(06/29/1849 - 03/13/1915) - Count, Russian statesman.

The life, political activity, moral qualities of Sergei Yulievich Witte have always evoked contradictory, sometimes polar opposite assessments and judgments. According to some recollections of his contemporaries before us “ exceptionally gifted», « highly eminent statesman», « surpassing the variety of his talents, the immensity of his horizons, the ability to cope with the most difficult tasks, the brilliance and strength of his mind of all people of his day". For others it is “ tradesman completely inexperienced in the national economy», « suffered from amateurism and poor knowledge of Russian reality", A person with" average mining level of development and the naivety of many views", Whose policy was distinguished by" helplessness, randomness and ... lack of principle».

Describing Witte, some stressed that it was “ european and liberal", Others - that" Witte was never a liberal or a conservative, but sometimes he was deliberately reactionary". Even the following was written about him: “ savage, provincial hero, impudent and libertine with a failed nose».

So what kind of person was this - Sergei Yulievich Witte?

Education

He was born on June 17, 1849 in the Caucasus, in Tiflis, in the family of a provincial official. Witte's paternal ancestors - immigrants from Holland who moved to the Baltic states - in the middle of the 19th century. received hereditary nobility. On the line of his mother, his genealogy was carried out from the associates of Peter I - the Dolgoruky princes. Witte's father, Julius Fedorovich, a nobleman of the Pskov province, a Lutheran who converted to Orthodoxy, served as director of the department of state property in the Caucasus. Mother, Ekaterina Andreevna, was the daughter of a member of the main administration of the governor of the Caucasus, formerly the Saratov governor Andrei Mikhailovich Fadeev and Princess Elena Pavlovna Dolgoruka. Witte himself very willingly emphasized his kinship with the Dolgoruky princes, but did not like to mention that he came from a family of little-known Russified Germans. " In general, my whole family, - he wrote in his "Memoirs", - was a highly monarchical family - and this side of character remained with me by inheritance».

The Witte family had five children: three sons (Alexander, Boris, Sergei) and two daughters (Olga and Sophia). Sergei spent his childhood in the family of his grandfather A. M. Fadeev, where he received the usual upbringing for noble families, and “ primary education, - recalled S. Yu. Witte, - my grandmother gave me ... she taught me to read and write».

In the Tiflis gymnasium, where he was later sent, Sergei studied "very poorly", preferring to study music, fencing, horseback riding. As a result, at sixteen years old, he received a matriculation certificate with mediocre grades in science and a unit in behavior. Despite this, the future statesman went to Odessa with the intention of entering the university. But at a young age (people at least seventeen years old were admitted to the university), and to everything - a unit of behavior was closed for him there access ... I had to go to the gymnasium again - first in Odessa, then in Chisinau. And only after intensive studies, Witte passed the exams successfully and received a decent certificate of maturity.

In 1866 Sergei Witte entered the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of the Novorossiysk University in Odessa. “... I was busy day and night, - he recalled, - and therefore, during my stay at the university, I really was in the sense of knowledge the best student».

So the first year of student life passed. In the spring, going on vacation, on the way home, Witte received the news of his father's death (not long before that he had lost his grandfather, A.M. Fadeev). It turned out that the family was left without a livelihood: shortly before their death, the grandfather and father invested all their capital in the Chiatura mines company, which soon collapsed. Thus, Sergei inherited only his father's debts and was forced to take on some of the worries about his mother and little sisters. He managed to continue his studies only thanks to a scholarship that was paid by the Caucasian governorship.

As a student, S. Yu. Witte showed little interest in social problems. He was not worried about either political radicalism or the philosophy of atheistic materialism, which excited the minds of the youth of the 70s. Witte was not one of those whose idols were Pisarev, Dobrolyubov, Tolstoy, Chernyshevsky, Mikhailovsky. “... I have always been against all these tendencies, for by my upbringing I was an extreme monarchist ... and also a religious person", - wrote later S. Yu. Witte. His spiritual world was formed under the influence of his relatives, especially his uncle - Rostislav Andreevich Fadeev, a general, a participant in the conquest of the Caucasus, a talented military publicist, known for his Slavophil, Pan-Slavist views.

Despite his monarchist convictions, Witte was elected by the students to the committee in charge of the student fund. This innocent venture almost ended in failure. This so-called mutual aid fund was closed as. dangerous institution, and all committee members, incl. Witte, were under investigation. They were threatened with exile to Siberia. And only the scandal that happened with the prosecutor in charge of the case helped S. Yu. Witte to avoid the fate of a political exile. The punishment was reduced to a fine of 25 rubles.

Carier start

After graduating from the university in 1870, Sergei Witte thought about a scientific career, about a professorial department. However, relatives - mother and uncle - “ they looked very askance at my desire to be a professor- recalled S. Yu. Witte. - Their main argument was that ... this is not a noble affair". In addition, his scientific career was prevented by a passionate passion for the actress Sokolova, after meeting whom Witte "did not want to write any more dissertations."

Choosing a career as an official, he was assigned to the office of the Odessa governor, Count Kotzebue. And now, two years later, the first promotion - Witte was appointed head of the clerk. But suddenly all his plans changed.

