Ivan Goremykin

Ivan Goremykin was born in 1839 in Novgorod province, in the Russian Empire. He studied law at the Imperial School of Jurisprudence and entered the civil service in 1860. He worked in various departments and ministries, dealing with agriculture, justice, and internal affairs. He became the Minister of Interior in 1895 and proposed some reforms to the zemstvo system and the peasant question, but faced opposition from the conservative nobility and bureaucracy. He resigned in 1899 and became a senator. In 1906, he was appointed as the Prime Minister by Tsar Nicholas II, who wanted a loyal and obedient servant to deal with the newly created State Duma. Goremykin was opposed to any political reforms and clashed with the Duma over the issues of ministerial responsibility and land redistribution. He resigned in July 1906 and was replaced by Pyotr Stolypin. In 1914, he was reappointed as the Prime Minister, at the age of 74. He was seen as a senile and incompetent leader, who followed the orders of the Tsar and the Empress, who were influenced by Rasputin. He was against any concessions to the Duma or the public opinion, and supported the war effort despite the disastrous losses and shortages. He was dismissed in February 1916 and replaced by Boris Stürmer. He fled to the Caucasus after the February Revolution of 1917 and was killed by the Bolsheviks in Sochi in December 1917. He is regarded as one of the most reactionary and unpopular politicians of the late tsarist era.