Octobrist leader who received the Tsar's abdication: Boer War volunteer turned Provisional Government minister
On 2 March 1917, Guchkov boarded the imperial train at Pskov with Shulgin and received the act of abdication from Nicholas II. Three centuries of Romanov rule ended in that carriage.
Alexander Guchkov led the Union of 17 October (Octobrists), championing constitutional monarchy and Stolypin's reforms as a conservative liberal. As Chairman of the Third Duma, he denounced Rasputin and the court, becoming an enemy of Nicholas II. On 2 March 1917 he and Vasily Shulgin received the Tsar's abdication at Pskov; he became War Minister but resigned during the April Crisis. He later backed Kornilov and the White movement. A Boer War volunteer, Tibet traveler, and serial duellist, he died in Paris in 1936.
Career Timeline
- 1899–1902Boer War volunteer; wounded and captured
- 1906Chairman of the Union of 17 October
- 1907–1912Third Duma deputy; chairs Defence Committee
- 1910–1911Chairman of the Third State Duma
- 1915–1917Chairman, Central War Industries Committee
- 1917.3Receives Nicholas II's abdication at Pskov
- 1917.3–4War and Navy Minister, Provisional Government
- 1919–1936White movement sponsor; exile in Paris