- Source: Fyodor Logginovich van Heiden
Count Fyodor Logginovich Heiden (born Friedrich Moritz Reichsgraf van Heiden; Russian: Фёдор Логгинович Ге́йден, tr. Fëdor Logginovič Géjden; 15 September [O.S. 3] 1821 – 18 January [O.S. 6] 1900), better known as Count Fyodor Logginovich van Heiden, was a Russian military commander of German-Dutch ancestry who served in the Imperial Russian Army. He served as the Governor-General of Finland 1881–1898. Heiden's 17-year office in the Grand Duchy of Finland encompassed the entire reign of Alexander III of Russia, who appointed him at the start of his own reign to succeed Count Nikolay Adlerberg, and the four first years of the reign of Nicholas II of Russia.
Background
Friedrich Moritz Reichsgraf van Heiden was born in Sveaborg, later renamed Suomenlinna, son of Dutch Lodewijk Sigismund Gustaaf van Heiden (6 September 1772 – 5 November 1850), who left the Netherlands in 1795 during the French invasion and settled in Livonia. Admiral van Heiden died in 1850. His mother was Lady Anne-Marie Akeleye, from a Danish family. The youngest son of the family, Friedrich took up a military career, converted to Orthodoxy, and took the Russified name of Fyodor Logginovich Geyden.
Earlier career
Young van Heiden fought in the Caucasus and against the Hungarian Revolutionary Army, which Nicholas I assisted the Austrian emperor against. He was promoted to colonel in 1849. During the Crimean War van Heiden was chief of staff in Baltic Corps, but did not participate in any notable battles. After the war, he was promoted to major general in 1855.
In 1854, he married Countess Elisabeth Nikolayevna Zubova (1833–1894), the daughter of Countess Alexandra Raimond-Modène (1807–1839). Her father Count Nikolay Dmitrievich Zubov (1801–1871; Russian: Николай Дмитриевич Зубов) was Steward of the Russian Imperial Court, himself the son of princess Paraskeva Viazemskaia and Count Dmitri Alexandrovich Zubov, one of the brothers of Prince Platon Zubov.
Countess Elisabeth was a first cousin of countess Olga van Suchtelen.
After the war, van Heiden was chiefly a member of the General Staff. He participated in Dmitry Milyutin's military reforms and was appointed as head of the General Staff (Glavni Stab) in 1866. He also chaired the conscription committee that enacted the conscription in Russia in 1874, and was in charge of the mobilization during the Turkish War, acting as Minister of War during Milyutin's absence during the Turkish War.
In 1870, van Heiden was promoted to full general. Eleven years later, he was appointed Governor-General of Finland.
Governor-General
Although he had adopted Russian culture later in life, van Heiden was eagerly Russian and a Slavophile. He saw the Russification of Finland as a primary task. However, his reputation among Finns is better than many of his contemporaries, due to his subtle methods. By contrast, his successor General Bobrikov was widely considered a Russifying tyrant.
To attain this goal, van Heiden supported the use of Finnish as the language of administration, university, and military, as opposed to the traditionally dominant Swedish. In appointments to public offices in government, administration, justice, and military, he favored the conservative and monarchist Finnish Party and those who had learned the Russian language well and resided in Russia, as opposed to possibly separatist Swedes and the liberal Swedish Party. Van Heiden furthered trade between Finland and Russia, and reduced customs formalities.
Another of his priorities was to clarify jurisdiction within Finland, defining which decisions belonged to the imperial government and which to autonomous local governments in Finland.
He was awarded Order of Prince Danilo I and a number of other decorations.
References
Sources
(in Finnish) Seitkari, Olavi: Kenraalikuvernööri kreivi Fedor Logginovits Heiden Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Genos 18 (1947), pp. 80–86