Gottlob Heinrich Curt von Tottleben
German noble
Gottlob Curt Heinrich Graf von Tottleben, Herr auf Tottleben, Zeippau und Hansdorf im Saganschen (also Tottleben, Todtleben, or Todleben; Russian: Готлиб-Генрих Тотлебен; 21 December 1715 – 20 March 1773) was a Saxon-born Russian general known for his adventurism and contradictory military career during the Seven Years' War and, then, the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) as a commander of the first Russian expeditionary force in Kartli-Kakheti. His name refers to his domains at Tottleben in Thuringia, Zeippau, and Hansdorf of Sagan in Lower Silesia.
Early career
Totleben was born in Tottleben, Thuringia, and served at the court of Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony. He fled Saxony after being accused of corruption. He then served for various periods at the courts of Saxe-Weissenfels, Bavaria, the Dutch Republic during the War of the Austrian Succession, and the Kingdom of Prussia. In 1747, he is mentioned as commander of a regiment of infantry of the Dutch Republic, but the regiment existed only on paper and was never realized. By then he already had a reputation as a scoundrel.
Count Totleben entered the Russian service during the Seven Years' War. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Kunersdorf and was promoted to General. Totleben gained particular fame for his brief occupation of the Prussian capital Berlin in 1760.
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This entry incorporates text from “Gottlob Heinrich Curt von Tottleben” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.