German revolutionary and political agitator, who, with his wife, Amélie Disar, took an active part in the Baden insurrection of 1848–49.

The son of a Russian chargé d'affaires at Karlsruhe, he practiced law in Mannheim and founded and edited Deutscher Zuschauer, a radical journal agitating for establishment of a republic (1846–48). With Friedrich Hecker he drew up a radical program entitled “Thirteen Claims Put Forward by the People of Baden” (Sept. 12, 1847) and in the following year (April 12, 1848) sent a proclamation to the people of the area, summoning them to arms. When only a few thousand people responded and the revolution collapsed, Struve took refuge abroad in New York City, where he wrote a universal history, Allgemeine Weltgeschichte, 9 vol. (1853–60). After serving in the Union Army in the American Civil War (1861–62), he returned to Europe in 1863.