He was the son of Friedrich Tiedemann, an eminent anatomist and physiologist and professor at Heidelberg University.
He then entered the Greek service as an under officer and again became a regimental adjutant and finally director of the military school in Piræus.
Then a change of administration in 1843 deprived all foreigners of their posts, and having a Greek wife, he looked to find another occupation in Greece.
This did not work out either, and his wife started getting homesick, so he returned to Greece in 1848, shortly after inducing some peasants to lay down their arms in Heidelberg.
Tiedemann's duties mostly consisted in suppressing the residents and soldiers who wanted to surrender the fortress.