A message about Sergei Yulievich Witte. Witte, sergey yulievich. Monetary reform and investment

Witte Sergei Yulievich (1849-1915), Count (1905), Russian statesman.

Born June 29, 1849 in Tiflis (now Tbilisi). The father of the future reformer was a major official who served in the Caucasian governorship. Witte was educated at home. He passed the exams at the gymnasium as an external student and entered the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Novorossiysk University in Odessa in 1866. Graduating from university, he defended his dissertation in higher mathematics.

In 1877, he received the position of the head of operation in the Office of the state-owned Odessa railway, in 1880 he took the same position in the management of the joint-stock company of the South-Western Railways.

On August 30, 1892, Witte was appointed by the tsar as the manager of the Ministry of Finance. He was faced with two main tasks: to find additional funds for the state and to carry out a monetary reform. Thanks to large foreign loans, in just two or three years, Witte made sure that Russian industry began to bring tangible income to the state. He increased taxes and adopted a protective customs tariff for domestic producers, which made it profitable to purchase Russian goods, rather than foreign ones.

In 1893, Witte was awarded the title of an honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

In 1894, a state monopoly on the sale of alcohol was introduced, and the proceeds from the trade in vodka and wine were now entirely transferred to the state treasury. "Drunken" money was at that time about a quarter of all state revenues. Witte also managed to carry out a monetary reform, which his predecessors had been preparing for many years. Now it was possible to freely buy gold with Russian paper money. Foreign bankers and entrepreneurs began to willingly invest in Russian industry, which contributed to its growth.

In October 1898, Witte turned to Nicholas II with a note in which he persuaded to free the peasants from the tutelage of the community, to make the peasant a “persona”. Later, these principles formed the basis of PA Stolypin's agrarian reform. In 1903, Witte became chairman of the Committee of Ministers.

After the unsuccessful Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), the emperor instructed Witte to lead the Russian delegation in negotiations with Japan in Portsmouth (USA). Witte managed to moderate Japanese demands. As a result, the Russian Empire recognized Korea as a sphere of Japanese interests, and Japan received the southern part of Sakhalin Island. On 23 August 1905, the Treaty of Portsmouth was signed on these terms. On September 15, Witte returned to Russia.

In the same year, the emperor elevated him to the dignity of the count (evil tongues immediately named the newly-made Count Witte-Polusakhalinsky).

Nicholas II instructed Witte to prepare a draft Manifesto on the granting of political freedoms to the population. On October 17, the king signed it.

In 1905, Witte was the first in the history of Russia to take the post of Chairman of the Council of Ministers.

In April 1906, he resigned due to disagreements in the government and began writing memoirs. A huge three-volume work was published first in Berlin (1921-1923), and then in the USSR (1960).

Sergei Yulievich Witte- one of the brightest names that left a deep mark on the history, economy, political and social life of Russia in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. A great reformer and active statesman, he was a true patriot of his country and strove to lead it to prosperity and well-being. The bold and profound transformations that he made throughout his career make them pay attention to them ever since.

Minister of Railways, Minister of Finance, Chairman of the Committee of Ministers, Chairman of the Council of Ministers: For many years, S.Yu. Witte was directly involved in the management of the Russian Empire, having managed to influence various aspects of society, from customs regulations and money circulation issues to the wine monopoly and the press agency.

Having a university education and the broadest outlook, S.Yu. Witte understood the importance of science for the country's economic breakthrough, and a good education of employees for their effective work. He issued a circular on the recruitment of persons with higher education and paid much attention to the creation of an educational system that trained personnel for industry. He initiated the opening of 73 commercial educational institutions and 3 polytechnic institutes.

Witte Moscow UniversitySharing the ideas of its intellectual patron about the importance of science and education for the development of the economic potential of Russia, he invariably maintains a high standard of training, new domestic economists, lawyers and future statesmen. Our university prepares active, competent, independent and comprehensively developed professionals who contribute to strengthening the potential of Russia, and with honor continues the legacy of the great reformer, whose name it bears.

Historical reference:

Sergei Yulievich Witte (1849-1915) - Count (1905), Russian statesman, honorary member of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1893). Minister of Railways in 1892, Minister of Finance from 1892, Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers from 1903, the Council of Ministers from 1905-06. Initiated the introduction of the wine monopoly (1894), the monetary reform (1897), the construction of the Siberian railway.

In 1870 he graduated from the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Novorossiysk University (Odessa), received a PhD in Physics and Mathematics.

In 1879, Sergei Witte took the place of the head of the operation department in the board of the South-Western Railways and took part in the work of the railway commission under the chairmanship of Count Baranov, was the compiler of the draft of the current "General Charter of Russian Railways". From 1886 to 1888 he was the manager of the Southwest Railways. The idea of \u200b\u200bgranting loans for grain cargo was first applied in practice by the Southwest Roads on the initiative of Witte. When new tariff institutions were formed under the Ministry of Finance in 1888, Witte was appointed director of the railway department and chairman of the tariff committee, and in February 1892 he was called to manage the Ministry of Railways. On August 30 of the same year, he was entrusted with the management of the Ministry of Finance.

