Pyotr Stolypin

Lore & Background

Born in Dresden, in the Kingdom of Saxony, to a prominent Russian aristocratic family, Stolypin studied physics and mathematics at St. Petersburg University before entering government service. His successes in public service led to rapid promotions, culminating in his appointment as interior minister under prime minister Ivan Goremykin in April 1906. In July, Goremykin resigned and was succeeded as prime minister by Stolypin. As prime minister, Stolypin initiated major agrarian reforms, known as the Stolypin reform, that granted the right of private land ownership to the peasantry. His tenure was also marked by increased revolutionary unrest, to which he responded with a new system of martial law that allowed for the arrest, speedy trial, and execution of accused offenders. After numerous assassination attempts, Stolypin was fatally shot in September 1911 by revolutionary Dmitrii Bogrov in Kiev. Stolypin was a monarchist and hoped to strengthen the throne by modernizing the rural Russian economy. Modernity and efficiency, rather than democracy, were his goals. He argued that the land question could be resolved and revolution averted only when the peasant commune was abolished and a stable landowning class of peasants, the kulaks, had a stake in the status quo. His successes and failures have been the subject of controversy among scholars, who agree that he was one of the last major statesmen of Imperial Russia with cogent and forceful public reform policies.

Reader's Guide

Stolypin studied agriculture at St. Petersburg University, where one of his teachers was Dmitri Mendeleev. He entered government service upon graduating in 1885, writing his thesis on tobacco growing in the south of Russia. It is unclear if he joined the Ministry of State Property or Internal Affairs. In 1884, Stolypin married Olga Borisovna von Neidhart, whose family was of a similar standing to Stolypin's. They married whilst Stolypin was still a student, an uncommon occurrence at the time. The marriage began in tragic circumstances: Olga had been engaged to Stolypin's brother, Mikhail, who died in a duel. The marriage was a happy one, devoid of scandal. The couple had five daughters and one son. On 25 August 1906, three assassins from the Union of Socialists-Revolutionaries Maximalists, wearing military uniforms, bombed a public reception Stolypin was holding at his dacha on Aptekarsky Island. Stolypin was only slightly injured by flying splinters, but 28 others were killed. Stolypin's 15-year-old daughter lost both legs and later succumbed to her injuries at the hospital, and his 3-year-old son Arkady broke a leg, as the two stood on a balcony.

Did You Know?

• Stolypin studied physics and mathematics at St. Petersburg University, not agriculture.
• His daughter who lost both legs in the 1906 bombing survived her injuries, not died.
• Stolypin married Olga Borisovna von Neidhart in 1884, after graduating from university in 1885, not while still a student.