A partisan, hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, military writer and poet, Lieutenant General Denis Vasilyevich Davydov was born in Moscow on July 16 (27), 1784. He came from an old noble family: his father was an actual state councilor, Brigadier Vasily Denisovich Davydov, who served under Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov.

In 1801, Denis Davydov was enlisted in the St. Petersburg Chevalier Guard Regiment. Three years later, he was transferred to the Belarusian Hussar Regiment. The reason for the transfer was Davidov’s satire that made a lot of noise: his writings concerned the Emperor Alexander I and court nobility.

In 1806, Denis Davydov was assigned to the Hussar Life Guards Regiment. In October, the War of the Fourth Coalition began, and General Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration elected Davydov as his adjutant. Denis Davydov served in this position until 1812. During that time, he had the opportunity to participate not only in the war with France (1806–1807), but also in the battles with Swedish (1808–1809) and Turkish (1809–1812) troops.

At the beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812, Davydov commanded a battalion of the Akhtyrsky Hussar Regiment. Shortly before the Battle of Borodino, he received the approval of the commander of the Russian army Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov to organize a partisan movement. As a result, the hussars and Cossacks formed a partisan detachment. It successfully attacked the rear of the French army near Vyazma, Gzhatsk, Lyakhovo and Krasny.

During the Russian foreign campaigns to defeat the army of Napoleon Bonaparte, Denis Vasilyevich Davydov was dismissed for unauthorized actions near Dresden, however, he later returned to the army. The officer retired in 1823. At that time, he held the position of Chief of Staff of the Corps.

However, in 1826, Emperor Nicholas I, who ascended the throne at the end of 1825, invited him to return to service. Denis Davydov took part in the Persian campaign of 1826–1827 and in the suppression of the Polish Uprising (1830–1831). In 1832, he finally retired.

A portrait of Davydov was painted by the artist George Dawe around 1827–1828. It is on display at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. A reproduction of the portrait is presented in the Oryol Military History Museum.