Eleven years, during which Sergei Witte was at the head of the Ministry of Finance, were marked by a doubling of the budget, extensive development of the state economy and major reforms in the field of financial legislation. His undoubted merit is his monetary reform in 1897. As a result, Russia received a stable currency backed by gold for the period up to 1914. This contributed to an increase in investment activity and an increase in the inflow of foreign capital.

During the years of the Witte ministry, Russia came out on top in oil production. A record number of railways were built from 1895 to 1899. Three thousand kilometers of new tracks were introduced a year. Witte initiated the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. It was laid in ten years and is still in use.
With the active participation of S. Witte, working legislation was developed, in particular, the law on limiting working hours at enterprises (1897).

In 1898 he carried out a reform of commercial and industrial taxation.

In 1903 he took over as chairman of the Committee of Ministers. He headed the government after the reform as chairman of the Council of Ministers.

Since 1903 - Member of the State Council, was appointed to attend the 1906-1915.

From 1903 - member of the Finance Committee, from 1911 to 1915 - its Chairman.

Sergei Yulievich Witte died on February 28, 1915 in Petrograd. He was buried at the Lazarevskoye cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Sergei Yulievich Witte

Sergei Yulievich Witte is a Russian statesman. Born (17 (29) June 1849 - died 28 February (13 March) 1915).

Minister of Railways (1892),

Minister of Finance (1892-1903),

Chairman of the Committee of Ministers (1903-1906),

Chairman of the Council of Ministers (1905-1906).

Member of the Council of State (since 1903). Count (since 1905).

Active Privy Councilor (1899).

S. Yu. Witte as Minister of Finance (photo 1902 )

Comes from the Baltic Germans. His father Julius Witte (German Julius Witte) was a member of the German-Baltic knighthood of Pleskau (Pskov). As a result of marriage, he passed from Lutheranism to Orthodoxy. S. Witte's mother, Ekaterina Andreevna Fadeeva, came from the Russian princely family of the Dolgorukovs.

Witte studied at the 1st Chisinau Russian Gymnasium. In 1870 he graduated from the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of the Novorossiysk University (Odessa), received a PhD in Physics and Mathematics.

Then Witte gave up his scientific career and went to work in the office of the Odessa governor, which he soon left, and devoted himself to the railway business. The Minister of Railways, Count Alexei Pavlovich Bobrinsky, who knew his father, offered him a job as a specialist in the operation of railways - in the commercial field of railway business. Soon I switched to ac. Society of South-Western Railways, and became one of the closest associates of the director of the Russian Society of Shipping and Trade N.M. Chikhachev, in whose jurisdiction was the Odessa Railway. He paid great attention to the development and technical equipment of the Odessa port. After the formation of the "Society of South-Western Railways" in 1879, he took the place of the head of the operation department of the South-Western Railways in St. Petersburg. Since 1880 - the head of operation (in Kiev). During this period he met the Emperor Alexander III. According to legend, Witte, in front of the emperor, came into conflict with the tsarist adjutants, proving that two powerful freight locomotives cannot be used to accelerate the tsarist train to high speeds. Alexander III became convinced of the correctness of S. Witte after the crash of the royal train in 1888.

On March 10, 1889, he was appointed head of the newly formed Department of Railway Affairs under the Ministry of Finance, where he began to pursue a policy of buying up numerous private Russian railways by the treasury. The reason was his understanding of the efficiency of the Russian railways in a single state complex.

In 1889 he published the work "National Economy and Friedrich List", in which he substantiated the need to create a powerful national industry, protected at first from foreign competition by a customs barrier. In 1891, a new customs tariff of Russia was adopted, developed with the active participation of S. Witte and D. I. Mendeleev. This tariff played an important role in Russia's foreign trade policy and became a protective barrier for the developing industry.

In February-August 1892 - Minister of Railways. During this period, he managed to eliminate large accumulations of not transported goods. Reform of railway tariffs.

At the end of 1892 S. Witte was appointed to the post of Minister of Finance, which he held for 11 years. Soon after his appointment, he raised the issue of speeding up the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

In 1894, he advocated tough trade negotiations with Germany, as a result of which a 10-year trade agreement, beneficial for Russia, was concluded.

In 1895 he began to introduce the wine monopoly. The wine monopoly extended to alcohol refining and the retail and wholesale of spirits; the production of raw alcohol was allowed to private individuals, subject to certain regulations, the monopoly became one of the important sources of replenishment of the state budget.

In 1896, he held successful negotiations with the Chinese representative Li Hongzhang, having achieved China's consent to the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER) in Manchuria, which made it possible to build the road to Vladivostok in a much shorter time. At the same time, an allied defense treaty was signed with China. Since 1896 - State Secretary.

