Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Russian Governors, Governors General, and Viceroys (1700–1855)

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Prefects and Governors in Nineteenth-century Europe

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Political History ((PSPH))

  • 57 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter examines how territorial administration was structured in the Russian Empire over a long timeframe running from the eighteenth century through to the first half of the nineteenth century. It lays the bases for a general understanding of the issue of the state in Russia up until the 1917 Revolution. Was Russia home to anything more than a set of clientele networks, at the summit of which was the Tsar? The very idea of unified government is problematic, for each minister conducted his own policy and corresponded with specific interlocutors in the provinces. In this context, what role did territorial administrators play, and what was their scope for action? This chapter looks in turn at three authority figures in the provinces, and peripheries even of the Empire—governors, governor generals, and viceroys, in Poland and in Caucasia. In addition to carefully presenting the institutional dynamics, it calls for further scholarship on these three types of figures in what are currently much neglected, virtually uncharted areas of enquiry, namely, the social history of governors, the history of administrative practices, and the history of interactions with local notables.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Gradovskii (1899a) [reprint].

  2. 2.

    Lanskoi (1882).

  3. 3.

    Robbins (1987).

  4. 4.

    Shcherbatov (1888–1904).

  5. 5.

    For example, Istoricheskii Viestnik, Russkaia Starina, Russkii Arkhiv, among others; Blinov (1905).

  6. 6.

    Got’e (1913). The second volume was not published until 1941.

  7. 7.

    For a list of volumes published as of 2000 see Lysenko 2001, p. 248; see also Gubernii Rossiiskoi imperii. Istoriia I rukovoditeli 1708–1917 (2003).

  8. 8.

    Minakov (2011).

  9. 9.

    Institut general-gubernatorstva i namestnichestva v Rossiiskoi imperii (2003).

  10. 10.

    Matkhanova (1998). For Ukraine, see Shandra (2001).

  11. 11.

    Urusov (1908). Unfortunately, the published text did not include much material removed by the censorship. For example, a passage describing Urusov’s interview with Nicholas II before leaving for Bessarabia is left blank: p. 5.

  12. 12.

    Rhinelander (1990), Matsuzato (2004) and Schattenberg (2008).

  13. 13.

    LeDonne (1978, 1979, 2001, 2002, 1999–2000).

  14. 14.

    Zagrebin and Liubichankovskii (eds.) (2010).

  15. 15.

    Two other sources, largely unexplored in scholarship, must be mentioned. The so-called Gubernskie Viedomosti (provincial news) is a collection of articles in local government newspapers published from roughly 1838 to 1917, not only for the Russian provinces, but also for the “borderland” provinces. Separate sets were published for each province and are available on microfilm. They contain an enormous amount of information on local affairs. As to the archives, those of the Interior Ministry, the Committee of Ministers, and the Third Section of the Emperor’s Chancery, not to mention the provincial archives, contain enough documentation for several generations of scholars interested in the provincial life.

  16. 16.

    I borrow these terms from French administrative law: see, for example, Aucoc (1885), vol. 1, pp. 101, 112. See also Bourjol (1969), and Eisenman (1948, pp. 70–71, 86–87).

  17. 17.

    Got’e (1913, p. 103). See also Polnoe Sobranie Zakonov Rossiiskoi Imperii 1649–1913, 234 vols. (Petersburg, 1830–1913), hereafter PSZ, here vol. 4, 1708, N. 2208, vol. 5, 1719, N. 3378, 3380.

  18. 18.

    The classic work on the creation of the colleges is Peterson 1979.

  19. 19.

    LeDonne (1978, p. 93, pp. 98–101); PSZ, vol. 10, 1737, N. 7240 and especially vol. 9, 1734, N. 6649.

  20. 20.

    Gubernii, 37, pp. 300–301.

  21. 21.

    Lysenko (2001, pp. 205–206). In Absolutism and Ruling Class… (LeDonne 1991), I attempted to define the ruling elite by including it into the high officials and commanders in the first three grades of the Table of Ranks. Lieutenant generals were in grade three, major generals were in grade four: p. 48.

  22. 22.

    For a general survey of the evolution of the Procurator General’s office, see Gradovskii (1899b).

  23. 23.

    LeDonne (1975, pp. 47–48) and LeDonne (1995).

