Pyotr Nikolaevich Durnovo was a fairly well-known historical figure of his time, but he gained particular popularity after his death, when the sovereign-emperor and all his associates were convinced of the truth of the figure's prediction. This article will consider his biography, main activities and the main mystery of life - Durnovo's "Note".
Basic information
Peter Nikolaevich was born in 1845 in the Moscow province, throughout his life he conducted state affairs, headed the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire for a year. Often he is confused with the famous namesake - Pyotr Pavlovich, who has been the Moscow governor since 1905.
Childhood
Durnovo was lucky enough to be born into a fairly noble and respected family. His father was a representative of an old noble family, a revered person throughout the Moscow province, as a result of which he was appointed vice-governor of one of its settlements. Mother was the niece of Lazarev,famous Russian admiral, discoverer of Antarctica. The Durnovo family had many children, but despite this fact, the 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.
Starting activities
At the age of 15, Pyotr Nikolaevich 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 Nikolaevich Durnov, together with his colleagues, discovered an island in the Sea of Japan. At the end of the same decade, he decided to return to Moscow and try himself in a slightly different field, but he could not completely leave military service, so he combined the two speci alties that attracted him by entering the military law academy. Already in the early seventies, he passed the qualifying exam and was appointed assistant prosecutor of one of the districts. Some time later, he was fired and sent to the Ministry of Justice.
Civil Service
In 1873, Durnovo was transferred as a deputy prosecutor to Moscow from Vladimir, and a few years later he received the position of prosecutor - first of the Rybinsk, then the Vladimir district.
At the beginning of the next decade, Petr Nikolayevich began to manage the judicial department of the State Police Department under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. And his appointment to this position only accelerated his already rapid career growth. Literally 1.5 years later he was appointed Deputy Directorof the same Department, which means that he got the opportunity to develop in his activities through business trips abroad. So, during the 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 supervising anti-government elements in order to apply some of the most successful of them in the Russian Empire.
Upon his return to his homeland, Petr Nikolaevich Durnovo will take the post of director of the Department, where he will stay for 10 years, but will be dismissed with a scandal. As you know, the state police was subordinated to the "Black Cabinet" - a body dealing with the correspondence of citizens in order to prevent anti-government speeches. In 1893, employees discovered letters from a St. Petersburg lady to her lover, the Brazilian ambassador to Russia. As it turned out, she was the lady of the heart and Durnovo himself, the head of the Department. He was informed about the correspondence, he reacted to it very zealously and managed to make mistakes. Namely, he came to the woman, threw these letters in her face and slapped her cheeks, and then went 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 Nikolayevich 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 under famous figures of that time. Also during this period, Durnovo was engaged in philanthropic activities -patronized workhouses and orphanages.
Minister of the Interior
October 22, 1905 Bulygin A. G., Minister of the Interior of the Russian Empire, was dismissed. His place was taken by Pyotr Nikolaevich, also at the same time, a week later, he was appointed a member of the State Council and elevated to privy councillors. It is worth saying that he was the last Minister of Internal Affairs who died of natural causes, his subsequent colleagues failed to escape the Red Terror.
During 2 years of the first Russian revolution, Pyotr Nikolaevich Durnovo used quite 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 Leontyeva, a member of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, shot dead an innocent Frenchman in Switzerland who looked like Durnovo.
Retirement and future activities
In 1906, Pyotr Nikolaevich was forced to resign from the post of minister due to internal contradictions, followed by the entire cabinet, including Witte, since they had one policy. But he did not leave state power completely, remaining to preside over the State Council. In 1911, he rejected a bill on zemstvos in the western provinces, which marked the beginning of an acute political crisis, and this was extremely unprofitable at a particular time, so the emperor ordered him to declare himself ill and refrain from meetings of the State Council for at least a year.
In February 1914 he wrotefamous "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 excite the attention of historians, many publicists and just interested people. Durnovo's letter to Nicholas 2 does not leave the minds of many. What is it: a prophecy, a coincidence, a mystery of the age? Nobody can say for sure. And it’s not even so important what it is, but how could Pyotr Nikolaevich be able to predict the course and results of the war so accurately? He was called an oracle, and a seer, and a swindler, and a sorcerer, but the essence of this does not change. Almost everything that Durnovo warned about came true with the greatest possible accuracy.
