Overview
Magnus Gustav von Essen (; Ivan Nikolaevich Essen; ) was a Baltic German lieutenant general and military governor of Riga at the start of the Patriotic War of 1812.
Life
Pre-1812
From the Essen family in Estonia, from 1783 to 1785 he fought in Poland, where he was seriously injured. He fought in the Russo-Swedish War (1788–1790) as well as Russia's 1792 and 1794 Polish campaigns. For his service at the Battle of Maciejowice he was awarded the 4th degree of the Order of St George.
In 1799 he commanded the first division in the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland under the command of general Johann Hermann von Fersen. From 1802 he was the military governor of Smolensk. He then fought in the 1807 war against Napoleon, being seriously wounded at Friedland.
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
