Gotthard Johann von Knorring

Gotthard Johann von Knorring (1744 or 1746 – 1825; Russian: Богдан Фёдорович Кнорринг, Bogdan Fyodorovich Knorring) was a Baltic German who was a soldier in the Russian Army, rising to become a general.

He was born in 1744 or 1746.^[1] Knorring grew up on Ervita manor, in the Governorate of Estonia. He was appointed general quartermaster in 1788 and had active duty during the war against Sweden (1788–1790). In 1792-1794 he participated in the campaigns in Poland-Lithuania (see Polish–Russian War of 1792 and Kościuszko Uprising). When Paul I started his reign, Knorring withdrew from the military for some years. He participated in the war against France in 1807 but was recalled due to disagreements with the commanding general, Levin August von Bennigsen. In December 1808 he was appointed commander of the Russian forces in Finland after Friedrich Wilhelm von Buxhoevden and under his command the Russian forces crossed the Gulf of Bothnia on the ice and invaded Sweden proper. Shortly after, in March 1809 the command of the Russian forces transferred to Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly. He died in 1825.

There was another General Knorring, his brother Karl Knorring, who was involved in the Russian annexation of Georgia in 1801.

• Genealogisches Handbuch der baltischen Ritterschaften (in German)