Kleist entered the
Prussian Army in 1778 and served in the
War of the Bavarian Succession and the
French Revolutionary Wars. By 1799, Kleist had been promoted to major and was put in command of a battalion of grenadiers. Kleist served in the
Napoleonic Wars and fought at
Jena. In 1807 he went on extended leave but by 1808 he was put in command of an infantry brigade and the next year he was made commandant of Berlin. During the
War of Liberation he was given a corps with which he fought in the battles of
Kulm and
Leipzig. In 1814, he was given the title Count of Nollendorf (from the German name of the town
Nakléřov, now part of
Petrovice in the
Czech Republic) for his decisive role in this battle. After Leipzig, Kleist blockaded the fortress of
Erfurt, bringing about its surrender after which, in early 1814, he marched his troops into
France, where his corps was attached to
Blücher's army. He then fought in the battle of
Laon and in the attack on
Paris. At the end of the war Kleist was promoted to the rank of ''''. During the
Hundred Days, Kleist was given command of a Prussian corps (the
North German Corps) which was to operate independently from Blücher's Army of the Lower Rhine; he was therefore not involved in the battles of
Ligny and
Waterloo. Two years before his death he was promoted to the rank of '''' ("
field marshal"). ==Notes==