A member of the noble Bülow family, he received an excellent education, and entered the Prussian army in 1768, becoming ensign in 1772, and second lieutenant in 1775.

He took part in the campaigns of 1792–94 on the Rhine, and received for signal courage during the siege of Mainz the order Pour le Mérite and promotion to the rank of major.

[3] In the critical days preceding the War of the Sixth Coalition, Bülow kept his troops in hand without committing himself to any irrevocable step until the decision was made.

[4] Bülow's corps played a conspicuous part in the final overthrow of Napoleon at Leipzig, and he was then entrusted with the task of evicting the French from Holland and Belgium.

In an almost uniformly successful campaign, he won a signal victory at Hoogstraten, although he was fortunate to be supported, often very significantly, by the British General Thomas Graham, second in command to Lord Wellington.

He was not present at Ligny, but his corps headed the flank attack upon Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, and bore the heaviest part in the fighting of the Prussian troops around Plancenoit.