August Maximilian Myhrberg

August Maximilian Myhrberg (24 July 1797 – 31 March 1867) was a Finnish-Swedish military officer and revolutionary. After abandoning his studies at the Uppsala University, he pursued a military career by supporting the liberals in the Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis revolution, the Greeks in the Greek War of Independence and the Polish rebels in the November Uprising. His adventures were mythologized in his native Sweden and his persona was idealized by late 19th century Finnish nationalists.

Early life August Maximilian Myhrberg was born as Matts August Myhrberg on 24 July 1797 in Raahe, Finland, then part of Kingdom of Sweden. His father Anders Gustaf Myhrberg was a Swedish-born merchant and Captain in the Swedish Army who later became a customs official. His mother Christina belonged to a Finnish bourgeois family from Oulu. The family spoke Finnish at home. Following the Russian annexation of Finland in the aftermath of the Finnish War, the Myhrberg family moved to Karlshamn and later to Härnösand. Having completed primary school in Raahe, Myhrberg was sent to Uppsala to continue his studies at a boarding school. In June 1815, he enrolled into the Uppsala University, where he cultivated his interest in history and Greek mythology. In 1818, he became acquainted with visiting associate professor Adolf Ivar Arwidsson, frequenting opposition circles connected to him. In 1820, he abandoned his studies, to complete his military service. An admirer of Napoléon Bonaparte, Myhrberg aspired to participate in the revolutionary wave that swept Europe. He was captured by the Russians at some point during the war but managed to escape to neutral Prussia, later settling in France.