Alexander von Benckendorff Count Alexander von Benckendorff , ( , " Aleksandr Khristoforovich Benkendorf " , , was a Russia n Cavalry General and statesman , Adjutant General of Tsar Alexander I , a commander of " partisan " ( " Kossak irregular " ) units during the War of 1812 - 13 . However , he is most frequently remembered for his later role , under Tsar Nicholas I , as the founding head of the Gendarmes and the Secret Police in Imperial Russia . Life and career . Alexander von Benckendorff was born to a Baltic German family in Reval ( now Tallinn ) in today ' s Estonia ) . His brother Konstantin von Benkendorff was a general and diplomat , and his sister Dorothea von Lieven a socialite and political force in London and Paris . During Napoleon ' s invasion of Russia , Benckendorff led the Velizh offensive , taking prisoner three French generals . When Moscow was liberated , he became the commander of its garrison . In the foreign campaigns following , he defeated a French contingent at Tempelberg and was one of the first Russians to enter Berlin . He further distinguished himself at Leipzig and later cleared out the French forces occupying the Netherlands . After British and Prussian forces arrived to succeed him , his unit proceeded to take Louvain and Mechelen , liberating 600 imprisoned Englishmen on the way . In 1821 he attempted to warn Alexander I against the threat from the Decembrist clandestine organisation , but the Tsar ignored his note . After the 1825 Decembrist Revolt , he sat on the investigation committee and lobbied for the creation of a Corps of Gendarmes and a secret police , the Third Section of the Imperial Chancellery . He was the first Chief of Gendarmes and Executive Director of the Third Section from 1826 to 1844 . Under his management , the Third Section established , i . a . , a strict censorship over literature and theatre performances . His aim for Russian historiography was reflected in his statement that " Russia ' s past was admirable , its present is more than magnificent and as for its future — it is beyond anything that the boldest mind can imagine . " In his rôle as Chief Censor , he became involved in the fate and tragic death of Alexander Pushkin in an unnecessary duel , an involvement that for long made him an " unmentionable " in Russian historiography . Yet by temperament , he was the very opposite of a proto - Dzerzhinsky or a proto - Beria . He suffered from a bizarre tendency to forget his own name , and periodically had to be reminded of it by consulting his own visiting card . From the mid - 1830s , his family seat was the Gothic Revival manor , Schloss Fall ( now Keila - Joa ) near Tallinn in today ' s Estonia . Benckendorff ' s notes . A recent Russian publication reveals his own view of his early life : " Zapiski Benkendorfa : Otechestvennaia voina ; 1813 god : Osvobozhdenie Niderlandov " ( Benkendorff ' s Notes . The Patriotic War ; 1813 : The Liberation of the Netherlands ) : Iaziki slavyanskikh kul ' tur , Moscow , 2001 . ISBN 5 - 7859 - 0228 - 1 . This book reproduces two sections of Benckendorff ' s private notes that had not seen publication since 1903 , very lively on the events of the Napoleonic war , correspondences with his contemporaries , Bagration and others , and associated regimental histories . According to that book , Benckendorff kept personal notes and diaries throughout his life . One additional source for his notes , in this case from the late 1830s , can be found in volume 91 of the journal " Istoricheskii vestnik " for 1903 .