Sergei Witte

Sergei Witte
Сергей Витте
Witte in the early 1880s
1st Prime Minister of the Russian Empire
In office 6 November 1905 – 5 May 1906
Monarch	Nicholas II
Preceded by	New post (Himself as Chairman of the Committee of Ministers)
Succeeded by	Ivan Goremykin
Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Russian Empire
In office 29 August 1903 – 23 April 1906
Monarch	Nicholas II
Preceded by	Ivan Durnovo
Succeeded by	Post abolished (Himself as Prime Minister)
Minister of Finance
In office 30 August 1892 – 16 August 1903
Monarchs	Alexander III Nicholas II
Preceded by	Ivan Vyshnegradsky
Succeeded by	Eduard Pleske
Minister of Transport
In office February 1892 – August 1892
Monarch	Alexander III
Preceded by	Adolf Gibbenet
Succeeded by	Apollon Krivoshein
Personal details
Born	Sergei Yulyevich Witte (1849-06-29)29 June 1849 Tiflis, Caucasus Viceroyalty, Russian Empire (now Tbilisi, Georgia)
Died	13 March 1915(1915-03-13) (aged 65) Petrograd, Russian Empire
Cause of death	Brain tumor
Resting place	Alexander Nevsky Monastery, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Nationality	Russian
Alma mater	Novorossiysk University
Signature

Count Sergei Yulyevich Witte (Russian: Сергей Юльевич Витте, romanized: Sergey Yulyevich Vitte, IPA: [sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈjʉlʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈvʲitːɛ];^[1] 29 June [O.S. 17 June] 1849  – 13 March [O.S. 28 February] 1915), also known as Sergius Witte, was a Russian statesman who served as the first prime minister of the Russian Empire, replacing the emperor as head of government. Neither liberal nor conservative, he attracted foreign capital to boost Russia's industrialization. Witte's strategy was to avoid the danger of wars.^[2]

Witte served under the final two emperors of Russia, Alexander III (r. 1881–1894) and Nicholas II (r. 1894–1917).^[3] During the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78), he had risen to a position in which he controlled all the traffic passing to the front along the lines of the Odessa Railways. As finance minister from 1892- 1903, Witte presided over extensive industrialization and achieved government monopoly control over an expanded system of railroad lines.

Following months of civil unrest and outbreaks of violence in what became known as the 1905 Russian Revolution, Witte framed the October Manifesto and the accompanying government communication to establish constitutional government. However, he was not convinced it would solve Russia's problems with the Tsarist autocracy. On 20 October 1905 Witte was appointed as the first chairman of the Council of Ministers (effectively prime minister). Assisted by his Council, he designed Russia's first constitution. But within a few months Witte fell into disgrace as a reformer because of continuing court opposition to these changes. He resigned before the First Duma assembled on 10 May [O.S. 27 April] 1906. Witte was fully confident that he had resolved the main problem: providing political stability to the regime,^{[citation needed]} but according to him, the "peasant problem" would further determine the character of the Duma's activity.^[4]

He is widely considered to have been one of the key figures in Russian politics at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.^[5] Orlando Figes has described Witte as the 'great reforming finance minister of the 1890s',^[6] 'one of Nicholas's most enlightened ministers',^[7] and as the architect of Russia's new parliamentary order in 1905.^[8]