Carrying out monetary reform in 1897. As a result, Russia received a stable currency backed by gold for the period up to 1914. This contributed to an increase in investment activity and an increase in the inflow of foreign capital. In 1899, the amount of gold in circulation was 451.40 million rubles. The amount of paper money fell to the level of 661.80 million. The amount of gold in circulation in comparison with 1898 increased three times, and compared with 1897 - 12.5 times. In 1900, the amount of gold in circulation increased by another 1.42 times. This growth then stabilized. In general, over four years the amount of gold in circulation has increased by almost 18 times. The amount of paper cash decreased by 2.175 times.

He opposed attempts to strengthen the privileged position of the nobility, believing that Russia's prospects are associated with the development of industry, the strengthening of the commercial and industrial class, and an increase in the capacity of the domestic market. In 1897 he declared that "in Russia now the same thing is happening as happened in the West at one time: it is passing to the capitalist system ... This is an immutable world law." With the active participation of S. Witte, working legislation was developed, in particular, the law on the limitation of working hours in enterprises (1897). In 1898 he carried out a reform of commercial and industrial taxation.

In 1898, he sharply opposed the capture of the Liaodong Peninsula in China by Russia, where Port Arthur was later built.

He considered it necessary to reform the peasant community, spoke in favor of a free exit from the community. In October 1898 he turned to Nicholas II with a note in which he called on the tsar to "complete the liberation of the peasants", to make the peasant a "persona", to release him from the oppressive tutelage of the local authorities and the community. He achieved the abolition of mutual responsibility in the community, corporal punishment of peasants by the verdict of volost courts, and facilitation of the passport regime of peasants. Not without the participation of S. Witte, the conditions for the resettlement of peasants to vacant land were facilitated, the activities of the Peasant Land Bank were expanded, laws and regulations on small loans were issued. (many of Witte's plans were later implemented by Stolypin).

Since 1899, Witte is a real privy councilor.

In 1903 he took over as chairman of the committee of ministers. The last post was in fact an honorary resignation, since the committee had no meaning before the 1905 revolution. This displacement from the post of influential finance minister took place under the pressure of the noble-landlord members of the government (mainly V.K. Pleve). He headed the government after the reform as Chairman of the Council of Ministers. Since 1903 - Member of the State Council, was appointed to attend the 1906-1915. From 1903 - member of the Finance Committee, from 1911 to 1915 - its Chairman.

In 1904 he signed a Russian-German trade agreement.

At the end of 1904, Witte was in the honorary but nominal position of chairman of the Committee of Ministers.

In the summer of 1905, he was sent to the United States to conclude the Portsmouth Peace Treaty with Japan. For the successful fulfillment of this assignment, he was awarded the dignity of a count. Since, as a result, Japan received half of Sakhalin (and Japan claimed the whole), received the playful nickname "Count Polusakhalinsky".

In October 1905, he presented the tsar with a note on the need for political reforms. He supervised the suppression of the rebellion (revolution) of 1905, organizing "execution trains". On March 11, 1906, the Council of Ministers found it useful to form special execution trains with military detachments at the main junction stations, which, if necessary, could be sent to the line in time to establish order.

On his initiative, the Manifesto of October 17 was drawn up, which bestowed fundamental civil liberties and introduced the institution of people's representation - the State Duma.

From October 1905 to April 1906 - Chairman of the reformed Council of Ministers.

In 1906 he negotiated a loan with France. While in foreign countries, he paid special attention to public opinion and coverage in the press of Russia and the actions of its government. He was dismissed on April 22, 1906.

He died on February 28, 1915, from meningitis. He was buried at the Lazarevskoye cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Awards and honorary titles:

Order of St. Alexander Nevsky

Order of St. Vladimir

Order of Saint Anne

Legion of Honor (France)

Order of the Prussian crown

In 1894 he received the title of "Honorary Citizen of Kazan" for active participation in the construction of the Kazan-Ryazan railway.

Honorary Citizen of Yekaterinburg (1896)

Honorary Citizen of Alexandrovsk

Honorary Citizen of the city of Cherepovets (1899)

Honorary Citizen of the city of Tikhvin (1901)

Honorary Citizen of the city of Saransk (1898)

Commercial schools in Aleksandrovsk and Nikolaev were named after Witte.

Witte's role in the history of Russia is quite noticeable. Stolypin had to continue much of what they had begun.

In 1900, Minister of Finance S. Yu. Witte presented to Nicholas II a report "On the state of industry", in which he emphasized the need for the industrial development of Russia. The report spoke about the rich potential of Russia and drew attention to the backwardness of the domestic industry from Europe and North America.

