Bennigsen, LEVIN AUGUST THEOPHIL, COUNT

Bennigsen, LEVIN AUGUST THEOPHIL, COUNT, a general in the Russian service, was born at Brunswick in 1745, and having entered the Russian army in 1773, soon attracted the notice of the Empress Catherine, who employed him to carry out her designs against Poland. He fought at Pultusk (1806), and held the chief command in the murderous struggle at Eylau (1807). When Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812, Bennigsen commanded the Russian centre on the bloody field of Borodino. Before the French began their retreat, he gained a brilliant victory over Murat at Tarutino (October 18). Differences with Kutusov made him retire for a time from the service; but after that general's death, he took the command of the Russian army of reserve, fought victoriously at the battle of Leipzig, and was created count by the Emperor Alexander on the field. Failing health made him retire finally, in 1818, to his paternal estate in Hanover, where he died in 1826.