Tauentzien was born in
Potsdam in the
Margraviate of Brandenburg as the son of
Friedrich Bogislav von Tauentzien. He married Elisabeth von Amstedt, with whom he had one son and one daughter. The branch of the
von Tauentzien family with the title of count ended with the 1854 death of Tauentzien's son, Heinrich Bogislav. Tauentzien entered the
Prussian Army in 1775 and was granted the title of
Graf (count) on 5 August 1791. He became a royal aide-de-camp in 1793; he was entrusted with many diplomatic missions until 1813. Tauentzien participated in the campaign of 1793 and was successively promoted to
Oberst in 1795 and
Generalmajor in 1801. He commanded an observation corps of
Friedrich Ludwig zu Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen until the
Saalburg in 1806. Shortly before the
Battle of Saalfeld, a
French corps under Marshal
Bernadotte defeated Tauentzien's detachment of 9,000 men at
Schleiz. Tauentzien capably organized the retreat to Mittel-Pöllnitz so his troops could rejoin the main Prussian army. . At
Jena, Tauentzien led the vanguard of the Hohenlohe Corps. Scores of Prussian generals were dismissed after the defeat of Prussia in 1806–07, although Tauentzien was not. As
Generalleutnant, he commanded the Brandenburg Brigade after the
Treaties of Tilsit and participated in the reorganization of the defeated Prussian army. In 1813, Tauentzien was named Military Governor between the
Oder and the
Vistula Rivers, and he succeeded in the siege of
Stettin. As General der Infanterie, he commanded the IV. Armeekorps, which consisted mostly of
Landwehr, and participated in the battles of
Großbeeren on 23 August and
Dennewitz on 6 September. In October his troops left the relative safety of
Dessau and crossed the
Elbe. After the
Battle of Leipzig, Tauentzien accepted the capitulation of
Torgau on 26 December 1813. Generalleutnant
Leopold Wilhelm von Dobschütz led the capture of
Wittenberg on the night of 13–14 January 1814, but acclaim for the victory went to his superior, Tauentzien, who was granted the honorary title "von Wittenberg", a
coat of arms, and, on 26 January, the
Grand Cross of the Iron Cross. A street in Wittenberg was named Tauentzienstraße, but is now known as Dobschützstraße. On 24 May, Tauentzien recovered
Magdeburg. Tauentzien commanded the VI. Armeekorps during the
Hundred Days of
Napoleon Bonaparte. The
Battle of Waterloo had already occurred by the time his troops reached France. After the end of the war, he commanded the III. Armeekorps. Tauentzien died as Commander of Berlin.
Tauentzienstraße in Berlin is named in his honor. ==Notes==