“He (Witte) emphasized that Russia remains a predominantly agricultural country, while the political and military might of all states is now based on their industrial development, Russia with its huge multi-ethnic population and complex tasks in world politics needs a solid economic foundation more than any other country International rivalry awaits. If now energetic and decisive measures are not taken to ensure that in the coming decades our industry is able to meet the needs of Russia and Asian countries that are or should be under our influence with its products, then the rapidly growing foreign industry will be able to break through our customs barriers and settle both in our homeland and in the said Asian countries, and, rooted in the depths of popular consumption, it can gradually clear the way for more alarming foreign political influences. "

He warned the tsar that the slow growth of industry could make it difficult to fulfill the great international tasks of Russia, weaken her power, and entail political and cultural backwardness. This idea of \u200b\u200bthe Russian minister is perhaps still relevant to this day. Witte argued: the rapid development of our industry is possible, there is natural wealth, labor, government protection of domestic entrepreneurs from foreign rivals. Witte's conclusion was categorical - it is necessary to raise funds from abroad.

So far, foreign capital entered Russia from the West, and from Russia Russian trade and entrepreneurship rushed to neighboring Asian countries. The construction of the Siberian railway was nearing completion, more than half of the projected length of the CER and YMZD was completed. The construction speed was enormous. In terms of the level of construction of railways, Russia is in third place in the world after the United States and Great Britain.

Industrialists and merchants in the East pushed the most varied goods - from kerosene to textiles. Bankers broke into new financial markets. Accounting and loan banks of Persia, Mongolian, Russian-Chinese, Russian-Asian, Russian-Korean - the very names of these financial associations indicated the direction. It is not superfluous to quote a few lines from J. Curzon's book "Russia in Central Asia in 1889 and the Anglo-Russian Question": "Every Englishman comes to Russia as a Russophobe and leaves as a Russophile." Curzon, the future British Foreign Secretary, whom we know from the Curzon ultimatum and the Curzon Line. But he also belongs to the definition of one of the nicest traits of our character: "The good-natured courtesy of all the people, from a high official to a simple peasant." However, in the center of the Anglo-Russian question, the young Curzon emphasized, - Afghanistan, Iran, China, India. By the beginning of the century, Russia's economic activity had become so active thatnoticeably pushed the opponent out of Persia.

Modern rivalry was even expressed in the fact that the Russian Loan Bank received the right to mint Persian coins. And also the intention to lay a pipeline from Baku to the Persian Gulf for the kerosene trade not only in Persia itself, but also in India and the Far East. Witte boldly and decisively fought the British, who had a monopoly on the pipeline in Persia. He found a legal loophole: English pipelines for Persian oil, and Russian for Baku oil.A serious clash between the two countries was prevented only by their joint opposition to the German advance in the area. The German project for the construction of the Baghdad railway has alarmed London, Petersburg and Paris. The British were worried about the emergence of a powerful new competitor to India. Russians - the approach of the Germans to the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. In one of his articles, Witte wrote that the Baghdad Line would open access to Europe for grain from Asia Minor, and squeeze Russian grain exports on the German market.

Witte considered the main interests of "national economy", the independence of the Russian economic system. He expressed these views in the book National Economy and Friedrich List, in which he examined the work of the German economist and the policies of Bismarck. Industrial development, foreign and domestic trade, navigation, improvement of agriculture, protection of the historical achievements of the empire are the main directions. It had to be ensured by customs protectionism, railway construction, the creation of a strong fleet, and the expansion of markets. Witte did not confine himself to economic issues. What determines the role of the people in the world, he asked. Yes, from material circumstances. But also from its moral principles, state traditions, ideals, religion.

Witte did not suggest a special “Russian way”, but the interests of Russia and the greatness of the Russian people were basic concepts for him. At forty-two, he became the manager of the Ministry of Railways, then- Minister of Finance. The takeoff is amazing! Stolypin, however, also had an equally amazing takeoff.

For Witte, not a new Witte was to come, but another reformer or even a dictator. Why a dictator?Because the other side - agricultural, peasant, to which four fifths of the Russian population belonged, lived, let us recall the words of A. V. Krivoshein, according to the laws of Tsar Berendey. And this earthy Rus, feeding the "Witte state" with its juices, sooner or later had to catch fire on the fire of industrial progress. The tax press was crushing her. The peasantry paid for the progress.The communal Atlas in bast shoes was holding an increasingly overwhelming industrial sky. How long should he have enough strength?

We must be fair. It was Witte who played a huge role in the preparation of the Stolypin reform. It was Witte who began to swing this reform bell. But there is nothing surprising in the fact that Sergei Yulievich did not become a reformer. He didn't want to risk it. Before us is the book “A. V. Krivoshey. Its significance in the history of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century ”. Author - K.A.Krivoshey, son of Alexander Vasilyevich. Published in Paris in 1973. One of the serious books on the Stolypin reform, considering that A.V. Krivoshey wasstolypin's right hand. It follows that Witte was at the beginning of his career a staunch supporter of the community andfully supported the law of December 14, 1893, which prohibited leaving the community without the consent of two-thirds of the householders, even after paying off the redemption debt, as well as the pledge of land plots allocated to the ownership "and their sale to persons of" non-agricultural status. "This law, according to the chairman Committee of Ministers N. X. Bunge, forever extinguished the peasants from a different idea of \u200b\u200bpersonal property and respect for the property of landowners.Bunge's confession sheds light on many of our troubles.

