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.

The youngest son of the family, Friedrich took up a military career, converted to Orthodoxy, and took the Russified name of Fyodor Logginovich Geyden.

Young van Heiden fought in the Caucasus and against the Hungarian Revolutionary Army, which Nicholas I assisted the Austrian emperor against.

During the Crimean War van Heiden was chief of staff in Baltic Corps, but did not participate in any notable battles.

He participated in Dmitry Milyutin's military reforms and was appointed as head of the General Staff (Glavni Stab) in 1866.

To attain this goal, van Heiden supported the use of Finnish as the language of administration, university, and military, as opposed to the traditionally dominant Swedish.