Carl Enckell
Finnish politician
Died when: 82 years 292 days (993 months)Star Sign: Gemini
Carl Johan Alexis Enckell (7 June 1876 – 26 March 1959) was a Finnish politician, diplomat, officer and businessman.Enckell followed his father's footsteps in the Russian military and rose to the Imperial Russian Guard.
As he was not satisfied with the salary and his stagnated military career, he studied mechanical engineering in Germany.After graduation in 1903, he worked in the Kuusankoski paper mill and the Helsinki-based engineering companies Hietalahti Shipyard and Engineering Works and Kone- ja Siltarakennus.
During the 1910s Enckell was also active in a number of employers' organisations.In 1917, shortly before the October Revolution, Enckell was appointed Finnish Minister–Secretary of State to Saint Petersburg.
Following the Finnish Declaration of Independence, Enckell worked hard to get international recognition for the declaration.During the following years, Enckell served as Finnish envoy to Paris, and later to the League of Nations, in which he successfully pursued the Finnish interests in the Åland crisis.
He also served as foreign minister in four short-lived cabinets during the early politically turbulent years of the young republic.
Enckell moved back to work in the financial sector in the 1920s but made a return to politics as Foreign Minister in 1944.
He led Finland out from Second World War and contributed to establishing friendly relations with the Soviet Union and the new Finnish foreign policy, the Paasikivi–Kekkonen doctrine.
Enckell was married to German-born Lucy Ponsonby-Lyons.They had four children, of whom Ralph Enckell became a notable diplomat.
