BULOW, FRIEDRICH WILHELM, FREIHERR VON, count of Dennewitz (1755-1816), Prussian general, was born on Feb. 16, 1755, at Falkenberg in the Altmark ; he was the elder brother of D. H. Billow (q.v.). He entered the Prussian army in 1768. In 1792 he was made military instructor to the young prince Louis Ferdinand, and accompanied the prince in the campaigns of 1792-93-94 on the Rhine. The disasters of the campaign against Napoleon in 1806 aroused his energies. He did excellent service under Lestocq's command in the latter part of the war, was wounded in action, and finally designated for a brigade com mand in Blucher's force. He was governor-general of East and West Prussia in 1812, and defended the marches in 1813, fought at Mockern, took Halle, and defended Berlin against Oudinot by his victory at Luckau. In the summer of 1813 he was placed under the command of Bernadotte, crown prince of Sweden. Billow commanded a corps in the battle of Grossbeeren, defeated Ney at Dennewitz, played a part in the overthrow of Napoleon at Leipzig, and was then entrusted with the task of evicting the French from Holland and Belgium. He won a signal victory at Hoogstraaten, and in the campaign of 1814 he invaded France from the north-west, joined Blucher, and took part in the brilliant victory of Laon in March. He was next made general of infantry and received the title of Count Billow von Dennewitz. In the short peace of 1814-15 he was at Konigsberg as commander-in chief in Prussia proper. He was soon called to the field again, and in the Waterloo campaign commanded the IV. corps of Blucher's army. He was not present at Ligny, but his corps headed the flank attack upon Napoleon at Waterloo, and bore the heaviest part in the fighting of the Prussian troops. He took part in the invasion of France, but died suddenly on Feb. 25, 1816, a month after his return to the Konigsberg command.
See General Graf Billow von Dennewitz, 1813-14 (Leipzig, Varnhagen von Ense, Leben des G. Grafen B. von D. (Berlin, Biographie, vol. iii. (Leipzig, 1876), and "Behrenhorst and Billow" (Historische Zeitschrift, 1861, vi.) ; Max Jahns, Geschichte der Kriegs wissenschaften, vol. iii., pp. 2133-2145 (Munich, 1891) ; General von Kammerer (transl. Donat) , Development of Strategical Science (19o5) .