  24. 24.

    PSZ, vol. 16, 1764, N. 12137.

  25. 25.

    LeDonne (1982–1983).

  26. 26.

    LeDonne (1984, pp. 57–82).

  27. 27.

    PSZ, vol 20. 1775, N. 14392.

  28. 28.

    PSZ, vol. 22, 1785, N. 16187 and 16188.

  29. 29.

    PSZ, vol. 27, 1802, N. 20406 and vol. 31, 1811, N. 24686. The major work on the ministries is Pokrovskii (1906).

  30. 30.

    The powers of the governor were “codified” in the monster statute of June 1837; PSZ, vol. 12, 1837, N. 10303 in 346 articles.

  31. 31.

    Blinov (1905, p. 358) and Minakov (2011, p. 399). I believe Robbins errs in underestimating the standing rivalry between the governor and the provincial representatives of the ministries, except the local military commanders who openly despised the governors. But if that was truly the case, could it be that by the end of the nineteenth century the authority of the governor had been drained of all substance outside the purely police sphere? See Robbins (1987, pp. 131–47).

  32. 32.

    The institution of governor general has been almost completely ignored until recently. Gradovskii’s article was the most important contribution, but several articles in the collection edited by Zagrebin and Liubichankovskii are devoted to it. See also my articles which concentrate on the family (patronage) networks of the frontier governors general.

  33. 33.

    Seredonin (ed.) (1902–1903), vol. 1, pp. 93–94; PSZ, vol. 26., 1801, N. 19796 and 20005.

  34. 34.

    LeDonne (2002, pp. 6–13).

  35. 35.

    The text is in Institut general-gubernatorstva… (2003, 2, pp. 20–24).

  36. 36.

    LeDonne (2002, pp. 20–24).

  37. 37.

    PSZ, vol. 25, 1799, N. 17139; vol. 36, 1819, N. 27722, and vol. 37, 1820, N. 28106 and 28202.

  38. 38.

    Institut general-gubernatorstva… (2003, 2, pp. 78–84).

  39. 39.

    Sbornik Imperatorskogo istoricheskogo obshchestva, 148 vols. (Petersburg, 1867–1916), here 74: xv and 144–46. I must point out that other projects were submitted at the time, notably that of Mikhail Speranskii, who wrote the 1822 statutes on the reorganization of the Siberian administration, but I focused on the 1816 project because of its clarity and the existence of Gur’ev’s rebuttal, as well as for reasons of space.

    The authorship of the project remains unknown. Volume One of the collective work Intitut general-gubernatorstva claims that the draft of the project belongs to Nikolai Novosil’tsev or the Police Ministry. In 1816, Novosil’tsev was the Imperial Commissioner in Poland, a kind of civilian deputy to the de facto viceroy, Grand Duke Constantin Pavlovich, the Emperor’s brother. He is known for drafting the so-called ustavnaia gramota of 1819 calling for the appointment, not of governors general, but of viceroys (namestniki) in 1819: see LeDonne (2003), pp. 7–14. His project went far beyond the 1816 project in creating a truly regional administration, quite probably inspired by his experience in Poland. Why then should he have drafted a much weaker project in 1816?

    Concerning the Police Ministry, it was carved out in 1810 from the jurisdiction of the Interior Ministry for the political police and closed in 1819. Balashev occupied the post until 1812, then accompanied the Emperor to the army engaged against Napoleon. We know that he was not in sympathy with the experiment with governors general. What has been overlooked is that while he was away, the de facto Police Minister (and chairman of the Committee of Ministers) was a little known general Sergei Viaz’mitinov, who had been War Minister (1802–08) and Petersburg Governor General (1805–08). It might explain why the 1816 project contains a clause calling for the appointment of a regional delegate of the Chief of Staff of the army on the regional council. The clinching argument is that of Seredonin: Viaz’mitinov, who was again Petersburg “Military Governor General” in 1816–19, was “the representative of the governors general” on the Committee of Ministers: (Seredonin (ed.) 1902–1903, 1, p. 95). I suspect that the project was drafted in the Police Ministry headed by a former war minister, if not by the minister himself, by one of his associates. At any rate, the association between the political police and the institution of governor general is unchallengeable.

  40. 40.

