Levin August von Bennigsen: Difference between revisions

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 neededSfn|date=January 2016Polovtsov|1900}} 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}}

Bennigsen was heavily criticised for the [[Battle of Friedland]] and for the decline of discipline in the army{{citation needed|date=January 2016}} and now retired for some years, but in the campaign of 1812 he reappeared in the army in various responsible positions. He was present at [[battle of Borodino|Borodino]], and defeated [[Joachim Murat|Murat]] in the [[battle of Tarutino|engagement of Tarutino]]{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=742}} where he was wounded in the leg,{{citation neededSfn|date=January 2016Polovtsov|1900}} but on account of a quarrel with Marshal [[Mikhail Kutuzov|Kutuzov]], the Russian commander-in-chief, he was compelled to retire from active military employment on 15 November.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=742}}

After the death of Kutuzov, Bennigsen was recalled and placed at the head of an army.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=742}} Bennigsen participated in the battles of [[Battle of Bautzen (1813)|Bautzen]] and [[Battle of Lützen (1813)|Lützen]],{{citation needed|date=January 2016}} leading one of the columns that made the decisive attack on the last day of the [[Battle of Leipzig]] (16–19 October 1813). On the same evening he was made a count by the emperor Alexander I, and he afterwards commanded the forces which operated against [[Louis Nicolas Davout|Marshal Davout]] in North Germany,{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=742}} most notably in the year-long [[Siege of Hamburg]] (1813–14). After the [[treaty of Fontainebleau (1814)|Treaty of Fontainebleau]] he was awarded the St. George order of the First Degree -— the highest Russian military order - for his actions in the [[Napoleonic wars]] in general.{{citation needed|date=January 2016}}

After the general peace Bennigsen held a command from 1815 to 1818, when he retired from active service and settled on his Hanoverian estate of Banteln near [[Hildesheim]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=742}} By the end of his life he completely lost his sight.{{citation neededSfn|date=January 2016Polovtsov|1900}} He died on 31 December 1826, in [[Banteln]], eight years after he had retired.{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2005|page=34}} His son, Count ''Alexander Levin von Bennigsen'' (1809-1893) was a distinguished Hanoverian statesman.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=742}}