Alexander Trepov

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Fyodorovich and the family name is Trepov.
Alexander Trepov
Александр Трепов
Sergei Rukhlov
Succeeded byEduard Kriger-Voinovsky
Personal details
Born(1862-09-30)30 September 1862
Kiev, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire
Died10 November 1928(1928-11-10) (aged 66)
Nice, France
NationalityRussian
Parent
Alma materPage Corps

Alexander Fyodorovich Trepov (Russian: Александр Фёдорович Трепов; Ukrainian: Олександр Федорович Трепов; 30 September 1862 – 10 November 1928) was the Prime Minister of the Russian Empire from 23 November 1916 until 9 January 1917. He was conservative, a monarchist, a member of the Russian Assembly, and an advocate of moderate reforms opposed to the influence of Grigori Rasputin.

Biography

Early life

Alexander was the youngest of the four sons of general

Nicholas II. According to MP-nationalist AI Savenko, Alexander was "the most intelligent of the brothers, capable, very determined, with lots of character".[1]

Alexander was educated in His Majesty's

Pereiaslavl Uezd
(1892–1895), and assistant State Secretary (1899).

Alexander was appointed as a member of the special commission to draft a plan for a

State Duma, according to the rescript of February 18, 1905, and the Manifesto of October 17.[2]

He was the brother of General

Revolution of 1905/1906 served as deputy minister of the interior, played a major role in the repression of unrest[3] and was described as the real ruler of the country.[4]

POWs constructing the Kirov Railway (1916)

Trepov became senator in the

State Council. Trepov was appointed Minister of Transport, Railways and Communication on November 12 (30 October O.S.), 1915, and Grigori Rasputin was grieved.[6] He developed the Kirov Railway, constructed with a number of war prisoners, to improve the transport connections between the ice-free port of Murmansk with the Eastern Front
during World War I. The food problem in the big cities was a difficult issue.
Boris Stürmer. Trepov had secretly designed a plan of railway construction and introduced it in government. Trepov quickly established himself in office and showed that his ambition went further. Having proven himself to be a competent organizer,[7] Trepov was now willing to become the next prime minister. According to Naumov, Trepov was one of the most temperamental and talkative members of the Council of Ministers,[1]
dealing with an almost dictatorial Stürmer as Prime Minister, Interior Minister and Foreign Minister.

Prime Minister

Alexander Fyodorovitch Trepov in 1916

On 8 November Boris Stürmer (pro-peace) was dismissed as prime minister/minister of foreign affairs, to the rejoicing of the Duma. On 9 November Empress

Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Rittikh. On 17 November Nikolai Pokrovsky was appointed to the ministry of foreign affairs.[9] According to Orlando Figes it was the Russian liberals final opportunity to 'make their peace' with the government.[8]

Trepov was a new, 'modern day

Stolypin', and was determined to win over the more moderate Duma politicians by making concessions; Pavel Milyukov and Alexander Guchkov were ready to accept his gesture (and possibly a position in his cabinet), but the more radical and socialist Duma members remained determined to bring down the government.[8]

Trepov was supposed to achieve the resignation of four of the most unpopular ministers. On 16 November Trepov informed Alexander Protopopov that he wished him to give up his position in the Ministry of the Interior and take over that of Trade and Industry, but Protopopov refused. Trepov had made the dismissal of Protopopov an indispensable condition of his accepting the presidency of the council,[10] Protopopov being a 'protege of Rasputin'.[11] and supposedly having mental problems. On 19 November Trepov declared full transfer of the food issue at the request of the Duma to the ministry of agriculture.[1]

On 27 November both Protopopov and Alexandra travelled to Stavka. Trepov threatened to resign on the next day. On 29 November/12 December the German Chancellor, Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, in a speech in the Reichstag, offered to open negotiations with the Entente in a neutral country. On 2 December, on his appearance in the Imperial Duma, Trepov revealed France and Britain promised Russia Constantinople and the Bosporus,[12] but was loudly hissed at by the Socialists.[13] The deputies shouted "down with the Ministers! Down with Protopopov!".[14] Pokrovsky said that Russia would never sign a peace treaty with the Central Powers, which caused a storm of applause. On 7 December the cabinet demanded that Protopopov should go to the emperor and resign, but at the request of the Tsar, his wife, Anna Vyrubova and Rasputin combined[citation needed] the pro-peace Protopopov stayed in his job.[10]

Rasputin

Trepov having failed to eliminate Protopopov tried to bribe Rasputin.

Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich to have him murdered[10]
in the hope stopping Alexandra's interference in politics.

Post-Premier

On 16 December 1916 the

Pavel Ignatieff, Alexander Makarov and Dmitry Shuvayev
were replaced.

In the seventeen months of the `Tsarina's rule', from September 1915 to February 1917, Russia had four

Ministers of Transport and four Ministers of Agriculture. This "ministerial leapfrog", as it came to be known, not only removed competent men from power, but also disorganized the work of government since no one remained long enough in office to master their responsibilities.[20]

According to Bernard Pares Trepov was probably appointed as a curator at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, where he met the tsar on February 1, 1917.[citation needed]

After the October Revolution he was arrested by the Cheka. Trepov collaborated with Count Paul von Benckendorff [et] to protect the imperial family. From autumn 1918 to January 1919 he led in Helsinki the "Special Committee for Russian in Finland". In the 1920s Trepov emigrated to France, from where he supported the White Army. He became president of the "Union des Organisations monarchiques russes". In 1921 he and his brother-in-law Alexander Mosolov participated in the "Congrès monarchiste russe", organized in Bad Reichenhall.

He died in 1928 and was buried at the Russian Orthodox Cemetery, Nice.

References

  1. ^ a b c d The PENULTIMATE PRIME Minister of the RUSSIAN EMPIRE A. F. TREPOV by FEDOR ALEKSANDROVICH GAIDA (2012)
  2. ^ "Features And Figures Of The Past Covernment And Opinion In The Reign Of Nicholas II".
  3. ISBN 978-0-297-85266-7
    .
  4. ^ "Full text of "The memoirs of Count Witte"".
  5. ^ Seeger, p. ?
  6. ^ Pares, p. 299; Radzinsky, p. 353.
  7. ISBN 978-0-297-85266-7
    .
  8. ^ a b c d Figes, p. 288
  9. ^ "Ведомства иностранных дел России/СССР и их руководители".
  10. ^ a b c Pipes, p. 261
  11. ^ Figes, p. 286
  12. ISBN 9781847658593
    – via Google Books.
  13. ^ Pares, p. 396; Spargo, p. 97.
  14. ^ "Maurice Paléologue. An Ambassador's Memoirs. 1925. Vol. III, Chapter IV".
  15. ^ Massie, p. ?
  16. ^ Mosolov, p. ?
  17. ^ Pares, p. 395; Radzinsky, p. 433
  18. ^ a b "The tsarina's letters exerting political influence (1915-16)". 10 December 2012.
  19. ^ Walsh, p. 115, 116 & 297
  20. ^ Figes, p. 278

Bibliography

Other

  • An obituary can be found in The Times, Monday, Nov 12, 1928; p. 18 (using the old transliteration Trepoff).

External links

Media related to Alexander Trepov at Wikimedia Commons

Political offices
Preceded by
Boris Stürmer
O.S
 – 27 December 1916 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Sergei Rukhlov
Minister of Transport

30 October 1915 – 27 December 1916 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Trepov&oldid=1219046680"