Railroad construction developed rapidly in Russia. It was a new and promising branch of the capitalist economy. Various private societies arose, which invested in railway construction amounts that exceeded capital investments in large-scale industry. The atmosphere of excitement around the construction of railways also captured Witte. The Minister of Railways, Count A.P. Bobrinsky, who knew his father, persuaded Sergei Yulievich to try his luck as a specialist in the operation of railways - in the purely commercial area of \u200b\u200brailway business.

In an effort to thoroughly study the practical side of the enterprise, Witte sat at the station cash desks, acted as assistant and station chief, controller, traffic inspector, even visited the role of clerk of the freight service and assistant driver. Six months later, he was appointed head of the traffic office of the Odessa Railway, which soon passed into the hands of a private society.

However, after a promising start, S. Yu. Witte's career almost ended completely. At the end of 1875, not far from Odessa, a train crashed, resulting in many casualties. The head of the Odessa railway, Chikhachev and Witte, were put on trial and sentenced to four months in prison. However, while the investigation dragged on, Witte, while remaining in the service, managed to distinguish himself in transporting troops to the theater of operations (the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 was going on), which attracted the attention of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, at whose behest the prison for the accused was replaced by a two-week guardhouse.

In 1877 S. Yu. Witte became the head of the Odessa railway traffic, and after the end of the war - the head of the operational department of the South-Western Railways. Having received this appointment, he moved from the provinces to St. Petersburg, where he took part in the work of the commission of Count E. T. Baranov (for the study of the railway business).

Service in private railway companies had an extremely strong influence on Witte: it gave him management experience, taught a calculating, business-like approach, a sense of the conjuncture, determined the range of interests of the future financier and statesman.

By the early 1980s, the name of S. Yu. Witte was already well known among railway dealers and in the circles of the Russian bourgeoisie. He was familiar with the largest "railway kings" - I. S. Bliokh, P. I. Gubonin, V. A. Kokorev, S. S. Polyakov, knew the future Minister of Finance I. A. Vyshnegradsky. Already in these years, the versatility of Witte's energetic nature was manifested: the qualities of an excellent administrator, a sober, practical businessman were well combined with the abilities of a scientist-analyst. In 1883 S. Yu. Witte published "Principles of Railway Tariffs for the Carriage of Goods", which brought him fame among specialists. This was, by the way, not the first and far from the last work that came out from under his pen.

In 1880 S. Yu. Witte was appointed manager of the South-Western Roads and settled in Kiev. A successful career brought him material well-being. As a manager, Witte received more than any minister - over 50 thousand rubles a year.

Witte did not take an active part in political life during these years, although he collaborated with the Odessa Slavic Charitable Society, was well acquainted with the famous Slavophile I. S. Aksakov, and even published several articles in his newspaper Rus. The young businessman preferred the "society of actresses" to serious politics. “... I knew all the more or less outstanding actresses who were in Odessa", - he later recalled.

The beginning of state activity

The assassination of Alexander II by the Narodnaya Volya changed the attitude of S. Yu. Witte to politics. After March 1, he was actively involved in the big political game. Upon learning of the death of the emperor, Witte wrote a letter to his uncle R.A.Fadeev, in which he submitted the idea of \u200b\u200bcreating a noble conspiratorial organization to protect the new sovereign and fight the revolutionaries using their own methods. RA Fadeev took up this idea and, with the help of Adjutant General II Vorontsov-Dashkova, created the so-called "Sacred squad" in St. Petersburg. In mid-March 1881 S. Yu. Witte was solemnly ordained as a member of the squad and soon received his first assignment - to organize an attempt on the life of the famous revolutionary populist L. N. Hartmann in Paris. Fortunately, the Sacred Druzhina soon compromised itself with inept espionage and provocative activities and, having existed for just over a year, was liquidated. It must be said that Witte's stay in this organization did not at all embellish his biography, although it made it possible to demonstrate ardent loyal feelings. After the death of R. A. Fadeev in the second half of the 1980s, S. Yu. Witte moved away from the people of his circle and became closer to the Pobedonostsev-Katkov group that controlled the state ideology.

By the mid-80s, the scale of the Southwest Railways ceased to satisfy Witte's ebullient nature. The ambitious and power-hungry railway entrepreneur persistently and patiently began to prepare his further advance. This was greatly facilitated by the fact that the authority of S. Yu. Witte as a theoretician and practitioner of the railway industry attracted the attention of the Minister of Finance I. A. Vyshnegradskiy. And besides, chance helped.

On October 17, 1888, the Tsar's train crashed in Borki. The reason for this was a violation of the elementary rules for the movement of trains: the heavy composition of the tsarist train with two freight locomotives went with excess of the established speed. S. Yu. Witte had previously warned the Minister of Railways about the possible consequences. With his usual rudeness, he once said in the presence of Alexander III that the emperor's neck would be broken if the royal trains were driven at an unauthorized speed. After the crash in Borki (from which, however, neither the emperor nor his family members suffered) Alexander III remembered this warning and expressed a desire that S. Yu. Witte was appointed to the newly approved post of director of the railway affairs department in the Ministry of Finance.

And although this meant a threefold reduction in salary, Sergei Yulievich did not hesitate to part with a lucrative job and the position of a successful businessman for the sake of a state career that attracted him. Simultaneously with the appointment to the post of director of the department, he was promoted from titular immediately to actual state councilors (i.e. received the rank of general). It was a dizzying leap up the bureaucratic ladder. Witte is among the closest collaborators of I.A.Vyshnegradskii.

