), count, Russian statesman; from 1889 - director of the department railways Ministry of Finance, from August 1892 - Minister of Finance, from August 1903 - Chairman of the Committee of Ministers. In 1905 he headed the Russian delegation that signed Treaty of Portsmouth Russia and Japan. From October 1905 to April 1906 - head of the Council of Ministers. Member State Council and Chairman of the Finance Committee until 1915.
Witte Sergei Yulievich (1849-1915). Count, Russian statesman. He began his career as head of the traffic service of the Odessa branch of the South-Western Railways. In 1879 he worked in St. Petersburg, as the head of the operation department on the board of the South-Western Railways. In 1888 he was appointed director of the department of railway affairs and chairman of the tariff committee, and in 1892 he became manager of the Ministry of Railways. At the end of the same year, Witte was appointed to the post minister of finance, which he held for 11 years. In this post, he carried out the famous reform - the transition to gold circulation. Witte's undoubted merit is his implementation of a monetary reform in 1897, which strengthened a stable gold currency in Russia before the 1914 war, instead of the previous paper one, and created the preconditions for the import of foreign capital into Russia. In 1903, he assumed the duties of chairman of the Committee of Ministers. The last position was actually an honorable resignation, since the committee had no significance before the 1905 revolution. This transfer from the post of all-powerful master of finance to the post of powerless chairman of the committee occurred under the pressure of the noble-landowner elements of the government (mainly Plehve), dissatisfied with Witte’s patronizing attitude and his flirting with moderate liberals. During the events of January 9, Witte disclaimed all responsibility for the actions of the government. In the summer of 1905, Nicholas sent Witte to Portsmouth to conclude a peace treaty with Japan. For the successful completion of this assignment, Witte was elevated to the rank of count. In the days of the October strike, when the course towards an agreement with the bourgeoisie won, Witte turned out to be the most the right person for the post of prime minister. The October 17 Manifesto is the brainchild of Witte. After the defeat of the revolution, when the autocracy felt solid ground beneath it, Witte again left the stage. Witte's last fall from grace lasted until his death (1915).
One meeting with Stolypin
"... Count Witte came to my father and, terribly excited, began to talk about how he had heard rumors that deeply outraged him, namely that in Odessa They want to rename the street after him. He began to ask my father to immediately give orders to the Odessa mayor Pelican to stop such an indecent act. The pope replied that this was a matter for the city government and that it was completely contrary to his views to interfere in such matters. To my father’s surprise, Witte began to beg more and more insistently for his request to be fulfilled, and when dad repeated for the second time that this was against his principle, Witte suddenly knelt down, repeating his request over and over again. When even here my father did not change his answer, Witte got up, quickly, without saying goodbye, went to the door and, not reaching the last one, turned and, looking angrily at my father, said that he would never forgive him for this ... "
Bock M.P. Memories of my father P.A. Stolypin. Minsk, Harvest, 2004. p. 231. ( we're talking about about the winter of 1910\1911)
Witte Sergey Yulievich(06/17/29/1849, Tiflis - 02/28/03/13/1915, Petrograd) - Russian statesman. Minister of Railways (1892), Minister of Finance (1892-1903), Chairman of the Committee of Ministers (1903-1906), Chairman of the Council of Ministers (1905-1906). Member of the State Council (since 1903). Count (since 1905). Actual Privy Councilor (1899).
Biography
The first 16 years of S. Witte’s life were spent in Tiflis, where he studied at the Tiflis gymnasium, then in Chisinau, where he continued his studies at the 1st Chisinau Russian gymnasium and where he received a gymnasium certificate.
In 1866, he (together with his brother) entered the newly opened Novorossiysk University (in Odessa) at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics. After the death of his father, the rest of the family moved to Odessa. In 1870, Witte graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Novorossiysk University (Odessa), receiving a Candidate of Sciences in Physics and Mathematics.
On May 1, 1870, Witte began working in the management of the Odessa Railway as a specialist in the operation of railways.
In the second half of the 1870s, Witte headed the operation service of the Odessa Railway. He became one of the closest employees of the director of the Russian Society of Shipping and Trade N.M. Chikhachev, who was in charge of the Odessa Railway.
