“The tsar’s prime minister, the greatest man in Russia” – no one even disputed the definitions given by Witte. He has done a lot, his energy in all government positions is amazing. Witte almost always achieved his goals and, despite the failures that occurred, Sergei Yulievich will be remembered forever, if only for establishing order in the field of railways and creating uniform tariffs, as well as for the famous Portsmouth Peace.
Retelling the biography of Count Sergei Witte is a thankless task, especially since he left extensive memoirs, where he describes in detail his entire life. In these memoirs, Witte offers very succinct and sharp characterizations of his contemporaries. For example, he calls someone the noblest person and someone he directly remembers as the most insignificant person. Not surprisingly, Sergei Witte’s widow indicated in the preface to her memoirs that, after her death, several gentlemen with important powers approached her and demanded that she hand over her husband’s archives to them. They even did a search, but found nothing.
Historians have written volumes about Sergei Yulievich and his activities are still discussed with great passion and not always objectively. Therefore, it is best to characterize Count Witte with the words of his contemporaries, colleagues, citizens of the Russian Empire.
man of genius
Alexander Izvolsky, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire in 1906-1910, considered Sergei Witte simply a brilliant person. He recalled that Count Witte had a significant number of enemies, but also many enthusiastic admirers.
Witte is the Minister of Finance of the Russian Empire. 1903 Photo: wikipedia.org
Izvolsky points out a very important fact: the royal ministers worked alone, without any unity in their work and were subordinate in their activities only to the emperor. But Sergei Witte, having assumed the post of Minister of Finance, became the de facto head of the Russian government. He “he exercised control over an uncountable army of officials of all names and ranks in the army, in the navy, even in the diplomatic service. Subsequently, his desire to infinitely extend the power of the State even in a sphere of activity marked by personnel. The initiative led to the fact that within ten years he was the true owner of the 160 million inhabitants of the empire.”
Izvolsky notes that, in addition to solving many problems, Witte carried out an extremely unsuccessful reform associated with the introduction of a wine monopoly, which led to the demoralization and impoverishment of the people.
By the way, Sergei Witte is considered one of the ideologists of the creation of the prototype of the European Union. Only he called it a continental union and Russia, Germany and France were supposed to be members of it. But Izvolsky considered this idea a chimera. At the same time, the former tsarist minister highlights the purely human qualities of Witte’s character: “he was a faithful and devoted friend and, in return, aroused ardent affection, knew how to hate and was a terrible enemy for his opponents.” Summarizing Count Sergei Witte’s review of him, Izvolsky writes: “But for all his shortcomings, he was one of the greatest statesmen.”
The kisses had no end
Vladimir Kokovtsov, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire in 1911-1914. In his memoirs he does not give characteristics, he does not seek justification of the facts, but simply exposes the facts.
In 1903, he was told how Sergei Witte had been formally promoted to chairman of the committee of ministers. But at the same time he lost almost all power, since this place was nominal. Upon returning from Emperor Nicholas II, who informed Witte about the new appointment, the former Minister of Finance became enraged.
Postcard with a caricature of Witte. Photo by: Auction House “Old Paper”
“You see,” Witte said, “they just let me go. I’m tired, they got rid of me, and I should just quit.” At the time, he was even seriously afraid of being arrested.
Although Kokovtsov suffered at some point from the intrigues of Count Witte, he always considered him an outstanding person. Their first meeting, in 1892, almost ended in Kokovtsov’s criminal prosecution. Witte, being Minister of Finance, tore up the document in which Kokovtsov had participated, and had the feeling that he was going to be accused of official forgery. And only the intervention of the highest officials of the empire resolved the conflict. Witte later admitted that he was wrong.
And in 1896 he suddenly returned home to Kokovtsov and invited him to become his deputy (fellow Minister of Finance). They worked together for six years without a single conflict.
On February 5, 1905, Kokovtsev was appointed Minister of Finance. Witte was delighted. “The hugs and kisses were endless,” Kokovtsov recalls. “The outpourings of friendship and devotion flowed like a river.”