The department entrusted to Witte immediately becomes exemplary. The new director manages to prove in practice the constructiveness of his ideas about state regulation of railway tariffs, to show the breadth of interests, remarkable talent of the administrator, the strength of mind and character.

Ministry of Finance

In February 1892, successfully using the conflict between the two departments - transport and finance, S. Yu. Witte sought an appointment to the post of manager of the Ministry of Railways. However, he did not last long in this post. In the same 1892 I.A.Vyshnegradskiy fell seriously ill. In the near-government circles, a behind-the-scenes struggle began for the influential post of finance minister, in which Witte took an active part. Not too scrupulous and not particularly picky about the means to achieve the goal, using both intrigue and gossip about the mental disorder of his patron I.A.Vyshnegradsky (who did not intend to leave his post at all), in August 1892 Witte won the place of manager By the Ministry of Finance. And on January 1, 1893, Alexander III appointed him minister of finance with a simultaneous promotion to privy councilor. The 43-year-old Witte's career has reached its shining pinnacle.

True, the path to this peak was noticeably complicated by the marriage of S. Yu. Witte to Matilda Ivanovna Lisanevich (née Nurok). This was not his first marriage. Witte's first wife was N.A.Spiridonova (née Ivanenko) - the daughter of the Chernigov leader of the nobility. She was married, but was not happily married. Witte met her back in Odessa and, having fallen in love, achieved a divorce.

S. Yu. Witte and N. A. Spiridonova got married (apparently in 1878). However, they did not live long. In the fall of 1890, Witte's wife died suddenly.

About a year after her death, Sergei Yulievich met a lady (also married) at the theater, who made an indelible impression on him. Slender, with gray-green sad eyes, an enigmatic smile, an enchanting voice, she seemed to him the embodiment of charm. Having met the lady, Witte began to seek her favor, convincing her to dissolve the marriage and marry him. To obtain a divorce from her intractable husband, Witte had to pay compensation and even resort to threats of administrative measures.

In 1892 he married a beloved woman and adopted her child (he had no children of his own).

The new marriage brought Witte family happiness, but put him in an extremely delicate social position. The dignitary of the highest rank turned out to be married to a divorced Jewess, and even as a result of a scandalous story. Sergei Yulievich was even ready to give up his career. However, Alexander III, having delved into all the details, said that this marriage only increases his respect for Witte. Nevertheless, Matilda Witte was not accepted either at court or in high society.

It should be noted that the relationship between Witte himself and the high society was far from easy. High society Petersburg looked askance at the "provincial upstart". He was jarred by Witte's harshness, angularity, non-aristocratic manners, a southern accent, and poor French pronunciation. Sergei Yulievich has long become a favorite character in the capital's jokes. His rapid advancement aroused undisguised envy and hostility from officials.

Along with this, the Emperor Alexander III clearly favored him. “... He treated me especially favorably", - wrote Witte, -" loved very much», « believed me until the last day of his life". Alexander III was impressed by Witte's directness, his courage, independence of judgment, even the harshness of his expressions, the complete absence of servility. And for Witte, Alexander III remained the ideal of the autocrat until the end of his life. " True Christian», « faithful son of the Orthodox Church», « simple, firm and honest person», « outstanding emperor», « man of his word», « royally noble», « with royal lofty thoughts"- this is how Witte characterizes Alexander III.

Having occupied the chair of the Minister of Finance, S. Yu. Witte received great power: the department of railway affairs, trade, industry were now subordinate to him, and he could exert pressure on the solution of the most important issues. And Sergei Yulievich really showed himself to be a sober, calculating, flexible politician. Yesterday's Pan-Slavist, Slavophile, staunch supporter of the original path of development of Russia, in a short time turned into an industrializer of the European model and declared his readiness to bring Russia into the category of advanced industrial powers within a short period of time.

Minister of Finance

By the beginning of the XX century. Witte's economic platform has acquired a completely finished shape: within about ten years, catch up with the more industrially developed countries of Europe, take strong positions in the markets of the East, ensure the accelerated industrial development of Russia by attracting foreign capital, accumulating domestic resources, customs protection of industry from competitors and encouraging export. A special role in Witte's program was assigned to foreign capital; the Minister of Finance advocated their unlimited involvement in Russian industry and the railway business, calling them a medicine against poverty. The second most important mechanism, he considered unlimited government intervention.

And this was not a simple declaration. In 1894-1895. S. Yu. Witte achieved the stabilization of the ruble, and in 1897 he did what his predecessors did not succeed in: he introduced gold money circulation, providing the country with hard currency and an inflow of foreign capital until the First World War. In addition, Witte sharply increased taxation, especially indirect, introduced the wine monopoly, which soon became one of the main sources of the government budget. Another major measure undertaken by Witte at the beginning of his activity was the conclusion of a customs agreement with Germany (1894), after which even O. Bismarck himself became interested in S. Yu. Witte. This extremely flattered the pride of the young minister. “... Bismarck ... paid special attention to me, - he wrote later, - and several times through friends he expressed the highest opinion about my personality».

