Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

Pyotr Dmitrievich Svyatopolk-Mirsky (, tr. ; in

Vladikavkaz Vladikavkaz, formerly known as Ordzhonikidze () or Dzaudzhikau (), is the capital city of North Ossetia–Alania, Russia. It is located in the southeast of the republic at the foothills of the Caucasus, situated on the Terek (river), Terek River. ...

– in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

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 ...

) was a Russian general, politician, and police official.

Family

Svyatopolk-Mirsky was born in Vladikavkaz into the prominent

Svyatopolk-Mirsky The House of Sviatopolk-Mirsky (, , , also transliterated using ''Swiatopolk'' or ''Mirskii'') is a family of nobility in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Russian Empire, and Poland that originated from present-day northwestern Belarus. They firs ...

family. He was the only son of the general Dmitry Ivanovich Svyatopolk-Mirsky and Georgian Princess Sofia Orbeliani. Pyotr was educated at

Page Corps The Page Corps (; ) was a military academy in Imperial Russia, which prepared sons of the nobility and of senior officers for military service. Similarly, the Imperial School of Jurisprudence prepared boys for civil service. The present-day equiva ...

, graduating in 1874 with first-class honours, and was appointed Page of the Chamber. In 1875, he became a

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. There is also a soprano cor ...

at ''Her Empress Leib-Guards

Hussar A hussar, ; ; ; ; . was a member of a class of light cavalry, originally from the Kingdom of Hungary during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely adopted by light cavalry ...

s''. He was the father to literary historian D. S. Mirsky.

Military career

Svyatopolk-Mirsky took part in the Russo-Turkish War, 1877–78 and was decorated for valour in the

Battle of Kars The Battle of Kars was a Russian victory over the Ottoman Empire during the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). The battle for the city took place on November 17, 1877, and resulted in the Russians capturing the city along with a large portion of ...

. Then he studied at the General Staff Academy and graduated in 1881. In 1884, he was made the acting commander of the staff of 31st Infantry division, and in 1887, he was appointed to commander of staff of 3d

Grenadier A grenadier ( , ; derived from the word ''grenade'') was historically an assault-specialist soldier who threw hand grenades in siege operation battles. The distinct combat function of the grenadier was established in the mid-17th century, when ...

division.

Political career

In 1895, he was appointed the governor of Penza, and in 1897 the governor of Yekaterinoslav. In 1900,

Dmitry Sipyagin Dmitry Sergeyevich Sipyagin (; – ) was a Russian politician. Political career Born in Kiev, Sipyagin graduated from the Judicial Department of St Petersburg University in 1876. Served in the MVD as Vice Governor of Kharkov Governorate ( ...

appointed Svyatopolk-Mirsky assistant

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

and commander of the Imperial Corps of

Gendarme A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to "men-at-arms" (). In France and som ...

s. After Sipyagin's assassination in 1902, Svyatopolk-Mirsky resigned as assistant minister but was persuaded to accept the position of

Governor-General of Vilna Vilna Governorate-General (, ), known as Lithuania Governorate-General before 1830, was a Governorate-General of the Russian Empire from 1794 to 1912. It primarily encompassed the Vilna, Grodno, and Kovno Governorates. Governors General were als ...

(modern-day

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

and

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

). As the Governor-General, Svyatopolk-Mirsky was credited with successful liberal reforms, defusing national tensions in the province by allowing more rights to the national minorities and stopping

pogrom A pogrom is a violent riot incited with the aim of Massacre, massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe late 19th- and early 20th-century Anti-Jewis ...

s against the Jews. In August 1904, he succeeded to the position of

after Plehve's assassination. His appointment was seen as a victory of Liberals over the Conservatives and in the Court term as a victory of the party of widow Empress Maria Fyodorovna (who supported the liberal reforms and was a patroness of Pyotr's sister Olga) over the party of

Empress consort A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king, and usually shares her spouse's social rank and status. She holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles and may be crowned and anointed, but historically she does not formally ...

