Peter Andreyevich Dannenberg (; 9 June 1792 – 6 August 1872) was a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

general, particularly notable for his command during the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

Life

Born into a

reformed church Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyterian, ...

family on 19 June 1792 in

Olonets Governorate Olonets Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, extending from Lake Ladoga almost to the White Sea, bounded west by Finland, north and east by Arkhangelsk and Vologda, and south by Novgorod and ...

, his early education was at the Sofia Institute of Forestry (1807–1810), from which he moved to the Imperial Forestry Institute in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, from which he graduated in 1811, from the scientist and surveyor course, with the rank of 13th grade. On graduation he became a secretary-policeman but that same year decided to switch to military service and so enrolled in the Kolonnovozhatyh College. He successfully completed their science course and on 26 January 1812 was promoted to the rank of ensign in a quartermaster unit and a secondment to the 24th Infantry Division. In his twenties he fought the

French invasion of Russia The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign (), the Second Polish War, and in Russia as the Patriotic War of 1812 (), was initiated by Napoleon with the aim of compelling the Russian Empire to comply with the Continenta ...

, seeing action at

Smolensk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...

on 12 June 1812,

Borodino The Battle of Borodino ( ) or Battle of Moscow (), in popular literature also known as the Battle of the Generals, took place on the outskirts of Moscow near the village of Borodino on 7 September 1812 during Napoleon's invasion of Russia. T ...

on 26 August, Tarutino on 6 October and

Maloyaroslavets Maloyaroslavets () is a town and the administrative center of Maloyaroslavetsky District in Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Luzha River ( Oka's basin), northeast of Kaluga, the administrative center of the oblast. Pop ...

on 12 October. For his actions at Maloyaroslavets he was awarded the

Order of Saint Vladimir The Imperial Order of Saint Prince Vladimir () was an Imperial Russian order established on by Empress Catherine the Great, Catherine II in memory of the deeds of Vladimir I, Prince of Kiev, Saint Vladimir, the Grand Prince and the Baptizer of ...

4th class, with swords and bow and finally, from 3 to 10 November, at Krasnoi. For his bravery, he was promoted to second lieutenant on 4 December 1812. As the Russians advanced into Germany, he fought at Lutzen on 20 April 1813, on 16 August near Dresden, on 17 and 18 August at Kulm (for which he received the Kulm Cross) and then 4 and 6 October near

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

. Whilst in the reserves in 1814, he also fought at Brienne, Arcis-sur-Aube, Fère-Champenoise, at a skirmish near Paris on 18 March and finally in the capture of Paris on 19 March. Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich appointed him to his personal staff and Dannenberg also received promotions to lieutenant and captain along with the Order of St Anne 2nd class. On 1 August 1814 he was transferred to the General Staff of the Guards. He was then promoted to colonel (1818) and Major-General (1827) with the appointment of Quartermaster-General Chief of Staff to the Tsarevich. During the Crimean War, Dannenberg was given command of Russian troops on the Danube front where he lost the Battle of Oltenitza. When the fighting moved to the

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

, he was given command of part of the Russian forces there, which unsuccessfully assaulted the British positions during the

Battle of Inkerman The Battle of Inkerman was fought during the Crimean War on 5 November 1854 between the allied armies of Britain and France against the Imperial Russian Army. The battle broke the will of the Russian Army to defeat the allies in the field, and w ...

Awards

* Order of St. Vladimir 4th class (1812), 1st class (1862) * Kulm Cross (1813) * Order of St. Anne 2nd class (1814), 1st class (1831) *

Order of St. George The Order of Saint George () is the highest military decoration of the Russian Federation. It was originally established on 26 November 1769 Julian (7 December 1769 Gregorian) as the highest military decoration of the Russian Empire for commiss ...

4th class (1839) {{DEFAULTSORT:Dannenberg 1792 births 1872 deaths Russian commanders of the Napoleonic Wars Russian military personnel of the Crimean War Foresters from the Russian Empire Saint-Petersburg State Forestry University alumni People from Olonets Governorate