Alexander Trepov

Alexander Trepov

Alexander Fyodorovitch Trepov (Russian: Александр Фёдорович Трепов, 30 September 1862, Kiev – 10 November 1928, Nice) was a prime minister of Imperial Russia from 23 November 1916 until 9 January 1917. He was conservative, a monarchist, a member of the Russian Assembly, but also known as opposed to the influence of Rasputin, and as an advocate of moderate and sane reforms.

Life

Alexander was the son of general Fyodor Trepov (1812-1889), who was involved in the suppression of the January Uprising in 1864 and appointed as the mayor of St Petersburg. He was the brother of the hated Dmitri Feodorovich Trepov, involved in the repression following the events of the 1905 discontent.

Alexander was educated in His Majesty's Page Corps. He worked in the Ministry of the Interior (1889–1892), was elected Marshal of Nobility of Pereiaslavl Uezd (1892–1895), and assistant State Secretary (1899).

Member of the special commission to draft a plan for a State Duma, according to the rescript of February 18, 1905, and the Manifesto of October 17.

Senator in the Governing Senate in 1906. In an unknown year he was sent abroad to study the parliamentary systems of Western Europe.^[1] Member of the State Council since 1914. Trepov was appointed Transport Minister (Ministry of Imperial Railways) on November 12, 1915, developed the Kirov Railway to improve the transport connections between the port of Murmansk with the Eastern Front during World War I. Grigori Rasputin was grieved after the appointment of Trepov.^[2] He became prime minister in November 23, 1916, keeping also his position of Transport Minister. Aleksei Aleksandrovich Bobrinsky, the Minister of Agriculture had to give up his post. Nikolai Pokrovsky, on Foreign Affairs, was appointed on 30 November.

Trepov informed Alexander Protopopov that he wished him to give up the Ministry of the Interior and take over that of Commerce. Protopopov refused. Trepov had made the dismissal of Protopopov an indispensable condition of his accepting the presidency of the Council.^[3] The Tsar agreed on the 23rd. The Tsarina tried to save Protopopov in his influential position in the ministry of interior, and hated Trepov and Makarov.^[4] On 27 November Trepov travelled to Stavka. Trepov threatened to resign on the next day. On 2 December, on his appearance in the Imperial Duma, Trepov was loudly hissed at by the Socialists.^[5] On 7 December the cabinet demanded that Protopopov should go to the Emperor and resign, but remained at his post at the request of the Tsar.

Alexander Fyodorovitch Trepov in 1916

Trepov having failed to eliminate Protopopov tried to bribe Rasputin.^[6] With the help of general A.A. Mosolov,^[7] his brother-in-law, Trepov offered a substantial amount of money, a bodyguard and a house to Rasputin, when he would leave politics.^[8] The Tsarina was informed on 13 December and wrote a furious letter against Trepov.

On 12 December (N.S.) the German Chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg, in a speech in the Reichstag, offered to open negotiations with the Entente in a neutral country. Woodrow Wilson planned to bring the United States into the war, when the Germans attempted to negotiate peace with the allies.

On December 16, 1916 (O.S.) the Duma was closed for Christmas until 28 December (which is 29 December until January 9, 1917 N.S.). On the day of opening a hesitating prince Nikolai Golitsyn became the successor of Trepov, who retired.

According to B. Pares Trepov probably was a curator at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, where he met the Tsar on February 1, 1917. After the October revolution he emigrated via Helsinki to France from where he supported the White Army as a monarchist.

References

1. Recollections Of A Foreign Minister (1921)
2. Bernard Pares The Fall of the Russian Monarchy, p. 299.
3. The Russian Revolution by Richard Pipes, p. 261
4. The Fall of the Russian Empire: The Story of the Last of the Romanovs and ... by Edmund A. Walsh S.J., p. 115, 116, 297.
5. B. Pares, p. 396; Bolshevism — The Enemy of Political and Industrial Democracy by John Spargo, p. 97.
6. Nicholas and Alexandra: The Tragic, Compelling Story of the Last Tsar and ... by Robert K. Massie
7. Aleksandr Mosolov (1935). At the court of the last tsar: being the memoirs of A. A. Mossolov, head of the court chancellery, 1900-1916. Methuen. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
8. E. Radzinsky (2010) The Rasputin File, p. ; B. Pares, p. 395;

Sources

• An obituary can be found in The Times, Monday, Nov 12, 1928; pg. 18 (using the old transliteration as Trepoff)
• V.I. Gurko. Features And Figures Of The Past. Government And Opinion In The Reign Of Nicholas II.