In 1879, Witte moved to live in St. Petersburg, where he received the position of head of the operational department under the board of the Society of South-Western Railways (which, in addition to Odessa, included four more roads - Kharkovsko-Nikolaevskaya, Fastovskaya, Kiev-Brestskaya and Brestsko-Graevskaya ).
At the same time, Witte became one of the participants in the Baranovsk Commission, created by decree of Alexander II “to study the railway business in Russia” and develops a draft charter for Russian railways.
In February 1880, Witte was appointed head of the operation service in the administration of the Society of South-Western Railways and moved to live in Kyiv.
In 1886, Witte took over as manager of the Southwestern Railway Society.
On March 10, 1889, he was appointed head of the newly formed Department of Railway Affairs under the Ministry of Finance.
In February-August 1892 - Minister of Railways.
At the end of 1892, S. Witte was appointed to the post of Minister of Finance, which he held for 11 years.
Since 1896 - Secretary of State.
In 1903, he assumed the duties of chairman of the Committee of Ministers. The last position was actually an honorable resignation, since the committee had no significance before the 1905 revolution. This removal from the post of the influential Minister of Finance occurred under the pressure of the noble and landowner members of the government (mainly V.K. Plehve). He headed the government after reform as Chairman of the Council of Ministers.
Since 1903 - member of the State Council, appointed to the presence for 1906-1915.
Since 1903 - member of the Finance Committee, from 1911 to 1915 - its Chairman.
From October 1905 to April 1906 - Chairman of the reformed Council of Ministers.
He was dismissed on April 22, 1906; intrigued, even tried to use Grigory Rasputin to return to power. His last fall from grace lasted until his death. He died on February 28, 1915 in Petrograd from meningitis. The removal of the body and funeral service took place on March 2; the service in the Holy Spiritual Church of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra was led by Bishop Veniamin (Kazan) of Gdov, co-served by the rector of the Kazan Cathedral, Archpriest F. Ornatsky and others; Chairman of the Council of Ministers I. L. Goremykin and a number of ministers were present. He was buried at the Lazarevskoye cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
Founding of TTI and visit to Tomsk
The idea of creating an independent institute in Tomsk belonged to Count S. Yu. Witte, then Minister of Finance Russian Empire. In 1895 he wrote to the Minister of Public Education about the need to think through and solve the problem of training engineers in Siberia from its natives. S. Yu. Witte, in his letter to the Minister of Public Education I. D. Delyanov, reported on October 14, 1895 that he agreed to an additional increase in MNE loans this year by 400 thousand rubles. so that these amounts would be used for the costs of establishing a technological institute in Tomsk.
2. Gagarin A.V. "Tomsk politechnical University 1896-1996: Historical sketch". Tomsk: TPU, 1996. – 448 p.
3. I.T. Lozovsky “V.A. Obruchev in Tomsk". – Tomsk: NTL publishing house, 2000. – 180 p.
WITTE Sergei Yulievich, count (1905), Russian statesman, honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1893), actual Privy Councilor (1899). Nobleman. He graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Novorossiysk University in Odessa (1870) with a PhD in Mathematics. Having abandoned his teaching career, in 1870 he entered service at the state-owned Odessa Railway (the road began operating in 1877), which in 1878 became part of the joint stock company Southwestern Railways (since 1886 Witte has been its manager). He deserved the highest gratitude for facilitating the organization of the rapid transfer of troops and cargo to the theater of military operations during Russian-Turkish war 1877-78. He initiated the scientific development of railway tariffs; Witte’s book “Principles of railway tariffs for the transportation of goods” (1883) made him an authority in this field. Participated in the work of the Special High Commission for the study of railway business in Russia, one of the main drafters of the General Charter of Russian Railways (adopted in 1885). On the initiative of the Minister of Finance I. A. Vyshnegradsky (patronized Witte), in 1889 he was appointed director of the Department of Railway Affairs and chairman of the Tariff Committee of the Ministry of Finance.
