Jakob Alopaeus

Russian Artillery 19th century
Russian Artillery of the early 19th Century

General of Artillery
3.5.1812 Viipuri, Grand Duchy of Finland
12.4.1882 St. Petersburg, Russian Empire

Born in 1812 in the city of Viipuri. His parents were Nikolaus Samuel Alopaeus, a registrar at the Vippuri Governor’s Office, and Anna Nordgren.

Alopaeus attended an artillery academy, graduating in 1830 (some sources state the Mikhailovsky Artillery Academy but this must be a mistake as this academy wasn’t founded until the 1860s).

He served with the field artillery, seeing service during the Polish Campaign of 1830-1831. In 1842 he was promoted to Colonel and a few years later in 1847 he was appointed commander of the 3rd Artillery Brigade. Promoted to Major General in 1851, he was transferred to be commander of the 1st Infantry Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division in 1853.

From 1855 to1856 he was commander of the 2nd Guards Reserve Infantry Brigade. In 1963, he was made commander of the newly raised 36th Infantry Division.

As a Lieutenant General, Alopaeus was appointed commander of the Viapori (Suomenlinna) fortress in 1876. He was promoted to General of the Artillery in 1878. He continued his service at Viapori until his retirement in January 1881.

He returned to St. Petersburg until his passing on 26th March 1882.

Honours and Awards

1831 – Order of St. Anne 4th Class
1831 – Order of Saint Vladimir 4th Class
1851 – Order of Saint Stanislaus 1st Class
1851 – Order of the Red Eagle 3rd Class
1863 – Order of St. Anna 1st Class

Ranks

1828 – Cadet
1830 – Ensign
1842 – Colonel
1851 – Major General
1860 – Lieutenant General
1878 – General of the Artillery

Family

Unknown

Sources

Jakob Alopaeus, Biography Center, Finnish Literature Society
Imperial Russian Army
Volkov S.V. Generals of the Russian Empire: Encyclopedic Dictionary of Generals and Admirals from Peter I to Nicholas II, in 2 volumes. Centerpolygraph: Moscow, 2009. Information was provided by Ilya Mukhin (Moscow)

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