Zieten was born in Dechtow in the Margraviate of Brandenburg; he was not related to the Frederician general Hans Joachim von Zieten. During the Waterloo Campaign of 1815, Lieutenant-General von Zieten commanded the Prussian I Corps. The corps fought a holding action against the French on 15 June, and was heavily engaged against the French the next day at the Battle of Ligny, and then again two days later on June 18 at the Battle of Waterloo.