In the conditions of the economic upsurge of the 1990s, Witte's system worked excellently: an unprecedented number of railways were built in the country; by 1900, Russia came out on top in the world in oil production; Russian government bonds were highly quoted abroad. The authority of S. Yu. Witte has grown immeasurably. The Russian finance minister has become a popular figure among Western businessmen and has attracted favorable attention from the foreign press. The domestic press sharply criticized Witte. Former like-minded people accused him of implanting "state socialism", adherents of the reforms of the 60s criticized him for using state intervention, Russian liberals perceived Witte's program as "a grandiose sabotage of the autocracy that distracted the attention of society from socio-economic and cultural-political reforms." " No statesman of Russia has been the subject of such varied and contradictory, but persistent and passionate attacks as my ... husband, - wrote later Matilda Witte. - At court he was accused of republicanism, in radical circles he was credited with a desire to curtail the rights of the people in favor of the monarch. The landowners reproached him for trying to ruin them in favor of the peasants, and the radical parties for trying to deceive the peasantry in favor of the landlords.". They even accused him of friendship with A. Zhelyabov, in an attempt to lead to the decline of Russian agriculture in order to deliver benefits to Germany.

In reality, the entire policy of S. Yu. Witte was subordinated to a single goal: to carry out industrialization, to achieve successful development of the Russian economy, without affecting the political system, without changing anything in state administration. Witte was an ardent supporter of autocracy. He considered an unlimited monarchy “ the best form of government"For Russia, and everything he did was done in order to strengthen and preserve the autocracy.

For the same purpose, Witte began to work out the peasant question, trying to achieve a revision of the agrarian policy. He realized that it was possible to expand the purchasing power of the domestic market only through the capitalization of the peasant economy, through the transition from communal to private land tenure. S. Yu. Witte was a staunch supporter of private peasant ownership of land and strenuously strove for the transition of the government to a bourgeois agrarian policy. In 1899, with his participation, the government developed and adopted laws on the abolition of mutual responsibility in the peasant community. In 1902, Witte achieved the creation of a special commission on the peasant question ("Special meeting on the needs of the agricultural industry"), which set the goal of " establish personal property in the village».

However, Witte got in the way of his longtime opponent VK Pleve, who had been appointed Minister of the Interior. The agrarian question turned out to be an arena of confrontation between two influential ministers. Witte never succeeded in realizing his ideas. However, it was S. Yu. Witte who initiated the government's transition to a bourgeois agrarian policy. As for P. A. Stolypin, later Witte repeatedly stressed that he “ robbed”Him, used ideas of which he himself, Witte, was a convinced supporter. That is why Sergei Yulievich could not remember PA Stolypin without a feeling of anger. “... Stolypin, - he wrote, - possessed an extremely superficial mind and an almost complete absence of state culture and education. By education and intelligence ... Stolypin was a type of bayonet-junker».

Resignation

Events of the early XX century. questioned all of Witte's grandiose undertakings. The world economic crisis has sharply slowed down the development of industry in Russia, the inflow of foreign capital has decreased, and the budgetary balance has been disrupted. Economic expansion in the East exacerbated the Russian-British contradictions and brought the war with Japan closer.

Witte's economic "system" was clearly shaken. This made it possible for his opponents (Plehve, Bezobrazov, etc.) to gradually push the finance minister away from power. Nicholas II willingly supported the campaign against Witte. It should be noted that between S. Yu. Witte and Nicholas II, who ascended the Russian throne in 1894, a rather complicated relationship was established: Witte showed distrust and contempt, and Nicholas showed distrust and hatred. Witte pressed the restrained, outwardly correct and well-bred tsar, constantly insulted him, without noticing it himself, with his harshness, impatience, self-confidence, inability to hide his disrespect and contempt. And there was another circumstance that turned a simple dislike of Witte into hatred: after all, it was impossible to do without Witte. Always, when really great intelligence and resourcefulness were required, Nicholas II, albeit with a gnash of teeth, turned to him.

For his part, Witte gives a very sharp and bold characterization of Nikolai in Memoirs. Listing the many virtues of Alexander III, he constantly makes it clear that his son in no way possessed them. About the sovereign himself, he writes: “... Emperor Nicholas II ... was a kind person, far from stupid, but shallow, weak-willed ... His main qualities are courtesy when he wanted it ... cunning and complete spinelessness and weak-willedness". To this he adds “ proud character"And rare" rancor". In "Memoirs" by S. Yu. Witte, the empress also got a lot of unflattering words. The author calls her “ strange special" from " narrow and stubborn character», « with a dull selfish character and a narrow worldview».

In August 1903, the campaign against Witte was crowned with success: he was removed from the post of Minister of Finance and appointed to the post of Chairman of the Committee of Ministers. Despite the loud name, it was an "honorable resignation", since the new post was disproportionately less influential. At the same time, Nicholas II did not intend to completely remove Witte, for the Empress Mother Maria Feodorovna and the Tsar's brother, Grand Duke Mikhail, clearly sympathized with him. In addition, just in case, Nicholas II himself wanted to have such an experienced, intelligent, energetic dignitary at hand.

New victories

Having suffered a defeat in the political struggle, Witte did not return to private enterprise. He set himself the goal of regaining lost ground. Remaining in the shadows, he strove not to completely lose the Tsar's favor, more often to attract "the highest attention" to himself, strengthened and forged connections in government circles. Preparations for a war with Japan made it possible to start an active struggle for a return to power. However, Witte's hopes that when the war began, Nicholas II would call on him, were not justified.

