The last premier of the empire, who begged to be excused
Led to execution in 1925, partly paralysed, his last words were: 'I am tired of life. Thank God!'
The last prime minister of the Russian Empire. Appointed in January 1917, he begged the Tsar to rescind the post, citing his incompetence. As a loyal subject he accepted, but when the February Revolution broke he proved incapable of decisive action. He survived the revolution as a cobbler and garden guard, until the OGPU executed him, partly paralysed, in the 1925 'lyceist' case.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1871–1879Ministry of Internal Affairs, peasant affairs in Congress Poland
- 1879–1885Vice-Governor of Arkhangelsk, Vice-Director at Ministry of Internal Affairs
- 1885–1903Governor of Arkhangelsk, Kaluga, and Tver
- 1903–1915Senator, member of the State Council
- 1915–1916Chairman, Russian POW Aid Committee
- 1917.01–03Last prime minister of the Russian Empire
Related historical events
- 1914–1918First World WarChair of the Russian POW Aid CommitteeHe chaired the Russian POW Aid Committee from 1915 to 1916.
- 1917.02–07The February Revolutionlast prime minister of the Russian EmpireAppointed as the last prime minister of the Russian Empire in January 1917, he begged to be excused citing incompetence, and his paralysis in the final days illustrated the vacuum that the February Revolution filled.
The Last Premiership: Two Months That Dropped the Reins
At the end of December 1916, days after Grigory Rasputin was murdered and the court fell into panic, Nicholas II appointed Golitsyn chairman of the Council of Ministers at the urging of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Golitsyn long begged the tsar to rescind the appointment, pleading that he was 'unprepared for the role of premier,' but as a loyal subject he finally accepted it. By the memoir of the courtier Alexei Tatishchev, he entered the post in a state of 'essential powerlessness.'
As premier Golitsyn urged reconciliation with the Duma, petitioned the emperor to dismiss interior minister Alexander Protopopov (seen as Rasputin's man), and opposed dissolving the Duma; this only earned the displeasure of the tsar and tsarina. When the February Revolution broke, he showed no decisiveness. On 27 February, pressed by Duma leaders such as Mikhail Rodzianko, he telegraphed the tsar that the situation in the capital was 'extremely serious' and proposed naming an authoritative public figure as premier. The tsar ignored his advice, and the next day, 28 February, revolutionary troops seized the Mariinsky Palace. Golitsyn was arrested at home along with the other ministers and later testified before the Provisional Government's Extraordinary Investigative Commission on 21 April. His lifelong creed of 'knowing how to keep silent' stood revealed as helplessness before the decisiveness the revolution demanded.