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Alexander Von Benckendorff




Count Alexander von Benckendorff, (, ''Aleksandr Khristoforovich Benkendorf'', 1783 - 1844 ) was a Russia n Lieutenant General and statesman, Adjutant General of the Svita and a commander in Patriotic War Of 1812 best remembered for having established the Gendarmes in Russia.

Alexander von Benckendorff was born to a Baltic German family in Reval (now Tallinn, Estonia ). His brother Konstantin Von Benkendorff was a general and diplomat, and his sister Dorothea Von Lieven was a socialite famous at London and Paris . During Napoleon's Invasion Of Russia , Beckendorff led the Velizh offensive, taking prisoner three French generals as a result. When Moscow was liberated, he became the commander of its garrison. In the foreign campaigns, he defeated a French contingent at Tempelberg and was one of the first Russians to enter Berlin . He further distinguished himself At Leipzig and cleared the Netherlands from the French. After the Britons and Prussians arrived to succeed him, his unit proceeded to take Louvain and Mechelen , liberating 600 imprisoned Englishmen on the way.

In manor in Schloss Fall (now Keila-Joa) near Tallinn.


FURTHER READING

  • Ronald Hingley, ''The Russian Secret Police: Muscovite, Imperial, and Soviet Political Security Operations'' (Simon & Schuster, New York, 1970). ISBN 0671208861

  • R. J. Stove, ''The Unsleeping Eye: Secret Police and Their Victims'' (Encounter Books, San Francisco, 2003). ISBN 189355466X