For formation political views Even in his youth, Witte was influenced by his uncle, the Slavophile publicist R. A. Fadeev. For quite a long time, Witte's public position was characterized by pronounced conservatism. After the assassination of Emperor Alexander II by members of the People's Will organization, Witte was one of the initiators of the creation of the “Holy Squad” (1881) - a monarchist conspiratorial organization that, in the fight against revolutionaries, was supposed to adopt their own terrorist methods (Witte himself actively participated in it did not participate in activities). Witte emphasized that “if there were no unlimited autocracy, there would be no Russian great empire" In a note to Emperor Nicholas II, submitted in connection with the project to introduce zemstvos in the western provinces (1899), Witte argued that zemstvos could lead to a constitution, which in Russia “with its multilingualism and diversity ... is inapplicable without the disintegration of the state regime.” Witte's economic views evolved from Slavophile ideas about special way Russia until the recognition in the late 1880s of the inevitability of the country's capitalist development following the example of the industrial West. Witte became a follower of the German economist F. List, whose theory he propagated in the book “National Economy and Friedrich List” (1889); believed that for successful development National economy should be considered national characteristics, and he saw Russia’s advantage then in a strong autocratic government capable of carrying out fundamental changes in the interests of the entire population.
Since February 1892, Witte has been the manager of the Ministry of Railways. Minister of Finance . Strengthening the position of the Ministry of Finance, Witte attracted major specialists and entrepreneurs to work in it - P. L. Bark, V. N. Kokovtsov, D. I. Mendeleev, A. I. Putilov, I. P. Shipov. As a minister, Witte enjoyed the full support of Alexander III and Nicholas II in the first years of his reign. He considered the development of domestic industry to be a priority task. Pursuing a policy of protectionism, he provided lucrative government orders and benefits individual enterprises and entire industries (chemical, engineering, metallurgical, etc.). He paid special attention to attracting foreign capital to industry (he called them a “cure against poverty”). He participated in the development of the customs tariff of 1891, which was prohibitive in nature for the import of foreign goods and caused a customs war with Germany. Obtained the right for the Ministry of Finance, in agreement with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to increase rates customs tariffs for countries that prevented the export of Russian goods (1893). In 1894 he concluded a compromise Russian-German trade agreement and similar bilateral agreements with Austria-Hungary and France. To increase the number of specialists in the national economy, at the request of Witte, Kiev, Warsaw (both in 1898) and St. Petersburg (1902) were opened. polytechnic institutes(initially under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance, which in 1892-1902 opened another 188 different educational institutions, mainly commercial schools). Using those under state control Accounting and Loan Bank of Persia and the Russian-Chinese Bank (created on Witte’s initiative in 1894 and 1895, respectively), Witte sought to provide Russian goods with access to Asian markets. Together with Foreign Minister V.N. Lamzdorf, he advocated the gradual establishment of economic control over Manchuria, and therefore entered into confrontation with a group of influential courtiers and statesmen who insisted on political expansion in northeastern China and Korea (A. M. Bezobrazov, V. K. Pleve, etc.).
One of Witte's main activities was the development of railways (having become Minister of Finance, Witte retained influence on the Ministry of Railways), which Witte considered as circulatory system National economy. He continued the policy of expanding the public sector (during Witte’s tenure as Minister of Finance, the treasury bought over 15 thousand km railway tracks, about 27 thousand km built). Witte considered the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway to be a “task of paramount importance” (it was called ruinous for the treasury by his predecessors N. Kh. Bunge and I. A. Vyshnegradsky). He pointed out the great importance of such a road for the development of Siberia and hoped to use it to direct world transit trade instead of the Suez Canal through Russia. Despite significantly exceeding the original estimate, Witte secured funding for this grandiose construction and its completion in a short time. In 1896, by bribing the Chinese statesman Li Hongzhang, Witte secured the provision of a lucrative concession to the Russian Empire for the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER), which passed through northeastern China.
In achieving his goals and polemicizing with his opponents, Witte used various means, including funding individual journalists or press organs (Witte’s position was defended by the newspapers Birzhevye Vedomosti, Russkie Vedomosti, etc., as well as a number of foreign periodicals).