In the summer of 1904, the Socialist-Revolutionary E.S.Sozonov killed Witte's longtime enemy, the Minister of the Interior Plehve. The disgraced dignitary made every effort to take the vacant place, but here, too, failure awaited him. Despite the fact that Sergei Yulievich successfully fulfilled the mission entrusted to him - he concluded a new agreement with Germany - Nicholas II appointed Prince Svyatopolk-Mirsky as Minister of Internal Affairs.

Trying to attract attention, Witte takes an active part in the meetings with the tsar on the issue of attracting the elected from the population to participate in legislation, trying to expand the competence of the Committee of Ministers. He even uses the events of "Bloody Sunday" to prove to the tsar that without him, Witte, he cannot do, that if the Committee of Ministers under his chairmanship were endowed with real power, then such a turn of events would not have been possible.

Finally, on January 17, 1905, Nicholas II, despite all his dislike, nevertheless turned to Witte and instructed him to organize a meeting of ministers on "measures necessary to calm the country" and possible reforms. Sergei Yulievich clearly hoped that he would succeed in transforming this meeting into a government of a "Western European model" and becoming its head. However, in April of the same year, a new tsarist disfavor followed: Nicholas II closed the meeting. Witte was again out of work.

True, this time the opal did not last long. At the end of May 1905, at a regular military conference, the need for an early end to the war with Japan was finally clarified. Witte was instructed to conduct difficult peace negotiations, who repeatedly and very successfully acted as a diplomat (negotiated with China on the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway, with Japan on a joint protectorate over Korea, with Korea on Russian military instruction and Russian financial management, with Germany - on the conclusion of a trade agreement, etc.), while showing remarkable abilities.

Nicholas II was very reluctant to appoint Witte as ambassador extraordinary. Witte had long pushed the tsar to start peace talks with Japan in order to “ although to calm Russia down a little". In a letter to that on February 28, 1905, he indicated: “ The continuation of the war is more than dangerous: the country will not endure further sacrifices in the existing state of mind without terrible disasters... ". In general, he considered the war disastrous for the autocracy.

The Peace of Portsmouth was signed on 23 August 1905. It was a brilliant victory for Witte, confirming his outstanding diplomatic ability. The talented diplomat managed to get out of the hopelessly lost war with minimal losses, while achieving for Russia “ an almost decent world". Despite his disagreement, the tsar appreciated Witte's merits: for the Peace of Portsmouth he was awarded the count's title (by the way, Witte would be nicknamed "Count Polusakhalinsky", thereby accusing him of ceding the southern part of Sakhalin to Japan).

Manifesto October 17, 1905

Returning to St. Petersburg, Witte plunged headlong into politics: he took part in Selsky's "Special meeting", where projects for further state reforms were developed. As the revolutionary events escalated, Witte increasingly insisted on the need for a "strong government", convincing the tsar that it was he, Witte, who could play the role of "the savior of Russia." In early October, he turns to the tsar with a note in which he outlines a whole program of liberal reforms. In the critical days for the autocracy, Witte convinces Nicholas II that he had no choice but to either establish a dictatorship in Russia, or Witte's premiership and take a number of liberal steps in the constitutional direction.

Finally, after painful hesitation, the tsar signed a document drawn up by Witte, which went down in history as the Manifesto on October 17, 1905. On October 19, the tsar signed a decree on the reform of the Council of Ministers, headed by Witte. In his career, Sergei Yulievich reached the top. In the critical days of the revolution, he became the head of the Russian government.

In this post, Witte demonstrated amazing flexibility and ability to maneuver, acting in the extreme conditions of the revolution, either as a firm, ruthless guardian, or as a skillful peacemaker. Under Witte's chairmanship, the government dealt with a wide variety of issues: reorganizing peasant land tenure, introducing an exceptional position in various regions, resorting to the use of military courts, the death penalty and other reprisals, preparing for the convocation of the Duma, drafting the Basic Laws, implementing the freedoms proclaimed on October 17 ...

However, the Council of Ministers headed by S. Yu. Witte did not become similar to a European cabinet, and Sergei Yulievich himself served as chairman for only six months. The increasingly intensifying conflict with the king forced him to resign. This happened at the end of April 1906. S. Yu. Witte was fully confident that he had fulfilled his main task - he had ensured the political stability of the regime. The resignation was essentially the end of his career, although Witte did not move away from political activities. He was still a member of the Council of State and appeared frequently in print.

It should be noted that Sergei Yulievich was expecting a new appointment and tried to bring it closer, waging a fierce struggle, first against Stolypin, who took over as chairman of the Council of Ministers, and then against V.N.Kokovtsov. Witte hoped that the departure from the state scene of his influential opponents would allow him to return to active political activity. He did not lose hope until the last day of his life and was even ready to resort to Rasputin's help.

At the beginning of World War I, predicting that it would end in collapse for the autocracy, S. Yu. Witte announced his readiness to take on a peacekeeping mission and try to enter into negotiations with the Germans. But he was already terminally ill.

