Fabian von der Osten-Sacken
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Fabian von der Osten-Sacken is the commonly used short form for the Baltic-German Russian commander more fully styled Fabian Gottlieb von der Osten-Sacken, rendered in Russian as Фабиан Вильгельмович Остен-Сакен. He was born at Reval (Tallinn) on 20 October 1752 and died at Kiev on 7 September 1837, serving continuously in the Imperial Russian Army from the late eighteenth century through the Napoleonic period and reaching the empire’s highest general rank.
He entered service on 18 October 1766 as a junior officer in the Koporye (Kopor’ye) Musketry Regiment. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774 he saw early active service in 1769 at the blockade of Khotin, and he advanced through the first commissioned grades in 1769–1770. From 1770 to 1773 he served in the Nasheburg (Nasheburgsky) Musketry Regiment under Aleksandr Suvorov during operations connected to the Bar Confederation in the Polish–Lithuanian lands. These years established him as a line officer with campaigning experience on the empire’s south-western frontier.
By 1786 he had become a Lieutenant Colonel and was appointed to the Moscow Grenadier Regiment. In the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1792 he was moved on 19 July 1789 to the Rostov (Rostovsky) Musketry Regiment and fought in 1789 in actions connected with the Prut River operations and the allied victory at Focșani; for this service he received the Order of St Vladimir, 4th class, with ribbon. He further distinguished himself in the assault on Izmail (1790), one of the best-known stormings of the war, in which Suvorov’s army carried the Ottoman fortress after intense fighting.
He was promoted to Colonel on 10 August 1792. On 26 November 1792 he received the Order of St George, 4th class. In 1793 he was employed in Poland with the Chernigov Musketry Regiment during Russia’s campaigns connected to the collapse of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and he fought in 1794 in actions near Vilnius; for this he received a gold sword inscribed “For Bravery.” His rise to general rank followed shortly afterward: on 28 September 1797 he was appointed chief of the Yekaterinoslav Grenadier Regiment with the rank of генерал-майор (major general). He was promoted to генерал-лейтенант (lieutenant general) on 11 July 1799.
In the Second Coalition’s Swiss operations of 1799, Osten-Sacken fought at the Second Battle of Zürich (1799). In the aftermath he was taken prisoner and held at Nancy until 1801, removing him from active field command during a key transition period in coalition warfare. After returning to Russia he was again given significant responsibilities, including command of reserve formations stationed in interior governorates.
During the War of the Fourth Coalition he fought against Napoleon’s forces in Poland and East Prussia. He was engaged at Pułtusk (1806) and at Preussisch-Eylau (1807). For Eylau he received the Order of St Vladimir, 2nd class, on 8 April 1807; he also received a Prussian order (commonly given as the Order of the Red Eagle in contemporary summaries). These actions placed him among the Russian senior commanders with direct experience of the hard-fought 1806–1807 campaign.
When Napoleon invaded the Russian Empire in 1812, Osten-Sacken returned to Major field employment, commanding a reserve corps deployed in Volhynia with responsibilities along the southern sector, where Russian planners expected possible incursions by allied French contingents operating with Austrian and Saxon formations. In operations around Volkovysk (Wolkowisk) he fought against a force under Jean Reynier; subsequent maneuvering brought him into contact with the Austrian commander Karl Schwarzenberg. Following these movements he crossed into the Duchy of Warsaw and participated in the Russian advance into Polish territory as the strategic situation shifted after the French retreat from Russia. In 1813, in the campaign that carried the war into Central Europe, he conducted operations in Poland that included the siege of Jasna Góra (Częstochowa), and on 29 March 1813 he received the Order of St Alexander Nevsky for his service in that theatre.
In the later 1813 operations he served with the Silesian Army under Blücher and was present at the Battle of the Katzbach (26 August 1813). For his conduct at Leipzig (4–7 October 1813) he was awarded the Order of St George, 2nd class, on 8 October 1813. By this stage he was one of the senior Russian corps commanders regularly employed within the coalition’s main maneuver armies operating in Germany.
In the 1814 campaign in France he commanded at Brienne (29 January 1814) and at La Rothière (1 February 1814), and he fought in the Six Days’ Campaign, including the action at Montmirail (11 February 1814), where Napoleon struck the dispersed coalition forces with notable success. On 19 March 1814 he was appointed governor-general of Paris during the coalition occupation that followed the capture of the city. In 1814 he received the Order of St Andrew, the Russian Empire’s premier chivalric order, reflecting his seniority and the political importance of his wartime service.
After the Napoleonic Wars he remained in high command and court employment. He was admitted to the State Council on 26 August (year given in standard summaries as 1816). On 8 April 1821 he was granted the title of count in the Russian Empire. Under Nicholas I he held the honorary colonelcy/chiefship of regiments associated with his name, and on 22 August 1826 he was promoted to генерал-фельдмаршал (field marshal). During the Polish November Uprising (1830–1831) he served as war governor at Kiev with authority over Kiev, Podolia, and Volhynia, a politically sensitive appointment on the empire’s western frontier; for this service he received the title of prince (Fürst/князь in the usage attached to his ennoblement). In 1835 he was dismissed from active service with continuing status and privileges, and he died in Kiev in 1837.
Sources
XX 99 Switzerland; XX 06-07 Eylau, Heilsberg, Friedland; XXX 12 Russia – LL; XXX 13–14 (briefly XXXX for 3rd Army) Katzbach, Leipzig, Brienne, La Rothiere, W, Montmirail. (1752-1837)