Five years have passed. Witte understood that the reason for the low solvency of the peasants was in the legal conditions of their life, i.e. national traditions came into conflict with the historical process.While the Witte Special Conference was looking for an acceptable way to convince Nicholas II of the need for change, below, in the village routine, everything that could contribute to agricultural progress was inhibited.

At the same time, the turmoil (1905-1907) in Russia was gaining momentum.

From "Memoirs" by S. Yu. Witte: "The entire press turned to the revolutionary in one direction or another, but with the same motive -" down with the vile and mediocre government, or the bureaucracy, or the existing regime that has brought Russia to such a shame "... In the last year, a number of unions have been formed - the union of engineers, lawyers, teachers, academic (professors), pharmacists, peasants, railway employees, technicians, manufacturers, workers, etc. and, finally, the union of unions that united many of these private unions ... Guchkov, Lvov, Prince Golitsyn, Krasovsky, Shipov, Stakhovich, Count Heiden took an active part in these unions ... The secret republicans, people of the big talent, pen and words and naive politicians: Gessen, Milyukov, Gredeskul, Nabokov, academician Shakhmatov ... All these alliances of different shades, different aspirations were unanimous in the task set - to overthrow the existing regime at all costs, and for this many of these unions admitted in their tactics that the end justifies the means, and therefore, in order to achieve the set goal, they did not disdain any tricks, especially the deliberate lies spread in the press. The press was completely lying, and the left was just like the right ... In the Baltic provinces, the revolution jumped out a little earlier. In the Caucasus, whole districts and cities were in complete revolt, there were daily murders ... The Kingdom of Poland was almost in open uprising, but the revolution was kept inside ... All Siberia was in complete confusion ... ". In general, about these notes by Sergei Yulievich, the son of Krivoshein noticed that they were "written with vinegar." But you can't say that they are biased! The dispassionate deeds of the archives testify to the same. From February 1905 to May 1906, fifteen attempts were made on the life of governors and mayors, 267 - on combat officers, twelve - on priests, 29 - on merchants. Children are among the victims of terror.

Witte sent the tsar a most loyal letter with a proposal to urgently conclude peace with Japan, he sent it back in February 1905, even before the Tsushima battle. Witte went out to the median line. He stood against both the extreme right and the revolution. The confrontation eventually reached its peak - the Manifesto "On the improvement of state order" of October 17, 1905, served as the basis for parliamentarism, that is, gave birth to the Duma. Only this is the difference, which is imperceptible at first glance: for Witte the problem was economic and legal, later for Stolypin - political and economic. Witte could endure, maneuver, avoid personal risk, Stolypin was ready to take risks.

Witte returned from America, having concluded the Peace of Portsmouth with Japan, and considered himself in the power to solve these problems. To begin with, calm the peasants. Calm down gradually, so as not to weaken the community too much.

As a result, a Manifesto was adopted on the abolition of redemption payments from January 1, 1907. Projects, doubts, allegories started again. As a result, the project of the chief manager of land management and agriculture Kutler, behind which Witte stood, was rejected by all ministers as violating the principle of inviolability of private property.

There is one curious remark in Witte's memoirs: “This thought, it seems, has been nicknamed the“ Duma of the people's retribution ”. It seems to me that it would be more correct to call it "the Duma of general enthusiasm and state inexperience." Perhaps this conclusion is universal in general for all the first institutions of this kind: feelings are overwhelmed, my heart is pounding and I want a triumph of progress at once ... And also: “The very appointment of the Goremykin ministry just before the convocation of the Duma (extreme reactionaries and admirers of the policeregime) could not serve as a pacification of the first State Duma, the Duma of the left-wing trend, and even such an alarming trend as it was at a time when, one might say, the vast majority of Russians seemed to have gone mad. " Sergey Yulievich, willingly or unwillingly, puts on the same level "gone crazy"society and the "enthusiastic" Duma.

Witte's ideas were quite large: the development of a network of roads from unpaved to railways; providing Turkestan with cheap Siberian bread; expansion of cotton production in Central Asia at the expense of grain crops - settlement of the Kyrgyz steppes, Amur region; attracting "educated strata of society" to Siberia through the creation of large private property and preferential lease of land plots to workers; industrialization of a huge and almost uninhabited country, at least at the cost of attractingforeign capital.