Alexandra Fyodorovna. The Conservative Ministers

Witte Witte (and de Witte) are Dutch and Low German surnames meaning "(the) white one". Witte can also be a patronymic surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Alfred Witte (1878–1941), German astrologer * Barbara Witte (1922–1992), Ge ...

and Sipiagin credited Svyatopolk-Mirsky with being an honourable, intelligent man of the highest moral principles, which is notable due to his attempts at liberal reform in

Imperial Russia Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * ...

while minister. The reforms began with permitting members of the local

zemstvos A zemstvo (, , , ''zemstva'') was an institution of local government set up in consequence of the emancipation reform of 1861 of Imperial Russia by Emperor Alexander II of Russia. Nikolay Milyutin elaborated the idea of the zemstvo, and the fir ...

to gather to discuss broader policy issues and coordination of zemstvo programs, something that had not been permitted in Russia regularly. The remaining reforms were embodied in a decree that called for the inclusion of elected members to the State Council, removal of the restrictions on the

Old Believers Old Believers or Old Ritualists ( Russian: староверы, ''starovery'' or старообрядцы, ''staroobryadtsy'') is the common term for several religious groups, which maintain the old liturgical and ritual practices of the Russian ...

, measures to strengthen legality, extend freedom of the press and religion, broaden the authority of local self-government, eliminate unnecessary restrictions on non-Russians, and do away with exceptional laws in general. Svyatopolk-Mirsky not only allowed the congress but also participated in its work and personally delivered its decision to Tsar

Nicholas II Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. He married ...

along with his own plan for constitutional reforms. Svyatopolk-Mirsky's plan included transferring more power to the

State Council of Imperial Russia The State Council ( rus, Госуда́рственный сове́т, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj sɐˈvʲet) was the supreme state advisory body to the tsar in the Russian Empire. From 1906, it was the upper house of the parliament under t ...

. The plan was much less radical than the reforms implemented by the

October Manifesto The October Manifesto (), officially "The Manifesto on the Improvement of the State Order" (), is a document that served as a precursor to the Russian Empire's first Constitution, which was adopted the following year in 1906. The Manifesto was is ...

1905, but in December 1904, it was considered ultra-radical and was dismissed. The massacre of a peaceful demonstration in

, known as

Bloody Sunday Bloody Sunday may refer to: Historical events Canada * Bloody Sunday (1923), a day of police violence during a steelworkers' strike for union recognition in Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia * Bloody Sunday (1938), police violence agai ...

, occurred on . According to Svyatopolk-Mirsky, he never had authorised the shooting of the demonstrators but still fulfilled his final duty to the tsar and became the

scapegoat In the Bible, a scapegoat is one of a pair of kid goats that is released into the wilderness, taking with it all sins and impurities, while the other is sacrificed. The concept first appears in the Book of Leviticus, in which a goat is designate ...

for the massacre. According to Svyatopolk-Mirsky's opponents, he not only authorised the shooting but also actively encouraged the demonstration to push his own political agenda. Svyatopolk-Mirsky was replaced as minister of the Interior by

Alexander Bulygin Alexander Grigoryevich Bulygin (; – 5 September 1919) was the Minister of Interior of Russia from February 1905 until October 1905. Biography Graduate of the Imperial School of Law, he began work in the Tambov district court in 1871. He t ...

in February 1905 and retired from government service. As a retired Minister of Interior, he was expected to be appointed a member of the

, but it was not the case. He retired from the political life until his death on 16 May 1914.

References

*''Out of My Past: The Memoirs of Count Kokovtsov'' Edited by H.H. Fisher and translated by Laura Matveev; Stanford University Press, 1935. *''The Memoirs of Count Witte'' Edited and translated by Sydney Harcave; Sharpe Press, 1990.
Biography of Pyotr Dmitrievich Svyatopolk-Mirsky in Russian
{{DEFAULTSORT:Svyatopolk-Mirsky, Pyotr Dmitrievich Politicians from the Russian Empire Police chiefs from the Russian Empire Members of the State Council (Russian Empire) 1857 births 1914 deaths People from Vladikavkaz People of the Russian Revolution of 1905 Governors-general of Lithuania Governors of Penza Governorate Governors of the Yekaterinoslav Governorate