Alexander Guchkov

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In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Ivanovich and the family name is Guchkov.

Alexander Guchkov
Александр Гучков
Nicholas II
Prime MinisterPyotr Stolypin
Preceded byNikolay Khomyakov
Succeeded byMikhail Rodzianko
Member of the State Duma
In office
1 November 1907 – 9 June 1912
ConstituencyMoscow
Minister of War and Navy of the Russian Provisional Government
In office
1 March 1917 – 30 April 1917
Preceded byMikhail Belyaev
Succeeded byAlexander Kerensky
Personal details
Born(1862-10-14)14 October 1862
Moscow, Moscow Governorate, Russian Empire
Died14 February 1936(1936-02-14) (aged 73)
Paris, France
Alma materImperial Moscow University (1886)

Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov (

Third Duma and Minister of War in the Russian Provisional Government
.

Early years

Alexander Guchkov was born in Moscow. Unlike most of the conservative politicians of that time, Guchkov did not belong to the Russian nobility. His father, the grandson of a peasant, was a factory owner of some means, whose family came from a stock of Old Believers who had acknowledged the authority of the Russian Orthodox Church while keeping their ancient ritual. His mother was French.[1]

Guchkov studied history and humanities at the Moscow State University, and, after having gone through his military training in a grenadier regiment, left for Germany where he read political economy in Berlin under Schmoller. Academic studies were, however, not suited to his active and adventurous character. He gave them up and started traveling. He rode alone on horseback through Mongolia to western Siberia, and narrowly escaped being slaughtered by a mob.[1]

A.I. Guchkov

He became known for his hazardous acts, which also included

General Smuts, where he was wounded and taken prisoner.[1]
He also fought numerous duels.

He was elected by the Moscow municipal

Revolution of 1905 developed, he took part in the meetings of Zemstvo representatives, but did not join the Cadets, whom he considered to be too doctrinaire and cosmopolitan.[1]

Guchkov wanted military reforms, including the transfer of certain controls from the court to the Duma and the government.[2] Under Sergei Witte he was appointed as Minister of Trade and Industry.

In October 1906, Guchkov became the head of the conservative liberal

Lvov
would have been prominent members. When this project came to grief, Guchkov continued to support Stolypin.

Guchkov was Chairman of the Duma's Committee of Imperial Defence, which had a veto over the military budget. In 1908 he condemned the diplomats' decision not to go in war in 1908, when Austria annexed

Bosnia and Hercegovina.[3]

In the

third Duma, elected on a restricted franchise, the Octobrists assumed the leading role. After Khomiakov's resignation in 1910, Guchkov was elected speaker. He attacked the "irresponsible influences" at the Russian court and the shortcomings of the Ministry of War in preparing for the inevitable conflict with Germany. As Stolypin became more and more violent and reactionary, the Octobrists lost their standing ground, and Guchkov eventually resigned the presidency of the Duma.[1] He "lost faith in the possibility of peaceful evolution."[4]

Party crisis and World War I

In 1912 the Octobrists were defeated in elections to the fourth Duma, losing over 30 seats. Guchkov in particular was defeated in his constituency in Moscow. The remaining Octobrists in Duma split into two fractions and went into opposition. By 1915 many local party branches and the main party newspaper "Voice of Moscow" ceased to exist.

Guchkov is connected with spreading letters between

Octobrists, led by Guchkov and President of the Duma, commissioned an investigation.[6][7] Worried with the threat of a scandal, the Tsar asked Rasputin to leave for Siberia. Since Rasputin was attacked in the Duma, the Tsarina Alexandra hated him and suggested to hang Guchkov.[8]

With the outbreak of

Nicholas II constantly refused to satisfy this demand. In October 1915 Guchkov became more revolutionary and involved in the preparations of a coup.[4]

Vladimir Freedericksz, General Nikolai Ruzsky, V.V. Shulgin, A.I. Guchkov, Nicholas II. 2 March 1917, the State Historical Museum
.

In August 1916 the word revolution was on people's lips.

coup d'etat to force the government to deal with the Duma.[4]

When the

Old Style) Nicholas II abdicated. In the evening Guchkov was at once arrested and threatened with execution by the workers.[12]

After the revolution

Alexander Guchkov, 1918.