    See Institut general-gubernatorstva (2003, 1, pp. 186–245), and especially Matsuzato (2004).

  41. 41.

    There is a comprehensive survey of the administrative history of the Caucasus in Esadze, 1907, especially volume I for the period under consideration here. The major (published) archive source is the magnificent collection of documents from the field in Akty sobrannye Kavkazskoiu Arkheograficheskoiu Kommissieiu, 12 vols (Tiflis 1866–1904) which ends in 1854.

  42. 42.

    PSZ, vol. 15, 1840, N. 13368.

  43. 43.

    Munaev (2010, pp. 105–106). On Posen see Russkii biograficheskii slovar’, 1905. 14: 265–66.

  44. 44.

    PSZ, vol. 5, 1840, N. 13413; vol. 17, 1842, N. 16008; cf vol. 31, 1811, N. 24686, art. 272–77.

  45. 45.

    An early biography is that of Anthony Rhinelander (1990). A more recent is that of O. Zakharova (2001). Neither author shows much interest in the issues I raise here and which are crucial if we are to understand the true nature of the viceroy’s position.

  46. 46.

    Baddeley (1908, pp. 152, 294, 353, 473).

  47. 47.

    Munaev (2010, pp. 106–11) and PSZ, vol. 20, 1845, N. 18679.

  48. 48.

    PSZ, vol. 21, 1846, N. 19590 and 20673.

  49. 49.

    PSZ, vol. 21, 1846, N. 20525.

  50. 50.

    PSZ, vol. 20, 1845, N. 18706 and vol. 21, 1846, N. 19706 and 20656.

  51. 51.

    See LeDonne (1967). There were two more viceroyalties in Russian administrative history, but of hardly any significance: one in Bessarabia from 1816 to 1824, the other, based in Port Arthur in the Far East, from 1903 to 1905.

  52. 52.

    The much regretted Anatolii Remnev paid much attention to the relationship between governors general and ministries. See, for example, Remnev (2004). See also Godovova E. V., Liubichankovskii, S. V. (eds.) (2012). A fascinating account of governors general”s own struggle with the army, the Finance Ministry, and tax farmers contracting the delivery of vodka is in “Bumagi Ivana Borisovicha Pestelia,” Russkii Arkhiv, l, 1875, 369–423. See also my own book, LeDonne (2020).

  53. 53.

    Lysenko (2001, pp. 207–208).

  54. 54.

    Institut general-gubernatorstva… (2003, 1, p. 104).

  55. 55.

    Seredonin (ed.) (1902–1903, 1, pp. 104–105).

  56. 56.

    Dagron (1995, p. 268).

  57. 57.

    Dyson (1980) is an excellent survey.

  58. 58.

    Alphandery et al. (eds) (1968, p. 16). Literally translated: “Any action that he (the ruler) does not control is suspect. Better the immobility in the crumbling than the separate dynamisms”.

  59. 59.

    Bourjol (1969, p. 73).

  60. 60.

    LeDonne (2002–2003), passim.

  61. 61.

    Zagrebin A. E., Liubichankovskii S. V. (eds.) (2010).

References

  • Akty sobrannye Kavkazskoiu Arkheograficheskoiu Kommissieiu. 1866–1904. Tiflis, 12 vols.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alphandery, Claude et al. (eds.). 1968. Pour nationaliser l’État: réflexion d’un groupe d’études. Paris: Éditions du Seuil.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aucoc, Léon. 1885 (3rd ed.). Conférences sur l’administration et le droit administratif faites à l’École impériale des Ponts et Chaussées. Paris: Dunod, 3 vols.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley, John F. 1908. The Russian Conquest of the Caucasus. London and New York: Longmans, Green and Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blinov, I. A. 1905. Gubernatory. Istoriko-iuridicheskii ocherk. St Petersburg: Tip.-lit. K. L. Pentkovskogo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourjol, Maurice. 1969. Les Institutions régionales de 1789 à nos jours. Paris: Berger-Levrault.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dagron, Gilbert. 1995. Empereur et prêtre. Étude sur le césaropapisme byzantin. Paris: Gallimard.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dyson, Kenneth H. F. 1980. The State Tradition in Western Europe: a study of an idea and institution. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eisenman, Charles. 1948. Centralisation et décentralisation. Esquisse d’une théorie générale. Paris: Librairie générale de droit et de jurisprudence.

