many Russian commanders, Ludwig Wittgenstein was of foreign descent
- his father being a Prussian general who moved to serve in Russia
like so many other Russian senior officers, Wittgenstein learnt
soldiering against the Poles and Turks.
first major battle against a professional European army came at
Austerlitz, where he fought
with the Russian vanguard.
another campaign against the Turks and the invasion of Finland in
1809, Wittgenstein lead a corps of the First West Army against the
French Grande Armee.
that army's tragic retreat from Moscow, Wittgenstein harried the
French left wing and almost succeeded in cutting off its final link
to survival - the bridge over the Beresina
1813, he took over supreme command of the Russian army, but he drew
Tsar Alexander's wrath for his handling of the battle of Bautzen.
he took the field at Leipzig and
eventually pushed into France, but was badly wounded at Bar-sur-Aube.
10 years later he was made a field marshal and retired in 1828.