The face of 1905: repression orders in one hand, reform promises in the other
When Mosolov read the draft ordering troops to "spare no bullets," he asked, "Are you out of your mind?" Trepov replied, "No. Tomorrow they'll likely have to shoot. So far I haven't shed a drop of blood. The only way to prevent that is this phrase."
Son of a notorious St. Petersburg mayor, he rose through the Moscow police to become the most powerful man in the empire during the 1905 Revolution: Governor-General of St. Petersburg with dictatorial powers, Assistant Minister of the Interior, and head of the police and gendarmes, all at once. His October 1905 order to "spare no bullets and use no blanks" became the revolution's defining image of autocratic brutality, even as he simultaneously helped push through the October Manifesto and its promise of civil liberties. Shunted to palace commandant after the Manifesto, he remained the tsar's most trusted advisor until his sudden death from heart failure in 1906.
Career Timeline
- 1874Graduated from Page Corps, assigned to Life Guards Horse Regiment
- 1877–78Fought in Russo-Turkish War, wounded at Telish
- 1896–1905Moscow Chief of Police
- 1900Promoted to Major General
- 1905.1–10Governor-General of St. Petersburg (extraordinary powers)
- 1905.5–10Assistant Interior Minister, head of police and gendarmes
- 1905.10–1906.9Commandant of the Imperial Palace