Tasks industrial development and railway construction, Witte’s policy was also subordinated, aimed at reforming the financial system, which by the early 1890s was characterized by a surplus money supply, instability of the credit ruble and its weak convertibility. Under the leadership of Witte, the Ministry of Finance in 1895-97 introduced gold monometallism, completing one of the most important monetary reforms in the history of Russia (its preparation was begun by Witte’s predecessors). Witte increased taxes, mainly indirect, and in 1895-1902 introduced a wine monopoly, the income from which became one of the most important items of the state budget. Witte made investments in the railway industry largely through government loans placed on foreign markets among small and medium-sized investors (contemporaries said that Russian railways were built with the money of German cooks). The overall balance of the state budget during Witte's tenure as Minister of Finance increased by 114.5%.
Beginning government activities, Witte in the area social relations considered it necessary to preserve the community and class isolation of the peasants, but in the mid-1890s he came to the conclusion that in order to create a capacious domestic market it is necessary to equalize the rights of peasants with the rest of the population and provide them with the opportunity to freely leave the community. In 1902-05, he defended these ideas as chairman of the Special Meeting on the needs of the agricultural industry. With the support of Witte, a law was developed to abolish mutual responsibility in rural communities (adopted in 1903). In his “Note on Peasant Affairs” (published in 1905), Witte emphasized that the community is “an insurmountable obstacle to the improvement of agricultural culture,” and that it has no longer restrained the stratification of property among the peasants. At the same time, Witte opposed the violent breakup of the community. He also believed that the transition to private land ownership will take for a long time. The proposals outlined by the Special Meeting were subsequently used among other measures in carrying out the Stolypin agrarian reform.
Witte's opponents accused him of pursuing an anti-noble policy and being passionate about the development of industry to the detriment of agriculture, “fabrication of factory owners”, unable to exist without state help, growing external debt. Gradually, Witte ceased to enjoy the support of Emperor Nicholas II, which led to his resignation from the post of Minister of Finance and appointment to the less influential post of Chairman of the Committee of Ministers (1903). Member of the State Council (1903).
Under the influence of Russia's defeats in Russian-Japanese war 1904-05 and the beginning of the Revolution of 1905-07, Witte advocated the early conclusion of a peace treaty with Japan. Emperor Nicholas II appointed Witte as head of the Russian delegation at peace negotiations with Japan. Witte concluded the Portsmouth Peace of 1905, for the completed mission he received the title of count, and from his opponents the nickname “Count of Polus-Sakhalin” (the peace terms provided for the transfer of the southern part of Sakhalin Island to Japan).
The revolutionary events of 1905 contributed to a change in Witte's political views. During the October general political strike of 1905, he presented the emperor with a note in which he stated that “state power must be ready to take the constitutional path.” Witte began to insist on the immediate granting of civil liberties to the population, the convening of a legislative people's representation and the creation of a unified government. Under his leadership, the Manifesto of October 17, 1905 was prepared.
Simultaneously with the publication of the manifesto, Witte was appointed chairman of the reformed Council of Ministers. Trying to create a “cabinet of public trust,” he invited the leaders of the liberal opposition (A. I. Guchkov, P. N. Milyukov, M. A. Stakhovich, E. N. Trubetskoy, etc.) to join the government, but they put forward a demand convening Constituent Assembly and a number of other conditions unacceptable to the authorities. Then Witte formed a “business cabinet” of officials. While at the head of the united government, he found himself under fire from both the right (he was considered a hidden “accomplice of the revolution”) and the left (he was condemned for his “protective” policy). Since the state's concessions to society did not stop anti-government protests, Witte approved the dispatch of punitive detachments to suppress the December armed uprisings of 1905. In April 1906, he concluded a foreign loan of 2.25 billion francs (called a “loan to suppress the revolution” in the leftist press). Witte supported the transformation of the State Council into the upper legislative chamber (February 1906), which was supposed to serve as a counterweight to the State Duma in the preparation of the Basic state laws 1906 defended the restriction of the rights of the Duma. Faced with the fact that the majority of the Duma elections was left-wing deputies, and not counting on constructive work with them, Witte resigned on the eve of the meetings State Duma. In 1907, the leaders of the Union of the Russian People organized a failed attempt on his life. In 1911-1915, Witte was chairman of the Finance Committee.
