Dmitri Feodorovich Trepov (transliterated at the time as Trepoff) (15 December 1850 – 15 September 1906) was Head of the Moscow police, Governor-General of St. Petersburg with extraordinary powers, and Assistant Interior Minister with full control of the police. His attempts to restore order were overwhelmed by the
revolution of 1905; he retained influence with the
Tsar Nicholas II, when appointed as the Commandant of the Imperial Palace.
Life
Dmitri was the second son of General
Fyodor Trepov who was involved in the suppression of the
January Uprising in 1864 and appointed as the mayor of St. Petersburg. Dmitri was the brother of
A. F. Trepov, Vladimir F. Trepov, and
F. F. Trepov Jr.
After his education and training in the
Corps des Pages, Trepov participated in the
Russo-Turkish War (1877–78).
After being promoted to head of the police of Moscow, in July, 1877, Alexei Bogolyubov, a Polish inmate, refused to remove his cap before Trepov's father, Fyodor. In response, Bogolyubov was sentenced by Fyodor to be flogged. This occurred at the time of the
Trial of the 193, a mass trial of students accused of "disobedience" and charged with treason. In response to these two acts of barbarism,
Vera Zasulich attempted to assassinate Fyodor, shooting at him but only wounding him, after which he retired.
Trepov was involved in the 'Third Section', named by
Grand Duke Sergei, Governor General of
Moscow Governorate. In 1896 he became Chief Police of Moscow, where he took a strong line against student agitators. The year after he was shot and wounded in his leg.
A few days after
Bloody Sunday (1905), on 12 January 1905 (
O.S.), Trepov was appointed in St. Petersburg (then the capital of the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
) to become Governor General of the
Saint Petersburg Governorate with full power to forbid all congresses, associations, or meetings. He took his residence in the
Winter Palace. Along with
Plehve and
Count Ignatyev Trepov promoted a policy of repression and anti-Jewish persecution. He personally edited pamphlets.

At the beginning of June 1905 he was appointed Assistant Minister of the Interior under
Alexander Bulygin: he appeared to acquiesce in Prime Minister
Count Witte's reforms. Trepov, protected by
Vladimir Freedericksz, was described by Witte as the unofficial dictator of the country, ruling the government. Trepov allowed students in September the right to assemble on university campuses, and removed the police, but one month later he was urging “the most drastic measures” to end the strike of railway workers. Trepov ordered provincial police to “act in the most drastic manner...not stopping at the direct application of force.” On 14 October (O.S) he gave orders to “Spare no cartridges and use no blanks”: the police and the army ignored the order. The police surrounded the
University of St. Petersburg, forbade rallies, and threatened to clear the campus by force. Trepov warned the Tsar that order could not be forcibly restored without very heavy bloodshed. A few days later he did sign the
October Manifesto, in which his dismissal was one of the demands. Trepov sent in his resignation. There were demonstrations for and against the Manifesto, and street fighting in St. Petersburg between the
Black Hundreds and workers. On 26 October (O.S.) the Tsar dismissed Trepov and appointed him Master of the
Alexander Palace at
Tsarskoe Selo, so he had daily contact with the Emperor; his influence at court was paramount.
Late June 1906, after the dissolution of the
First Duma, he promoted a cabinet with only
Kadets, which in his opinion would soon enter into a violent conflict with the Emperor and fail. He secretly met with
Pavel Milyukov, who opposed to
Pyotr Stolypin,
Alexander Izvolsky and
Vasily Maklakov, promoting a
coalition cabinet. Trepov was a lifelong reactionary anti-
reformist, like his father. He strongly believed that
autocracy
Autocracy is a form of government in which absolute power is held by the head of state and Head of government, government, known as an autocrat. It includes some forms of monarchy and all forms of dictatorship, while it is contrasted with demo ...
was the only way for Russia.
Trepov was subject to many assassination threats - some of those involved stated that he was in fact safe on the streets, as he had been marked for assassination in his own bedroom; two of his nieces were among those who attempted to assassinate him. In early July assassins tried to kill him at
Peterhof Palace, but in September he died of
angina pectoris.
[ there are a number of other references there and in ]The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trepov, Dmitri Feodorovich
1850 births
1906 deaths
Deaths from angina pectoris
Politicians from the Russian Empire
Police officers from the Russian Empire
Russian shooting survivors
Governors-general of Saint Petersburg