Georgy Lvov | |
|---|---|
| Георгий Львов | |
 Georgy Lvov asPrime Minister in March 1917 | |
| Minister-Chairman of the Russian Provisional Government (Prime Minister of Russia) | |
| In office 15 March 1917 – 20 July 1917 | |
| Preceded by | Nikolai Golitsyn (As Prime Minister of the Russian Empire) Nicholas II (As Emperor of Russia) |
| Succeeded by | Alexander Kerensky |
| Minister of the Interior of the Russian Provisional Government | |
| In office 15 March 1917 – 20 July 1917 | |
| Prime Minister | Himself |
| Preceded by | Office established[a] |
| Succeeded by | Irakli Tsereteli |
| Chief Commissioner of the All-Russian Zemstvo Union | |
| In office 30 July 1914 – 9 March 1917 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Member of theRussian State Duma | |
| In office 10 May 1906 – 20 February 1907 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Succeeded by | Multi-member district |
| Constituency | Tula Governorate |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Georgy Yevgenyevich Lvov 2 November 1861 Dresden,Kingdom of Saxony |
| Died | 7 March 1925 (1925-03-08) (aged 63) Paris,France |
| Resting place | Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Political party | Constitutional Democratic(1905 – 1911) Progressive(since 1911) |
| Other political affiliations | Union of Liberation |
| Spouse | Yulia Bobrinskaya |
| Parents |
|
| Alma mater | Moscow State University |
| Profession | Politician |
| Religion | Russian Orthodoxy |
| Signature |  |
PrinceGeorgy Yevgenyevich Lvov[b] (2 November [O.S. 21 October] 1861 – 7/8 March 1925) was a Russian aristocrat, statesman and the firstprime minister of theRussian Republic from 15 March to 20 July 1917. As Russia'sde factohead of state, he led theProvisional Government after theFebruary Revolution led to the suspension of theRussian monarchy.
A member of theLvov princely family, Lvov was born inDresden, Germany, and gained national fame for his relief work in theRussian Far East during theRusso-Japanese War. In 1906, he was elected to theFirst Duma as a member of theConstitutional Democratic Party. After the February Revolution, Lvov was made head of the Provisional Government and oversaw a number of liberal reforms. A series of political crises ultimately brought down his government, and in July 1917 he resigned as prime minister and was succeeded by his war minister,Alexander Kerensky. After theOctober Revolution, Lvov was arrested by theBolsheviks, but later escaped to France by way of the United States. He settled in Paris and died in 1925.
Georgy Lvov was born on 2 November 1861[1] (21 October,Old Style,Julian calendar) inDresden,Saxony, then part of theGerman Confederation.[2] TheLvov princely family were among the oldest Russian noble families, tracing their roots from the sovereignRurik dynasty princes ofYaroslavl.[3] His father was a reform-minded liberal who spent almost all his income on his children's education; Lvov and his five brothers were sent off to the most prestigious Moscow schools. Throughout his youth, Georgy lived with his family at their ancestral home at Popovka inTula Governorate, less than 120 miles (190 km) away from Moscow and only a few miles away fromYasnaya Polyana, the home of writerLeo Tolstoy. The Lvovs counted Tolstoy as one of their closest friends.[4]
By the standards of the Russian noble class, the Lvovs lived a frugal lifestyle. Luxuries were minimal and their estate was considered small at only 1,000 acres (400 ha).[4] The Lvovs generated massive debts in excess of around 150,000 roubles by the end of the 1870s. With theabolition of serfdom, they fell into the category of landowners who did not have the means to live in the manner to which many other Russian nobles had been accustomed. In order to pay off their arrears, the family were forced to sell their other landed estates, a brewery inBryansk, and their flat in Moscow.[4] Despite this, they remained heavily in debt and were faced with the prospect of either having to sell Popovka or convert it into a profitable farm. The Lvovs opted for the latter, with Georgy later recalling: "The idea of giving up the home of our ancestors was unthinkable".[5] The farm at Popovka had become so dilapidated after decades of neglect that it required strenuous work to restore it. By this time his father was too ill to work, leaving Georgy's four older brothers and only sister to take charge of the farm while he studied law at theUniversity of Moscow. The family laid off all their servants and lived like peasants ― Lvov would later recall this time as a source of his ownemancipation: "It separated us from the upper crust and made us democratic". As a result of their labour, all debts were repaid by the late 1880s and their ancestral home saved.[5]
In 1899, Prince Lvov married a Hungarian-born portrait painterVilma Lwoff-Parlaghy in Prague; they were quickly divorced, though Vilma continued to style herself the "Princess Lwoff-Parlaghy" using her artist name with the authorization of Prince Lvov. The prince also continued to provide her with a permanent annual allowance.