    Google Scholar 

  • Esadze, Semen. 1907. Istoricheskaia zapiska ob upravlenii Kavkazom. Tiflis: Tip. “Guttenberg,” 2 vols.

    Google Scholar 

  • Godovova, E. V., Liubichankovskii, S. V. (eds.). 2012. Regional’noe upravlenie i problema effektivnosti vlasti v Rossii (XVIII-nachalo XXI veka). Orenburg: Pressa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Got’e, Yuri. 1913. Istoriia oblastnogo upravleniia v Rossii ot Petra I do Ekateriny II, vol. 1. Moscow: Izdanie Imp. obshchestvo istorii i drevnostei rossiiskikh pri Mosk. universitete, Tip. G. Lissnera i D. Sobko.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gradovskii, Alexander. 1899a. Istoricheskii ocherk uchrezhdeniia general-gubernatorstv v Rossii. In Sobranie sochinenii A. D. Gradovskogo, vol. 1. St Petersburg: Tip. M. M. Stasiulevicha: 299–338.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gradovskii, Alexander. 1899b. Vysshaia adminsitratsiia Rossii XVIII st. i general-prokurory. In Sobranie sochinenii A. D. Gradovskogo, vol. 1. St Petersburg: Tip. M. M. Stasiulevicha: 32–297.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gubernii Rossiiskoi imperii. Istoriia i rukovoditeli 1708–1917. 2003. Moscow: Ob”edinennaia redaktsiia MVD Rossii.

    Google Scholar 

  • Institut general-gubernatorstva i namestnichestva v Rossiiskoi imperii. 2003. St Petersburg: Iuridicheskii tsentr Press, 2 vols.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lanskoi, Sergeï. 1882. Zapiska o posledstviiakh predpolagaemogo povsemestnogo uchrezhdeniia vremennykh general-gubernatorov, Russkaia Starina, vol. 35, nos. 7–9: 641–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • LeDonne, John P. 1967. La réforme de 1883 au Caucase, Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique, 8: 21–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • LeDonne, John P. 1975. Appointments to the Russian Senate 1762–1796, Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique, 16: 27–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • LeDonne, John P. 1978. The Evolution of the Governor’s Office, 1727–1764. Canadian-American Slavic Studies, 12: 86–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • LeDonne, John P. 1979. Catherine’s Governors and Governors General 1763–1796, Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique, 20: 15–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • LeDonne, John P. 1982–1983. The Territorial Reform of the Russian Empire 1775–1796, Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique, 23 (1982): 147–85; 24 (1983): 411–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • LeDonne John P. 1984. Ruling Russia. Politics and Administration in the Age of Absolutism 1762–96. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • LeDonne, John P. 1991. Absolutism and Ruling Class. The Formation of the Russian Political Order 1700–1825. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • LeDonne, John P. 1995. The Guberniia Procuracy During the Reign of Catherine II 1764–96, Cahiers du monde russe, 36: 221–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • LeDonne, John P. 1999–2000. Frontier Governors General 1772–1825, Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas, 47 (1999): 56–88; 48 (2000): 161–183, 321–340.

    Google Scholar 

  • LeDonne, John P. 2001. Russian Governors General 1775–1825. Territorial or Functional Administration. Cahiers du monde russe, 42: 5–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • LeDonne, John P. 2002. Administrative Regionalization in the Russian Empire 1802–26, Cahiers du monde russe, 43: 5–34

    Google Scholar 

  • LeDonne, John P. 2003. “Regionalism and Constitutional Reform, 1819–26,” Cahiers du monde russe, 13: 5–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • LeDonne, John P. 2020. Forging a Unitary State. Russia’s Management of the Eurasian Space 1650–1850. Toronto: Toronto University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lysenko, L. M. 2001 (2nd ed.). Gubernatory i general-gubernatory Rossiiskoi imperii (XVIII–nachalo XX veka). Moscow: Izdatel’stvo MPGU.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matkhanova, N. P. 1998. General-gubernatory Vostochnoi Sibiri serediny XIX veka. Novosibirsk: Izdatel’stvo SO RAN.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matsuzato, Kimataka. 2004. General-gubernatorstva v Rossiiskoi imperii: ot etnicheskogo k prostranstvennomu podkhodu. In I. Gerasimov et al. (eds.). 2004. Novaia imperskaia istoriia postsovetskogo prostranstva. Kazan: “Tsentr Issledovanii Natsionalizma i Imperii:” 427–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Minakov, A. S. 2011. Gubernatorskii korpus i tsentral’naia vlast’: problema vzaimootnoshenii. Orel: Orlik / Izdatel’stvo Aleksandr Vorob’ev.