After the

Union of 17 October legally ceased to exist. Guchkov held the office of War Minister in the Russian Provisional Government until 29 April. He was forced to resign after public unrest, caused by Milyukov's Note. Along with his fellow Octobrist Mikhail Rodzianko he continued to struggle for establishing of "strong government". He supported Lavr Kornilov and was arrested after the Kornilov Affair
, but released the next day.

After the October Revolution Guchkov provided financial support for the White Guard. When the eventual defeat of the White Guard became inevitable, he emigrated, first going to Germany.

In 1923, while living in Berlin, Guchkov hosted meetings of the "Eurasian Movement" over which the

OGPU maintained covert control even after the fall of The Trust.[13] Sergey Mikhailovich Spiegelglass,[a] who was a military counterintelligence Chekist (Russian: военная контрразведка) since January 1919,[14] was the deputy head of the Foreign Division of the OGPU from 1936 to 1937.[13] Spiegelglass stated "The Guchkov Circle had long worked with General Bredow who is the Chief of Military Intelligence of the German Army. When General Bredow was executed during the Röhm purge on 30 June 1934, his department and all its foreign networks came under control of the Gestapo."[13] Spiegelglass added that the OGPU link with the Guchkov Circle was equally close, and that the OGPU agent in the very center of the circle was General Nikolai Vladimirovich Skoblin.[13]

Guchkov died on 14 February 1936 in Paris.

Memoirs

  • Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov rasskazyvaet—Vospominaniya predsedatelya Gosudarstvennoj dumy i voennogo ministra Vremennogo pravitel'stva, Moscow, TOO Red. zhurnala "Voprosy istorii", 1993,
    ISBN 5-86397-001-4
    , 143p.

Personal life

Guchkov was an active member of the irregular

freemasonic lodge, the Grand Orient of Russia's Peoples.[15]
Earlier he had been a member of a military masonic lodge.

Autochrome portrait by Georges Chevalier, 1930

Modern perception

Guchkov has become something of a

cult figure in recent years: his reputation in Russia has grown after a documentary on the main state channel, which included an interview with then-President Vladimir Putin
. In the documentary, Putin revealed that Guchkov had been one of his childhood heroes for the way in which he tried to bring democracy to the country

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Sergei Mikhailovich Shpigelglas (Russian: Сергей Михайлович Шпигельглас; 1897–1941) who, as a member of the Cheka's Special Department (OO) (Russian: Особого отдела (OO)), headed its financial department (Russian: начальник сметного (финансового) отдела ОО ВЧК) and financed Richard Sorge's activities in Shanghai before Sorge left China on 12 November 1932.[14] Sergey Spiegelglass is also transliterated as Spigelglas, Shpegelglas or Shpigelglas.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Paul Vinogradoff (1922). "Guchkov, Alexander". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company.
  2. ^ Orland Figes (1996), "A People's Tragedy", p. 61.
  3. ^ O. Figes (1996), p. 247.
  4. ^ a b c Куликов С.В. Центральный военно-промышленный комитет накануне и в ходе Февральской революции 1917 года // Российская история. – 2012. – No. 1. – С. 69-90.
  5. ^ Iliodor, The Mad Monk, p. 193
  6. ^ B. Moynahan (1997) Rasputin. The saint who sinned, p. 169-170.
  7. ^ J.T. Fuhrmann (2013) The Untold Story, p. 91.
  8. ^ O. Figes (1996), p. 279.
  9. ^ Peeling, Siobhan. "War Industry Committees". International Encyclopedia of the First World War. Freie Universität Berlin. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  10. ^ O. Figes (1996), p. 283.
  11. ^ Raymond Pearson (1964) The Russian moderates and the crisis of Tsarism 1914–1917, p. 128.
  12. ^ O. Figes (1996), p. 344.
  13. ^
    ASIN B0006BZDJQ
    .
  14. ^ a b "ДУБОНОСОВ АНДРЕЙ ИЛЬИЧ 1900–1978" [DUBONOSOV ANDREY ILYICH 1900–1978]. АНО «Экономическая летопись» (ANO "Economic Chronicle") (letopis.org) (in Russian). 26 October 2017. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  15. ^ "Noteworthy members of the Grand Orient of France in Russia and the Supreme Council of the Grand Orient of Russia's People". Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon. 15 October 2017.

Sources

  • Alexander Sergeevich Senin. Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov, Moscow, Skriptoriy, 1996, 263p.
  • William Ewing Gleason. Alexander Guchkov and the end of the Russian Empire, Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society, 1983,
    ISBN 0-87169-733-5
    , 90p.
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