Brief biography of Guchkov

People who, as one of the emigrant newspapers wrote, “did not give hands to each other” 1 came to give the last debt to the late policy. At the tomb of the famous liberal figure gathered “all of Russian Paris”, representatives of various political movements of emigration, like those who were far from politics, but by the will of historical circumstances were in a foreign land.

This mourning event was perhaps the last, combining for a short while so inconsistent names, inextricably linked with the history of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. Among them: N. Avksentiev, M. Aldanov, I. Bunin, V. Burtsev, M. Vishnyak, Prince B. Vyazemsky, E. Gegechkori, Prince A. Golitsyn, A. Denikin, A. Konovalov, A. Kerensky, B. Kamenka, G. Lerhe, C.

Lianozov, P. Milyukov, V. Maklakov, Prince S. Trubetskoy, S. Tretyakov and many others. Some diplomatic representatives and members of the French parliament 2 were also present. The fate of this person, directly involved in the most important events of domestic history of the period of “crises, wars and revolutions,” reflected many dramatic conflicts of complex and turbulent time.

Alexander Ivanovich was born in the year in the merchant family, which was long known in the business circles of Russia: “to the merchant class” belonged to his great -grandfather F. Guchkov, “who arrived in merchants in the year from the courtyard’s court of the courtyard,” 3. The Guchkovs settled in the Lefortovo part of Moscow, in the village of Semenovsky, where they retained their "generic nest" up to the collapse of old Russia.

The father of Alexander Ivanovich was a merchant of the first guild, a hereditary honorary citizen, a co -owner of a trading company under the brand of the partnership "E. Guchkov and sons ” - I. Alexander was the third son in the family: the twins, Nikolai and Fedor were born in the year; The younger brother, Konstantin, appeared in the year. All children were distinguished by the temperament of nature and great activity in public and political affairs.

However, Alexander was most famous, and his name certainly appears in all works affecting the socio-political development of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. Prominent figure of urban self -government in Moscow; the founder and head of one of the largest liberal parties, a noticeable deputy, and then - the chairman of the Russian parliament; The “arcessor” of the Romanov monarchy, who accepted the renunciation of Nicholas II, and then the influential marine and military minister of the Provisional Government; The implacable opponent of Bolshevism, until the last days of life, an uncompromising supporter of the “white business” - these are the main milestones of the difficult and dramatic life of this person and politics.

In a brief essay, it is simply impossible to outline in any details in detail the “contour of life” of this person. Let us dwell only on some episodes and events highlighting the most notable pages of the biography and the character of this figure. Alexander Ivanovich graduated from the second Moscow gymnasium on a rampant, on Elokhovskaya Street, which, by the beginning of the 19th of the 19th century, was one of the largest and most prestigious secondary schools.

A number of famous writers, public figures, writers, artists, and scientists with whom our character were familiar with, as called, from the school bench were trained here. Among them: V. Doroshevich, A. Amphitheatrov, N. Astrov, K. Stanislavsky, A. Mamontov, P. Orlev, I. Pop-Lavsky and others. Guchkov finished the gymnasium course with his brother Nikolai in the year, and neither the other nor the same medalists belonged.

From his youth showed a tendency to study humanitarian disciplines, which determined the choice of further education. From for a year, he continued it at the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University and graduated with the title of “candidate of university”, was going to protect the master's degree on history. After graduating from the university course, he was called an ordinary in the first Life Guards of the Yekaterinoslavsky regiment and, having passed the exam, in October he was carried out to the younger non-commissioned officers, then fired to the reserve, and a year later was produced to the ensign of the army infantry 5.

So the “personal military career” of the future expert on army affairs began quite late, and above the title of title, and above the title He never rose. In the year, A. Guchkov left for Germany, listened to lectures on history and philosophy at Berlin-and Heidelberg Universities. In the late 80s and early xs, he entered a circle of young historians, economists, lawyers, grouped around the professor of Moscow University P., abstracts on history, economics, and law were read and discussed here.

Among the participants were people who later became widely known: historians P. Milyukov and A. Kizvetter, economist and statistics S. Fortunatov, lawyer V. Deryuzhinsky, economist and lawyer A. Manuilov and others. However, the scientific career of A. Guchkov did not take place. Being extremely active nature, he could not engage in abstract things for a long time.

He was always more attracted to live work. Returning to Russia, he began to engage in social activities in his native Moscow.As it appears from the track record, in the year it became the honorary justice of the justice in this position, there were several terms. During the starvation of the beginning of the 9th years, in the years, he worked in the staff of the Nizhny Novgorod governor, he headed the food and charitable business in the Lukoyanovsky district.

Since the year, he began to work in the city administration, when he was elected for four years a member of the city council in the year - secondly. From December to April, he acted as a friend of the deputy Moscow mayor K. such a post testified to the recognition of his merits in the circles of census Moscow. Finally, in the year it becomes a vowel of the City Duma, that is, as equal, he entered the group of persons from among the “fathers of the city”.

The quiet everyday work did not suit the young vowel. His nature required a thrill, vivid impressions, risky enterprises. In one private letter, A. Guchkov said about himself that he is a “shaky” person 7. Public temperament not only forced him to fulfill many diverse duties, but also repeatedly sent this merchant son to the “hot spots” of political life both within the country and outside it.

Having risen “on a path of public ministry”, he was never just a traveler, that is, a person, comfortably and slowly contemplating and studying the beauty of nature, art monuments, and the achievement of civilization. In the many letters that have reached us, who have been written in various years to friends, relatives, acquaintances from Siberia, countries of Europe, the Middle and Far East, Africa, phrases about the beauty of the landscape, museums, local customs and morals, that is, about all the color and exotic that attracted many travelers, extremely few.

And it was not accidental. The center of his interests lay in the plane of political and social issues. Visiting, say, Paris, he sought first of all to get to meetings of the parliament, visit the performance of a political leader, to personally meet one of the public figures. And only then, if time allowed, visit the Louvre, opera or other remarkable place of the “capital of the world”.

Such "engagement" is characteristic of the biography of many politicians. In this sense, the future chairman of the Russian parliament and the Minister of the Provisional Government was no exception. For example, his letter to his wife from Istanbul Constantinople, dated January 15 of the year: “The stay in Constantinople was very interesting. True, I have not seen the city at all.

He was not, ashamed to say, even in Sofia Ayia-Sofia, the former temple of St. Sophia. But on the other hand, I got information-impressions from the incredible number of people that I have overpassed these days. Yesterday I stayed all day in parliament in any way I can not escape from the enchanted circle of political interests ”8. The desire to personally see, to find out “first -hand”, to directly join a particular event distinguished this figure and when he was not yet a noticeable political figure, when this name became well -known both in Russia and abroad.

A thirst for acute impressions, the desire to check and affirm themselves in risky enterprises was inherent in him from an early age. At the sunset of life, he admitted to one of his friends that in his youth he dreamed of "dying beautifully" 9. Endless trips and expeditions were often associated with a significant risk, which A. Guchkov always overcame with great courage and composure.

As for the inevitable in such cases of everyday inconvenience and disorder, he treated them rather indifferently. In the year, during the period of exacerbation of anti -Armenian sentiments in Turkey, he takes a very dangerous trip to several Viliyites of the Ottoman Empire to get acquainted with the situation. At the end of the year, he entered the service of the security guard of the Sino-Eastern Railway and was enlisted by a junior officer in the Cossack hundred.

From December to February, he served in Manchuria, and then quit the reserve and returned to Moscow.