Pyotr Nikolaevich Durnovo was a well-known historical figure of his time, but he gained special popularity after his death, when the sovereign emperor and all his associates became convinced of the truth of the foreteller of the figure. This article will consider his biography, the main areas of activity and the main mystery of life - “Note” by Durnovo.
Basic information
Pyotr Nikolaevich was born in 1845 in the Moscow province, throughout his life he led state affairs, for a year he headed the Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Empire. Often he is confused with the famous namesake - Pyotr Pavlovich, who was the Moscow governor since 1905.
Childhood
Durnovo was lucky to be born in a fairly noble and respected family. His father was a representative of an old noble family, revered by a man in the entire Moscow province, as a result of which he was appointed vice-governor of one of her settlements. Mother was the niece of Lazarev, the famous Russian admiral, the discoverer of Antarctica. The Durnovo family was large, but despite this fact, parents were able to give each child an excellent upbringing, literacy and other important sciences, as well as invest in them the foundations of morality and virtue.
Start of activity
At the age of 15, Pyotr Nikolayevich could already call himself the proud title of “cadet,” he graduated from a specialized Moscow school. And after 2 years, he went to conquer the waters of China and Japan, where he spent about 8 years. In the early 1860s, Pyotr Nikolayevich Durnov discovered an island in the Sea of ​​Japan with his colleagues. At the end of the same decade, he decided to return to Moscow and try himself in a slightly different field, but could not completely leave military service, so he combined the two specialties that attracted him, enrolling in the military law academy. Already in the early seventies, he passed the qualification exam and was appointed assistant prosecutor of one of the districts. After some time, he was fired and sent to the Ministry of Justice.
Civil service
In 1873, Durnovo was transferred by a fellow prosecutor to Moscow from Vladimir, and a few years later he received the post of prosecutor - first Rybinsky, then Vladimirsky Uyezd.
At the beginning of the next decade, Pyotr Nikolaevich began to manage the judicial department of the Department of State Police under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. And his appointment in this position only accelerated his already rapid career growth. Literally after 1.5 years, he was appointed deputy director of the same Department, which means he got the opportunity to develop in his activities through business trips abroad. So, for a year he visited France, the German Empire and Austria-Hungary, where he got acquainted with the structure of state structures, in particular, the police, and ways of monitoring anti-government elements in order to apply some of the most successful of them in the Russian Empire.
Upon returning to his homeland, Pyotr Nikolayevich Durnovo will take the post of Director of the Department, where he will stay 10 years, but will be dismissed with a scandal. As you know, the “Black Cabinet” was subordinated to the state police - the body that deals with the correspondence of citizens in order to prevent anti-government protests. In 1893, employees found letters from a St. Petersburg lady to her lover, the Brazilian ambassador to Russia. As it turned out, she was a lady of the heart and Durnovo himself, the chief of the Department. He was informed of the correspondence, he reacted very zealously to it, and managed to make mistakes. Namely, he appeared to the woman, threw these letters in her face and whipped her cheeks, and then he turned up to the ambassador and searched his house to find other letters. The Brazilian reported this disgrace to the emperor, and the latter decided to dismiss Pyotr Nikolaevich Durnovo.
But the former chief of police did not remain without a post, he was immediately appointed a senator. And at the beginning of the new century, he received another promotion, becoming a comrade of the Minister of Internal Affairs with famous figures of that time. Also during this period, Durnovo was engaged in philanthropic activities - he took care of work houses and orphanages.
Minister of Internal Affairs
On October 22, 1905, Bulygin A.G., Minister of the Interior of the Russian Empire, was dismissed. Pyotr Nikolayevich took his place, also at the same time a week later he was appointed a member of the State Council and elevated to secret advisers. It is worth saying that he was the last Minister of Internal Affairs, who died a natural death, his subsequent colleagues could not avoid the red terror.
During the 2 years of the first Russian revolution, Pyotr Nikolayevich Durnovo applied rather cruel measures to suppress it. In 1906, members of the Socialist Revolutionary Party decided to kill him, as he supported the activities of the so-called Black Hundreds. But the plan failed after Leontiev, a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, shot and killed in Switzerland an innocent Frenchman who looked like Durnovo in appearance.
Resignation and further activities
In 1906, Pyotr Nikolayevich was forced to resign from his post as minister due to internal contradictions, and the whole cabinet, including Witte, followed, since they had one policy. But he did not leave state power at all, remaining to preside in the Council of State. In 1911, he rejected the bill on zemstvos in the western provinces, which laid the foundation for an acute political crisis, and this was extremely unprofitable in a specific period of time, so the emperor ordered him to declare himself sick and refrain from sitting at the Council of State for at least a year.
In February 1914 he wrote the famous “Note Durnovo”, and died a year later.
Key facts
Pyotr Nikolaevich wrote a note on the eve of the First World War, but it still continues to haunt the attention of historians, many publicists, and simply interested people. The letter of Durnovo to Nicholas 2 does not leave the minds of many. What is this: prophecy, coincidence, mystery of the century? No one can say for sure. And it’s not even so important what it is, but how did Pyotr Nikolaevich so accurately predict the course and results of the war? He was called the oracle, and the seer, and the scammer, and the sorcerer, but the essence of this does not change. Almost everything Durnovo warned about came true with the greatest possible accuracy.