A special place in the memoirs is occupied by Sergei Witte’s trip to the United States to negotiate with Japan, which ended with the signing of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty in 1905. Returning from the Emperor, who asked the future count to take on this difficult mission, Sergei Yulievich met Kokovtsov and told him: “When it is necessary to clear the ditches, Witte is sent.”
But after a few years their relationship deteriorated, and Vladimir Kokovtsov explains this by the fact that Witte, power-hungry, extremely active and full of initiative, found it difficult to endure inaction, distanced from practical work. This was the reason for his emotional breakdowns with everyone without exception, including his former colleagues.
Negotiations in the United States
Ivan Korostovets, a participant in Witte’s diplomatic mission to the United States in 1905, recalled that all members of the delegation were impressed by the surprising ease with which Witte, without any professional training, assumed the role of diplomat assigned to him. His wit, flexibility, and ability to adapt to a new and strange environment. Witte then said that he would conduct negotiations with Japan in the manner that common sense and Russia’s interests would dictate. Although Russia lost the war to the Japanese, Witte was determined to win on the diplomatic battlefield.
In his memoirs, Korostovets quotes the words of the Americans who communicated with the future count: “How simple he is, he is not at all a representative of autocratic Russia, but rather the leader of democrats.”
During the most difficult negotiations, Sergei Witte proved to be not only an outstanding diplomat, but also a Russian patriot in the highest sense of the word, Ivan Korostovets believed.
Upon arrival in New York, the Russian delegation was attacked by a crowd of journalists. Witte made a statement, signed his portrait and posed for the photographers. A delegation of Slavs appeared with bread and salt on a silver platter. A terrible crush arose and the police began to beat the crowd with their fists, and in their zeal they did not distinguish between diplomats and other citizens. They all caught Tumakov.
Russian delegation in Portsmouth. Seated are S.Yu. Witte (left) and Baron R.R. Rosen. Ivan Korostovets is first on the left in the back row. 1905 Photo: loc.gov
The American press tried to find out everything it could. The newspapers only wrote about the negotiations. There were many cartoons depicting Russia as a bear dragging along US President Roosevelt. Or there was this drawing in which Witte and his Japanese opponent are playing cards, gambling on Sakhalin.
Korostovets considered the decisive moment of the negotiations to be the moment when Sergei Witte read out a note on Russia’s refusal to buy the northern part of Sakhalin. Everyone sat in silence. Witte was indifferently tearing off pieces of paper, the Russian ambassador to the United States, Rosen, was smoking. The Japanese representative Komura stood up and declared that they agreed with Russia’s proposal.
“Although the Russians were defeated, they felt like winners,” Ivan Korostovets wrote in his memoirs. “In the bar they toast to the prosperity of Russia and the United States. “The governor of New Hampshire declares his love for Russia.”
despised people
Dmitry Horvath, lieutenant general, director of the Chinese Eastern Railway, recalled that Witte treated people with contempt, was harsh and unrestrained, so he had many enemies. He treated many with disdain. But Horvath paid tribute to Sergei Yulievich as a statesman.
Witte (left) and Baron Rosen in Portsmouth. 1905 Photo: loc.gov
“Witte was a man who quickly grasped the essence of the matter, determined and persistent,” he wrote. “From his enormous stature, he personified power in everything and was equally great in all his merits as in his defects. Truly a great businessman.”
Dmitry Horvat noted that thanks to his great mind and strong character, Witte managed not only to create colossal projects, but also to implement them. Furthermore, without delaying things, he could achieve results quickly. Horvath listed the most important cases, in his opinion, of Witte. These are the establishment of a tariff system on railways, the introduction of a wine monopoly and monetary reform – the introduction of gold into circulation.
Not to the detriment of your career.
Anatoly Koni, chief prosecutor of the Criminal Cassation Department of the Government Senate, met with Witte on a commission to study the railway business in Russia in 1876. There, among other things, the question of the unification of railway tariffs was discussed. He was nominated by Witte, who, in Koni’s opinion, was distinguished by his deep knowledge of the subject.
