Peter Kirillovich Essen

Last updated May 01, 2019

Portrait by George Dawe from the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace EssenPK.jpg — Portrait by George Dawe from the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace

Count Peter Kirillovich Essen (11 August 1772 – 23 September 1844) was a Russian General of the Infantry ^[2] in 1819 and a count (1833) of Baltic German origin. He belongs to the 'Essen' – bourgeois family from Pärnu.^[3] Essen's only daughter, Alexandrine Essen (1816–1868), married count Pontus Stenbock-Fermor (1806–1866) in 1835, at which point they began using the joint name Essen-Stenbock-Fermor.^[4]^[5]

Russia, officially the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe and North Asia. At 17,125,200 square kilometres (6,612,100 sq mi), Russia is by a considerable margin the largest country in the world by area, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area, and the ninth most populous, with about 146.77 million people as of 2019, including Crimea. About 77% of the population live in the western, European part of the country. Russia's capital, Moscow, is one of the largest cities in the world and the second largest city in Europe; other major cities include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg and Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a wide range of environments and landforms. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares land borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia and North Korea. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk and the U.S. state of Alaska across the Bering Strait. However, Russia recognises two more countries that border it, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, both of which are internationally recognized as parts of Georgia.

Count (Male), or Countess (Female), is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. The etymologically related English term, "county" denoted the land owned by a count. Equivalents of the rank of count exist or have existed in the nobility structures of some non-European countries, such as hakushaku during the Japanese Imperial era.

Essen or von Essen is the surname of a Baltic German and Swedish noble family.

Career

Essen enlisted as a sergeant in the Life Cuirassier Regiment in 1787, and transferred to the Pavlovsky heir battalion in 1790. He received promotions through the ranks, and in 1796 was promoted to lieutenant and transferred to the Life Guards Izmailovskiy Regiment. In 1796 he was promoted to colonel and in 1798 was promoted to major-general, and became head of the Vyborg musketeer regiment. He was promoted to lieutenant general in 1800.

A musketeer was a type of soldier equipped with a musket. Musketeers were an important part of early modern armies, particularly in Europe, as they normally comprised the majority of their infantry. The musketeer was a precursor to the rifleman. Muskets were replaced by rifles in most western armies during the mid-1850s. The traditional designation of "musketeer" for an infantry private survived in the Imperial German Army until World War I.

In August 1800, Essen was appointed military governor of Vyborg, Finland, and chief of the garrison of the Gorchakov [Vyborg] regiment. In 1802 he was appointed head of the Vyborg and Shlisselbourg musketeer regiments. In 1807 he was awarded the Order of St. George, third class, for his actions in the Battle of Eylau.

Vyborg is a town in, and the administrative center of, Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of the Vyborg Bay, 130 km to the northwest of St. Petersburg and 38 km south of Russia's border with Finland, where the Saimaa Canal enters the Gulf of Finland. The population of Vyborg has developed as follows: 79,962 (2010 Census); 79,224 (2002 Census); 80,924 (1989 Census)..

Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a country in Northern Europe bordering the Baltic Sea, Gulf of Bothnia, and Gulf of Finland, between Norway to the north, Sweden to the northwest, and Russia to the east. Finland is a Nordic country and is situated in the geographical region of Fennoscandia. The capital and largest city is Helsinki. Other major cities are Espoo, Vantaa, Tampere, Oulu and Turku.

The Battle of Eylau or Battle of Preussisch-Eylau, 7 and 8 February 1807, was a bloody and inconclusive battle between Napoleon's Grande Armée and the Imperial Russian Army under the command of Levin August von Bennigsen near the town of Preussisch Eylau in East Prussia. Late in the battle, the Russians received timely reinforcements from a Prussian division of von L'Estocq. After 1945 the town was renamed Bagrationovsk as a part of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. The engagement was fought during the War of the Fourth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars.