The author of the memoirs bequeathed their publication after his death (he kept the manuscript abroad). They were first published in 1922 in Germany as edited by I. V. Gessen, republished in Moscow in 1960, and Witte’s notes in the original edition were published in St. Petersburg in 2003. They present a detailed picture of the Russian political life and characteristics of major statesmen of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A number of events, as well as the position of some of Witte's political opponents, were distorted by him.
Awarded the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky (1906), St. Vladimir 1st degree (1913), French order Legion of Honor(1894), etc.
Works: Lecture notes on folk and state economy. 2nd ed. St. Petersburg, 1912.
Lit.: Tarle E.V. Graf S.Yu. Witte. Experience Characteristics foreign policy. L., ; Mehlinger N. D., Thompson J. M. Count Witte and the Tsarist government in the 1905 revolution. Bloomington, 1972; Laue T. N. S. Witte and the industrialization of Russia. N.Y., 1974; Ignatiev A.V.S.Yu. Witte - diplomat. M., 1989; Ananich B.V., Ganelin R.Sh. S. Yu. Witte - memoirist. St. Petersburg, 1994; they are. S. Yu. Witte and his time. St. Petersburg, 1999; Korelin A.P., Stepanov S.A.S.Yu. Witte - financier, politician, diplomat. M., 1998; S. Yu. Witte - statesman, reformer, economist: Part 2 M., 1999.
Sergei Yulievich Witte(1849-1915) - an outstanding statesman of Russia. His economic policy she was distinguished by her foresight, and her diplomatic abilities gave rise to mystical rumors.
An interesting fact is that Witte was considered the antipode of Stolypin. And indeed, their relationship was quite complicated.
They had opposing views on the path of progress of the empire, but they agreed on the main thing: both Witte and Stolypin loved Russia and did everything to glorify their fatherland.
Biographies of great people, such as these two men, are the personification of selfless service to the fatherland.
Origin of Witte
Sergei Witte was born into the family of the Courland nobleman Christoph-Heinrich-Georg-Julius and the daughter of the governor of the Saratov region Ekaterina Andreevna in 1849.
A short biography of the father of the family contains information about high level his education (he was a mining engineer and agronomist). In the early forties, he settled in the Saratov province and held the position of manager of a large landowner farm.
History is silent about how he won the heart of Ekaterina Andreevna Fadeeva, but it is obvious that this task was not an easy one.
His future wife and mother of Sergei Yulievich came from a highly educated noble family, her grandfather was Prince Dolgorukov.
Education
Before his 16th birthday, Sergei Witte attended a gymnasium in Tiflis. Then the family lived for a short time in Chisinau. After receiving their matriculation certificate, she and her brother became students at Novorossiysk University, one of the best in the Russian Empire.
The young man patiently and persistently studied mathematics, which allowed him to later become an outstanding economist.
In South Palmyra, in 1870, he defended his dissertation. Witte was offered to stay in educational institution, but he refused, for which he received the full support of his family, who considered the destiny of a nobleman to be service to the sovereign and the fatherland.
Witte's career
A brief biography of Sergei Witte does not allow us to dwell on all the details of the formation of his personality. However, we will note the key moments of his career.
Having entered the service and taken the post of official in the office of the governor of Novorossiya, he did not stay there for long and soon became a travel specialist on the recommendation of Count A.P. Bobrinsky.
Witte's biography contains information that he worked almost as a cashier, but this is not entirely true, although he actually had to travel a lot to small stations, studying the work of the railway in all its intricacies and occupy various low positions to deepen his knowledge.
Soon such persistence yielded results, and he headed the operational service of the Odessa Railway.
At that time, Sergei Witte was 25 years old.
Further growth
Witte’s fate as an official could have ended before it began due to the train crash that occurred on Tiligul.
However, his active work in organizing defense cargo transportation (there was a war with Turkey) won the favor of his superiors, and he was actually forgiven (punished with two weeks in the guardhouse).
The development of the port of Odessa is also largely his achievement. So, instead of resignation, Sergei Witte receives a new impetus in his career, but in St. Petersburg.