And five years later they met again while investigating the accident of the royal train, where Alexander III and his family were traveling. The investigation was led by Anatoly Koni and suddenly Witte appeared to him. He was very excited and asked for advice on how to behave during interrogations. Witte explained that he had a very important appointment ahead of him, but if he told everything he knew about this case, he could antagonize Finance Minister Vyshnegradsky and Railway Minister Posyet. Koni was shocked, but calmed Sergei Witte down and was interrogated without any harm to his career.
Sergei Yulievich Witte in the United States. 1905 Photo: loc.gov
Despite this incident, Anatoly Koni characterized Witte as a true statesman with broad horizons and bold goals. Furthermore, he was involved in a variety of things. For example, on the eve of Pushkin’s centenary, Witte proposed to restore the Imperial Russian Academy, of which Alexander Sergeevich was a member, in memory of the poet. Anatoly Koni supported him, but his initiative did not come true.
“The red thread running through all of Witte’s activities is his idea of the best form of government – of an unlimited autocracy, based on capable and energetic ministers, equipped with knowledge and long-term experience in their respective fields,” Anatoly Koni later reflected. However, he notes in his notes that Witte himself subsequently more than once experienced the negative impact of the uncontrolled and irresponsible personal orders of the autocratic sovereign.
The last time Koni and Witte saw each other was in 1910. Witte asked a famous lawyer for help in the investigation of two attempts on his life. These criminal cases were suspended for formal reasons. Witte complained that behind his back there were rumors that he himself had organized these assassination attempts.
Just to get the job done
Probably the most balanced and calm analysis of the activities of Count Sergei Yulievich Witte was made by the famous historian Evgeniy Tarle. He wrote a review essay on this outstanding statesman, where he tried to impartially cover his activities. Of course, it must be taken into account that Tarle wrote it in the 1920s, while in the Soviet Union. He had to weave some Marxist opinions about Witte into a very objective essay.
Sergei Yulievich Witte during a diplomatic mission to the United States. 1905 Photo: loc.gov
Tarle gives an accurate and succinct description of him at the beginning of his essay: “The main feature of Witte, of course, is the thirst and, one might say, the pathos of activity. He is not an ambitious man, but a power-hungry man. It was not the opinion of the people about him that mattered to him, but power over them. What was dear to him was not words, not speeches, not articles, but deeds, facts and facts: that is all that matters. You can say or write, if necessary, whatever you want, just to clear the field in front of you, remove obstacles and obstacles and begin to build, create, change, in general act. One now deceased publicist (A.I. Bogdanovich) once put it this way: “Witte is not a liar, Witte is the father of lies. To such an extent this property seemed to him inextricably linked with the soul. But this quality came precisely from the complete contempt for words.” “Telling a lie or telling the truth is absolutely the same, as long as the act is committed.”
northern route
Nowadays, few people know that it was Witte who proposed using the Northern Sea Route. And he, by the nature of his character, immediately turned his words into deeds. Here is what he wrote: “In 1898, specifically at the end of this year, on my own initiative I commissioned the icebreaker Ermak. My immediate aim in building this huge icebreaker was, on the one hand, to improve shipping in St. Petersburg and other important ports of the Baltic Sea throughout the winter, but mainly to try to see if it is possible to reach the Far East through the northern seas, along the northern coast of Siberia.”
Sergei Witte says that he invited the famous scientist Dmitry Mendeleev and the famous admiral Stepan Makarov. The purpose of the meeting was to get his opinion on the best way to navigate the Northern Sea Route. Mendeleev stated that the best route would be through the North Pole. Makarov believed that it was best to go along the coast. So they didn’t reach an agreement. Witte summarized: “in the end, neither project came true.”
And for the first time on a voyage, Otto Schmidt’s expedition sailed along the Northern Sea Route in 1932 on the icebreaker Sibiryakov.
Funeral procession with the body of Count Witte in Trinity Square. 1915 Photo: Artmaximum auction house
