Sergei Witte | |
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Sergei Witte, early 1880s
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1st Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire | |
In office 6 November 1905 – 5 May 1906 |
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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 | |
In office 1903–1905 |
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Monarch | Nicholas II |
Preceded by | Ivan Nikolayevich Durnovo |
Succeeded by | Post abolished (Himself as Prime Minister) |
13th Finance Minister of Imperial Russia | |
In office 30 August 1892 – 16 August 1903 |
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Preceded by | Ivan Vyshnegradsky |
Succeeded by | Eduard Pleske |
14th Transport Minister of Imperial Russia | |
In office February 1892 – August 1892 |
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Preceded by | Adolf Gibbenet |
Succeeded by | Apollon Krivoshein |
Personal details | |
Born |
Sergei Yulyevich Witte 29 June 1849 Tiflis, Russian Empire |
Died | 13 March 1915 Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire |
(aged 65)
Nationality | Russian |
Alma mater | Novorossiysk University |
Signature |
Count Sergei Yulyevich Witte (Russian: Серге́й Ю́льевич Ви́тте, translit. Vitte, pronounced [vitɛ]) (29 June [O.S. 17 June] 1849 – 13 March [O.S. 28 February] 1915), also known as Sergius Witte, was a highly influential econometrician, minister, and prime minister in Imperial Russia, one of the key figures in the political arena at the end of 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century.
Witte was neither a liberal or a conservative. He attracted foreign capital to boost Russia's industrialization. Witte served under the last two emperors of Russia, Alexander III and Nicholas II. 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 Minister of Finance Witte presided over extensive industrialization and the management of various railroad lines. He framed the October Manifesto of 1905, and the accompanying government communication, but was not convinced it would solve Russia's problem with the .
On 20 October 1905 he became the first Chairman of the Russian Council of Ministers (Prime Minister). Assisted by his Council he designed Russia's first constitution. Within a few months he fell in disgrace within court circles as a reformer. He resigned before the First Duma assembled. Witte was fully confident that he had resolved the main problem—providing political stability to the regime, but according to him the "peasant problem" would further determine the character of the Duma's activity.