The only thing in which Witte did not take into account the real situation: Siberia could not absorb all the land-poor. A reduction in their number could only be achieved by an exodus to industry. Here Witte's industrialization was reinforced by Stolypin's "liberation" of the peasants. And then in Siberia, after Witte, the beginning of industrial development was laid - new roads, ports, mines, factories were built. By 1914, the Far Eastern regions were in second place in the empire for the development of urban life.

From the book : Rybas S. Tarakanova L. Life and Death of Pyotr Stolypin. Moscow. 1991 year

(1849-1915) russian statesman

Count Sergei Yulievich Witte left a noticeable mark in the history of the Russian state. His activity took place just at the time when capitalist relations began to take shape in Russia. Sergei Witte was in his place, as his character successfully combined the qualities of a major industrial organizer, the grip of an entrepreneur and the resourcefulness of an experienced courtier.

Sergei Yulievich Witte was born in Tiflis into the family of a major government official. His father was the director of the Department of State Property. Mother came from the family of the famous general and writer Alexander Fadeev.

It seemed that the welfare and connections of the family opened up brilliant prospects for Sergei and his brother. But in 1857, his father unexpectedly dies, and almost the entire family fortune goes to pay off his many debts. The family was rescued by the governor in the Caucasus, who provided Witte's sons with a scholarship to study at the Novorossiysk University.

Sergei Witte graduated from the Physics and Mathematics Department of the Faculty of Natural Sciences. After a brilliant defense of his master's thesis, he was offered to stay to prepare for a professorship. But, according to the family, the nobleman should not have made a scientific career, so Sergei chooses a different path.

He becomes the secretary of the Odessa governor, Count Kotzebue. Witte uses his stay in the chancellery to establish the necessary connections and after a few months becomes a confidant of the Minister of Railways Count V. Bobrinsky.

Sergei Witte very quickly got involved in the work and in a short time studied well the system of railway transport. For six months, he worked at various stations as an assistant and station manager, controller and traffic controller. It was at this time that he was collecting material for his first works on organizing the work of railways. One of the first, Sergei Witte realized that railway tariffs are a very convenient tool for generating profit and stimulating the development of railway transport.

The executive and neat young man was noticed by the authorities, about a year later he was appointed head of the movement of the Odessa railway.

Taking office, Witte had to mobilize all his abilities and knowledge. Just a few months after his appointment, the Russian-Turkish war broke out, and the Odessa railway became the main strategic highway for Russia. The young official was able to develop a system for organizing transportation, in which military supplies were delivered almost without delay.

After the end of the war, Sergei Witte moved to Kiev and became the head of the maintenance service for all south-western roads of Russia. Now he got the opportunity to implement the accumulated experience. Witte is reforming the transportation payment system, developing a procedure for granting loans for the transportation of especially important goods and a unified tariff scale for all types of transportation. His innovations made it possible to transform the southwest roads from a loss-making to a profitable enterprise.

Sergei Witte begins to be invited to various private companies for consultations, and many firms offer him high-paying positions. But he rejects all proposals, because he does not want to leave the civil service, realizing that only here he will be able to fully implement his developments.

Subsequently, he was even proud of the fact that he became the first and only manager of the largest road in Russia, not being a communications engineer by training.

In Kiev, Sergei Witte forges ties among the local aristocracy. At the same time, he gropes for ways to move to St. Petersburg. His marriage played a decisive role in further promotion. In 1878, Sergei Witte met the wife of one of Kiev's wealthy N. Spiridonova. She was much younger than her husband and was carried away by Witte.

After the divorce of Spiridonova, Witte could not stay in Kiev because of his ambiguous position. He mobilizes all his connections and seeks to be transferred to St. Petersburg, where he holds the position of assistant to the chairman of the railway commission in the Ministry of Railways.

Sergei Yulievich Witte is developing a unified charter for all Russian railways. But the main area of \u200b\u200bhis activity is the organization of the movement of all Tsarist trains in Russia. He accompanies Alexander III on his travels, and once he managed to quickly eliminate the consequences of the crash of the royal train. In gratitude, the emperor appoints Witte as the director of the department of railway affairs in the Ministry of Finance, practically, Sergei Witte becomes the Minister of Railways of Russia. Then he was only forty years old.

He settles in a state mansion and embarks on an extensive program of reorganizing rail transport. Two years later, Alexander III appoints him Minister of Finance of Russia. Witte held this position for eleven years and during this time he has put into practice many undertakings. He managed to reform the procedure for paying for transportation, to systematize taxation.

In 1884, Sergei Yulievich Witte sought the introduction of a wine monopoly, which significantly increased the revenue side of the budget. It was the preparatory stage for the monetary reform of 1897. Witte introduces gold coins and seeks to stabilize the Russian ruble.

At the same time, his diplomatic abilities are manifested. In 1886, he developed the terms of the Russian-Chinese agreement on the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway.

Realizing that the development of capitalism in Russia is impossible without the introduction of land ownership, Sergei Witte thinks over a land reform. But his idea of \u200b\u200bfree land tenure is met with stiff opposition. Pyotr Stolypin managed to implement certain provisions of this reform only after a few years.