    Google Scholar 

  • Munaev, V. S. 2010. Deiatel’nost’ M. S. Vorontsova na Kavkaze v 1844–1854, Voprosy istorii, 10: 105–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, Claes. 1979. Peter the Great’s Administrative and Judicial Reforms. Swedish Antecedents and the Process of Reception. Stockholm: Nordiska Bockhandeln.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pokrovskii, S. P. 1906. Ministerskaia vlast’ v Rossii. Istoriko-iuridicheskoe issledovanie. Yaroslav: Tip. Gubernskogo pravleniia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polnoe Sobranie Zakonov Rossiiskoi Imperii 1649–1913, 234 vols. (St Petersburg, 1830–1913).

    Google Scholar 

  • Remnev, Anatolii. 2004. Rossiia i Sibir’ v meniavshemsia prostranstve imperii XIX–nachalo XX veka. In M. Batalina et al. (eds.). 2004. Rossiiskaia imperiia v sravnitel’noi perspektive. Sbornik statei. Moscow: Novoe izdatel’stvo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rhinelander, Anthony L. H. 1990. Prince Michael Vorontsov, Viceroy to the Tsar. Montreal, Kingston, London, and Buffalo: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robbins, Richard G. 1987. The Tsar’s Viceroys. Russian provincial governors in the Last years of Empire. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sbornik Imperatorskogo istoricheskogo obshchestva. 1867–1916. St Petersburg, 148 vols.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schattenberg, Susanne. 2008. Die korrupte Provinz? Russische Beamte im 19. Jahrhundert. Frankfurt: Campus Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shcherbatov, A.P. 1888–1904. General-fel’dmarshal kniaz’ Paskevich. Ego zhizn’ i deiatel’nost’. St Petersburg: Tip.-lit. R. Golike, 7 vols.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seredonin, S. M. (ed.). 1902–1903. Istoricheskii obzor deiatel’nosti komiteta ministrov. St Petersburg: Kantseliariia Komiteta ministrov, 5 vols.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shandra, V S. 2001. Malorosiis’ke general-gubernatorstvo 1802–1856. Funktsii, struktura, arkhiv: monografiia. Kyiv: Derzh. kom. arkhiviv Ukraini.

    Google Scholar 

  • Urusov, Prince Serge Dmitriyevich. 1908. Memoirs of A Russian Governor. London and New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zagrebin, A. E., S. V. Liubichankovskii (eds.). 2010. Mestnoe upravlenie v poreformennoi Rossii. Mekhanizmy vlasti i ikh effektivnost’. Ekaterinburg, Izhevsk: Udmurtskii institut istorii, iazyka i literatury UrO RAN.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zakharova, O. Yu. 2001. General-fel’dmarshal sveitleishii kniaz’ M. S. Vorontsov. Rytsar’ Rossiiskoi imperii. Moscow: Tsentrpoligraf.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    John LeDonne

Authors
  1. John LeDonne
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to John LeDonne .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Rennes 2 University, Rennes, France

    Pierre Karila-Cohen

Appendix: A Sample of Careers

Appendix: A Sample of Careers

ANDREEVSKII, Sergei Semenovich, 1760–1818. The son of a Chernigov priest; medical doctor; Director of the Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy 1804–07; vice-governor for short periods in Grodno and Minsk provinces; Astrakhan civil governor 1811–18. Died there, possibly from the cholera (there were recurrent epidemics of cholera in Astrakhan; the disease was endemic in India, while the plague game from Turkey).

BASARGIN, Grigorii Gavrilovich, 1790–1853. Graduated from the naval Cadet Corps in 1805. Served in the Turkish war of 1806–12, in the war of 1812, in the Persian war of 1826–28. Transferred to the Caspian flotilla in 1815 and commanded the transport ships in 1823–26. Chief of mission to survey the northern coast of the Caspian. Transferred to the Baltic fleet in the rank of captain in 1837. Commander of Astrakhan port and Astrakhan military governor 1842–53. Did major work in improving navigation in the Caspian. Died of the cholera in Astrakhan.