Document Content
About “Note” Durnovo can be divided into the following questions:
- the war between England and Germany will turn into a confrontation between two military blocs;
- lack of real benefits of rapprochement between Russia and England;
- major groups in the impending war;
- the apotheosis of war as a grave consequence for Russia;
- lack of real common interests of Russia and Germany;
- the economic interests of the Russian Empire do not contradict the German;
- in case of victory over Germany, Russia will face other problems;
- the confrontation between Russia and Germany will lead to the fall of the monarchy;
- anarchy as a result of war for Russia;
- German internal shocks in case of defeat;
- England's expansion as a catalyst for the peaceful cohabitation of nations.
Highlights
Pyotr Nikolaevich outlined all the main points of participation in the war, including outlining the balance of power. He absolutely accurately noted that if Russia enters the war on the side of England, then from the rivalry of the two powers (Germany and Britain), the conflict will develop into a world one. “Therefore, the Russian Empire simply does not need to enter into armed conflict, because this will not bring it any privileges, but only exacerbate internal contradictions,” the retired minister wrote.
Durnovo also noted that an alliance with England could not theoretically bring Russia any benefits, which means that joining it is meaningless and, more seriously, predicts foreign policy problems.
In a note, Durnovo, through a series of conclusions, concludes that Germany and the Russian Empire have no real contradictions and cannot exist, they can very well coexist peacefully. In any case, even if victory is won over Germany, it will not bring any benefits to the state, but only provide an incentive for the emergence of new internal and external contradictions.
Hence, Pyotr Nikolaevich concluded that instead of an alliance with England, Russia needed to draw closer to Germany, establish relations with France and conclude a defensive alliance with Japan.
Durnovo's note to Nicholas ii contained thoughts about the weakness of Russian liberalism, namely its imperfection and the inability to resist the revolutionaries in the event of intensification of internal contradictions in the country. Therefore, it is necessary to stop the opposition at the state level, by the power of the autocrat, as happened in the nineteenth century. “Concessions and agreements with anti-government circles will only aggravate the situation and weaken power,” wrote Durnovo in the Note to Nikolai.
The author did not even doubt the beginning of new actions against the government in the event of the outbreak of war. They will be caused by the discontent of the broad masses of the population by the highest authorities and the actions of the emperor. Socialist slogans about black redistribution and division of all property will certainly be put forward. The army will be demoralized even in the event of victory, and this will undoubtedly lead to hunger and a production crisis. Russia will be led to anarchy.
The text of the letter to Durnovo to Nicholas 2 contained the above information and position. Accordingly, the emperor could prevent the results of the war, but did not trust the author.
Public attention
In 1914, not only Nicholas 2, but also his close associates did not even pay attention to the text of the “Note” by Durnovo. To wide circles, the Durnovo prophecy became known in 1920, when it was published in the German weekly in German. It got the effect of an unexploded shell, first it was reprinted by foreign publications, and then one of the Soviet newspapers in 1922.
Fake or script
Undoubtedly, there were people who completely doubted the reality of the “Note”. One cannot but agree that strange circumstances pushed this thought. Firstly, its publication after the revolution, and secondly, the authorities were not interested in such a seemingly important message. But there is very concrete evidence that the “Note” was indeed a reality. Emigrant D.G. Browns confirmed that the document was removed from the personal belongings of Nicholas II. Princess Bobrinskaya confirmed that she had seen this “Note” with her own eyes before the revolution and read it. Typewritten copies of the letter were also preserved, which were found in documents dated precisely 1914-1918. These facts raise the question of what Durnovo's “Note” is actually - a fact or fake, meaningless. There is no doubt about her reality.
Apocrypha
This word refers to a work of religious literature, which is devoted to events and images of sacred history. Many researchers have associated the "Note" with this concept. So, the famous left-wing publicist M. Aldanov thought so. Indeed, it is completely unclear how an ordinary official could so accurately and confidently predict the events of the First World War, its outcome, the configuration of forces. But the “Note” by Durnovo soon ceased to be considered an apocrypha in his eyes, because its authenticity did not cause absolutely any doubt.
The conservative nature of the Notes
The “letter” really gives rise to the logic and clarity of the facts, arguments and arguments, but it is worth mentioning that, one way or another, but it is directly related to the conservative current of social thought. To what Durnovo pointed out, all the representatives of the right circles of society compelled the emperor. They openly opposed the rapprochement between England and Russia, wished to avoid an open military clash with Germany, and considered its possibility "a suicide of the monarchies of the two states." One way or another, S. Yu. Witte supported this idea, he literally said that the Empire would not survive the war and its consequences, to pay with its territory and the ruling dynasty. The mistake at the beginning of the war was seen by all conservative circles, but Durnovo collected all the evidence for this in a single document.
Conclusion
The “Note” really became prophetic, but none of the ruling circles could have predicted this. Russia was awaited by the known terrible consequences, the demolition of the political system and, in fact, the birth of a new state in the ashes.