TV shows: ReBoot reference
As a person who watched that series from its premiere to its completion, I can tell you that Megabyte and Hexadecimal were siblings (brother and sister respectively), the two halves of a more powerful virus. As such Megabyte was suave, calculating and cultured (the brains) while the unpredictable and unstable Hexademical personified chaos (the brawn). The siblings shared a strong rivalry and deep-rooted hatred for each other, and if Megabyte captured Hexadecimal it was usually to make use of the considerable power at her disposal. Comparisions to bondage are likely in the restraints used to ensure Hexadecimal didn't unleash her rage on her brother or his forces at a crucial moment (usually when the heroes arrived to save the day), and not for anything incestual. In short: They really shouldn't be here for the reasons given above, so could we please remove that reference? -- 74.12.132.119 03:40, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

I'm a fan of ReBoot too, and I can understand what you mean. I changed it, although I'm a beginner at Wikipedia! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.251.201.193 (talk • contribs) 23:40, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

Statistics
"Studies in the U.S. have shown that about a half of all men find the idea of bondage to be erotic; many women do as well." - any actual stats for women? Crab —Preceding undated comment added 21:11, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Japanese
Is anyone here kinky and speaks Japanese, who could confirm or correct the Japanese bondage entries here, and perhaps even add some Unicode for their original Japanese names? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.253.40.180 (talk • contribs) 16:08, 3 January 2003 (UTC)

Links
Added http://www.seriousbondage.com/ - this is a good non-commercial site. Please don't remove it. Dlloyd 09:31, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * Serious bondage might be a good link, but not here, rather more appropriately placed on the BDSM page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.251.134.28 (talk • contribs) 12:29, 25 January 2006 (UTC)

Added http://www.bondage10.com/ - this is a best website of bondage in spanish, with fantastic information in the section "Diario personal", for example. Bondage10 is a serious and correct website. Please don't remove it this link, and add to the original article of bondage in English Wikipedia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by HistorySPA (talk • contribs) 14:19, 12 June 2009 (UTC)
 * it is not customary to have links to non-English sites, according to WP:EL. Conceivably this might be an exception due to the quality of content. DGG (talk) 00:15, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

Is this relevant?
I've noticed this recent addition.

".... The basic style depends on the type of fantasy being played out, here a few examples: Rape Fantasy: The top fictitiously abducts the consenting bottom and has complete control to do what he/she pleases. Domination/Slavery: A training session occurs in which rewards for obediance and punishment for defiance are given. Humilation is usually involved. Predicament Bondage: The bottom is given a choice between two tortures. For example, caning on the rear or flogging on the chest. If the bottom cannot stand one any longer, the top will start the other. This can also be done mechanically, like having a bottom squat and rigging a crotch rope to tighten if they attempt to stand. ...."

To me it doesn't seem relevent as they describe other BSDM activites not neccisarily related to Bondage as an activity. It seems to me that someone has simply added thier own fantasies to the existing entry. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.226.118.91 (talk • contribs) 01:17, 29 April 2005 (UTC)

 * You are entirely correct, IMHO, this paragraph does not belong under bondage, and perhaps not under BDSM either. This is a dictionary to consult for information, not to go into specific scenarious. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.251.134.28 (talk • contribs) 12:32, 25 January 2006 (UTC)

NPOV
I'm tempted to call lack of NPOV of this article, mostly because in my experiences, bondage is not necessarily sexual. It easily can be, and is a fairly intimate act, like sex, so there is a strong sexual connotation in some cases, but it easily does not have to be sexual.

 * I've renamed the article, from "sexual bondage" to "bondage (BDSM)" to reflect this. Does that help? -- The Anome 08:45, May 11, 2005 (UTC)

 * That it does, thanks. Sdr 6 July 2005 18:40 (UTC)

 * It's an improvement but this article has nothing to do with SM so I think the title may be misleading. It's only about "Bondage" so I think that's what it should be called. Kevin Reems (talk) 19:18, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

 * Bondage isn't always identified as BDSM especially in case of being used on its own. I guess, best name for article would be Bondage (restraining), to differ it from other meaning of word. "Bondage(BDSM)" gives impression to readers that those are synonyms. There is notion that in BDSM, bondage is used in meaning of "servitude" too 85.140.169.23 (talk) 07:55, 11 March 2014 (UTC)

History
Bondage must be older than this article claims. see works by Jacques-André Boiffard from the 1930s. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.25.125.113 (talk • contribs) 02:14, 29 July 2005 (UTC)
 * I find it a bit odd that those Ann Rice books are named as "early examples" of bondage; they're not very old at all! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.159.30.47 (talk • contribs) 20:21, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

A serious history of bondage requires in-depth presentation of some people who are surprisingly absent from the article. Three which readily come to mind:
 * Irving Klaw
 * John Willie (and the entire Sweet Gwendolyne series of stories)
 * Eric Stanton — Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.26.65.41 (talk • contribs) 00:07, 28 October 2005 (UTC)

"Effie Elisa Ross" is not a homo-erotic BDSM poet, her name was placed on this page originally as a prank. However, I have attempted to remove it many times, and my edit is ignored and the page is reverted back, despite the fact that I had just legitimately fixed a malicious edit. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.105.7.209 (talk • contribs) 07:48, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

erm, there are some really anchient japanese pics but as i couldnt find them again i havent added them here :(, and not sure about the context a they may have not been consensual and therefor just rape (i think bdsm implies consensual fun, for me anyway) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.241.22.100 (talk • contribs) 21:16, 1 December 2006 (UTC)
 * If that was japanese rope bondage\shibari, then it's very ancient art, actually somewhat linked to martial, artistic and anatomy arts. European bondage supposedly was influenced by it. Shibari is very good example of tasteful, non-sexual (but obviously erotic) usage of physical restraints, which proves statement in beginning of article.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.140.144.252 (talk) 18:28, 11 March 2014 (UTC)

Nothing on psychological research?
I came to this article out of interest. I read a lot about "practicalities", like a how-to, but little on more serious history, or psychological reasearch. What motivates people (need for dominance, passive agression)? I think this article needs a more serious approach and less of the how-to quality. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.14.141.127 (talk) 17:17, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

Fusion Bondage
The page Fusion Bondage was created, but there seems not to be much info on it. A Google search only returns 329 instances of the term. I propose that this subject might better exist as a part of the main Bondage article. Vslashg (talk) 07:51, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I disagree with the comment above... Fusion Bondage like Shibari is its own artistic branch of rope bondage. The link to Bondage (BDSM) provides clarity for readers looking for more information on the general subject of Bondage. However, that said, Bondage (BDSM) is written like a clinical treatise on the subject --- not an indebt objective artistic and sensual evolution of its elements. It lumps rope bondage into a general "catch all", a fact that limits objective evaluation of Fusion Bondage. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.81.59.230 (talk • contribs) 16:19, 17 February 2006 (UTC)
 * One issue is whether "Fusion Bondage" is notable enough to warrant a separate article, or whether it only really merits a brief mention in a more general article (such as this one). vslashg is presumably arguing the latter based on Google search hits, and the argument seems fair enough to me. Remember, Wikipedia is not a place to promote new ideas that haven't really attained any independent notability yet. — Matt Crypto 17:44, 17 February 2006 (UTC)
 * It seems a little nonsensical to me to require that Fusion Bondage be a chapter in the Bondage (BDSM) article, but have no reference at all to it in the Rope Bondage article, since it fits in both categories. M.S.K. 19:05, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

John Mellencamp song
I removed this paragraph
 * The popular song, "Hurts So Good", by John Mellencamp featured lyrics saying, "Come on baby make it hurt so good. Sometimes love don't feel like it should, so make it hurt so good."

since it seems to refer to S/M rather than bondage as such. Pretzelpaws 06:24, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Pictures
I think that one picture should be of a man in bondage, especially because the article emphasises that many men fantasise about being tied up during sex. I don't have any - anyone who can help out? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 163.1.214.254 (talk • contribs) 16:32, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

I have one but I do not know how to put it on there. Starcomet 21:58 September 24, 2006 (UCT)
 * I agree, I found a free image of a man on Commons and added it to the article. Johntex\talk 19:42, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

Mess
Most of the songs, facts etc refer to BDSM not to bondage. Most facts related to BDSM are true for bondage too. This doesn't mean it also has to be the other way around as well. Therefore I believe only facts distiguishing bondage should be statet here... everything else should be put under BDSM. Subsidiarity --84.152.231.17 18:17, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

 * Yes, this is true. I actually put many of the music ref's here, and then copied to BDSM.  When I get a chance, or others do, your idea of trimming these to more bondage specific music links would be great. Atom 23:18, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Separate Article Required?
I think we need somebody in the know to write another separate article dealing with 'loving' bondage, rather than bondage used within Dom/Sadomasochism. There's a huge gulf between strapping a willing victim up for a good lashing, and tying your beloved up in silk to give her something to pull against and stop her wiggling out of the room while you are pleasuring her. My wife and me have played this way over the years, but we need someone like Taxwoman to write a proper page :-) 160.84.253.241 09:05, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

 * Me again. In fact, after reading the 'Couples and Bondage' paragraph, and the 'BDSM' page, it strikes me the vast majority of people that play with bondage are probably in no way connected to BDSM at all, but are otherwise - "vanilla" couples who sometimes use mild forms of bondage as part of normal sex play as a 'sensation intensifier'.  Why has this 'Bondage' page been hijacked by the BDSM community, when (I imagine) most bondage that will happen in the world tonight has absolutely nothing to do with Domination, Sadism, or Masochism?. 160.84.253.241 10:16, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

I'm glad that you are learning more about our sub-culture. Actually BDSM has grown over the years to basically be a term that is used to cover the whole spectrum of what some would call "kinky" activity. Not all, in fact most BDSM'ers are not at the end of the spectrum, what one might call "heavy players". Many are couples whose children are older, or out of the house who are exploring their sexuality again, and try out a little light bondage or D/s play.

