Plot synopsis

The fifth episode of the documentary series "Historical Chronicles" with Nikolai Svanidze is dedicated to 1905 and the Russian statesman, the first chairman of the Council of Ministers of Russia, Count Sergei Witte. His premiership fell on the difficult, turning point of 1905. The country had just suffered a shameful defeat in the Russo-Japanese War. The first Russian revolution had taken place. An energetic ally of Alexander III, the author of an extremely successful financial reform, Sergei Yulievich Witte became the man who managed to lead Russia out of a dangerous crisis.
Witte is the author of the first Russian Constitution - the Manifesto of October 17. With his skillful and decisive actions, he prevented an armed uprising in the capital of the empire, St. Petersburg, outplaying the chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, Trotsky. However, Nicholas II did not need too proactive and successful dignitaries. Witte was dismissed. He did not live to see the new revolution a year...
The biggest "headache" of the royal family is the fate of Witte's candid memoirs. They were searched for in the house of the deceased, but Sergei Yulievich kept them in a Western bank. Some historians believe that if Nicholas II had lived to see the publication of these memoirs, he would have died of shame.

Selected in the following festivals or events :

- Historical Chronicles with Nikolay Svanidze, (kinoglaz.fr), 2026

Images

Sergueï WITTE (Сергей Юльевич ВИТТЕ) (1849-1915)