Fabian Steinheil

Count Fabian Gotthard von Steinheil (Russian: Фадде́й Фёдорович Ште́йнгель, tr. Faddéy Fyodorovich Shteyngelʹ; 14 October 1762 – 23 February 1831) was a Baltic German who served as a Russian military officer, and the Governor-General of Finland between 1810 and 1824.

Fabian Gotthard von Steinheil
Portrait by George Dawe
Born	3 October 1762 Haapsalu (now Lääne County, Estonia)
Died	7 March 1831 Helsinki, Russian Empire
Allegiance	Russian Empire
Rank	General
Commands held	Russian Army
Battles/wars	Napoleonic Wars

Steinheil was born in Hapsal, Estonia. His father's family was from region of Upper Rhine in Germany (where they had been burghers and officials of their hometowns); and his mother was from a cadet branch of the ancient Baltic House of Tiesenhausen, daughter of nobleman Fromhold Fabian Tiesenhausen, lord of Orina in Estonia. Stenheil's uncle and father had received a baronial title from the imperial authorities.

Fabian von Steinheil became a lieutenant in the Imperial Russian Army in 1782. He took part in the war in Finland in 1788 and in 1791-92 he worked with construction of fortifications in Old Finland, after which he served in military cartography.

He became a Major General in 1789 and took part in the campaigns in Prussia in 1806-1807 and Poland in 1805-1807. He became a Lieutenant General in 1807 and commanded the Russian troops on Åland in 1809 during the Finnish War.

In 1810 he was appointed as the Governor-General of Finland, to succeed Prince Michael Andrew Barclay de Tolly. He was well regarded by the Finnish population and was made a count in 1812. In 1813 he took part in the war against Napoleon as the commander of an army in Courland and Livonia, and was succeeded as Governor-General by the influential Count Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt. However, due to Armfelt's fragile health, Steinheil soon returned to the post of Governor-General which he held to 1824, being then succeeded by Count Arseniy Zakrevskiy.

He remained in Finland and died in Helsinki in 1831.

Honours and awards

• Knight of the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky
• Order of Saint Anna, 1st class
• Order of St. Vladimir, 2nd class
• Gold Sword for Bravery
• Order of St. George, 3rd class
• Order of St. George, 4th class
• Order of the Red Eagle 1st Class