Document content
Roughly Durnovo's "Note" can be divided into the following questions:
- 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 factions in impending war;
- the apotheosis of war as a grave consequence for Russia;
- lack of real common interests between Russia and Germany;
- economic interests of the Russian Empire do not contradict the German ones;
- 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 the war for Russia;
- German internal turmoil if defeated;
- expansion of England as a catalyst for peaceful cohabitationnations.
Highlights
Peter Nikolaevich outlined all the main points of participation in the war, including the alignment of forces. 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 an armed clash, because this will not bring it any privileges, but will only aggravate internal contradictions,” the retired minister wrote.
Durnovo also noted that an alliance with England theoretically cannot bring Russia any benefits, which means that joining it is meaningless and, more seriously, predicts foreign policy problems.
In Durnovo's note, through a series of conclusions, he comes to the conclusion that there are no real contradictions between Germany and the Russian Empire and cannot be, they may well coexist peacefully. In any case, even if a victory is won over Germany, it will not bring any benefits to the state, but will only give an incentive for the emergence of new internal and external contradictions.
From this, Pyotr Nikolaevich concluded that instead of an alliance with England, Russia needed to get closer to Germany, improve 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 impossibility of resisting the revolutionaries in the event of strengthening internal contradictions incountry. Therefore, it is necessary to stop the speeches of 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,” Durnovo wrote in his “Note” to Nikolai.
The author did not even doubt the beginning of new speeches against the government in the event of a war. They will be caused by the dissatisfaction of the broad masses of the population with the highest authorities and the actions of the emperor. Socialist slogans about a black redistribution and the 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 famine and a production crisis. Russia will be reduced to anarchy.
The text of Durnovo's letter to Nicholas 2 contained the above information and positions. Accordingly, the emperor could have prevented the results of the war, but did not trust the author.
Public Attention
In 1914, not only Nikolai 2, but also his close associates did not even pay attention to the text of Durnovo's Notes. Durnovo's prophecy became known to wide circles in 1920, when it was published in a German weekly in German. It received the effect of an unexploded shell, first it was reprinted by foreign publications, and then by one of the Soviet newspapers in 1922.
Fake or genuine
Undoubtedly, there were people who even doubted the reality of the Note. One cannot but agree that strange circumstances prompted this thought. In-firstly, its publication after the revolution, and secondly, the disinterest of the authorities 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 seized from the personal belongings of Nicholas II. Princess Bobrinskaya confirmed that she had seen this "Note" with her own eyes even before the revolution and had read it. Typewritten copies of the letter have also been preserved, which were found in documents dated just 1914-1918. These facts make the question of what Durnovo's "Note" really is - a fact or a fake, meaningless. There is no doubt about her reality.
Apocrypha
This word refers to a work of religious literature, which is dedicated to the events and images of sacred history. Many researchers associated the "Note" with this concept. So, the most famous publicist of the left orientation M. Aldanov thought so. Indeed, it is not at all clear how an ordinary official could so accurately and confidently predict the events of the First World War, its outcome, and the configuration of forces. But Durnovo's "Note" soon ceased to be considered apocryphal in his eyes, because its authenticity did not cause absolutely no doubts.
Conservative nature of Zapiski
"Letter" really strikes with the logic and clarity of the facts, arguments and arguments, but it is worth mentioning that, one way or another, it is directly connected with the conservative current of social thought. What Durnovo pointed out was forced on the emperor by all representatives of the rightcircles of society. They openly opposed the rapprochement between England and Russia, wished to avoid an open military clash with Germany and considered its possibility "the suicide of the monarchies of the two states." One way or another, this idea was supported by S. Yu. Witte, he literally said that the Empire would not survive the war and its consequences, pay with its territory and the ruling dynasty. All conservative circles saw the mistake at the beginning of the war, 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 predict this. Russia was waiting for the well-known terrible consequences, the demolition of the state system and, in fact, the birth of a new state on the ashes.