In 1879, he became the head of five southwestern railways (Kharkov-Nikolaev, Kiev-Brest, Fastov, Brest-Grayevsk and Odessa).
Then the biography of Sergei Witte continues in Kyiv, where he works under the leadership of I. S. Bliokh, a prominent theorist-economist and banker. Fifteen years of his life will pass here.
Achievements
At the beginning of the 20th century, tectonic processes took place in the world economy, from which Witte did not remain aloof.
His biography contains information about the work he wrote, “National Economy and Friedrich List.” Soon this book is noticed by the authorities, and Sergei Witte is appointed state councilor at the railway department.
Then his career develops rapidly, and now he is appointed to the post of minister.
D.I. Mendeleev was invited by Witte to serve in the department entrusted to him.
The services of Sergei Yulievich Witte to the state are colossal. We list only the most significant:
- Introduction of gold backing of the ruble. As a result, Russian currency unit becomes one of the main world currencies.
- The establishment of a state monopoly on the sale of vodka, as a result of which huge amounts of money begin to flow into the budget.
- A sharp increase in railway construction. During Witte's work, the length of the tracks doubled and exceeded 54 thousand miles. Such a pace did not exist even during the years of Stalin’s five-year plans.
- Transfer of communication routes to state ownership. The treasury bought 70% of the shipping companies from their owners; this was of strategic importance for the country’s economy.
Personal life
Sergei Witte has always been a hit with the ladies. He met his first wife in Odessa. At that time she was in a formal marriage.
N. A. Spiridonova (née Ivanenko) was the daughter of the leader of the nobility from Chernigov. Soon they got married in Kyiv, in the Cathedral of St. Vladimir. The couple lived until the death of his wife in 1890.
Two years later, Witte married again. His chosen one, Matilda Ivanovna Lisanevich, herself raised her daughter, whom Sergei Yulievich raised as his own child.
The wife was a cross-Jew, which strained the official’s relationship with secular society. He himself did not attach any importance to prejudices.
Last years
Witte’s relationship with Emperor Nicholas II was extremely difficult, in contrast to the complete understanding that he had with Nicholas’s father, Emperor Alexander III.
On the one hand, Nicholas II valued him as an unparalleled specialist who had earned recognition during the reign of his father; on the other hand, court intrigues (of which, by the way, Sergei Yulievich himself was very capable) greatly complicated the position of the Minister of Finance, whose post was by that time occupied by Witte.
In the end, in 1903 he lost his post, but did not remain idle for long.
As soon as some hopeless state situation occurred, Emperor Nicholas II immediately resorted to the help of Sergei Witte.
It was he who was sent to conduct peace negotiations with the Japanese government, as a result of which the Portsmouth Peace Treaty was signed. He completed the task masterfully, and his reward was the title of count.
Then difficulties arose with the agricultural project, the author of which was Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin. Having met resistance from the landowners, Witte retreated and fired the author of the controversial law. However, it was impossible to maneuver between the interests of opposing factions for a long time. The inevitable resignation eventually took place in 1906.
This is where Witte’s biography ends. In February 1915 he fell ill with meningitis and died.
The whole life of this statesman is a vivid illustration of the struggle for the prosperity of the Motherland.
Briefly about Sergei Witte we can say the following:
- An outstanding Russian economist, diplomat, statesman and reformer.
- Stabilized the ruble exchange rate by introducing gold backing.
- Ensured the influx of foreign loans into the domestic market for the first time in Russian history.
- He carried out a project to build the world's largest Trans-Siberian Railway.
- The author of the manifesto that stopped the 1905 revolution on October 17, after which he was removed by Emperor Nicholas II from the post of chairman of the Council of Ministers.
- He concluded a peace treaty with Japan, according to which half of the island of Sakhalin passed to Japan, while the second half, after the defeat, remained with Russia.
- Thanks to his unique diplomatic abilities, he managed to conclude an alliance treaty with China, the Portsmouth Peace Treaty with Japan, and a trade agreement with Germany.
As a conclusion, it should be said that Sergei Yulievich Witte became a shining example an outstanding mind who did a lot for his beloved Russia.
