Herman Wrangel

Lieutenant General Herman Georg Waldemar Wrangel (30 March 1859 – 13 January 1938) was a senior officer in the Swedish Coastal Artillery. He served as commanding officer of the Swedish Coastal Artillery for 15 years (1909–1924). Wrangel served as secretary, member and chairman of a number of committees and commissions. Wrangel was also a member of the Upper House of the Riksdag and a member of the Committee on Defence as well as of the Committee of Supply.

Early life Wrangel was born on 30 March 1859 in Klara Parish, Stockholm, Sweden, the third son of the then lieutenant, later colonel Erik Fredrik Wrangel (1816–1896) and his wife Katarina Maria Gustafva Ehrenstam, a daughter of minister Johan Fredrik Ehrenstam and his wife (née af Trolle). Through this mother, Herman Wrangel had naval ancestry: before his appointment as head of the Ministry for Naval Affairs, his grandfather was a colonel and second-in-command of the Swedish Navy Construction Corps. His grandmother was the granddaughter of admiral Henrik af Trolle, together with Chapman in his time the innovator of the Swedish Navy. On his father's side he belonged to the branch of the old extensive Wrangel family, which in a younger lineage culminated in the field marshal, equally famous for his warlike exploits on land and at sea, Count Carl Gustaf Wrangel.

Wrangel was the brother of Carl Wrangel (1855–1913), Lieutenant General Johan Gustaf Fabian Wrangel (1858–1923) and professor Ewert Wrangel (1863–1940). He became a student at the Royal Swedish Naval Academy in 1873 and a sea cadet in 1877 and a cadet non-commissioned officer in 1878. Wrangel graduated in 1879 and was appointed acting sub-lieutenant (underlöjtnant) in the Swedish Navy the same year. Wrangel then attended the Royal Central Gymnastics Institute from 1882 to 1884. After finishing his teaching career at the Royal Swedish Army Staff College in 1903, he also resigned from his remaining teaching positions in the spring of 1906. He left active service in 1924 and entered the reserve from which he left in 1932.

Political career Wrangel was a member of the Upper House of the Riksdag (where he belonged the National Party) from 1909 to 1910 for Blekinge County and from 1914 to 1919 for Gothenburg and Bohus County and including a member of the Committee on Defence in 1914, of the select committee no 2 in 1915, no 1 in 1917 and in 1918 as well as of the Committee of Supply in 1918 and in 1919. Within the Riksdag, Wrangel worked for the strengthening of the defence (especially the navy) and for the increase of construction activities, and towards the end of his term as Member of the Riksdag strongly emphasized the need for frugality with state funds. In this a respect at the Riksdag of 1919, he alone opposed within the Committee of Supply against the index number raised by the committee for the calculation of the cost-of-living bonus. Wrangel's opinion was also followed by the Upper House, but in the joint vote the committee's proposal was approved. Wrangel was also a diligent writer, especially in the naval field, in addition to a number of magazine and newspaper essays as well as articles in Nordisk familjebok as well as several brochures published, among others Sjövind, tankar i försvarsfrågan (1886), Lärobok i teoretisk och praktisk navigation (1897; 2nd edition in 1910; translated to Spanish), Svenska flottans bok (1898) as well as the work based on extensive research Kriget i Östersjön 1719–1721 (2 volumes, 1906–1907), and for two years he conducted research for the part of the General Staff's work Sveriges krig åren 1808–09 ("Sweden's war in the years 1808–09"), which includes the war at sea.

Wrangel was the owner of Villa Ekebo in Harlösa, Malmöhus County.

Dates of rank

Fleet 1879-10-17 – Acting sub-lieutenant 1883-04-27 – Sub-lieutenant 1889-10-25 – Lieutenant 1900-12-31 – Lieutenant commander 1903-12-31 – Commander 1907-10-11 – Captain

Coastal Artillery 1909-08-13 – Major general 1916-08-16 – Lieutenant general

Awards and decorations

(King Gustaf V Olympic Commemorative Medal (Konung Gustaf V:s olympiska minnesmedalj, GV:sOlM) (1912)

Foreign

Honours Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences (1st class 1899; 2nd class 1909) Member of the Royal Swedish Society of Naval Sciences (1890) Honorary member of the Royal Swedish Society of Naval Sciences (1909) Member of the Royal Society for Publication of Manuscripts on Scandinavian History (1907)

Selected bibliography