Toll began his military career in 1796 after a period in the infantry cadet corps under the command of Mikhail Kutuzov. He first saw action in the Swiss expedition of Alexander Suvarov in 1799-1800 and took part in the war of the War of the Third Coalition in 1805. He fought at Austerlitz, in the Turkish campaigns from 1806 to 1809, and in the War of the Sixth Coalition, notably at Leipzig. In 1812 he was named Quartermaster General of the First Army and commanded the evacuation of Moscow. He subsequently led troops at Brienne and Fère-Champenoise, and entered Paris in 1815.