BIBIKOV, Dmitrii Gavrilovich, 1788 (or 1792)–1870. Son of a major general killed during the 1812 war. Excellent education at home. Joined a hussar regiment in 1808. Always showed great courage in battle, lost his left hand at battle of Borodino. Lieutenant Colonel in 1817, but transferred to the civil service. Vladimir vice-governor 1819–20; Saratov vice-governor 1820–21; Director of Department of Foreign Trade in Finance Ministry 1824–35. Senator in 1837 and Kiev Military Governor and GG of Podolia and Volhynia in 1837–52; curator of Kiev region of Ministry of Education 1848–52. Promoted to Infantry General in 1843, and appointed to the State Council (legislature) in 1848; Interior Minister 1852–55.

DOPPELMAIER, Grigorii Gavrilovich, 1789–? From a Riazan noble family. Appointed in 1801 in the Moscow archive of the College of Foreign Affairs as translator; served in the chancery of the Moscow Military Governor Prince Dmitrii Ivanovich Lobanov-Rostovskii. In 1809 sent to the army fighting the Austrians in Galcia. Promoted to grade nine in 1810; returned to the archive in 1814–17. Retired in 1817 at his own request. Returned to the service in 1826 and appointed to the Kurland provincial board. Kurland provincial procurator 1827–31, transferred to Vilno in 1831. Grodno governor in grade four 1836–42, then Minsk governor 1842–44. Did much archival work in Bielorussia and Lithuania.

GORCHAKOV, Petr Dmitrievich, 1789–1868. From a princely family. Educated in Dresden, entered the service in the Guard Artillery in 1807. Fought in Finland in 1808–09, in Moldavia in 1810. He was at the crossing of the Berezina in 1813, fought in France in 1813–15. Sent to the Caucasus in 1817 to administer Mingrelia and the western Caucasus. In 1822 infantry divisional commander and administrator of the northern Caucasus. Fought in the Turkish war of 1828–29, promoted to lieutenant general in 1829. Later transferred to Siberia to be Governor General of Western Siberia and commander of the Siberian Separate Corps 1836–51. During the Crimean war fought in the Crimea as corps commander and full general. Ended his career in the State Council.

HOVEN, Christoph von der, 1795–1890. From a Kurland noble family; entered a cadet corps in 1814; did topographic work in Bessarabia 1817–20. Appointed to the Imperial Suite and taught topography in Moscow. Appointed to the staff of the II Army, headquartered in Tulchin, Podolia, chief of its topographers 1828–30. Sent to Riga to become chief of staff of Governor General Karl Magnus, Freiherr von der Pahlen, but in 1833 became chief of staff of the Caucasus Separate Corps, and in 1838 of the Siberian Separate Corps. Brought back to Russia to become Military and Civil governor of Voronezh (1841–48). In 1846 promoted to lieutenant general and appointed Novgorod governor (1846–48), then Military and Civil governor of Grodno (1848–56). Ended his career as a senator, promoted to infantry general in 1869.

KUSHNIKOV, Sergei Sergeevich, 1765–1839. From a noble family of Kazan province. Educated in the First Cadet Corps and served under Suvorov in the Turkish war of 1787–91; promoted to colonel. Retired from military service in 1800 and began a civil career as Petersburg Civil governor (1802–04). In 1807 was in grade three and a senator. Sent to inspect Kazan province and recommended the dismissal of governor Tolstoi.