In 1889, Witte's first wife dies, and soon he will marry M. Lisanevich. But this marriage was regarded as a challenge to society, since Witte's wife was divorced, and in addition, she was Jewish. However, Alexander III defended Sergei Witte: he not only did not accept his resignation, but also publicly expressed his confidence in him. Soon, Witte had a daughter, who became his only heir.

Using the confidence of the emperor, Sergei Yulievich Witte continues the planned reforms. But the unexpected death of Alexander III disrupts his plans, although Nicholas II, who came to the throne, also supports Witte at first. True, in 1903 he was nevertheless dismissed from the post of Minister of Finance. This was due to the fact that Witte, a cautious and far-sighted politician, understood the danger of strengthening Japan in the Far East and sought an agreement that would not allow war. But this line ran counter to the plans of the tsar's inner circle. Nevertheless, he is appointed chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers, he remains a member of the State Council and carries out the most important instructions of the emperor. At the end of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. Sergei Witte is sent to America, where he is seeking the conclusion of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty with Japan. Russia recognized Korea as Japan's sphere of influence, lost the Liaodong Peninsula with Port Arthur and Dalny, and was forced to give up half of Sakhalin Island. Witte, who was elevated to the count's dignity for signing the contract, began to be called Count Polusakhalinsky behind the back.

The finest hour in the career of Sergei Yulievich Witte comes after the events of 1905. He becomes one of the drafters of the October 17 manifesto. Nicholas II appoints him chairman of the Council of Ministers of Russia. In his new position, Witte proved to be a dodgy politician who managed to come to terms with both the right and the left.

In 1906, he seeks to obtain a loan in France. The funds received under this agreement made it possible to stabilize the financial position of Russia after the war and the first Russian revolution. But according to his convictions, Witte remained an ardent monarchist, so he could not understand the need to reform the political system in Russia.

Since mid-1906, Sergei Yulievich Witte opposed the outlined expansion of the powers of the State Duma and the State Council, which led to his resignation.

He goes to consulting work and is engaged in journalism. Witte acquires a villa in Biarritz, where he works on his books and memories. There he dies in the spring of 1915.

Among the major statesmen of Russia it is difficult to find a personality as outstanding, bright, so ambiguous, contradictory as S. Yu. Witte was. This man was destined to experience a dizzying rise - to rise from a third-rate clerical official to the most influential minister; in crucial years for the fate of Russia - to be the chairman of the Committee of Ministers, and then to become the head of the government besieged by the revolution.

He had a chance to shine brightly in the diplomatic field, to witness the Crimean War, the abolition of serfdom, the reforms of the 60s, the rapid development of capitalism, the Russian-Japanese war, the first revolution in Russia. S. Yu. Witte is a contemporary of Alexander III and Nicholas II, P. A. Stolypin and V. N. Kokovtsov, S. V. Zubatov and V. K. Pleve, D. S. Sipyagin and G. E. Rasputin.

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, we have before us an "exceptionally gifted", "highly outstanding statesman", "surpassing in the variety of his talents, enormous outlook, the ability to cope with the most difficult tasks, the brilliance and strength of his mind of all contemporary people." According to others, he is a "businessman, completely inexperienced in the national economy", "suffering from amateurism and poor knowledge of Russian reality", a person with an "average level of development and the naivety of many views", whose policy was distinguished by "helplessness, unsystematicity and ... lack of principle."

Describing Witte, some stressed that he was "a European and a liberal", others - that "Witte was never a liberal or a conservative, but sometimes he was deliberately reactionary." Even the following was written about him: "a savage, provincial hero, impudent and debauched with a sinking nose."

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

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 conducted from the associates of Peter I - the princes Dolgoruky. Witte's father, Julius Fedorovich, a nobleman of the Pskov province, a Lutheran who converted to Orthodoxy, served as the 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 my 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 AM Fadeev, where he received the usual upbringing for noble families, and "the initial education," S. Yu. Witte recalled, "was given to me by my grandmother ... 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 the age of sixteen, 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 studied day and night," he recalled, "and therefore, during my stay at the university, I really was, in terms of knowledge, the best student."

So the first year of student life passed. In the spring, having gone on vacation, on his 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, 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 in my upbringing I was an extreme monarchist ... and also a religious person," S. Yu. Witte later wrote. 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 monarchical 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 members of the committee, including 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.

After graduating from the university in 1870, Sergei Witte thought about a scientific career, about a professorial department. However, my relatives - my mother and uncle - "looked very askance at my desire to be a professor," S. Yu. Witte recalled. "Their main argument was that ... this was 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 surrounding the construction of railways also captured Witte. The Minister of Railways, Count 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 an assistant and station manager, controller, traffic inspector, even visited the role of a clerk of the freight service and an 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 lasted, 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 movement of the Odessa railway, 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 province 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 "The 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 Charity 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 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 in St. Petersburg the so-called "Sacred Squad". 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 decorate 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 departed 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. An 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 his desire that S. Yu. Witte be 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 (that is, he received a general's rank). 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 on the state regulation of railway tariffs, to show the breadth of interests, remarkable talent of the administrator, strength of mind and character.

