Frederick Heiden

Count Fyodor Logginovich Heiden or Geyden (born Friedrich Moritz Reichsgraf van Heiden; ; – ), better known as Count Fyodor Logginovich van Heiden, was a Russian military commander of Dutch and Danish descent who served in the Imperial Russian Army. He served as the governor-general of Finland from 1881 to 1897. His tenure encompassed the entire reign of Alexander III, who appointed him at the start of his own reign to succeed Nikolay Adlerberg, and the four first years of the reign of Nicholas II.

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 and marriage 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; ) 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 of Finland Born into a family of Dutch and Danish origin, van Heiden had converted to Orthodoxy and fully embraced Russian culture. He was a committed Slavophile. He outlined his governing policy in secret memoranda at the start of his tenure. His line favoured the Finnish-speaking population, whom he regarded as the Russians' natural allies, at the expense of the Finland Swedes, whom he considered foreign to Russian culture. He aimed at a 'liberation' of the Finns from Swedish dominance and their return to the fold of Russia.

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.