Death of the "Great Reformer"

S. Yu. Witte died on February 28, 1915, a little before 65 years of age. They buried him modestly, "according to the third category." There were no official ceremonies. Moreover, the office of the deceased was sealed, papers were confiscated, and a thorough search was carried out in a villa in Biarritz.

The death of Witte caused a fairly wide resonance in Russian society. Newspapers were full of headlines such as: "In memory of a big man", "Great reformer", "The giant of thought." Many of those who knew Sergei Yulievich closely came up with memoirs.

After Witte's death, his political activities were highly controversial. Some sincerely believed that Witte rendered his homeland “ great service", Others argued that" count Witte has far from justified the hopes placed on him", what " he did not bring any real benefit to the country", And even, on the contrary, his activities" rather should be considered harmful».

The political activities of Sergei Yulievich Witte were indeed extremely contradictory. Sometimes it combined the incompatible: the desire for unlimited attraction of foreign capital and the struggle against the international political consequences of this attraction; adherence to unlimited autocracy and an understanding of the need for reforms that undermined its traditional foundations; Manifesto of October 17 and subsequent measures that brought it to near zero, etc. But no matter how the results of Witte's policy are assessed, one thing is certain: the meaning of his whole life, of all his activities was serving "great Russia." And this could not but admit both his adherents and opponents.

Article: "History of Russia in portraits". In 2 vols. Vol. 1. p.285-308

He quickly ascended to the political Olympus. Major transformations in Russia are associated with his name: industrial modernization, monetary reform of 1895-1897, as well as the Peace of Portsmouth and the Manifesto of October 17, 1905 S.Yu. Witte did a lot for the development of the domestic economy, reforming the political system, and in the field of foreign policy. A new type of statesman appears before the descendants: he is not only an energetic and convinced reformer, but also a talented practitioner, all the merits of which corresponded to the needs of the epoch undergoing.

The head of the Ministry of Railways, the Minister of Finance, the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers, the first head of the Council of Ministers, a member of the State Council - these are the main official posts in which his activities took place. This most famous dignitary had a noticeable, and in many cases a decisive, influence on various directions of the foreign, but especially the internal policy of the empire, becoming a kind of symbol of the state system. The significance and scale of his historical role are comparable only with the personality of another outstanding administrator-reformer of the period of the decline of the monarchy - Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin.

S. Yu. Witte was born on June 17, 1849 in Tiflis into a poor noble family. Having passed the exam for the gymnasium course as an external student, he entered the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Novorossiysk University. In 1869 he began service in the office of the Odessa governor-general, where he was engaged in accounting for railway traffic, and a year later he was appointed head of the traffic service of the state-owned Odessa railway.

In 1879 he worked in St. Petersburg, as the head of the operation department in the board of the South-Western Railways. After the tragedy at the Borki station, where members of the imperial family suffered in 1888, Witte, on the initiative of Alexander III, was appointed director of the department of railway affairs and chairman of the tariff committee, and in 1892 became the manager of the Ministry of Railways.

At the end of the same year, Witte was appointed to the post of Minister of Finance, which he held for 11 years. Witte took an important step in strengthening the position of the Russian ruble in the world, having made the transition to gold circulation in 1897.

He understood that the accumulation of funds in the state budget was proceeding at an insufficient pace for the development of industry and the acceleration of the pace of industrialization. That is why, in 1896, Witte came up with the idea of \u200b\u200ba wine monopoly of the state, which, however, was actually introduced only in the period 1906-1917.

In 1903, Witte, having assumed the post of chairman of the committee of ministers, was actually dismissed from affairs because of court intrigues. The post of chairman of the committee of ministers before the 1905 revolution was more an honorary exile than an opportunity for Witte to prove himself as a statesman.

Nicholas II, under the influence of right-wing court groups, sent Witte to Portsmouth to sign a peace treaty with Japan. Sending Witte is another way to undermine his reputation. It is worth noting that the complete failure of the military campaign of the Russian army during the war guaranteed Japanese diplomacy carte blanche to present territorial claims to Russia. In particular, Japan demanded that the entire Fr. Sakhalin. Witte managed to halve the size of territorial losses. For this achievement, as well as for his long service to the state, Nicholas II granted Vitya the title of count, and the court clique added the prefix "Semi-Sakhalin".

With the beginning of the first Russian revolution in 1905, Witte got the opportunity to become chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire, but as soon as the authorities began to implement reactionary measures, Witte retired. Witte's last disgrace lasted until his death.

He quickly ascended to the political Olympus. Major transformations in Russia are associated with his name: industrial modernization, monetary reform of 1895-1897, as well as the Peace of Portsmouth and the Manifesto of October 17, 1905 S.Yu. Witte did a lot for the development of the domestic economy, reforming the political system, and in the field of foreign policy. A new type of statesman appears before the descendants: he is not only an energetic and convinced reformer, but also a talented practitioner, all the merits of which corresponded to the needs of the epoch undergoing.

The head of the Ministry of Railways, the Minister of Finance, the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers, the first head of the Council of Ministers, a member of the State Council - these are the main official posts in which his activities took place. This most famous dignitary had a noticeable, and in many cases a decisive, influence on various directions of the foreign, but especially the internal policy of the empire, becoming a kind of symbol of the state system. The significance and scale of his historical role are comparable only with the personality of another outstanding administrator-reformer of the period of the decline of the monarchy - Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin.

