Bennigsen, Levin August

Bennigsen, Levin August 

(Russian name, Leontii Leont’evich). Born Feb. 10,1745, in Brunswick; died Oct. 3, 1826, in Banteln. An officer in the Hanoverian Army who entered the Russian service in 1773, became a cavalry general in 1802, was a baron, and after 1812, a count.

Bennigsen was a participant in the palace revolution of Mar. 11. 1801 (the assassination of Pavel I). He built his military career on intrigues and false dispatches. In the war of 1806–07 between Russia, Prussia, and France he commanded a corps and then was commander in chief; he suffered defeat at Friedland (1807). During the Patriotic War of 1812, he performed the duties of chief of staff of the Russian armies from August to November, when he was removed from this post for intrigues and opposition to M. I. Kutuzov. He commanded an army during the foreign campaigns of 1813–14. From 1814 to 1818 he was commander of the Second Russian (Southern) Army. In 1818 he was discharged from the service for incompetence.