MURAV’EV, Mikhail Nikitich, 1796–1866. From an old Russian family. Educated at home, entered Moscow University in 1809 in the Department of Physics and Mathematics. Did topographic work and entered the Imperial Suite in 1812. Seriously wounded at Borodino, but fought in Germany in 1813. Appointed to the Staff of the Guard corps in 1814, was a captain in 1820. Joined the Interior Ministry in 1827, appointed Vitebsk vice-governor (1827–28), Mogilev governor (1828–31), was also chief of police of the commander of the Reserve Army in Bielorussia during the first Polish uprising; Grodno civil governor 1831–35, transferred to Kursk following disagreement with his governor general in 1835; Director of the Department of Taxes in the Finance Ministry 1839–41; senator in 1842 and chief of the corps of land surveyors. Promoted to lieutenant general in 1849 and appointed to the State Council in 1850. Vice-president of the Russian Imperial Geographic Society (1850–57). Infantry General 1856; Minister of State Domains 1857–62. Appointed to put down the second Polish insurrection as Vilno, Grodno, Kovno, and Minsk Governor. General and commander of the Vilno military district 1863–65. Confirmed 128 death sentences and 972 to hard labor; earned the appellation of “Murav’ev the Hangman.”

REPNIN-VOLKONSKII, Nikolai Grigor’evich, 1778–1845. Grandson of Field Marshal Nikolai Repnin, scion of one of the great families. Enter the First Cadet Corps, then the Guard in 1792, then transferred to a hussar regiment. Served Rumiantsev and Suvorov, and promoted to colonel in 1800. Married in 1802 the granddaughter of the last Hetman of Little Russia (Eastern Ukraine). Taken prisoner at Austerlitz after being grievously wounded. May have served as a model for Tolstoi’s Prince Andrei in War and Peace. Sent on various diplomatic missions, returned to Petersburg in 1811. In 1812 was divisional commander defending Petersburg; in 1813 appointed Governor General of Saxony; left in 1815 to become Governor General of Little Russia in Poltava. Fell victim to intrigues by various people including the son of Finance Minister Dmitrii Gur’ev, was recalled in 1834 and dismissed from the service in 1836. Later found innocent. Died a bitter man in 1845.

TOLSTOI, Ilia Andreevich, 1757–1820. From an old Russian family. Served in the Navy and retired in 1793 in the rank of brigadier general. A leader of the Moscow noble aristocracy. Appointed Kazan civil governor without any qualifications but owing to his family ties. Found strong opposition among the local notables, especially Prince Dmitrii Tenishev (1766–1829), intelligent and rich, from a family of Tatar nobles who had been given lands in the region in the days of Ivan the Terrible. His father had been Kazan governor (1760–64) Dmitrii had been Astrakhan governor (1803–07), but had been accused by a senatorial inspection of incompetence and corruption during an epidemic of cholera. He had been dismissed but later was found innocent. Tolstoi was also found incompetent for failing to cope with a major fire in Kazan and was dismissed in 1819. He was the grandfather of Leo Tolstoi, the novelist.

VIAZ’MITINOV, Sergei Kuz’mich, 1744–1819. From an old Ukrainian family. In 1770, during the first Turkish war, was an adjutant to Rumiantsev. Later commanded infantry regiments. Fought in the second Turkish war of 1787–91, then became Mogilev governor (1791–94). Lieutenant general in 1793. Orenburg military governor for a short time (1796), and in 1797 was commandant of the Petersburg fortress; Infantry general in 1798; in 1801 briefly administered the Little Russian province, then became the first War Minister (1802–08). In 1811 appointed to the State Council, in 1812 he was de facto Police Minister and chairman of the Committee of Ministers, as well as Petersburg Governor General (“Military Governor General” from 1816 to 1818).

VORONTSOV, Mikhail Semenovich, 1782–1856. Entered the service as a boy of four in the Guard, then served at Court. Sent to Georgia in 1803 to fight in the mountains. Fought the French army in Poland in 1806, served in “Rumania” in 1809 until 1812. Divisional commander in 1812, wounded at Borodino. Fought in Germany in 1813, entered Paris in 1814. Corps commander in France until 1818 when Russian troops returned to Russia. Appointed Governor General of New Russia (Southern Ukraine) and viceroy of Bessarabia in 1823. Infantry general in 1825, appointed to the State Council 1826. In 1844 appointed commander of the Caucasian Separate Corps and viceroy. In August 1845 made a prince. Granted retirement in 1854 for health reasons. Promoted to field marshal shortly before his death in 1856.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

LeDonne, J. (2022). Russian Governors, Governors General, and Viceroys (1700–1855). In: Karila-Cohen, P. (eds) Prefects and Governors in Nineteenth-century Europe. Palgrave Studies in Political History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91614-5_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91614-5_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-91613-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-91614-5

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation