TODLEBEN, FRANZ EDWARD, Russian gen. of engineers, was b. at Mitau, Russian province of Courland, in 1818. After studying at Riga, he was admitted as a student in the college of engineers at St. Petersburg. He was 2d capt. in the engineer corps when the Russian army entered the Danubian principalities in 1853, and served in the cam paign of the Danube under gen. Schilders. His genius as a military engineer was dis covered before the Russian army crossed the Pruth. on its retreat from the principali ties; and when the French and English troops undertook the siege of Sebastopol, col. Todleben was sent to assist in its defense. It was in the middle of April when he arrived, and the fortifications were soon placed under his direction. The principle on which he acted was to watch the works of the allies, and to establish against them on every point a superiority of fire, by multiplying the number and increasing the caliber of his guns. The prodigious activity displayed by the Russians in making good the damage sustained by the heavy fire of the enemy, filled the allied army with astonish. ment. Everywhere, massive ramparts of earthworks, mounted with formidable batter ies, rose up as if by magic at each threatened point within the line of defense. Accord ing to Todleben, the defense was rapidly asserting an engineering superiority over the attack. The Malakoff, however, was carried by assault, and the allies entered Sebasto pol (see History of the Russian War (illustrated), W. & R. Chambers). At the battle of
Inkermann, Todleben, who Was on the spot by chance, seeing that the Russian artillery was in danger of being taken, promptly halted a regiment, and caused four guns to open fire on the allies, and gave time to the artillery to retreat. At the latter part of the siege he was wounded in the leg, but all his great defenses had then been completed. Since the conclusion of peace, he has expanded what was at first a mere engineer's report into a history of the war in the Crimea. It is entitled Defense de Sebastopol: ouvrage redige sous la Direction de Lt.-Gen. E. de Todleben, aide-de-camp general de S. 11I. l'Empereur.
In this work he writes a thoroughly Russian account of the Crimean war. In all that relates to the Russian army and its labors, and especially in regard to the work of the siege, the author may be accepted as an unimpeachable authority; but where the British and French armies are concerned, he is too often careless and inexact, and sometimes his statements are absolutely untrue. For services in the siege he was created a gen. and decorated. In 1865 he visited England, and was cordially received. He performed dis tinguished service in the war with Turkey in 1877-78.