Manstein, Christoph Hermann Von

Born Sept. 1 (12), 1711, in St. Petersburg; died July 1757 in Saxony. Author of notes on Russia in 1727 to 1744. Son of a general of the Russian Army.

Manstein left for Germany as a youth. He studied at the Berlin Cadet School. He served in the Prussian Army, and then in 1736 he returned to Russia, which he left once again in 1744. As a man close to the Russian court, Manstein was able to provide a valuable description of court intrigues and coups d’etat during the period 1727 to 1741. He also made observations on the Crimean campaigns of 1736-39 and on the war with Sweden from 1741 to 1743.