Johan Edvin Birger Gustav Hägglund (born 6 September 1938) is a retired Finnish general. He was the

Chief of Defence A chief of defence (or head of defence) is the highest ranked Officer (armed forces), commissioned officer of a nation's armed forces. The acronym CHOD is in common use within NATO and the European Union as a generic term for the highest national ...

1994–2001, and Chairman of the

European Union Military Committee The Military Committee of the European Union (EUMC) is the body of the European Union's (EU) Common Security and Defence Policy that is composed of Member state of the European Union, member states' Chief of Defence, Chiefs of Defence (CHOD). Thes ...

2001–2004.

Life and career

Johan Edvin Birger Gustav Hägglund was born in Viipuri, Finland on 6 September 1938 to a Swedish-speaking family. Hägglund's father was General

Woldemar Hägglund Johan Woldemar Hägglund (August 10, 1893 – February 12, 1963) was a Finnish lieutenant general during the Second World War, and an early volunteer of the Jäger Movement. He participated in the Eastern Front of World War I, the Finnish Civ ...

, commander of the Karelian Front in the Second World War. He was born in Viipuri, an area ceded to the Soviet Union in the Second World War. Despite his Swedish-speaking family background, Finnish

language immersion Language immersion, or simply immersion, is a technique used in Bilingual education, bilingual language education in which two languages are used for instruction in a variety of topics, including maths, science, or social studies. The languages ...

was total in his youth, and he ultimately had to learn Swedish at school. Hägglund went to

Svenska normallyceum i Helsingfors Svenska normallyceum i Helsingfors (Norsen) was a Swedish-language school in the Kaartinkaupunki district of Helsinki between 1864 and 1977. The school was only for boys until 1974 when it became a co-educational school. History Svenska normal ...

and was then educated not only at the Cadet School in Finland, but also at the United States Army

Command and General Staff College The United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC or, obsolete, USACGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is a graduate school for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military ...

Leavenworth, Kansas Leavenworth () is the county seat and largest city of Leavenworth County, Kansas, Leavenworth County, Kansas, United States. Part of the Kansas City metropolitan area, Leavenworth is located on the west bank of the Missouri River, on the site o ...

. He is also a fellow of

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. Hägglund commanded

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

troops in 1978–1979 as the commander of the Finnish battalion (FINBATT) in UNEF II in Sinai, as the commander of

UNDOF The United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) is a United Nations peacekeeping mission tasked with maintaining the ceasefire between Israel and Syria in the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The mission was established by United ...

Golan Golan (; ) is the name of a biblical town later known from the works of Josephus (first century CE) and Eusebius (''Onomasticon'', early 4th century CE). Archaeologists localize the biblical city of Golan at Sahm el-Jaulān, a Syrian village eas ...

in 1985–1986, and as the commander of

UNIFIL The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (; ), or UNIFIL (; ) is a United Nations peacekeeping mission established on 19 March 1978 by United Nations Security Council Resolutions 425 and 426, and several further resolutions in 2006 to con ...

in Southern Lebanon in 1986–88. Hägglund served under Presidents

Martti Ahtisaari Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari (, 23 June 1937 – 16 October 2023) was a Finnish politician, the tenth president of Finland, from 1994 to 2000, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and a United Nations diplomat and mediation, mediator noted for his inte ...

and briefly under

Tarja Halonen Tarja Kaarina Halonen (, born 24 December 1943) is a Finns, Finnish politician who served as the 11th president of Finland, and the first and to date only woman to hold the position, from 2000 to 2012. She first rose to prominence as a lawyer wit ...

. Hägglund's command of the defence forces was characterised by the general modernisation of the force and refocusing from quantity to quality. In the Army, three large "readiness brigades" were formed, and the Air Force upgraded to

Hornet F/A-18 The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather supersonic, twinjet, twin-engine, carrier-based aircraft, carrier-capable, Multirole combat aircraft, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a Fighter aircraft, fighter and attack airc ...

fighters. Finland entered

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

Partnership for Peace The Partnership for Peace (PfP; ) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) program aimed at creating trust and cooperation between the member states of NATO and other states mostly in Europe, including post-Soviet states; 18 states are ...

programme under Hägglund's command. A major change was made in terms of conscription service: reserve officers and NCOs would serve 12 months (lengthened from 11 months), but rank and file would serve 6 months (shortened from 8 months), with some specialists such as

military police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. Not to be confused with civilian police, who are legally part of the civilian populace. In wartime operations, the military police may supp ...

serving 9 months. Previously the rotation had been thrice per year, in order to maintain a contingent that had been trained at least 4 months. The rotation was changed to twice per year. Within the military, Hägglund was also a strong proponent of peacekeeping operations, worked to improve their appreciation and opined that officers should necessarily participate. Since Finnish law requires that all participants be volunteers, this brought him into conflict with the officers' union, whose opinion was that peacekeeping experience could not be a requirement for career advancement. Officer training went through a major improvement due to his actions. The cadet school was promoted to university status as the

Finnish National Defence University The Finnish National Defence University (, MPKK, ) is a military university located in Helsinki. The university trains officers for the Finnish Defence Forces and the Finnish Border Guard. The main campus is located in Santahamina, Helsinki. Pri ...

, and degrees were formalised. Hägglund has published three books, one concerning the defence of Finland, one about the defence of Europe and an

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

. In the 2000s, Hägglund promoted the development of the

independent defence of Europe The Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is the European Union's (EU) course of action in the fields of defence and crisis management, and a main component of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The CSDP involves the de ...

, and took the view that the United States would shift its focus away from Europe, changing the role of

References

*Gustav Hägglund: ''Leijona ja kyyhky'' (2006), Otava,

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hagglund, Gustav 1938 births Living people Military personnel from Vyborg Chiefs of staff (Finnish Defence Forces) Finnish generals United Nations military personnel Harvard Fellows Non-U.S. alumni of the Command and General Staff College Chairmen of the European Union Military Committee Finnish officials of the European Union Swedish-speaking Finns Expatriates in Egypt Expatriates in Lebanon Finnish expatriates in Israel Finnish expatriates in Syria