S. Yu. Witte was born on June 17, 1849 in Tiflis into a poor noble family. Having passed the exam for the gymnasium course as an external student, he entered the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Novorossiysk University. In 1869 he began service in the office of the Odessa governor-general, where he was engaged in accounting for railway traffic, and a year later he was appointed head of the traffic service of the state-owned Odessa railway.

In 1879 he worked in St. Petersburg, as the head of the operation department in the board of the South-Western Railways. After the tragedy at the Borki station, where members of the imperial family suffered in 1888, Witte, on the initiative of Alexander III, was appointed director of the department of railway affairs and chairman of the tariff committee, and in 1892 became the manager of the Ministry of Railways.

At the end of the same year, Witte was appointed to the post of Minister of Finance, which he held for 11 years. Witte took an important step in strengthening the position of the Russian ruble in the world, having made the transition to gold circulation in 1897.

He understood that the accumulation of funds in the state budget was proceeding at an insufficient pace for the development of industry and the acceleration of the pace of industrialization. That is why, in 1896, Witte came up with the idea of \u200b\u200ba wine monopoly of the state, which, however, was actually introduced only in the period 1906-1917.

In 1903, Witte, having assumed the post of chairman of the committee of ministers, was actually dismissed from affairs because of court intrigues. The post of chairman of the committee of ministers before the 1905 revolution was more an honorary exile than an opportunity for Witte to prove himself as a statesman.

Nicholas II, under the influence of right-wing court groups, sent Witte to Portsmouth to sign a peace treaty with Japan. Sending Witte is another way to undermine his reputation. It is worth noting that the complete failure of the military campaign of the Russian army during the war guaranteed Japanese diplomacy carte blanche to present territorial claims to Russia. In particular, Japan demanded that the entire Fr. Sakhalin. Witte managed to halve the size of territorial losses. For this achievement, as well as for his long service to the state, Nicholas II granted Vitya the title of count, and the court clique added the prefix "Semi-Sakhalin".

With the beginning of the first Russian revolution in 1905, Witte got the opportunity to become chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire, but as soon as the authorities began to implement reactionary measures, Witte retired. Witte's last disgrace lasted until his death.

The article is devoted to a short biography of Sergei Yulievich Witte, one of the most significant political figures in tsarist Russia.

Biography of Witte: climbing the career ladder

S. Yu. Witte was born in 1849. He received a good education at home, on the basis of which he entered the Novorossiysk University. Having successfully completed his studies, the young talented man abandoned the scientific field and decided to engage in public service, getting a job in the Odessa office.
State work did not attract Witte and he began working in institutions dealing with railways. Thanks to his diligence and great knowledge, he quickly climbed the career ladder. Witte reached the position of manager of one of the railway communities, increasing his income several times, which was helped by the knowledge gained during his studies.

In 1889, Witte became head of the railways department and immediately showed himself at his best. Witte was a skilful administrator and in a short time was able to assemble a professional team of specialists, achieving tremendous efficiency in the work of the department.

In 1892 he became Minister of Railways. Witte considered the first priority to complete the creation of the Trans-Siberian Railway as soon as possible. The minister correctly predicted the enormous importance of this transport artery in the development of Russia, especially its Far East region.

Witte was the initiator of the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway, which became a sharp stumbling block in international politics and one of the reasons for the Russo-Japanese war.

Biography of Witte: at the peak of his career
After some time he was appointed Minister of Finance. In this position, Witte was able to demonstrate his abilities to the greatest extent. The Russian economy experienced a huge shortage of funds. Witte managed to obtain significant foreign loans, which he used to develop domestic industry. Realizing that this was not enough, the minister implemented a major reform of the financial system. The rapid development of industry was accompanied by an increase in taxes, which began to bring serious income. To further grow, Witte introduced a new customs tariff. It has become more profitable to buy domestically produced goods.

The patronizing policy towards the Russian industry has led to the fact that Western companies are more willing to invest in its development.
A huge article in Russian trade was occupied by the sale of vodka. Witte introduced a state monopoly on the alcohol trade, which accounted for a significant portion of the budget. The monetary reform has strengthened the position of the Russian ruble, which has become the hardest currency in Europe.

At the end of the XIX century. Witte draws the emperor's attention to the situation of the peasantry. He argues that the normal development of agriculture is greatly hampered by the presence of a traditional community. The minister's proposals were subsequently used by Stolypin in carrying out agricultural reform.
At the beginning of the XX century. Witte is appointed chairman of the Committee of Ministers.

Biography of Witte: recent achievements and decline of a career

An important achievement of Witte was the signing of a peace treaty with Japan. As a result of the shameful war, Russia's positions in the Far East were significantly undermined. Japan could dictate its terms to a defeated enemy. The task of the Russian delegation was the maximum weakening of Japanese demands in the interests of Russia. As a result, the terms of the contract were very relaxed, which was Witte's direct merit. The concessions were the payment of indemnities to Japan and the transfer of the southern part of Sakhalin, Korea was recognized as the sphere of Japanese interests. Given the heavy defeat and the beginning of revolutionary events in Russia, these were acceptable and fairly moderate conditions. Public opinion, however, did not recognize Witte's efforts, and the nickname of Count Polusakhalinsky stuck to him.

