Sergei Witte
Count Sergei Yulyevich Witte (Серге́й Ю́льевич Ви́тте) (June 29, 1849 – March 13, 1915), also known as Sergius Witte, was a highly influential policy-maker who presided over extensive industrialization within the Russian Empire. He was also the author of the Decree of October 17, 1905 hearlded as Russia's first democratic constitution and Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister of Russia) of the Russian Empire.
Although the Witte family is believed to be of Dutch extraction, they had settled in the Baltic Region of Imperial Russia when it was still in the possession of the Kingdom of Sweden (before Peter I). Sergei Witte's father, Julius Fedorovich Witte was a civil servent and his mother was Kathrine Andreevna Fadeeva daughter of the Russian Nobles Andrei Mikhailovich Fadeev, a Govenor of Saratov and Princess Helen Pavlovna Dolgorukaia. He was born and raised in the Caucaus Region of Russia. He graduated from Novorossiisk University in Odessa with a degree in Mathmatics. He then spent the greater part of the 1870s and 1880s involved in private enterprises, particularly the administration and management of various railroad lines in Russia.
==Witte's Impact on Russian Economics==
Witte served as Russian Director of Railway Affairs within the Finance Ministry from 1889 – 1891, Transportation Minister (1892), where he pursued an ambitious program of railway construction and oversaw the building of the Trans-Siberian Railway.
He was appointed Russian Finance Minister in 1892, a position he held until 1903. During his tenure as Finance Minister the nation saw unprecedented economic growth. Witte strongly encouraged foreign capital to invest in Russia, and to do so he put Russia on the gold standard in 1897. Witte encouraged the growth of Russian industry, as a result the industrial sector of the economy expanded rapidly, especially the metals, petroleum, and transportation sectors. To improve the economy and to attract foreign investors Witte also advocated curbing the powers of the Russian autocracy.
Witte was transferred to the relatively powerless position of Chairman of the Committee of Ministers in 1903, a position he held until 1905. In an attempt to keep up the modernization of the Russian Economy Witte called and oversaw the Special Conference on the Needs of the Rural Industry. This conference was to provide recommendations for future reforms and the datat to justify those reforms. Dispite these efforts the lot of the peasants slowly declined and unrest increased in the peasant population.
Witte's Impact on Russian Politics
Witte returned to the forefront in 1905, however, when he was called upon by the Emperor to negotiate an end to the Russo-Japanese War. Witte traveled to the United States, where the peace talks were being held, and negotiated brilliantly on Russia's behalf. Despite losing dramatically on the battlefield Russia lost very little in the final settlement.
After this success Witte was brought back into the governmental decision-making process to help deal with the civil unrest following the war and Bloody Sunday. He was appointed Chairman of the Council of Ministers in(1905. During the Russian Revolution of 1905, Witte advocated for the creation of an elected parliament, the formation of a constitutional monarchy, and the establishment of a Bill of Rights. Many of his reforms were put into place, but they failed to end the unrest. This, and overwhelming victories by left-wing political parties in Russia's first elected parliament, the State Duma, forced Witte to resign as Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister).
Witte continued in Russian politics as a memeber of the State Council but never again obtained an administrative role in the government. Just prior to the outbreak of World War I he urged that Russia stay out of the conflict. His warning that Europe faced calamity if Russia became involved went unheeded, and he died shortly thereafter.
References Out of My Past by Vladimir Kokovtsov Memoirs of Count Witte, translated and edited by Sydney Harcave