S.Yu. Witte was born in Tiflis on June 17, 1849 and was raised in the family of his grandfather A.M. Fadeev, a Privy Councilor who was in 1841-1846. Saratov governor, and then a member of the management council of the Caucasian governor and expedition manager state property Transcaucasian region.
He came from little-known Russified Germans who became nobles in 1856 (although he himself promoted a version of hereditary nobility and loyalty to Orthodoxy). early years Witte passed in Tiflis and Odessa, where, in 1870, he completed a course of science at the University of Novorossiysk in the Faculty of Mathematics with a candidate's degree, writing a dissertation "On infinitesimal quantities." The young mathematician thought of staying at the university to prepare for a professorship. But his youthful passion for actress Sokolova distracted him from scientific studies and preparing his next dissertation on astronomy. In addition, his mother and uncle rebelled against Witte’s academic career, declaring that “this is not a noble matter.” On July 1, 1871, Witte was ranked as an official in the office of the Novorossiysk and Bessarabia Governor-General, and two years later he was appointed chief of staff. In the management of the Odessa Railway, where his uncle assigned him to serve, he studied the railway business in practice, starting from the lowest levels, having been in the role of a freight service clerk and even an assistant driver, but soon, having taken the position of traffic manager, he turned into a major railway entrepreneur . However, in April 1877, he submitted his resignation from government service.
After the end of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. The treasury-owned railway merged with the private Society of South-Western Railways. There Witte received the position of head of the operational department. The new appointment required a move to St. Petersburg. He lived in the capital for about two years. The events of March 1, 1881, which left a noticeable mark on Witte’s biography, found him already in Kyiv. At this time, Witte found himself under the influence of Slavophile ideas and became interested in theological writings; he became close to the leaders of the “Slavic movement”; As soon as the news of the assassination attempt on Alexander II reached Kyiv, Witte wrote to Fadeev in the capital and presented the idea of creating a noble secret organization to protect the emperor and fight the revolutionaries using their own methods. Fadeev picked up this idea in St. Petersburg and, with the help of Vorontsov-Dashkov, created the notorious “Holy Squad”. In mid-March 1881, Witte was initiated as a member in St. Petersburg. He was appointed chief ruler of the squad in the Kiev region. Witte was zealous in fulfilling the duties assigned to him by the squad. By her order, he was sent to Paris to organize an assassination attempt on the famous populist revolutionary L.N. Hartmann, participated in the literary enterprises of the squad of a provocative nature, in particular, in the compilation of a brochure published (Kyiv, 1882) under the pseudonym "Free Thinker", containing criticism of the program and activities " People's Will" and predicted her death.
At the end of April 1881 Alexander III took the side of the enemies of any changes in the system government controlled. (M.N. Katkov and K.P. Pobedonostsev). This was followed by the dismissal of the Minister of Internal Affairs, Count N.P., who patronized the “Druzhina”. Ignatiev, the “Druzhina” was liquidated.
In 1887, Witte served as manager of the Southwestern Railways, and in 1889 he received the post of director of the railway department in the Ministry of Finance (at the expense of losing income). Witte, with his characteristic energy, began to conquer St. Petersburg; at the beginning of 1892 he was already Minister of Railways.
His further advancement through the ranks was complicated by his new marriage after the death of his first wife. His second wife Matilda Ivanovna Witte (Nurok, from her first marriage Lisapevich) was divorced and Jewish. Despite all Witte's efforts, she was not accepted at court. However, the marriage took place with the consent of Alexander III.
In August 1892, due to Vyshnegradsky's illness, Witte became his successor as Minister of Finance. Having taken the post of one of the most influential ministers, Witte showed himself to be a real politician. He remained in this post for 11 years - from 1892 to 1903. Here he showed himself to be a supporter of the industrialization of the country following the Western European maneuver. Witte has repeatedly emphasized that Russia has unique Natural resources, which are still dead weight. By the beginning of the twentieth century, Witte had a clear program for economic development: to catch up industrially the developed countries, take a strong position in trade with the East, ensure a foreign trade surplus, and all this - with unlimited state intervention in the economy and with a stable autocratic government.
