Henrik Magnus von Buddenbrock, born on July 22, 1685, in Swedish Livonia, was the son of the landed gentleman and Swedish Empire army officer Henrik Gotthard von Buddenbrock (1648-1727) and Charlotta Cronman.

He had enlisted as an officer of the Swedish army, becoming a captain of the Livgardet in 1711, Major of grenadiers in 1715, and Major General in 1721.

He had been elevated to friherre (matricle number 206) in 1731 and promoted to Lieutenant General of the infantry in 1739.

As such, he is in 1741 commander of the troops in Finland, under General Charles Emil Lewenhaupt, at the onset of the Russo-Swedish War.

Major General Carl Henrik Wrangel, who leads one of the two divisions of the Swedish Army in Finland, with a strength of four thousand men, is ordered by Buddenbrock to lead his force into battle against General Peter Lacy's numerically superior Russian force in order to defend Villmanstrand, at the long disputed frontier between Sweden and Russia.

The battle of Villmanstrand is fought in Karelia during the Russo-Swedish War on August 23, 1741 (September 3, NS), when twenty thousand Russian forces, under the command of General Peter von Lacy, advance from Vyborg (Swedish: Viborg, Finnish: Viipuri) to assault Villmanstrand (Finnish: Lappeenranta).

Fighting begins around two PM, but the Swedes withdraw at five PM before Swedish baron and Lieutenant General Henrik Magnus von Buddenbrock, less than ten kilometers away, can come to the assistance of General Wrangel.

Swedish casualties amount to two thousand men killed or wounded and  one thousand captured, among them Wrangel, who had lost his right arm during the battle.

Russia loses twenty-four hundred men.

The threat to the Russian capital thus relieved, Lacy does not continue his movement after the battle.

The Russian army, thirty-five thousand-strong, has ousted seventeen thousand Swedes from Hamina (Swedish: Frederikshamn) by June 1742.

Lewenhaupt's position deteriorates as the war unfolds, and he is forced to retreat towards Helsinki (Swedish: Helsingfors).

Lacy captures Porvoo (Swedish: Borgå) and ...

...Savonlinna (Swedish: Nyslott) in August and ...

...encircles the entire Swedish army near Helsinki, where ...

...he receives Lewenhaupt's capitulation on September 4.

The statesmen Alexander Rumyantsev and Ernst Nolken arrive at Turku (Swedish: Åbo) in order to discuss a peace settlement as soon as hostilities cease and the Russian army enters.

The Tsarina promises to evacuate her army from Finland on the condition that Adolf Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp—that is, the uncle of her own heir apparent—be named as the heir to the throne of Sweden. (The latter had been offered the crown of Finland by the local lantdag).

The Hats acquiesce in her proposal in the hope that Adolf Frederick will be able to obtain better terms from her.

Elizabeth also wants Russian forces to occupy Sweden in order to ensure Adolf Frederick's peaceful election, but this plan arouses the vehement opposition of the Swedish representatives and is abandoned.

The Swedish defeat in the war had been blamed on Lewenhaupt and Buddenbrock.

Dismissed from Finland in August 1742, they had immediately arrested by Vice Admiral Ritterstolpe upon their return.

Buddenbrock had been brought on the night of September 28 to Stockholm, where he is imprisoned and closely guarded.

A court martial is convened on October 8 under Field Marshal Hamilton to investigate the two cases.

The prosecutor is Chancellor of Justice Silverschildt, who submits an extensive indictment.

Buddenbrock is accused of, among other things, not assembling his troops in a timely fashion to cross the Russian border, as planned.

In addition, he had not arrived at Villmanstrand in time to rescue Major General Wrangel.