In February 1892, successfully using the conflict between the two departments - transport and financial, S. Yu. Witte seeks to be appointed 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 for the influential post of Minister of Finance began, 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. By the Ministry of Finance. And on January 1, 1893, Alexander III appointed him minister of finance with a simultaneous promotion to privy councilor. 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 (nee 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, a mysterious smile, a bewitching 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" on 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," Witte wrote, "he loved me very much," he 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. "A true Christian", "a faithful son of the Orthodox Church", "a simple, firm and honest man", "an outstanding emperor", "a man of his word", "royal noble", "with royal lofty thoughts" - this is how Witte characterizes Alexander III ...

Having occupied the chair of the Minister of Finance, S. Yu. Witte gained 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 in a short time.

By the beginning of the XX century. Witte's economic platform has acquired a completely finished shape: within about ten years to 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 ... drew 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 entrepreneurs 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," distracting the attention of society from socio-economic and cultural-political reforms. " one statesman of Russia was not the subject of such varied and contradictory, but stubborn and passionate attacks as my ... husband, "Matilda Witte later wrote." 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 landowners reproached him with an attempt to ruin them in favor of the peasants, and the radical parties - in an effort 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."

With the same aim, 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 conference on the needs of the agricultural industry"), which aimed to "establish personal property in the countryside."

However, Witte got in the way of his longtime opponent VK Pleve, who was 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 PA Stolypin, then later Witte repeatedly emphasized that he "robbed" him, used ideas that he himself, Witte, was a convinced supporter of. That is why Sergei Yulievich could not remember PA Stolypin without a feeling of anger. "... Stolypin," he wrote, "had 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."

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" is 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 for 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 weakness. " To this he adds "a proud character" and a rare "rancor". In "Memoirs" by S. Yu. Witte, the empress also got a lot of unflattering words. The author calls her "a strange person" with a "narrow and stubborn character", "with a dull egoistic 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 retirement", 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.

Having suffered defeat in 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 disposition, more often to attract "the highest attention" to himself, strengthened and established contacts 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 with the outbreak of war Nicholas II would call him were not justified.

In the summer of 1904, the Socialist-Revolutionary E.S.Sozonov killed Witte's longtime enemy, Minister of the Interior Plehve. The disgraced dignitary made every effort to take the vacant place, but even here he was in for a failure. 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 he, Witte, cannot do without him, 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 appeals to Witte and instructs 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 negotiations on peace, 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 "calm Russia down a little". In a letter to that on February 28, 1905, he pointed out: "The continuation of the war is more than dangerous: the country, given the current state of mind, will not endure further sacrifices without terrible catastrophes ...". He generally considered the war disastrous for the autocracy.

The Peace of Portsmouth was signed on 23 August 1905. This was a brilliant victory for Witte, which confirmed his outstanding diplomatic skills. The talented diplomat managed to get out of the hopelessly lost war with minimal losses, while achieving an "almost decent peace" for Russia. Despite his dislike, the tsar appreciated Witte's merits: he was awarded the count's title for the Peace of Portsmouth (by the way, Witte was immediately mockingly nicknamed "Count Polusakhalinsky", thus accusing him of ceding the southern part of Sakhalin to Japan).

Returning to St. Petersburg, Witte plunged headlong into politics: he took part in the "Special meeting" of Selskoy, 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 inspires 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 of October 17. On October 19, the tsar signed a decree to reform 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, sometimes as a firm, ruthless guardian, sometimes 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 repressions, 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 never became similar to a European cabinet, and Sergei Yulievich himself was in the post of 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 - to ensure the political stability of the regime. The resignation essentially marked 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, waged a fierce struggle first against Stolypin, who took over as chairman of the Council of Ministers, then against V. N. Kokovtsov. "Witte hoped that leaving the state scene of his influential opponents would allow him to return to 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.

S. Yu. Witte died on February 28, 1915, a little before he reached the age of 65. 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 like: "In memory of a great man", "Great reformer", "The giant of thought" ... Many of those who knew Sergei Yulievich closely, came out with memoirs.

After Witte's death, his political activities were highly controversial. Some sincerely believed that Witte had done their homeland "a great service", while others argued that "Count Witte had far from justified the hopes placed on him", that "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 understanding of the need for reforms that undermined its traditional foundations; The Manifesto of October 17 and the subsequent measures that brought him to almost zero, etc. But no matter how the results of Witte's policies are assessed, one thing is certain: the meaning of his whole life, all his activities was serving "great Russia." And this could not but admit both his adherents and opponents.