Levin August von Bennigsen: Difference between revisions

▲Bennigsen was born on 10 February 1745 into a [[Electorate of Hanover|Hanoverian]] noble family in [[Braunschweig]] (English toponym: Brunswick).{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2005|page=34}} His family owned several estates at Banteln in Hanover.{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2005|page=34}} Bennigsen served successively as a page at the Hanoverian court and as an officer of foot-guards,{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=742}} and four years later, in 1763, as captain, he participated in the final campaign of the [[Seven Years' War]].{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2005|page=34}} In 1764, after the death of his father and his marriage to Baroness Steinberg, he retired from the [[Hanoverian Army]], and settled at the estates he owned in Banteln.{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2005|page=34}} In 1773, shortly after reentering Hanoverian service for a brief period, he entered the Russian service as a field officer, and was subsequently accepted into the Vyatka musketeer regiment in the same year.{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2005|page=34}}{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=742}} He fought against the Turks in 1774 and in 1778, becoming lieutenant-colonel in the latter year. In 1787 his conduct at the storming of [[Ochakiv|Ochakov]] won him promotion to the rank of [[brigadier]], and he distinguished himself repeatedly in smashing the [[Kościuszko Uprising]] (battles of Lipniszki, Soły) and in the [[Persian War of 1796]] where he fought [[Storming of Derbent|at Derbent]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=742}}{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2005|page=34}} On 9 July 1794, he was promoted to Major General for his accomplishments in the former campaign, and on 26 September 1794 he was awarded the [[Order of St. George]] of the Third Degree and an estate in [[Minsk]] [[guberniya]].{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2005|page=34}}

▲In 1806 Bennigsen was in command of one of the Russian armies operating against [[Napoleon]], when he fought the [[Battle of Pułtusk|Battle of Pultusk]] and met the emperor in person in the bloody [[battle of Eylau]] (8 February 1807).{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=742}} In the [[Battle of Pułtusk|Battle of Pultusk]] he resisted French troops under [[Jean Lannes]] before retreating. This brought him the Order of St. George of the Second Degree while after the battle of Eylau he was awarded [[Order of St. Andrew]] - the highest order in the Russian empire.{{citation needed|date=January 2016}} Here he could claim to have inflicted the first reverse suffered by Napoleon, but six months later Bennigsen met with the [[battle of Friedland|crushing defeat of Friedland]] (14 June 1807) the direct consequence of which was the [[treaty of Tilsit]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=742}}