Magnus Gustav von Essen (russian: Иван Николаевич Эссен; Ivan Nikolaevich Essen; ) was a Baltic German

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

and military governor of

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

at the start of the

Patriotic War of 1812 The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign, the Second Polish War, the Army of Twenty nations, and the Patriotic War of 1812 was launched by Napoleon Bonaparte to force the Russian Empire back into the continental block ...

Life

Pre-1812

From the

Essen family Essen or von Essen is the surname of a Baltic German and Swedish noble family. History The first known ancestor was Thomas von Essen (d. 1615–1627) who was from Lääne län in Estonia. His son Alexander von Essen received Swedish nobility, ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

, from 1783 to 1785 he fought in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, 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 The Battle of Maciejowice was fought on 10 October 1794, between Poland and the Russian Empire. The Poles were led by Tadeusz Kościuszko. Kościuszko with 6,200 men, who planned to prevent the linking of three larger Russian corps, commanded b ...

he was awarded the 4th degree of the

Order of St George The Order of Saint George (russian: Орден Святого Георгия, Orden Svyatogo Georgiya) is the highest military decoration of the Russian Federation. Originally established on 26 November 1769 Julian (7 December 1769 Gregorian) a ...

. In 1799 he commanded the first division in the

Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland The Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland (or Anglo-Russian expedition to Holland, or Helder Expedition) was a military campaign from 27 August to 19 November 1799 during the War of the Second Coalition, in which an expeditionary force of British and ...

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.

1812

During the

he served as Military Governor of Riga in place of

Dimitri Lobanov-Rostovsky Prince Dmitry Ivanovich Lobanov-Rostovsky (russian: Дми́трий Ива́нович Лоба́нов-Росто́вский; 20 September 1758 – 25/26 July 1838) was a Russian general and administrator. He stemmed from the Lobanov-Rostovsky ...

and was forced to set fire to Riga's suburbs as soon as the enemy captured their outermost edge. After unsuccessful attempts to stop the Prussians at a distance from the city and unsuccessfully fighting to save

Iecava , native_name = , nickname = , motto = , image_skyline = Iecavas luterāņu baznīca.jpg , imagesize = 300px , image_caption = Lutheran church in Iecav ...

, he ordered the burning of the suburbs but because of a strong wind the fire got out of control and thousands of city residents were left homeless. Towards autumn the war changed direction. The Prussian corps became overextended, Macdonald remained inactive, a Russian successes was won by Peter Wittgenstein at Polotsk, Napoleon began a general retreat and

Fabian Steinheil Fabian Gotthard von Steinheil (russian: Фадде́й Фёдорович Ште́йнгель, tr. ; 14 October 1762 – 23 February 1831) was a Baltic German who served as a Russian military officer and the Governor-General of Finland be ...

arrived in Riga - all these circumstances brought Essen to the top of the pile, but due to mismanagement the Russians were unable to capitalise on these victories and suffered heavy losses in several battles. In October Essen was replaced in his post by General Paulucci and filed his resignation. Essen then went for a long course of treatment at the

Baldone Baldone (; german: Baldohn) is a town in Ķekava Municipality in the Semigallia region of Latvia. The town is famous for its sulfur water springs and was a spa resort. Viktors Arājs Viktors Arājs (13 January 1910 – 13 January 1988) was a ...

sulphur baths near Riga, where he drowned on 23 August 1813 while swimming. According to one version of events, he committed suicide on the anniversary of the firing of the Riga suburbs.

Family

His father was Claus Gustav von Essen, a statesman, and his mother was Magdalena Elisabeth von Stackelberg. Essen married Margaretha von Stackelberg in 1796, they had a daughter, Elisabeth Anna Dorothea, who was married to the Russian general

Carl Magnus von der Pahlen Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community *Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of tel ...

( ru).

In fiction

He is portrayed in ''

The Commodore ''The Commodore'' (published 1945) is a Horatio Hornblower novel written by C. S. Forester. It was published in the United States under the title ''Commodore Hornblower''. Plot summary Having achieved fame and financial security, Captain Sir ...

'', novel of the

Horatio Hornblower Horatio Hornblower is a fictional officer in the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, the protagonist of a series of novels and stories by C. S. Forester. He later became the subject of films, radio and television programmes, an ...

series.

Notes

Sources

Dictionary of Russian generals, members of hostilities against the army of Napoleon Bonaparte in the 1812-1815 war.
/ / The Russian archive: Sat. — М .: студия «ТРИТЭ» Н.Михалкова, 1996. - M.: Studio «TRITE» N. Mikhalkov, 1996. — Т. VII. - Vol VII. — С. 630-631. - S. 630-631. {{DEFAULTSORT:Essen, Ivan Nikolaevich 1759 births 1813 deaths People from Viru-Nigula Parish People from Kreis Wierland Baltic-German people Imperial Russian Army generals Russian commanders of the Napoleonic Wars Russian people of the Kościuszko Uprising Russian people of the Polish–Russian War of 1792 French invasion of Russia Deaths by drowning Essen family