Essen headed the 8th, 27th, and 4th Infantry Divisions of the army during 1816 and 1817, and was appointed military governor of Orenburg in 1817, and was appointed manager of the civil part of the province. In 1819, he was made a general of infantry. From 1830 to 1842 he served as military governor-general of St. Petersburg and a member of the State Council. In 1834 he was awarded the Order of St. Andrew for his service.

Orenburg is the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Ural River, 1,478 kilometers (918 mi) southeast of Moscow, on the boundary of Europe and Asia. Orenburg is also very close to the border with Kazakhstan. Population: 548,331 ; 549,361 ; 546,501 (1989 Census).

The Order of St. Andrew the Apostle the First-Called is the highest order of the Russian Federation. Established as the first and highest order of chivalry of the Russian Empire in 1698, it was abolished under the USSR before being re-established as the top Russian order in 1998.

Awards

Russia's Order of St. Andrew (22 April 1834), diamonds (16 April 1841); St. Vladimir 1st century bol. kr. (12 February 1812), 2nd century (18 February 1808); St. Alexander Nevsky (19 December 1809), diamonds (23 August 1811), White Eagle (22 April 1834); St. George 3rd Class (8 April 1807); Sant'Anna 1st century diamonds (3 October 1799), 2nd century (15 May 1798), 3rd st. (28 January 1798); St. John of Jerusalem.
Foreign orders: Prussian Order of the Black Eagle (29 June 1842) and the Red Eagle 1st century (1807).
Other: gold sword "for bravery" with diamonds (18 October 1809), silver medal in memory of the Patriotic War of 1812 (1814), a bronze medal in memory of the Patriotic War of 1812 (1814), Medal of Honor "for XLV years of faultless service" (22 August 1837; XL years – 22 August 1831; XXXV years – 22 August 1830).

The Order of the Black Eagle was the highest order of chivalry in the Kingdom of Prussia. The order was founded on 17 January 1701 by Elector Friedrich III of Brandenburg. In his Dutch exile after World War I, deposed Emperor Wilhelm II continued to award the order to his family. He made his second wife, Princess Hermine Reuss of Greiz, a Lady in the Order of the Black Eagle.

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References

↑ Герб графа Эссен
↑ museum.ru
↑ (in German) Essen, bürgerliche Familie in Pernau, "Genealogisches Handbuch der baltischen Ritterschaften", Teil 2, Estland, Band 1.2, Görlitz, 1930, p. 69
↑ (in German) "Genealogisches Handbuch der baltischen Ritterschaften", Teil 1, Livland, Band 2, Görlitz, 1929, p. 689
↑ Carl Arvid von Klingspor: Baltisches Wappenbuch. Wappen sämmtlicher, den Ritterschaften von Livland, Estland, Kurland und Oesel zugehöriger Adelsgeschlechter. Stockholm 1882, p.74

Patriotic War of 1812. Encyclopedia. – M.: Rosspen, 2004, s.819–820.
Dictionary of the Russian generals, members fighting against the army of Napoleon Bonaparte in the years 1812–1815. / / Russia archive. T. VII. – M.: studio TRITE N. Mikhalkov, 1996, s.631–632.

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[1] Герб графа Эссен

[2] useum.ru

[3] (in German) Essen, bürgerliche Familie in Pernau, "Genealogisches Handbuch der baltischen Ritterschaften", Teil 2, Estland, Band 1.2, Görlitz, 1930, p. 69

[4] (in German) "Genealogisches Handbuch der baltischen Ritterschaften", Teil 1, Livland, Band 2, Görlitz, 1929, p. 689

[5] Carl Arvid von Klingspor: Baltisches Wappenbuch. Wappen sämmtlicher, den Ritterschaften von Livland, Estland, Kurland und Oesel zugehöriger Adelsgeschlechter. Stockholm 1882, p.74

Peter Kirillovich Essen

Contents

Career

Awards

Related Research Articles

References