  levin august gottlieb theophil (, leontiy leontyevich bennigsen), count bennigsen (10 february 1745 in braunschweig &ndash; 3 december 1826 in banteln) was a german general in the service of the russian empire. he was born into a hanoverian family in brunswick and served successively as a page at the hanoverian court and as an officer of foot-guards where he participated in the seven years' war. in 1764, he retired from the hanoverian army and entered the russian service as a field officer in the vyatka musketeer regiment in 1773. 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 ochakov won him promotion to the rank of brigadier, and he distinguished himself repeatedly in smashing the koÅciuszko uprising and in the persian war of 1796. in 1794 he was awarded the order of st. george of the third degree and an estate in minsk guberniya and promoted to major general for his accomplishments in the former campaign. in 1798 he was fired from military service by the tsar paul i allegedly because of his connections with platon zubov. it is known that he took an active part in the planning phase of the conspiracy to assassinate paul i, but his role in the actual killing remains a matter of conjecture. tsar alexander i made him governor-general of lithuania in 1801, and in 1802 a general of cavalry. in 1806 he was in command of one of the russian armies operating against napoleon, when he fought the battle of pultusk and met the emperor in person in the bloody battle of eylau (8 february 1807). in the 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. here he could claim to have inflicted the first reverse suffered by napoleon, but six months later bennigsen met with the crushing defeat of friedland (14 june 1807) the direct consequence of which was the treaty of tilsit. bennigsen was heavily criticised for the battle of friedland and for the decline of discipline in the army 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 borodino, and defeated murat in the engagement of tarutino where he himself was wounded in the leg, but o
1745_births 1826_deaths Counts_of_Germany Grand_Croix_of_the_LA(c)gion_d\'honneur Imperial_Russian_Army_generals Knights_Grand_Cross_of_the_Order_of_the_Sword People_from_Braunschweig People_from_Brunswick Recipients_of_the_Order_of_St._Andrew Recipients_of_the_Order_of_St._George_of_the_First_Degree Recipients_of_the_Order_of_St._George_of_the_Second_Degree Recipients_of_the_Order_of_St._George_of_the_Third_Degree Russian_commanders_of_the_Napoleonic_Wars Russian_people_of_the_KoAciuszko_Uprising