Ferdinand von Wintzingerode was born into a noble family of Thuringia. His father, baron Wilhelm Levin Ernst von Wintzingerode (1738–1781), owned the Unterhof seigneurial domain near Kirchohmfeld. Ferdinand's first military service was in the Hessian Army, then as a volunteer in the Austrian army in the war against the Netherlands. He took part in the 1792–93 campaigns against the French and, after the peace of Campo Formio on 17 October 1797, he was offered a post as major in the Russian army. In 1800 the Austrian army gave him permission to fight in the war in Italy.