Count Fyodor Logginovich Heiden (born Friedrich Moritz Reichsgraf van Heiden; russian: Фёдор Логгинович Ге́йден, tr. ; – ), better known as Count Fyodor Logginovich van Heiden, was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

military commander of

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Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

extraction, who served in the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

. He served as the

Governor-General of Finland The governor-general of Finland ( fi, Suomen kenraalikuvernööri; sv, generalguvernör över Finland; russian: генерал-губернатор Финляндии) was the military commander and the highest administrator of Finland sporadic ...

1881–1898. Heiden's 17-year office in the

Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; sv, Storfurstendömet Finland; russian: Великое княжество Финляндское, , all of which literally translate as Grand Principality of Finland) was the predecessor ...

encompassed the entire reign of

Alexander III of Russia Alexander III ( rus, Алекса́ндр III Алекса́ндрович, r=Aleksandr III Aleksandrovich; 10 March 18451 November 1894) was Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland from 13 March 1881 until his death in 18 ...

, who appointed him at the start of his own reign, to succeed the courtly and diplomatic Count

Nikolay Adlerberg Count Nikolay Vladimirovich Adlerberg (; 19 May 1819 – 25 December 1892), was a Russian aristocrat who served as Councilor of State and Chamberlain in the imperial court, as well as governor of Taganrog, Simferopol and Finland. Biography ...

, and four first years of reign of

Nicholas II of Russia Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...

Background

Friedrich Moritz Reichsgraf van Heiden was born in Sveaborg, later renamed Suomenlinna, son of

Lodewijk Sigismund Gustaaf van Heiden (6 September 1772 – 5 November 1850), who left

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in 1795 during French invasion and settled in

Livonia Livonia ( liv, Līvõmō, et, Liivimaa, fi, Liivinmaa, German and Scandinavian languages: ', archaic German: ''Liefland'', nl, Lijfland, Latvian and lt, Livonija, pl, Inflanty, archaic English: ''Livland'', ''Liwlandia''; russian: Ли ...

. Admiral van Heiden died in 1850. His mother was lady Anne-Marie Akeleye from a Danish family. Youngest son of family, Friedrich took military career, converted to

Orthodoxy Orthodoxy (from Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Antiquity, but different Churc ...

and took the Russified name of Fyodor Logginovich Geyden.

Earlier career

Young Heiden fought in

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

and against the

Hungarian Revolutionary Army The Hungarian Defence Forces ( hu, Magyar Honvédség) is the national armed forces, defence force of Hungary. Since 2007, the Hungarian Armed Forces is under a unified command structure. The Ministry of Defence maintains the political and civil ...

, whom Nicholas I. assisted Austrian emperor against. He was promoted to colonel in 1849. During

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

Heiden was chief of staff in Baltic Corps, without participation in notable battles. After the war was he was promoted to Major General in 1855. He married in 1854 Countess Elisabeth Nikolayevna

Zubov The Zubovs (russian: Зу́бов) were a Russian noble family, rose to occupy some of the highest offices of state in the 1790s, when Platon Zubov became the last favourite of Empress Catherine the Great (). The Zubovs were first noticed in ...

a (1833–1894) whose mother was Countess Alexandra Raimond-Modène (1807–1839). Her father Count Nikolay Dmitrievich Zubov (1801–1871; russian: Николай Дмитриевич Зубов) was Steward of the Russian Imperial Court, himself son of princess Paraskeva Viazemskaia and general, count Dmitri Alexandrovich Zubov, one of brothers of prince

Platon Zubov Prince Platon Alexandrovich Zubov (russian: Платон Александрович Зубов; ) was the last of Catherine the Great's favourites and the most powerful man in the Russian Empire during the last years of her reign. Life The princ ...

. Countess Elisabeth was a first cousin of countess Olga van Suchtelen, one of heiresses of that Finnish comital house whose males in 1860s became extinct. After the war Heiden was chiefly a member of the General Staff. He participated in

Dmitry Milyutin Count Dmitry Alekseyevich Milyutin ( rus, Граф Дми́трий Алексе́евич Милю́тин, tr. ; 28 June 1816, Moscow – 25 January 1912, Simeiz near Yalta) was Minister of War (1861–81) and the last Field Marshal of I ...

's military reforms and was appointed as head of the General Staff (Glavni Stab) in 1866. He also chaired the conscription committee that enacted the conscription in Russia in 1874, and was in charge of the mobilization during the

Turkish War The Great Turkish War (german: Großer Türkenkrieg), also called the Wars of the Holy League ( tr, Kutsal İttifak Savaşları), was a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League consisting of the Holy Roman Empire, Pola ...

; he was acting Minister of War during Milyutin's absence during the Turkish War. In 1870 Heiden was promoted to full General. When he was eleven years later appointed as Governor-General of Finland, he had made a long and successful military career.

Governor-General

As it was usual with persons who adopted themselves a new nationality, Heiden was eagerly Russian. In his position in Finland, the

Slavophile Slavophilia (russian: Славянофильство) was an intellectual movement originating from the 19th century that wanted the Russian Empire to be developed on the basis of values and institutions derived from Russia's early history. Slavoph ...

Heiden saw his task to Russify the country. However, his reputation among the Finns is not very bad, because of his subtle methods - his successor, general Bobrikov, enjoys a really contrasting fame of a russifying tyrant. To attain his goal Heiden supported use of

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

as language of administration, university and military, as opposed to Swedish. In appointments to public offices in government, administration, justice, and military he favored the conservative and monarchist

Finnish Party The Finnish Party ( fi, Suomalainen Puolue) was a Fennoman conservative political party in the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland and independent Finland. Born out of Finland's language strife in the 1860s, the party sought to improve the position ...

and persons who had learned the Russian language well and resided longer times there, as opposed to possibly separatist Swedes and liberal Swedish Party. Heiden furthered trade between Finland and Russia, and had customs formalities reduced. His chief interest was to clarify jurisdiction within Finland: to define what decisions belonged to the imperial government, what to autonomous local governments in Finland. He was awarded

Order of Prince Danilo I The Order of Prince Danilo I ( cnr, Орден Књаза Данила I, translit=Orden Knjaza Danila I) was an order of the Principality and later Kingdom, of Montenegro. It is currently a dynastic order granted by the head of the House of P ...

and a number of other decorations.

References

Sources

* Seitkari, Olavi:
Kenraalikuvernööri kreivi Fedor Logginovits Heiden
'', Genos 18 (1947), pp. 80–86 , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Geyden, Fyodor 1821 births 1900 deaths Politicians from Helsinki People from the Grand Duchy of Finland Russian people of Dutch descent Russian people of Danish descent Governors of the Grand Duchy of Finland Members of the State Council (Russian Empire) Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Protestantism Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Russia) Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russian) Danish people of Dutch descent Dutch people of Danish descent Burials at the Isidorovskaya Church of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra Finnish people of Dutch descent Imperial Russian Army generals