Chapter
Ten
Count Serge Witte
Count Serge Witte
If anything great was done
during the reign of the last Tsar it was done by Witte. Inside his
head Witte carried the ablest administrative brain in Russia. It had
guided him from humble beginnings to the role of leading minister of
two tsars. Witte was the unique, exceptional statesman of
intellectual power.
But during the latter part of
his life, for many years, while he was still full of vigour and
creative ability, he was relieved of office and remained away from
state affairs, tragically alone. The last tsar hated him. Yet he
was the only man who could have prevented the national catastrophe of
1917 in time, had he had the fullness of power in his hands. He
would have established the politically reformed monarchy upon the
basis of the tremendous development of national activity. All the
constructive work that was done by the government during the last two
reigns is coupled with the name of Witte. He industrialised Russia,
introduced gold standards, spirit monopoly, constructed railways all
over Russia, great trans Siberian railways, the longest in the world,
starting from Moscow and ending at Vladivostock on the Pacific Coast.
He insisted upon a change in the
existing system of government before the tides of the revolution had
burst on the banks. He concluded the peace treaty with Japan at
Portsmouth and secured terms in favour of Russia. He gave Russia its
first constitution and its first parliament. The Imperial Manifesto,
of October 30 1905, transformed Russia from an absolute autocracy
into a semi-constitutional monarchy. Witte's proposal, as regards
the peasants, was the only expedient solution. When war broke out in
1914, he was abroad. He hurried back home and warned the Tsar about
the future catastrophe and asked him to withdraw his army immediately
from the frontier. But the Tsar did not listen to him. The great
war continued. He died broken-hearted in the midst of war in 1916.
It was his fate to see the demolition of the giant edifice which he
built.
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