Levin August, Count von Bennigsen

Who was Levin August, Count von Bennigsen?

Levin August Gottlieb Theophil, Count Bennigsen 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 Kościuszko 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.