Soon, due to political contradictions, Witte retired and devoted the rest of his life to working on his memoirs. Subsequently, they were published first abroad, and then in the USSR.
Count Witte died in 1915. Conservative and liberal social circles evaluated his activities and significance in different ways. There is no doubt that he was a figure of great importance, who had a great influence on the development of Russia in various fields.

Witte Sergei Yulievich

Biography of Sergei Yulievich Witte - early years.
Sergei Yulievich was born in Tiflis on June 17, 1849. Father Julius Fedorovich belonged to the Pskov-Livonian knighthood, was the owner of an estate in Prussia. Mother Ekaterina Andreevna was the daughter of the Saratov governor. Sergei studied in Chisinau at the Russian gymnasium. In 1870 he graduated from the Novorossiysk University, became a candidate of physical and mathematical sciences. In the Witte family, money was sorely lacking, so they had to give up a scientific career and start working on the Odessa railway. He started out as an ordinary cashier at a ticket office, then, over time, he began to climb higher and higher, and rose to the rank of manager of the south-western railways. In this regard, he was provided with a luxurious mansion in a prestigious area of \u200b\u200bKiev. But, after a while, Sergei Yulievich Witte understands that in this field he is too cramped.
At this time his book "National Economy and Friedrich List" was published. A few months after the publication of the book, he became a statesman, he was elevated to the rank of state councilor at the Department of Railway Affairs. They met him there with caution, but not even a year had passed since he became the Minister of Railways, and another year later, the head of the Ministry of Finance. It was he who was one of the first to discern the talented scientist DI Mendeleev and offered him a job in his department. After some time, Sergei Yulievich introduces the gold standard, which is a free exchange of the ruble for gold. And this despite the fact that almost all of Russia was against this reform. Thanks to this decision, the ruble becomes one of the most stable currencies in the world. Also, Witte introduces a monopoly on the trade in alcoholic beverages. From now on, vodka could be sold only in state-owned wine shops. The wine monopoly brought in a million rubles a day, the budget of the country began to be based on drinking the population. At this time, Russia's external debt is greatly increasing, as the government constantly takes overseas loans.
Railroad construction has always been in the first place for Witte. When he just started his activity, there were only 29157 versts of railways, and when he retired, this figure was already 54217 versts. And if at the beginning of its activity 70% of the railways belonged to private joint-stock companies, then by its completion everything had changed, and 70% of the roads were already the property of the treasury.
Biography of Sergei Yulievich Witte - mature years.
At the beginning of the 20th century, an economic crisis occurs, S. Yu. Witte is appointed responsible for the global economic recession. And here the biography of the minister becomes unhappy, he is accused of all sorts of mistakes: the conclusion of bad loans, paying too much attention to trade, the sale of Russia. Witte had a difficult relationship with Nicholas II due to the fact that the tsar was a very young heir. From all sides they whispered to the tsar, a hundred Sergei Yulievich ignored the autocrat. And as a result of this, on August 16, 1903, Nicholas II deprived Witte of the post of Minister of Finance. But the former minister never ceases to dream of returning to power, and after the defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905, Witte was appointed as the representative in negotiations with the Japanese. Negotiations are successful, soon the war ends with the signing of a peace, thanks to which Witte is given the title of count.
Returning to his homeland, the count develops new reforms, and on October 17, Nicholas II, after long deliberations, signed a manifesto. This document said that from now on the population receives political freedoms and the opportunity to elect autocratic power. This document had a huge impact on the policy of the state, but nothing could be canceled, and Russia is entering a new stage of political development. October 17, 1905 Witte is appointed chairman of the Council of Ministers. He had two main tasks: to suppress the revolution and to carry out the necessary reforms. The most serious reform was the agrarian project, which provided for the possibility of buying out private land by peasants. But the landowners took up arms for this project on Witt, and he had to abandon the project and fire its author.
On April 23, 1906, a new edition of the Basic State Laws was introduced. The opposition was outraged that the government had stolen power from the people. Indeed, autocratic power was retained, the privileges of the ruling elite were protected. The state, as before, prevailed over society as a whole and over each individual individually. After the publication of these laws, Witte, together with his cabinet, resigns. It was the end of the earl's six-month premiership, who was never able to reconcile the political extremes. This is where Witte's career ends, but his biography suggests that he did not want to realize this for a long time and tried to return to power.
Witte died on February 25, 1915 at his home on Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt. All his papers and office were immediately sealed. The police wanted to find his memories, which would say how Witte managed to keep the entire ruling elite in constant tension. But before his death, the count took all precautions: he kept all his manuscripts in the safe of a foreign bank. For the first time, Witte's memoirs will be published only after the revolution of 1921-1923. They are considered the most popular historical source, which has been reprinted more than once. The most interesting thing is that Witte's memoirs, published in three volumes, do not give a normal picture of either him or the government officials with whom the count had to work.
Many books have been written about this famous person, both by Russian and foreign authors. But even after one hundred and fifty years, the characterization of the state activities of Sergei Yulievich Witte is controversial. The biography of the famous count suggests that he was a unique person who did immeasurably much for our country.

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© Biography of Witte Sergei Yulievich. Biography of the Minister of Finance, statesman Witte. Biography of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire Witte.