Vladimir Kokovtsov
Vladimir Kokovtsov | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 4th Prime Minister of Imperial Russia | |
| In office 18 September 1911 – 12 February 1914 | |
| Monarch | Nicholas II |
| Succeeded by | Ivan Goremykin |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 6 April 1853 |
| Died | 29 January 1943 (aged 89) |
| Nationality | Russian |
Count Vladimir Nikolayevich Kokovtsov (Влади́мир Никола́евич Коковцо́в) (1853–1943) was a Russian prime minister during the reign of Nicholas II of Russia.
Biography
Following graduation from the Imperial Alexander Lyceum in December 1872 he applied for admittance to the University of St. Petersburg to study law on the recommendation of A.D Gradovsky, N.S. Tagantsev and S.V. Pakhman all notable legal authorities of the time. However, his father, who had promised to pay for his education suddenly passed away leaving the family in strained financial circumstances. As a result, instead of attending university he entered the civil service to provide him and his family an additional income.
He was admitted as a candidate for a civil service position in the Imperial Ministry of Justice serving first in the statistical, then the legislative and finally in the criminal office. From 1879 to 1890 he served as Senior Inspector and Assistant Head of the Central Administration of Prisons. This period is noted for its prison reforms formulated by State Secretary K.K. Grot a senior member of the Imperial State Council. From 1890 to 1896 he served in the State Council as Assistant State Secretary, State Secretary and finally as Assistant Imperial Secretary where he worked primarily on matters reviewed by the Russian Imperial State Council's Department of State Economy.
From 1896 to 1902 he served in one of the three Assistant Minister of Finance positions under Sergei Witte.
After leaving the positiion of Assistant Minister of Finance in 1902 he served as Imperial Secretary until his appointment Minister of Finance in 1904.[1]
He resigned the position when Witte, his former superior in the Finance Ministry assumed the Chairmanship of the Council of Ministers in 1905-1906. During this time although not a Minister he did have a substantial role in securing a loan that did nothing less than keep the Imperial Government from having to devalue its currency and leave the gold standard. The gold standard at the time was the basis of almost all financially stable, secure and modern countries of the time. Kokovtsov returned as Minister of Finance in the Ivan Goremykin and Petr Stolypin cabinets.
Kokovtsov succeeded Stolypin as Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) after Stolypin's assassination in 1911.[2] He served as Chairman from 1911 until his retirement in 1914. He maintained the position of Minister of Finance for the duration of his term as Prime Minister.
On his retirement he was invested with the title and rank of Count. After the October Revolution, 1917 he escaped with his family to Finland and eventually settled in Paris. He was a leading figure in Russian emigre society until his death.
Witte states in his autobiography that while Kokovtsov was serving as one of his assistants, he was left alone to do the business he knew so well and that Kokovtsov was the source of several small but meaningful reforms in the finances of the Russian Empire.
Much was made of Kokovtsov's differences with Witte which resulted in the two refusing to work with one another after 1905-1906. The apparent cause of these differences were conflicts over courses of action in the preparation for peace talks with Japan, the changing of the government structure in the wake of wide spread political unrest, Witte's opposition to several of Kokovtsov's policies as Minister of Finance during the Russo-Japanese War and in an important loan negotiation that occurred in 1905-1906. These differences were made public in the Council of State when one or the other would make comments in opposition to the other's viewpoint on various issues.
Many historians have made the case that the differences were the result of Witte's desire to return to the Chairmanship of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister of Russia) and his knowledge that his long-time associate was one of his chief rivals for the position. Some[who?] speculate that the differences were actually rather minor and overstated so that these two men, being in opposing political camps could safeguard the financial reforms they worked together to implement in the 1890s and early 1900s. It is known that Kokovtsov did visit Witte in 1915 during the illness that led to Witte's death and that Witte offered Kokovtsov the position of State Controller in his government which was a ministerial post.
References
- ^ "Kokovsoff Gives Details. Assassin Suddenly Forced His Way in Front of Prince". New York Times. October 27, 1909. Retrieved 2008-11-20.
Brief dispatches received from Minister of Finance Kokovsoff at Harbin add little to the news dispatches concerning the murder of Prince Ito. The Minister points out that no blame is to be attached to the railroad police, who had been specially requested to admit all Japanese to the station.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "M. Kokovsoff Takes Vacancy Made by Stolypin's Assassination". New York Times. September 23, 1911. Retrieved 2008-11-20.
Kokovsoff, the Russian Minister of Finance, has definitely assumed the Premiership made vacant by the death of Stolypin.
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Further reading
- Harcave, Sidney. (2004). Count Sergei Witte and the Twilight of Imperial Russia: A Biography. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe. 10-ISBN 0-765-61422-7; 13-ISBN 978-0-765-61422-3 (cloth)
- Kokovtsov, Vladimir. (1935). Out of My Past (translator, Laura Matveev). Stanford: Stanford University Press.
- Witte, Sergei. (1921). The Memoirs of Count Witte (translator, Abraham Yarmolinsky). New York: Doubleday.
External links
Media related to Vladimir Nikolaevich Kokovtsov at Wikimedia Commons- Vladimir Nikolayevich Kokovtsov at Flickr