Lvov was also married to Countess Julia Alexeievna Bobrinskaya (1867–1903), great-great-granddaughter ofGrigory Orlov andCatherine the Great, without issue. They met whilst Lvov was working in a soup kitchen inTambov Governorate during theRussian famine of 1891–1892.[6]
With the outbreak of war between theEmpire of Japan and theRussian Empire in January 1904, the provincialzemstvos were mobilised to assist with the war effort. To help theRed Cross on theManchurian front, thirteen zemstvos formed a combined medical brigade consisting of 360 doctors and nurses, led by Lvov. This marked the first time that zemstvos had been allowed to organise themselves at a national level after their powers had been restricted byAlexander III in 1890.[7] Lvov had pleaded with TsarNicholas to let the brigade go; the tsar was so moved by his patriotic sentiment that he ended up hugging and kissing him and wished him well. The relief mission, which won high praise from Russian military leaders, turned Lvov into a national hero and enabled the zemstvos to reintegrate themselves into Russian governing society.[7]
A year later he won election to theFirst Duma, and was nominated for a ministerial position. He became chairman of theAll-Russian Union of Zemstvos in 1914, and in 1915 he became a leader of the Union of Zemstvos as well as a member ofZemgor, a joint committee of the Union of Zemstvos and the Union of Towns that helped supply the military and tend to the wounded fromWorld War I. In December 1916, after Prince Lvov's tirades at the Congress of Zemstvos, the Voluntary Organisations would allow no one to work for the government unless their collaboration were purchased by political concessions.[8]
On 14 January O.S. (27 January N.S.) Lvov proposed to Grand DukeNicholas Nikolaevich that he should take control of the country. At the end of January negotiations took place between theAllied powers inPetrograd; unofficially they sought to clarify the internal situation in Russia.[9]
During theFebruary Revolution and the abdication ofNicholas II, emperor of Russia, Lvov was made head of theprovisional government founded by the Duma on 2 March 1917.
During his first weeks as prime minister, Lvov presided over a series of fleeting reforms which sought to radically liberalise Russia. Universal adult suffrage was introduced, freedoms of press and speech were granted, capital punishment abolished, and all legal restrictions of religion, class and race were removed.[10] In late March, a delegation of womensuffragettes planned to lobby Lvov for the right of women to vote in local government elections. Expecting a strenuous battle, the suffragettes were shocked to learn that Lvov had already granted women theright to vote, saying "Why shouldn't women vote? [...] Surely, with universal suffrage there can be no reason to exclude women".[10] Lvov's reforms helped create a new culture of democracy in Russia. One peasant fromPenza province changed his surname to Lvov, and another to 'Demakratov'.[11]
Unable to rally sufficient support, he resigned in July 1917 in favour of hisMinister of War,Alexander Kerensky.
After theOctober Revolution he settled inTyumen. In the winter of 1917 he was arrested and transferred toYekaterinburg. Three months later, Lvov and two other prisoners (Lopukhin and PrinceNikolai Golitsyn) were released before the court under a written undertaking not to leave the place. The local war commissar,Filipp Goloshchekin, intended to execute Lvov and the other prisoners, but was ordered not to byIsaac Steinberg, thePeople's Commissar for Justice, aLeft-Socialist Revolutionary while they were still in coalition with the Bolsheviks. Lvov immediately left Yekaterinburg, made his way toOmsk, occupied by the anti-BolshevikCzechoslovak Legion. TheProvisional Siberian Government, headed byPyotr Vologodsky, was formed in Omsk and instructed Lvov to leave for the United States (since it was believed that this country was capable of providing the fastest and most effective assistance to anti-Bolshevik forces) to meet with PresidentWoodrow Wilson and other statesmen to inform them on the aims of the anti-Soviet forces and receiving assistance from former allies of Russia in the First World War. In October 1918 he travelled to the United States but was late as in November of the same year theFirst World War ended and preparations began for thepeace conference in Paris, where the centre of world politics moved.
Having failed to achieve any practical results in the United States, Lvov departed toFrance, where in 1918–1920 he was at the head of the Russian political meeting in Paris. He was at the source of the labor exchanges system to help Russian emigrants, transferred to their disposal the funds of Zemgor, stored in theNational Bank of the United States. Later he left politics, living in Paris in poverty, working at handicraft and writing his memoirs. Georgy Lvov died inParis,France on 7 March 1925 at the age of 63.
There is a memorial to Prince Lvov inAleksin as well as a small exhibition on him in the town museum. In Popovka there is another memorial opposite his local church and a plaque on the wall of the local school he founded. He died inBoulogne-sur-Seine and is buried inSainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery in France.
A relative of his by the name of PrinceAndre Nikita Lwoff (1901–1933), variously described as either Georgy Lvov's son or nephew, is buried in the old cemetery inMenton, France.
Lvov wrote an autobiography, 'Воспоминания' ("Memories"), while in exile and a biography was also written in 1932 by Tikhon Polner entitled 'Жизненный путь князя Георгія Евгеніевича Львова. Личность. Взгляды. Условія дѣятельности' ("The Life Course of Prince Georgy Yevgenievich Lvov. Personality. Views. Conditions of Activity"). Neither has been translated but both have been reprinted and are still available in Russian.
Note ontransliteration: An older French form, Lvoff, is used on his tombstone. Georgy can be written as Georgi and is sometimes seen in its translated form, George or Jorge.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister-Chairman of the Russian Provisional Government 15 March 1917 – 20 July 1917 | Succeeded by |