In response to your added comment, the bondage page is pretty accurate according to my view. I'm not sure what you mean that it has been hijacked by the BDSM community. Light bondage and spanking is part of the BDSM spectrum.

BTW, please don't use silk to tie up your sweatheart, as silk can be very hard to untie in an emergency. Atom 12:48, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

 * Fair enough. Sorry for using the word 'hijacked'...it's the wrong word.  I suppose there are a million different views about where the border is between 'bondage within vanilla', and BDSM.

 * Personally I don't tie my beloved up to dominate her, but because she looks nice like that, and she finds working against the ties feels good when she can feel a mattress-ripper coming on :-). We have no interest at all in the 'DSM' part of 'BDSM', so maybe we just need to change our definition of 'vanilla' to include light bondage (I think that most 'vanilla' couples are a lot more adventurous than people think anyway, they just keep it between the two of them behind the closed bedroom door).

 * I won't be a pest by calling a vote or anything, I just want to canvass opinion.''' Am I the only one who thinks that bondage as used within relationships by more adventurous 'vanilla' couples, and bondage as used in its own right as part of BDSM culture are such different things that they merit two separate (but cross-referred) articles ???
 * 160.84.253.241 16:31, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

I have great sympathy with our anonymous friend, and am flattered that he thinks that I am the one to write a proper page. The trouble is that really, it's a multi-faceted continuum, not a simple either/or. Would the cabal who run Wikipedia really stand for having lots of separate articles called "Light bondage in vanilla sex", "Bondage without domination", "Stringent bondage without SM"? They'd soon be deleted or merged.--Taxwoman 20:32, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

 * Thanks to our truly beautiful friend (we've seen the photos!). I see what you mean.  There seems to be a 'raincoat brigade' who try to slant all 'sexuality' articles to extremes and personal agendas at the expense of the 'centre' (??). For example have you seen the meagre page for 'Vanilla Sex'?...'Er and Me consider ourselves 'Vanilla', but if our sex life was as mind-numbingly dull as described there, we would have jumped off Beachy Head together long before now :-)  (e.g. see my wife's re-write of the article on 'Orgasm Control'). Many vanilla couples explore other things without ever becoming part of the relevant sub-culture, so in addition to vanilla bondage, we have over time also had a vanilla foursome without becoming swingers, and we must keep Duracell in profit with our vanilla use of various things that go buzz in the night, whilst still remaining 'vanilla'.  I still feel that the article should simply be called 'Bondage (Sexual)' which starts with plain Bondage, but then derects you onwards to BDSM if you want to delve deeper, but I'll go with the flow.  Perhaps we will attempt a re-write of the 'Couples and Bondage' section, which again seems very meagre given the percentage of the population that are probably 'at it'.  (BTW I'm not being anonymous for any sinister reason, but my real user name is my actual name :-) L&BWs 160.84.253.241 08:33, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

One of the things that bothers me about this page is the first two photos. They depict bondage portrayed in pornography. So as I thought about it, it dawned on me that there is a great gulf between bondage done for pleasure and bondage that is portrayed in pornography. I personally like both, but there is a difference and this article does not distinguish the two. It also seems like this is what the "vanilla" vs more "extreme" group might be misinterpreting. I would like the two photos of the models removed. And, if anyone is interested, maybe something can be done to clarify the intent of the information in this article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Josephharper911 (talk • contribs) 18:27, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

I don't know about cabals, but i do know that people around here get pretty impatient about articles without real sourcing. the problem with articles on this subject is getting good references to published material. If you want a wider range of articles, if you want a wider range of content, if you want a clearer distinction between different styles, start by getting sources. It's hard to document attitudes--what different people call routine sex -- or pornography -- varies in all sorts of directions. Don't try to reorient, don't try to subtract--try to add. It is much better having as small number of substantial articles than a larger number of poorly documented variations--people will always be trying to merge them. it doesn't matter what we call an article, what matters is the information. Get information, get literary and film examples, get sources    As for illustrations, though WP isn't censored of course :), there is a resistance to using unnecessarily dramatic photographs. Bored-looking models seem more acceptable--and remember we can only use free content--it is not that easy finding ones that are of high quality and otherwise suitable.  We can also use original drawings, if they are donated under a free license. If you know of a good image that shows things differently, make certain about the copyright, and add it.  I'd advise you as for any other topic--if you have a different  perspective, add it. It is difficult in this area to keep even the existing content--we've lost quite a number of articles. I can't say it enough times--the biggest contribution anyone can make to this topic is additional unquestionably reliable sources. (and need I mention that what you personally think or do is what we call Original Research, and this isn't the right wiki for it.)  DGG (talk)

tousin
Could someone comment on the importance of the 3 books by Steven Toushin, just added to the article? DGG (talk) 05:19, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Incidence
For details compare BDSM.--Nemissimo (talk) 19:21, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

Folsom St. picture
I dont think its a suitable picture, because it doe not provide a clear illustration of the subject. its a general science from the fair, which could probably used to illustate an article on the fair. some bondage demos seem to be going on, but at WP resolution they are not distinct enough to be informative. I havent the least objection to individual pictures, if they are better than this in their encyclopedic quality. Unless someone can counter this argument, I'm going to remove the picture. DGG (talk) 06:54, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

 * Same here...no objection to the pictures, but they are not representative. We need a few pictures of (for want of a better word) 'normal' bondage, as practiced by couples etc.  Only a small minority of people who actually play 'tie me up games' are actually visible members of the bondage 'scene'.  I'm afraid me and my partner have a few too many miles on the clock to upload any of ours, but surely somebody a bit more photogenic could donate some with face turned away / pixellated if necessary???  Perhaps someone a bit artistic could 'trace' a few ink drawings over some of their photos?.  We need views of the most common scenarios i.e. Woman spreadeagled / 'Y'-shaped on bed receiving oral: woman trussed with man holding vibrator: man with arms cuffed to bed with wife role-playing 'Miss BossyBoots' etc, which is the sort of thing that most people in the real world actually get up to. Strapping Lass (talk) 08:06, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

 * I cropped the image to make the bondage more evident. The image is important and relevant to the section it appears in: "BDSM subcultures". -Neitherday (talk) 16:57, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

Bondage in cats
I don't believe that cat mating behaviour has anything to do with bondage in BDSM. The male cat's motive has nothing to do with the fetishism of bondage and is only motivated by his desire to prevent the female cat from leaving during mating. The act is more in line with rape than it is with BDSM. Neitherday (talk) 04:54, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * certainly--I'm removing the section-- i doubt it has to do with rape either, just maintaining the mating position, as do all species in various ways. This particular position is the way kittens are held, so I assume it is felt as appropriate affection either consciously or as a reflex. . Anyway, this isnt the place for it-- or the place to discuss it. DGG (talk) 04:49, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
 * I didn't mean to suggest it was rape, just that rape would be a better comparison than BDSM bondage in terms of human behaviour. Anyway, thank you for removing the section :) Neitherday (talk) 05:56, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

I adjust and append it below.

It is sad that any mention of any possibility of any connection at all between anything related to BSDM and anything in nature shall have no place in the encyclopedia.Jidanni (talk) 03:46, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

Bondage in nature?
Bondage might possibly have connections to phenomena observed in nature, e.g., cat mating: The male grabs the female by the scruff. This is done to immobilize her while he mounts and to prevent her from running away as the mating process takes place. Cognate areas of the brain being involved or not will have to await a CAT Scan ☺.

The problem with your reference is that the linked article only talks about the behaviour, but never links it to BDSM bondage in humans. For this text to be included, you would need a reliable source that specifically makes the connection between feline mating behaviour and human BDSM bondage. Remember that "Exceptional claims require exceptional sources]". -Neitherday (talk) 15:00, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Mention that it is an open question awaiting an answer from qualified researchers. Jidanni (talk) 22:55, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
 * I see no evidence that it's a question at all. Unless you can get some support from a reliable source, it does not belong in the article. DGG (talk) 23:43, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

 * Yeah, just get rid of it. This is one of the few remaining Sexology Wikis that doesn't look as though it was written by dirty schoolboys.  Try and keep it informative.  Shift the cat rubbish to a page dealing with animal sexuality. Strapping Lass (talk) 07:01, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Picture
I just realised the picture I added, that I have taken myself, is the only one on the entire page displaying female toplessness. This kind of makes it stand out, but I figure it's OK anyway, as the whole article is about a sexual phenomenon. J I P | Talk 20:06, 6 January 2009 (UTC)
 * It's not any more, apparently the classical artists had no problem painting pictures of topless women in bondage. My picture still remains the only photograph displaying female toplessness though. J I P  | Talk 20:19, 14 December 2009 (UTC)

Too many photos
You guys are forgetting this is an encyclopedia... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.183.79.69 (talk) 01:38, 18 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Aww, you're just trying to rob us of a nice excuse to look at tied-up women. =) J I P  | Talk 19:47, 20 January 2010 (UTC)

In response to user JIP...Wikipedia is not a fetish website... (in all accounts an article should be able to stand alone without images, images only enhance the nature of an article, a well written article could (and IMHO should be able to) stand alone without imagery)... I am now, condensing the images of the photo's used on this article... removing them to this discussion page, where editors can DISCUSS the reinclusion of the images... (see Below)

My criteria for removal: 165.138.95.59 (talk) 17:13, 27 January 2011 (UTC)
 * 1 If the section has more than one of the same type of photo for the discription, or similar description as another in the same article section, I remove the photo
 * 2 I did not remove any photos from the lede section
 * 3 If the photo or photos are attached with a tag, or bulletin or other editors form of notation questioning their inclusion.
 * 4 If the photo is found to be copyrighted and not included in either GFL or on Wikipedia Commons, or Public Liscensing
 * 5 If the photo is inconsitent with the section in which it was placed and/or was intended for another section, or a section that is no more...
 * 6 If the photo shows genetalia, without a notable reason for displaying genetalia... (this includes the upper portion of a female's anatomy)
 * 7 If the photo attaches irrelevent data to the article's overall subject matter

A.) This portion removed as per reason 3 above

B.) This photo removed as per #'s 1 and 7 (two pictures of cuff's, one is full body, remain in the article... IMO (and maybe you disagree, but...) self-cutting is an unneccessary addition to a section on cuff usage... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 165.138.95.59 (talk) 17:36, 27 January 2011 (UTC)

Expanding the article based on the German article
The German article de:Bondage seems to be much more extensive and detailed than this article. I'm planning on expanding this article according to it, but it requires much work, because of two things:
 * 1) This article is already extensive and detailed. It requires attention to spot out which parts need to be added and which are already there. The structures of the English and German articles as quite different.
 * 2) German is only my fourth best known language, after my native Finnish, English, and Swedish.  J I P  | Talk 19:36, 12 March 2013 (UTC)

Bondage statistics
I recently added this, based on the German article de:Bondage:
 * In 1995, psychologists Kurt Ernulf and Sune Innala from Sweden published an analysis based on answers from members of the bondage-oriented Usenet group alt.sex.bondage. Most of the answers (76%) were from men. In 71% of the answers the active (restraining) role in bondage was played by heterosexual men, in 11% by heterosexual women and in 12% by homosexual men. 29% of the heterosexual men, 89% of the heterosexual women and 88% of the homosexual men played the passive (restrained) role.

How come 12% of the homosexual men were in the active role and 88% of the homosexual men were in the passive role? A homosexual man's partner is also a homosexual man. Therefore shouldn't the division between active and passive roles among homosexual men be exactly 50%-50%? Same goes for lesbian women as well, even though it isn't mentioned. But this comes straight from the German article, and I haven't read the original source, much less the answers it was based on. J I P | Talk 19:37, 14 March 2013 (UTC)

Suggestion to remove (BDSM) from the title
While some may view bondage as part of their BDSM, it is inherently not a part of BDSM. A sad misconception is that bondage and BDSM mean the same thing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.112.82.155 (talk) 17:19, 2 April 2013 (UTC)
 * Well what would you suggest instead? Bondage by itself won't do, it is widely used with no connection of tying anyone up at all. This article was previously located at Bondage (sexual) but it was later moved back to Bondage (BDSM). I for one think the current title is fine. J I P  | Talk 18:32, 3 April 2013 (UTC)

Yes bondage itself won't do, but there are much more people who do bondage as bondage without incorporating sadomasochism. One form of such bondage could be done with a tie or other household items. Besides, pure bondage, as stated in this article, can be done for aesthetic purposes as well. Perhaps "Interpersonal Bondage" as opposed to "Self-bondage"?

Because of the very widely-spread misconception that bondage=BDSM, the distinction should be made at title-level. One can do bondage without sadomasochism, but the term BDSM inherently includes bondage, even if the devious act wouldn't necessarily include it.

Other title suggestions would be "Bondage (sexual)", "Bondage (sex play)" and for distinction, "Bondage (aesthethic)" or "Aesthethic bondage". Whatever the new title, it is certainly more appropriate than Bondage (BDSM). A separate subpage of "BDSM Bondage" would make the distinction. 88.112.82.155 (talk) 15:28, 24 April 2013 (UTC)
 * I could go with "Bondage (sexual)". I don't think "Bondage (aesthetic)" is a good idea, because this article is also about bondage as a medium for sex and/or BDSM, not only for its own sake. Also, "Interpersonal bondage" is an even worse idea, because (1) this article covers self-bondage too, and (2) it doesn't convey any idea that this is about tying people up for pleasure (be it either visual or sexual), not simply because you have to (as, for example, in law enforcement). J I P  | Talk 18:19, 6 May 2013 (UTC)

Requested move

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: no consensus for move. The article states that bondage is also performed for non-sexual reasons (reflected in the relatively-recent move from the target title).  Mini  apolis  17:11, 26 May 2013 (UTC)

Bondage (BDSM) → Bondage (sexual) – As explained in the above section, bondage (in terms of tying people up for pleasure) doesn't necessarily involve BDSM. Bondage can be done for purely visual, tactile and aesthetic purpose, without any connection to sexual intercourse or domination/submission. J I P | Talk 18:25, 6 May 2013 (UTC)  J I P  | Talk 18:25, 6 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Support, logical, rational, sensible proposal. — Cirt (talk) 01:32, 8 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Support as the BD in BDSM is "bondage and discipline", not just bondage in general. Tying someone down and tickling them with a feather is bondage (sexual) but not bondage (BDSM), presumably? K7L (talk) 00:17, 20 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Oppose. Per article, reasons go beyond just sexual – "sexual, aesthetic, and/or psychological pleasure". The article was moved here less than a year ago for that reason, and moving it back is pointless. Apteva (talk) 01:42, 20 May 2013 (UTC)
 * But if it's established that bondage for pleasure is neither inherently BDSM or inherently sexual, what title would you suggest then? J I P  | Talk 18:32, 20 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Oppose as the B in BDSM is "bondage". This article clarifies: "Sexuality and erotica are an important aspect in bondage, but are often not the end in itself. Aesthetics also plays an important role in bondage."  BDSM also clarifies that among the practices is "restraint" (in the lede), and that "Bondage and Discipline are two aspects" (section 2.1) thus they are distinct and not necessarily requiring each other or any other aspect.  Claiming that "bondage doesn't necessary involve BDSM" is a fallacy -- bondage doesn't necessarily involve D, S or M, but it is inherently part of the overall BDSM term.  I doubt that any suitable single term exists to adequately replace "BDSM" in the title of this article, especially "sexual" because section 2 gives at least three cited non-sexual examples and section 9 gives a cited spiritual example.  The requestor's statement even states "Bondage can be done for purely visual, tactile and aesthetic purpose, without any connection to sexual intercourse...", so the "sexual" nomination does not make sense.  HalJor (talk) 19:30, 20 May 2013 (UTC)
 * BDSM = "bondage and discipline", "dominance and submission", "sadism and masochism". They operate in pairs, not alone. K7L (talk) 13:28, 21 May 2013 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Pictures
Can anybody say: holy crap too many pictures ya pervs.? Knock it down to two or three. You know, like the rest of the entirety of Wikipedia. RogrMexico (talk) 00:23, 7 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Have a look at the German article. There are 27 pictures there but only 17 here. Keep in mind I counted every picture, whether depicting bound women, bound men, or simply bondage instruments alone. J I P  | Talk 18:39, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

Kinks
Was there a direct topic on kinks. Or the types of kinks. Cornstalks (talk) 05:59, 22 August 2019 (UTC)
 * There is a short article on kink (sexuality). - Polly Tunnel (talk) 11:01, 22 August 2019 (UTC)

Merge Metal bondage here
I have tagged Metal bondage to be merged here. It has only a single dubious source and has hardly any more content than the relevant section here. I would propose that the article contents are copied over here leaving an appropriate redirect behind.  Velella  Velella Talk 12:42, 30 August 2020 (UTC)

Images and their sources
Many of the photos on this page are amateur, and either have no metadata that tells where the image came from or have metadata confirming that the image subject and sharer are not the same person. As someone uncomfortable with the idea of people's images being uploaded to the internet without their consent, particularly when those images are essentially smut, I worry about the ethics of the images of this page.

I guarantee that there are enough images of bondage taken professionally, share a subject and author, or are otherwise known to not be taken and shared without the consent of their subject. Bondage is no small subject.

Should the dubiously sourced images be removed and replaced, just removed, or otherwise? Is there some policy in Wikimedia commons that I'm not aware of?

TL; DR --- how do we know if the people in these pictures consented to these photos being taken and distributed? Marion Truman, local clown (talk) 00:14, 2 June 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Bondage (BDSM)


text:
Japanese bondage

Kinbaku (緊縛) means "tight binding", while Kinbaku-bi (緊縛美) literally means "the beauty of tight binding". is a Japanese style of bondage or BDSM which involves tying a person up using simple yet visually intricate patterns, usually with several pieces of thin rope (often jute, hemp or linen and generally around 6 mm in diameter, but sometimes as small as 4 mm, and between 7 – long). In Japanese this natural-fibre rope is known as asanawa (麻縄). The allusion is to the use of hemp rope for restraining prisoners, as a symbol of power, in the same way that stocks or manacles are used in a Western BDSM context.

The word shibari came into common use in the West at some point in the 1990s to describe the bondage art Kinbaku. Shibari (縛り) is a Japanese word that broadly means "binding" or "tying" in most contexts, but is used in BDSM to refer to this style of decorative bondage.

Shibari and Kinbaku focuses on the aesthetics and display of the body. As a result, and due to the manipulation of body parts using rope to achieve this it is common, though not always required, for models or participants to be fully naked and the art form regularly incorporates aspects of BDSM such as erotic humiliation. It may be used for restraint as well as solely being a visual.

History
Bondage as a sexual activity first came to notice in Japan in the late Edo period (about 1600s to 1860s). Generally recognized as "father of Kinbaku", Seiu Ito, started studying and researching Hojōjutsu (the art of binding a prisoner of war) and is credited with the inception of Kinbaku, though it is noted that he drew inspiration from other art forms of the time including Kabuki theatre and Ukiyoe woodblock prints. Kinbaku became widely popular in Japan in the 1950s through magazines such as Kitan Club and Yomikiri Romance, which published the first naked bondage photographs. In the 1960s, people such as Eikichi Osada began to appear performing live SM shows often including a large amount of rope bondage, today these performers are often referred to as Nawashi (rope master) or Bakushi (from kinbakushi, meaning bondage master).

Kinbaku has become popular in the Western BDSM scene in its own right and has influenced Western-style bondage.

Rope types
In Japan the most often used type of rope is a loose laid, three strand jute rope. This rope is referred to as "Asanawa" usually translated as "hemp rope" the word 'asa' as hemp and 'nawa' as rope,  however this is using the more generic form of the word [hemp] referring to a range of natural fibre ropes rather than those pertaining to a particular plant. In recent history a range of rope types have been used for Kinbaku in Japan though Nawashi rarely use synthetic fibre rope and most often use jute.

Kinbaku is practised with ropes of 6 – in length. Due to the generally larger physique of Western subjects, 7 - 8 m ropes are commonly used in the West. Though the rope material is usually jute (or hemp) many other materials are in use including cotton and various synthetics. Various techniques are used to make the natural fiber ropes softer.

Synthetic ropes have become popular in the US for the vibrant colors which are available and ease of washing. Most commonly 6mm diameter, but also 8mm diameter and other sizes. The most common standard length is 30 feet or ten meters, however many vendors provide custom lengths.

Aesthetics of Japanese bondage
The aesthetics of the bound person's position is important: in particular, Japanese bondage is distinguished by its use of specific katas (forms) and aesthetic rules. Sometimes, asymmetric and often intentionally uncomfortable positions are employed. In particular, Japanese bondage is very much about the way the rope is applied and the pleasure is more in the journey than the destination. In this way the rope becomes an extension of the nawashi's hands and is used to communicate.

Traditional Japanese bondage techniques use natural vegetable fiber rope (hemp, jute, or linen) exclusively, though contemporary Japanese Masters have been working with a range of rope materials. The natural fibers easily lock to each other which means the bondage can be held together by the friction of twists and turns or very simple knots.

Shibari in contemporary art
Shibari has a strong presence in the works of some renowned contemporary artists, mainly photographers, like Nobuyoshi Araki in Japan, Jim Duvall in the United States and Hikari Kesho in Europe.

In 2014, Romanian singer-songwriter NAVI released a Shibari-themed music video, "Picture Perfect". The video, directed by Marian Nica, was controversial and banned by Romanian television for its explicit erotic content.

Shibari has also featured in Western pop culture. For example, in the music video for The Jonas Brothers song "Sucker", Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner briefly appear to be engaging in a form of Japanese-inspired bondage. More to the point, shibari is explicitly referenced in "Tying the Knot", the nineteenth episode of The Good Wife's fifth season, as the practice of shibari is integral to the episode's plot; in this episode, fictional characters Colin Sweeney and Renata Ellard Sweeney (portrayed by actors Dylan Baker and Laura Benanti respectively) are revealed to engage in the art of shibari, and shibari is also used as a means by which Renata's friend, Morgan Donnelly (portrayed by actress Jenn Gambatese ), is murdered.

One modern distinction that has gained popularity among westerners wanting to distinguish the terms is that shibari refers to purely artistic, aesthetic rope, while kinbaku refers to the artistic, connective, sensual, sexual practice as a whole. While multiple books and articles have been written in Japanese about shibari, no one has found evidence of there being any thought given to the distinction between these words among Japanese practitioners of the art.

A traditional view is that the term shibari is a Western misuse of Japanese vocabulary. The word denotes tying in Japanese, but in a generic way, and traditionally not in the context of bondage. The names for many particular ties include shibari, but it was not traditional to name the entire activity in that way. Instead, Kinbaku is the term for artistic or erotic tying within traditional Japanese rope bondage circles. An even more traditional view is that shibari is a term used for erotic bondage in Japan that is practically interchangeable with the term kinbaku. Itoh Seiu (generally considered one of the fathers of contemporary Japanese rope bondage) used the term in the 1950s, with no sign of it being a "western Japonism" as did many other well-known Japanese bakushi. One of Nureki Chimuo's how-to video series from the 1980s, is titled Introduction to Shibari.

While some claim this is a somewhat hidebound definition and the word shibari is now increasingly being re-imported from the West to Japan, as the tying communities are very close-knit, there is no evidence to support such a conclusion as most practicing bakushi in Japan have very limited contact with the west and almost no interest in debating the meaning of words. Most Japanese kinbakushi do not object to the term shibari, as it is common vernacular in the global community.

The actual term Kinbaku was first developed and used in the May–June 1952 issue of Kitan Club by author and Bakushi Minomura Kou and Bakushi Tsujimura Takashi. Until that issue, most magazines only had nude photographs of women but few in bondage. In order to specify the act of erotic bondage as opposed to the act of just tying Kinbaku was then created by the aforementioned Bakushi.

Technique
Kinbaku is based on fairly specific rope patterns, many of them derived from Hojojutsu ties though significantly modified to make them safer for bondage use. Many Hojojutsu ties were deliberately designed to cause harm to a prisoner and are therefore not suitable for erotic bondage. Of particular importance are the Ushiro Takatekote (a type of box tie which surrounds the chest and arms), which forms the basis of many Kinbaku ties, and the Ebi-tie, or "Shrimp", which was originally designed as a torture tie and codified as part of the Edo period torture techniques. Today the ebi-tie is used as part of BDSM play and can be considered a form of Semenawa, rope torture.

Glossary

 * kinbaku (緊縛): (noun) literally "tight binding". It does not convey the meaning of sexual bondage outside BDSM circles. However, some experts, e.g. Kinoko Hajime and Osada Steve, make a distinction from "shibari" in that it is used to refer to sessions with a strong emotional exchange.
 * kinbakushi (緊縛師): (noun) kinbaku master, can be shortened to bakushi.
 * shibari (縛り): (noun) the act of tying, binding or weaving. It does not convey the meaning of sexual bondage outside BDSM circles.
 * shibaru (縛る): (verb) tie or bind with a rope
 * nawa shibari (縄縛り): (noun) rope-tying with a rope (an incorrect, "made-up" term, does not exist in Japanese )
 * nawashi (縄師): (noun) literally, "a maker of rope", but in BDSM circles it means a professional "rope artist"

Kinbaku patterns
Most of the patterns below have multiple variations:
 * Ushiro takate kote – Foundational form for most shibari ties, capturing the upper body / breasts and arms behind back (when ushiro) in a "U" shape behind the back
 * Single wrist binding 片手首縛り Katate kubi shibari
 * Both wrists binding 両手首縛り Ryoute kubi shibari
 * Handcuff binding 手錠縛り Tejou shibari
 * Prisoner handcuff binding 連行手錠縛り Renkou tejou shibari
 * Hands behind the back binding 後ろ手縛り Ushiro te shibari
 * High hands behind the back binding 後ろ高手小手縛り(簡易型 Ushiro takate kote shibari)
 * Hands behind the head tie 後頭後ろ手縛り Koutou ushiro te shibari
 * Tasuki (kimono string) tied 襷(タスキ)縛り Tasuki (tasuki ) shibari
 * Crotch rope tie また縄縛り Mata nawa shibari
 * Turtle (diamond pattern) binding 亀甲縛り(菱縄縛り) Kikkou shibari (hishi nawa shibari)
 * Upright standing binding 直立不動一本縛り Chokuritsu fudou ippon shibari
 * Cross-legged binding 胡座 縛り Agura shibari
 * Shrimp binding 海老縛り Ebi shibari
 * Reverse shrimp binding 逆さ海老縛り Sakasa ebi shibari
 * Standing partial suspension 立ち吊り縛り Tachi tsuri shibari
 * One foot lifted partial suspension 片足上げ吊り縛り１ Kataashi age tsuri shibari
 * Hanging letter M, open leg binding Ｍ字開脚吊り縛り M ji kaikyaku tsuri shibari
 * Reverse hanging shrimp binding 逆海老吊り縛り Gyaku ebi tsuri shibari
 * Reverse prayer hands 後手 合掌 縛り – Gote gasshou shibari
 * Arms bound in front 前手 肘 縛り – Maete hiji shibari
 * Legs bound together 両足 合体 – 文字 縛り– Ryouashi gattai Ichimonji Shibari
 * Rifle tie 鉄砲 縛り– Teppou shibari
 * Leg, calf to thigh 太もも – Futomomo
 * High hands on front tie 前方 高手 縛り– Zenpou takate shibari

Vocabulary
Topics in Japanese bondage include:
 * Karada – a Japanese word used in the West for body (body harness, a "rope dress")
 * Kikkou – a body tie that ends with a tortoise shell design in the front upper torso.
 * Hishi – a tie using diamond shapes. When done as a full body tie, it is sometimes also called hishi-kikkou. The hishi has been popularized by manga, or cartoon, art.
 * Ebi – the "shrimp" tie
 * Agoura – a less severe tie similar to an ebi
 * Tazuki – a "criss-cross harness"
 * Tanuki – a "raccoon dog"
 * Kataashi tsuri – a "one-legged suspension"
 * Asymmetric bondage – a common feature of Japanese bondage
 * Tsuri suspension
 * Gyaku ebi
 * Hojojutsu

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Japanese bondage


text:
Talk:The Sims (video game)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): OdysseyOfGrace.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 11:10, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Future References
Gathering as many references as I can find in here for a much-needed massive overhaul of this article. Will add more soon.Harryhenry1 (talk) 01:42, 17 October 2015 (UTC)
 * Game Developer Magazine: August 2000 (Page 26)
 * Computer Gaming World Issue 190 (Pages 64-76)
 * PC Magazine
 * Gamespot content:
 * The Sims Preview (June 1999)
 * Make Sim Art (August 23, 2000)
 * New Sims Expansion: Hot Date (July 2001)

Possible Copyright Violation
I have been using this source to add citations to the gameplay section, I fear in error. After re-reading the content, it seems likely that one has been largely copied and reordered from the other. The newest vresion of the article that was definetely published before the source is this version, but I do not know how to confirm which copied which, as the article has also since been changed. Any help appreciated.--CSJJ104 (talk) 17:11, 12 August 2016 (UTC)
 * It is organized identically to Book:The Sims and even includes infoboxes. Summary: The book you've been using is not a reliable source. --Izno (talk) 17:15, 12 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Hello, I am posting on behalf of my Wiki Ed Intertwine group. Me and my group were tasked with finding ways this article can be improved and wanted to note that you have made three separate citations for the source you mentioned. Since it seems to have been deemed an unreliable resource, we felt that it should be removed from the article. --Macf95 (talk) 19:25, 27 January 2018 (UTC)

Hello, fellow Wikipedians! I will be reviewing and making edits to this article as part of my Technical Editing class at my university. My main focus will be reorganizing some of the content in order to reflect higher class articles on video games (specifically in the Gameplay, Compilations, and Expansions and versions sections). I will also consider adding a Cultural impact section to reflect other video game articles and from there, reorganize the Reception section. Please let me know if I need to alter my approach! OdysseyOfGrace (talk) 20:06, 5 March 2018 (UTC)

First paragraph of Development section
Could the first paragraph of the Development section possibly be moved to another page like The Sims page, or would it be best suited to stay in this article with a new section created to accommodate the information? The paragraph doesn't quite fit with the rest of the information, and it seems like other video game articles don't have as much historical information predating the game's actual creation in the Development section. OdysseyOfGrace (talk) 20:08, 17 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Couldn't agree more. It's incredibly pretentious and difficult to understand as well. It should be edited and/or deleted completely — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:569:7D25:AA00:E5EC:7188:995F:3B17 (talk) 23:30, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

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title: Talk:The Sims (video game)


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Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim

Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (, ; 4 June 1867 – 27 January 1951) was a Finnish military commander, aristocrat, and statesman. He served as the military leader of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War (1918), as Regent of Finland (1918–1919), as commander-in-chief of the Finnish Defence Forces during the period of World War II (1939–1945), and as the sixth president of Finland (1944–1946). He became Finland's only field marshal in 1933 and was appointed honorary Marshal of Finland in 1942.

The Russian Empire dominated the Grand Duchy of Finland before 1917, and Mannerheim made a career in the Imperial Russian Army, serving in the Russo-Japanese War and the Eastern Front of World War I and rising by 1917 to the rank of lieutenant general. He had a prominent place in the ceremonies for Emperor Nicholas II's coronation in 1896 and later had several private meetings with the Tsar. After the Bolshevik coup of October 1917 in Russia, Finland declared its independence (6 December 1917) – but soon became embroiled in the 1918 Finnish Civil War between the pro-Bolshevik "Reds" and the "Whites", who were the troops of the Senate of Finland, supported by troops of the German Empire.

A Finnish delegation appointed Mannerheim as the military chief of the Whites in January 1918, and he led them to victory, holding a triumphal victory parade in Helsinki in May. After spending some time abroad, he was invited back to Finland to serve as the country's second regent, or head of state, from December 1918 to July 1919. Despite being a monarchist, he formally ratified the republican Constitution of Finland. He then ran against K. J. Ståhlberg in the first Finnish presidential elections in 1919 but lost and quit politics. Mannerheim helped found the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare in 1920 and headed the Finnish Red Cross from 1922 to his death. He was restored to a central role in national defence policy when President Svinhufvud appointed him as the Chairman of the Finnish Defence Council in 1931, tasked with making preparations for a potential war with the Soviet Union. It was also agreed that he would temporarily take over as commander-in-chief of the country's armed forces should there be a war.

Accordingly, after the Soviets invaded Finland in November 1939 in what became the Winter War, Mannerheim replaced President Kyösti Kallio as commander-in-chief, and occupied the post for the next five years. He became a unifying symbol of the war effort and part of the core leadership of the country. He personally participated in the planning of Operation Barbarossa and led the Finnish Defence Forces in an invasion of the Soviet Union alongside Nazi Germany known as the Continuation War (1941–1944). In 1944, when the prospect of Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II became clear, the Finnish Parliament appointed Mannerheim as President of Finland, and he oversaw peace negotiations with the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom. Already in declining health, he resigned the presidency in 1946 and spent much of his remaining life in a sanatorium in Switzerland, where he wrote his memoirs, and where he died in 1951.

Participants in a Finnish survey taken 53 years after his death voted Mannerheim the greatest Finn of all time. During his own lifetime he became, alongside Jean Sibelius, the best-known Finnish personage at home and abroad. According to Finnish historian Tuomas Tepora, a cult of personality began to be built around Mannerheim right after the civil war.

Given the broad recognition in Finland and elsewhere of his unparalleled role in establishing and later preserving Finland's independence from the Soviet Union, Mannerheim has long been referred to as the father of modern Finland,   and the New York Times called the Finnish capital Helsinki's Mannerheim Museum memorializing the leader's life and times "the closest thing there is to a [Finnish] national shrine". Baron Mannerheim is the only person to have held the ranks of Marshal of Finland and Finnish field marshal.

On the other hand, Mannerheim's personal reputation still strongly divides opinions among people even to this day, with some critics highlighting his role as the senior commander of the White Guard in the massacres of the Red prisoners during and after the Finnish Civil War and the establishment of the concentration camps in East Karelia, in which poor conditions led to a high mortality rate.

Ancestry
The Mannerheims, originally from Germany as Marhein, became Swedish noblemen in 1693. In the latter part of the 18th century, they moved to Finland, which was then an integral part of Sweden. After Sweden lost Finland to the Russian Empire in 1809, Mannerheim's great-grandfather, Count Carl Erik Mannerheim (1759–1837), son of the Commandant Johan Augustin Mannerheim, became the first head of the executive of the newly-autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland, an office that preceded that of the contemporary Prime Minister. His grandfather, Count Carl Gustaf Mannerheim (1797–1854), was an entomologist and jurist. His father, Carl Robert, Count Mannerheim (1835–1914), was both a playwright and industrialist, with modest success in both endeavours. Mannerheim's mother, Hedvig Charlotta Helena von Julin (1842–1881), was the daughter of a wealthy industrialist, John von Julin (1787–1853).

Childhood
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim was born in the Louhisaari Manor of the Askainen parish (current Masku) on June 4, 1867. After Mannerheim's father left the family in 1880 for his mistress, a daughter of Baron and General Johan Mauritz Nordenstam, the young Mannerheim's mother and her seven children went to live with her aunt Louise; but Mannerheim's mother died the following year. Mannerheim's maternal uncle, Albert von Julin (1846–1906), then became his legal guardian and financier of his later schooling. The third child of the family, Mannerheim inherited the title of Baron.

Education
Mannerheim was sent to the Hamina Cadet School, a state school educating aristocrats for the Imperial Russian Army, in 1882. The handsome young Baron towered over his classmates, standing 6 ft. He was expelled in 1886 when he left without permission. Next he attended the Helsinki Private Lyceum, where he passed the university entrance examinations in June 1887. From 1887 to 1889, Mannerheim attended the Nicholas Cavalry College in Saint Petersburg. In January 1891, he joined the Chevalier Guard Regiment in Saint Petersburg.

Service in the Imperial Russian Army
Mannerheim served in the Imperial Chevalier Guard until 1904. In 1896, he took part in the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II, standing for four hours in his full-dress Imperial Chevalier Guard uniform at the bottom of the steps leading up to the imperial throne. Mannerheim always considered the coronation a high-point of his life, recalling with pride his role in what he called an "indescribably magnificent" coronation. An expert rider and trained horseman, Mannerheim bought horses for the Russian army as one of his official duties. In 1903, he was put in charge of the model squadron in the Imperial Chevalier Guard and became a member of the equestrian training board of the cavalry regiments. Mannerheim volunteered for active service with the Imperial Russian Army in the Russo-Japanese War in 1904. He was transferred to the 52nd Nezhin Dragoon Regiment in Manchuria, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. During a reconnaissance patrol on the plains of Manchuria, he first saw action in a skirmish and had his horse shot out from under him. He was promoted to Colonel for bravery in the Battle of Mukden in 1905 and briefly commanded an irregular unit of Hong Huzi, a local militia, on an exploratory mission into Inner Mongolia. During the war, Mannerheim also managed to lead a group of local thugs and crooks with whom he sought the back of the enemy to defeat them.

Mannerheim, who had a long career in the Imperial Russian army, also rose to become a courtier of Emperor of all the Russias Nicholas II. When Mannerheim returned to Saint Petersburg, he was asked to undertake a journey through Turkestan to Beijing as a secret intelligence officer. The Russian General Staff wanted accurate, on-the-ground intelligence about the reforms and activities by the Qing dynasty, as well as the military feasibility of invading Western China: a possible move in their struggle with Britain for control of inner Asia. Disguised as an ethnographic collector, he joined the French archeologist Paul Pelliot's expedition at Samarkand in Russian Turkestan (now Uzbekistan). They started from the terminus of the Trans-Caspian Railway in Andijan in July 1906, but Mannerheim quarreled with Pelliot, so he made the greater part of the expedition on his own.

With a small caravan, including a Cossack guide, Chinese interpreter, and Uyghur cook, Mannerheim first trekked to Khotan in search of British and Japanese spies. After returning to Kashgar, he headed north into the Tian Shan range, surveying passes and gauging the stances of the tribes towards the Han Chinese. Mannerheim arrived in the provincial capital of Urumqi, and then headed east into Gansu province. At the sacred Buddhist mountain of Mount Wutai in Shanxi province, Mannerheim met the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet. He showed the Dalai Lama how to use a pistol.

He followed the Great Wall of China, and investigated a mysterious tribe known as Yugurs. From Lanzhou, the provincial capital, Mannerheim headed south into Tibetan territory and visited the lamasery of Labrang, where he was stoned by xenophobic monks. During his trip to Tibet in 1908 Mannerheim became the third European who had met with the Dalai Lama. Mannerheim arrived in Beijing in July 1908, returning to Saint Petersburg via Japan and the Trans-Siberian Express. His report gave a detailed account of Chinese modernization, covering education, military reforms, colonization of ethnic borderlands, mining and industry, railway construction, the influence of Japan, and opium smoking. He also discussed the possibility of a Russian invasion of Xinjiang, and Xinjiang's possible role as a bargaining chip in a putative future war with China. His trip through Asia left him with a lifelong love of Asian art, which he thereafter collected.

After returning to Russia in 1909 from the expedition, Mannerheim presented its results to the emperor to which Nicholas II listened with interest. There are many artifacts still on display in the museum. After that, Mannerheim was appointed to command the 13th Vladimir Uhlan Regiment in the Congress Kingdom of Poland. The following year, he was promoted to major general and was posted as the commander of the Life Guard Uhlan Regiment of His Imperial Majesty in Warsaw. Next Mannerheim became part of the Imperial entourage and was appointed to command a cavalry brigade.

At the beginning of World War I, Mannerheim served as commander of the Separate Guards Cavalry Brigade (the 23rd Army Corps), and fought on the Austro-Hungarian and Romanian fronts. In December 1914, after distinguishing himself in combat against the Austro-Hungarian forces, Mannerheim was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th class. In March 1915, Mannerheim was appointed to command the 12th Cavalry Division.

Mannerheim received leave to visit Finland and Saint Petersburg in early 1917 and witnessed the outbreak of the February Revolution. After returning to the front, he was promoted to lieutenant general in April 1917 (the promotion was backdated to February 1915), and took command of the 6th Cavalry Corps in the summer of 1917. However, Mannerheim fell out of favour with the new government, who regarded him as not supporting the revolution, and was relieved of his duties. He retired and returned to Finland. Mannerheim kept a large portrait of Emperor Nicholas II in the living room of his house in Helsinki right up to his death, and when asked after the overthrow of the House of Romanov why he kept the portrait up, he always answered: "He was my emperor".

Marriage and daughters
In 1892, he married a wealthy noble of Russian-Serbian heritage, Anastasia Arapova (1872–1936). They had two daughters, Anastasie "Stasie" (1893–1978) and Sofia "Sophy" (1895–1963). The couple separated in 1902 and divorced in 1919.

The White General and the Regent of Finland

In December 1917, Finland declared independence from Soviet Russia which was ruled by the Bolsheviks after they overthrew the Provisional Government in the October Revolution. The Soviets accepted the secession for a variety of reasons, mostly because they could not control Finland; also, they hoped they could inspire a communist revolution there modeled after the Russian one. The Finnish parliament appointed P. E. Svinhufvud to lead the newly independent grand duchy's interregnum government. In January 1918, a military committee was charged with bolstering the Finnish army, then not much more than some locally organised White Guards. Mannerheim was appointed to the committee, but soon resigned to protest its indecision. On 13 January, he was given command of the army. He had only 24,000 newly enlisted, mostly untrained men. The Finnish Red Guard, led by communist leader Kullervo Manner and backed by Soviet Russia, had 30,000 men; and there were 70,000 Red Russian troops in Finland. Mannerheim's army was financed by a fifteen million mark line of credit provided by the bankers. His raw recruits had few arms. Nonetheless, he marched them to Vaasa, which was garrisoned by 42,500 Red Russians. He surrounded the Russian garrison with a mass of men; the defenders could not see that only the front rank was armed, so they surrendered, providing badly needed arms. Further weapons were purchased from Germany. Eighty-four Swedish officers and 200 Swedish NCOs served in the Finnish Civil War (or War of Liberty, as it was known among the "Whites"). Other officers were Finns who had been trained by the Germans as a Jäger Battalion. In March 1918 they were aided by German troops landing in Finland and occupying Helsinki.

After the Whites' victory in the bitterly fought civil war, during which both sides employed ruthless terror tactics, Mannerheim resigned as commander-in-chief. He left Finland in June 1918 to visit relatives in Sweden. In Stockholm, Mannerheim conferred with Allied diplomats, emphasizing his opposition to the Finnish government's policy; Finnish leaders were confident the Germans would win the war, and had declared the Kaiser's brother-in-law, Frederick Charles of Hesse, to be the King of Finland. In the meantime Svinhufvud served as the first Regent of the nascent kingdom. Mannerheim's rapport with the Allies was recognized in October 1918 when the Finnish government sent him to Britain and France to attempt to gain Britain's and the United States's recognition of Finland's independence. In December, he was summoned back to Finland; Frederick Charles had renounced the throne, and in his stead, Mannerheim had been elected Regent. As Regent, Mannerheim often signed official documents using Kustaa, the Finnish form of his Christian name, to emphasize his Finnishness to those who were suspicious of his background in the Russian armed forces and his difficulties with the Finnish language. Mannerheim disliked his last Christian name, Emil, and wrote his signature as C. G. Mannerheim, or simply Mannerheim. Among his relatives and close friends Mannerheim was called Gustaf.

Mannerheim secured recognition of Finnish independence from Britain and the United States. In July 1919, after he had confirmed a new, republican constitution, Mannerheim stood as a candidate in the first presidential election, with parliament as the electors. He was supported by the National Coalition Party and the Swedish People's Party. He finished second to Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg, and withdrew from public life.

Language skills
Mannerheim's mother tongue was Swedish. He spoke fluent German, French, and Russian, the last of which he learned in the forces of the Russian Imperial Army. He also spoke some English, Polish, Portuguese, Latin, and Chinese. He did not start learning Finnish properly until after Finland's independence.

Interwar period
In the interwar years, Mannerheim held no public office, mainly because he was viewed by many politicians of the centre and left as a controversial figure for his ruthless battle with the Bolsheviks, his supposed desire for Finnish intervention on the side of the Whites during the Russian Civil War, and the Finnish socialists' antipathy toward him. They saw him as the bourgeois "White General". Mannerheim doubted that modern party-based politics would produce principled and high-quality leaders in Finland or elsewhere. In his gloomy opinion, the fatherland's interests were too often sacrificed by the democratic politicians for partisan benefit. While serving as a regent, Mannerheim had desired more power because, as an aristocrat, he was afraid of the democracy that had come to power in Finland. Supporting him was the conspiracy of the far right-wing, in the background of which Elmo Kaila, among others, was a grey eminence. Still, the project to raise the white chief to the "Dictator of Finland" went nowhere. The attack on Petrograd, which Mannerheim fervently incubated, did not materialize either. Thus, Mannerheim disappeared from Finnish politics for almost a decade.

He kept busy heading the Finnish Red Cross (Chairman 1919–1951), was a member of the board of the International Red Cross, and founded the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare (Mannerheimin Lastensuojeluliitto). He was also the chairman of the supervisory board of a commercial bank, the Liittopankki-Unionsbanken, and after its merger with the Bank of Helsinki, the chairman of the supervisory board of that bank until 1934, and was a member of the board of Nokia Corporation. He offered to serve the French Foreign Legion in the Rif War (1925–1926), but was turned down.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Mannerheim returned to Asia, where he travelled and hunted extensively. On his first trip in 1927, to avoid going through the Soviet Union, he travelled through the British Empire, going by ship from London to Bombay. From there he travelled to Lucknow, Delhi, and Calcutta in the British India. From there he travelled overland to Burma, where he spent a month at Rangoon and Mandalay. He then went on to Sikkim and returned to Finland by car and aeroplane.

In his second voyage, in 1936, he went by ship from Aden (a British territory in Southern Arabia) to Bombay. During his travels and hunting expeditions, he visited Madras, Delhi and Nepal, where he was invited by the Rana Prime Minister Tin Maharaja Sir Joodha Shumser Jung Bahadur Rana to join a tiger hunt. In the same year, Mannerheim made a private visit to the United Kingdom, where he was accompanied for the first time by security guards, who Prime Minister Winston Churchill himself had given Mannerheim to use during the trip. However, Mannerheim is known to have been bothered by the presence of security guards, because mainly as a fatalist, he firmly believed in fate, if it had to happen in the form of an untimely death, and in addition, he also strongly trusted his own authority.

In 1929, Mannerheim refused the right-wing radicals' plea to become a de facto military dictator, although he did express some support for the right-wing Lapua Movement. After President Pehr Evind Svinhufvud was elected in 1931, he appointed Mannerheim as chairman of Finland's Defence Council and gave him a written promise that in the event of war he would become the Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Army. (Svinhufvud's successor Kyösti Kallio renewed this promise in 1937). In 1933, Mannerheim received the rank of Field Marshal (sotamarsalkka, fältmarskalk). By this time, Mannerheim had come to be seen by the public, including some former socialists, less as a "White General" and more as a nonpartisan figure, enhanced by his public statements urging reconciliation between the opposing sides in the Civil War and the need to focus on national unity and defence: "we need not ask where a man stood fifteen years ago". Mannerheim supported Finland's military industry and sought in vain to obtain a military defence union with Sweden. However, rearming the Finnish army did not occur as swiftly or as well as he hoped, and he was not enthusiastic about a war. He had many disagreements with various Cabinets, and signed many letters of resignation.

The 1920 assassination attempt
After the end of the Civil War, the defeat experienced by the Reds was so bitter that Mannerheim became a target of assassination. One of the would-be assassins was Eino Rahja, who was in charge of the Saint Petersburg International School of Red Officers, who began planning an assassination project by assembling eight groups of Finnish Red Guards in Saint Petersburg for this purpose. The attack was to be implemented in April 1920 during a White Guard's parade on the Hämeenkatu in Tampere, in which General Mannerheim participated.

The men of the group gathered on April 3 at the Park Café in Hämeenkatu and at this stage Karl Salo, who belonged to the group, was assigned as a shooter and given a Colt pistol. However, the assassination attempt failed due to Salo's hesitation, and during the crowd, Salo's securities Aleksander Weckman and Aleksanteri Suokas, equipped with Walther and Colt pistols, lost sight of him and never had time to shoot Mannerheim.

On April 6, Weckman, who led the operation, got hold of Salo and gave him a week to kill either Mannerheim or the Minister of War and Uusimaa County Governor, Bruno Jalander, otherwise he would die himself. This attempt was also unsuccessful, as Mannerheim and Jalander did not come to the Helsinki Conservation Party celebration after the authorities received a tip. Salo returned his pistol and escaped afterwards. Weckman and Suokas tried to escape to the Soviet Union with their two assistants but were arrested from the Helsinki-Vyborg train on the night of April 21. Salo was arrested in Espoo on April 23.

Commander-in-Chief

When negotiations with the Soviet Union failed in 1939, and aware of the imminent war and deploring the lack of equipment and preparation of the army, Mannerheim resigned once again from the military council on 17 October 1939, declaring that he would agree to return to business only as Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Army. He officially became the supreme commander of the armies, at the age of 72, after the Soviet attack, the November 30, 1939. In a letter to his daughter Sophie, he stated, "I had not wanted to undertake the responsibility of commander-in-chief, as my age and my health entitled me, but I had to yield to appeals from the President of the Republic and the government, and now for the fourth time I am at war."

He addressed the first of his often controversial orders of the day to the Defence Forces on the day the war began:

"The President of the Republic has appointed me on 30 November 1939 as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of the country. Brave soldiers of Finland! I enter on this task at a time when our hereditary enemy is once again attacking our country. Confidence in one's commander is the first condition for success. You know me and I know you and know that everyone in the ranks is ready to do his duty even to death. This war is nothing other than the continuation and final act of our War of Independence. We are fighting for our homes, our faith, and our country." The defensive field fortifications they manned became known as the Mannerheim Line.

Field Marshal Mannerheim quickly organised his headquarters in Mikkeli. His chief of staff was Lieutenant General Aksel Airo, while his close friend, General Rudolf Walden, was sent as a representative of the headquarters to the cabinet from 3 December 1939 until 27 March 1940, after which he became defence minister.

Mannerheim spent most of the Winter War and Continuation War in his Mikkeli headquarters but made many visits to the front. Between the wars, he remained commander-in-chief. Although Mannerheim's main task was to lead the war, he also knew how to strengthen and maintain the will of the soldiers to fight. He was famed for this quote:"Forts, cannons and foreign aid will not help unless every man himself knows that he is the guard of his country."

Mannerheim kept relations with Adolf Hitler's government as formal as possible. Mannerheim did not really appreciate Hitler, even though he initially expressed an interest in his rise to power; his mind changed at the point when Mannerheim's visit to Germany made him realize what kind of "ideal state" Hitler was building. Before the Continuation War, the Germans offered Mannerheim command over 80,000 German troops in Finland. Mannerheim declined so as to not tie himself and Finland to Nazi war aims; Mannerheim was ready for cooperation and fraternity with Hitler's Germany, but for practical rather than ideological reasons because of the Soviet threat. In July 1941 the Finnish Army of Karelia was strengthened by the German 163rd Infantry Division. They retook the Finnish territories annexed by the Soviet Union after the Winter War, and went further, occupying East Karelia. Finnish troops took part in the Siege of Leningrad, which lasted 872 days.

Visit by Adolf Hitler

Mannerheim's 75th birthday, 4 June 1942, was a national celebration. The government granted him the unique title of Marshal of Finland (Suomen Marsalkka in Finnish, Marskalk av Finland in Swedish). So far he is the only person to receive the title. A surprise birthday visit by Hitler occurred on the day as he wished to visit the "brave Finns (die tapferen Finnen)" and their leader Mannerheim. Mannerheim did not want to meet him at his headquarters or in Helsinki, as then it would seem like an official state visit. The meeting took place near Imatra, in south-eastern Finland, and was arranged in secrecy. From Immola Airfield, Hitler, accompanied by President Ryti, was driven to where Baron Mannerheim was waiting at a railway siding. A speech from Hitler was followed by a birthday meal and negotiations between him and Mannerheim. Overall, Hitler spent about five hours in Finland; he reportedly asked the Finns to step up military operations against the Soviets, but apparently made no specific demands.

During the visit, an engineer of the Finnish broadcasting company Yleisradio, Thor Damen, succeeded in recording the first eleven minutes of Hitler's and Mannerheim's private conversation. This had to be done secretly, as Hitler never allowed off-guard recordings. Damen was assigned to record the official birthday speeches and Mannerheim's response and therefore placed microphones in some of the railway cars. However, Mannerheim and his guests chose to go to a car that did not have a microphone in it. Damen acted quickly, pushing a microphone through one of the car windows onto a net shelf just above where Hitler and Mannerheim were sitting. After eleven minutes of Hitler's and Mannerheim's private conversation, Hitler's SS bodyguards spotted the cords coming out of the window and realized that the Finnish engineer was recording the conversation. They gestured to him to stop recording immediately, and he complied. The SS bodyguards demanded that the tape be destroyed, but Yleisradio was allowed to keep the reel after promising to keep it in a sealed container. It was given to Kustaa Vilkuna, head of the state censors' office, and in 1957 returned to Yleisradio. It was released to the public a few years later. It is the only known recording of Hitler speaking outside of a formal occasion.

There is an unsubstantiated story that while conversing with Hitler, Mannerheim lit a cigar. Mannerheim expected that Hitler would ask Finland for more help against the Soviet Union, which Mannerheim was unwilling to give. When Mannerheim lit up, all in attendance gasped, for Hitler's aversion to smoking was well known. Nevertheless, Hitler continued the conversation calmly, with no comment. By this test, Mannerheim could judge if Hitler was speaking from a position of strength or weakness. He refused Hitler, knowing that Hitler was in a weak position, and could not dictate to him.

Shortly thereafter, Mannerheim returned the visit, traveling to Hitler's headquarters in East Prussia.

End of war and presidency

In June 1944, Baron Gustaf Mannerheim, to ensure German support while a major Soviet offensive was threatening Finland, thought that it was necessary to agree to the pact the German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop demanded. But even then Mannerheim distanced himself from the pact, and it fell to President Risto Ryti to sign it, so it came to be known as the Ryti-Ribbentrop Agreement. This allowed Mannerheim to revoke the agreement upon the resignation of President Ryti at the start of August 1944. Mannerheim succeeded Ryti as president.

When Germany was deemed sufficiently weakened, and the USSR's summer offensive was fought to a standstill (see Battle of Tali-Ihantala) thanks to the June agreement with the Germans, Finland's leaders saw a chance to reach a peace with the Soviet Union. At first, attempts were made to persuade Mannerheim to become prime minister, but he rejected them because of his age and lack of experience running a civil government. The next suggestion was to elect him head of state. Risto Ryti would resign as president, and parliament would appoint Mannerheim as regent. The use of the title regent would have reflected the exceptional circumstances of Mannerheim's election. Mannerheim and Ryti both agreed, and Ryti submitted a notice of resignation on 1 August. The Parliament of Finland passed a special act conferring the presidency on Mannerheim on 4 August 1944. He took the oath of office the same day.

A month after Mannerheim took office, the Continuation War was concluded on harsh terms, but ultimately far less harsh than those imposed on the other states bordering the Soviet Union. Finland retained its sovereignty, its parliamentary democracy, and its market economy. Territorial losses were considerable; a portion of Karelia and all Petsamo were lost. Numerous Karelian refugees needed to be relocated. The war reparations were very heavy. Finland also had to fight the Lapland War against withdrawing German troops in the north, and at the same time demobilize its own army, making it harder to expel the Germans; Mannerheim appointed Lieutenant General Hjalmar Siilasvuo as the high commander of the army to take this action. It is widely agreed that only Mannerheim could have guided Finland through these difficult times, when the Finnish people had to come to terms with the severe conditions of the armistice, their implementation by a Soviet-dominated Allied Control Commission, and the task of post-war reconstruction.

Before deciding to accept the Soviet demands, Mannerheim wrote a missive directly to Hitler:

"Our German brothers-in-arms will forever remain in our hearts. The Germans in Finland were certainly not the representatives of foreign despotism but helpers and brothers-in-arms. But even in such cases foreigners are in difficult positions requiring such tact. I can assure you that during the past years nothing whatsoever happened that could have induced us to consider the German troops intruders or oppressors. I believe that the attitude of the German Army in northern Finland towards the local population and authorities will enter our history as a unique example of a correct and cordial relationship ... I deem it my duty to lead my people out of the war. I cannot and I will not turn the arms which you have so liberally supplied us against Germans. I harbour the hope that you, even if you disapprove of my attitude, will wish and endeavour like myself and all other Finns to terminate our former relations without increasing the gravity of the situation."

Mannerheim's term as president was difficult for him. Although he was elected for a full six-year term, he was 77 years old in 1944 and had accepted the office reluctantly after being urged to do so. The situation was exacerbated by frequent periods of ill-health, the demands of the Allied Control Commission, and the war responsibility trials. He was afraid throughout most of his presidency that the commission would request that he be prosecuted for crimes against peace. This never happened. One of the reasons for this was Stalin's respect for and admiration of the Marshal. Stalin told a Finnish delegation in Moscow in 1947 that the Finns owed much to their old Marshal. Due to Mannerheim, Finland was not occupied. Despite Mannerheim's criticisms of some of the demands of the Control Commission, he worked hard to carry out Finland's armistice obligations. He also emphasised the necessity of further work on reconstruction in Finland after the war.

Mannerheim was troubled by recurring health problems during 1945, and was absent on medical leave from his duties as president from November until February 1946. He spent six weeks in Portugal to restore his health. After the announcement of the verdicts in the war crimes trials in February, Mannerheim decided to resign. He believed that he had accomplished the duties he had been elected to carry out: The war was ended, the armistice obligations carried out, and war responsibility trials finished.

Mannerheim resigned as president on 4 March 1946, giving as his reason his declining health and his view that the tasks he had been selected to carry out had been accomplished. He was succeeded as president by the conservative Prime Minister J. K. Paasikivi.

Final days and death
After his resignation, Marshal Baron Mannerheim bought Kirkniemi Manor in Lohja, intending to spend his retirement there. In June 1946, he underwent an operation for a perforated peptic ulcer, and in October of that year he was diagnosed with a duodenal ulcer. In early 1947, it was recommended that he should travel to the Valmont Sanatorium in Montreux, Switzerland, to recuperate and write his memoirs. Valmont was to be Mannerheim's main residence for the remainder of his life, although he regularly returned to Finland, and also visited Sweden, France and Italy.

Because Mannerheim was old and sickly, he personally wrote only certain passages of his memoirs. Some other parts he dictated. The remaining parts were written from his recollections by Mannerheim's various assistants, such as Colonel Aladár Paasonen; General Erik Heinrichs; Generals Grandell, Olenius and Martola; and Colonel Viljanen, a war historian. As long as Mannerheim was able to read, he proofread the typewritten drafts of his memoirs. He was almost totally silent about his private life, and focused instead on Finland's history, especially between 1917 and 1944. When Mannerheim suffered a fatal bowel obstruction in January 1951, his memoirs were not yet in their finished form. They were published after his death.

Mannerheim died on 27 January 1951 (28 January Finnish time), in the Cantonal Hospital in Lausanne (L'Hôpital cantonal à Lausanne; modern Lausanne University Hospital ), Switzerland. He was buried on 4 February 1951 in the Hietaniemi Cemetery in Helsinki in a state funeral with full military honours.

Legacy

Today, Mannerheim retains respect as Finland's greatest statesman. This may be partly due to his refusal to enter partisan politics (although his sympathies were more right-wing than left-wing), his claim always to serve the fatherland without selfish motives, his personal courage in visiting the front lines, his ability to work diligently into his late seventies, and his foreign political farsightedness in preparing for the Soviet invasion of Finland years before it occurred. Although Finland fought alongside Nazi Germany during the Continuation War and thus in co-operation with the Axis Powers, a surprising number of leaders of the Allies respected Mannerheim. These included, among others, the then British Prime Minister Winston Churchill; at a 2017 conference in London, war historian Terry Charman said it was difficult for Churchill to declare war on Finland at Stalin's demand due to his previous uncomplicated co-operation with Mannerheim, which led Churchill and Mannerheim to exchange polite and apologetic correspondence about the prevailing circumstance, with deep respect for each other. Mannerheim's birthday, 4 June, is celebrated as Flag Day by the Finnish Defence Forces. This decision was made by the Finnish government on the occasion of his 75th birthday in 1942, when he was also granted the title of Marshal of Finland. Flag Day is celebrated with a national parade, and rewards and promotions for members of the defence forces. The life and times of Mannerheim are memorialised in the Mannerheim Museum. The most prominent boulevard in the Finnish capital was renamed Mannerheimintie (Mannerheim Road) already in the Marshal's honour during his lifetime; along the road, at the Kamppi district, stands Hotel Marski, which is named after him. Mannerheim's former hunting lodge and resting place known as the "Marshal's Cabin" (Marskin Maja), which now serves as both a museum and a restaurant, is located at the shores of Lake Punelia in Loppi, Finland.

Various landmarks across Finland honour Mannerheim, including most famously the Equestrian statue located on Helsinki's Mannerheimintie in front of the later-built Kiasma museum of modern art. Mannerheim Parks in both Turku and Seinäjoki include statues of him. Tampere's Mannerheim statue depicting the victorious Civil War general of the Whites was eventually placed in the forest some kilometres outside the city (in part due to lingering controversy over Mannerheim's Civil War role). Other statues, for examples, were erected in Mikkeli and Lahti. On 5 December 2004, Mannerheim was voted the greatest Finnish person of all time in the Suuret suomalaiset (Great Finns) contest.

From 1937 to 1967, at least five different Finnish postage stamps or stamp series were issued in honour of Mannerheim; and in 1960 the United States honoured Mannerheim as the "Liberator of Finland" with regular first-class domestic and international stamps (at the time four cents and eight cents respectively) as part of its Champions of Liberty series that included other notable figures such as Mahatma Gandhi and Simon Bolivar.

Mannerheim appears as a main character in Ilmari Turja's 1966 play and its the 1970 film adaptation The Headquarters, directed by Matti Kassila. In both the play and the film, Mannerheim was played by Joel Rinne. Mannerheim was also played by Asko Sarkola in the 2001 television film Valtapeliä elokuussa 1940, directed by Veli-Matti Saikkonen.

In the Russian Army

 * 1888: Non-commissioned officer
 * 1889: Cornet
 * 1891: Cornet of the Guard
 * 1893: Lieutenant of the Guard
 * 1902: Captain of the Guard
 * 1904: Lieutenant Colonel
 * 1905: Colonel
 * 1911: Major General
 * 1917: Lieutenant General

In the Finnish Army

 * 1918: General of Cavalry
 * 1933: Field Marshal
 * 1942: Marshal of Finland

Supreme Command

 * 1918: Commander-in-Chief of the White Guard: from January to May 1918
 * 1918: Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Defence Forces: from December 1918 to July 1919
 * 1931: Chairman of the Defence Council: from 1931 to 1939
 * 1939: Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Defence Forces [bis]: from 1939 to 1946

Awards
In the course of his lifetime, Mannerheim received 82 military and civilian decorations.

Finland
 * 🇫🇮 Grand Cross with Swords and Diamonds of the Order of the Cross of Liberty (1940; Grand Cross with Swords: 1918)
 * 🇫🇮 Knight of the Mannerheim Cross, 1st and 2nd class, of the Order of the Cross of Liberty (1941)
 * 🇫🇮 Grand Cross with Collar, Swords and Diamonds, of the Order of the White Rose (1944)
 * 🇫🇮 Grand Cross with Swords of the Order of the Lion of Finland (1944)

Russian Empire

 * Order of St. Anna, 2nd degree (1906)
 * Order of St. Stanislaus, 2nd class (1906)
 * Order of St. Vladimir, 4th degree (1906)
 * Gold Sword for Bravery (1906)
 * Order of St. George, Knight 4th class (1914)

Sweden
 * 🇸🇪 Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the Sword (1918)
 * 🇸🇪 Knight of the Royal Order of the Seraphim (1919)
 * 🇸🇪 Knight Grand Cross 1st Class of the Order of the Sword (1942)

Others
 * 🇩🇰 Denmark: Knight of the Order of the Elephant (1919)
 * 🇫🇷 France: Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour (1939; Officer: 1910; Knight: 1902)
 * 🇪🇪 Estonia: Military Order of the Cross of the Eagle, 1st Class with Swords (1930)
 * 🇪🇪 Estonia: Grand Cross of Order of the Estonian Red Cross (1933)
 * 🇩🇪 German Empire: Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class (1918)
 * 🇭🇺 Kingdom of Hungary: Order of Merit of the Kingdom of Hungary, Grand Cross with the Holy Crown of St. Stephen (1941)
 * 🇯🇵 Japan: Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers, Grand Cordon.
 * Nazi Germany: Golden Grand Cross of the Order of the German Eagle
 * Nazi Germany: Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (1944; Knight's Cross: 1942; Iron Cross 1st Class with 1939 bar: 1942)
 * 🇷🇴 Kingdom of Romania: Order of Michael the Brave, 1st class (1941)
 * United Kingdom: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) (1938)

Works

 * C.G. Mannerheim, Across Asia From West to East in 1906–1908. (1969) Anthropological Publications. Oosterhout N.B. – The Netherlands
 * Across Asia : Vol. 1 – digital images

title: Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim