Baron Boris Vladimirovich Stürmer (27 July 1848 - 9 September 1917) was a Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n statesman. He served as Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Russia

The Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation The use of the term "Prime Minister" is strictly informal and is not allowed for by the Russian Constitution and other laws....

, Foreign Minister, and Interior Minister of the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 for several months during 1916.

Biography

Stürmer was born into a landowning family in the Bezhetsk

Bezhetsk

Bezhetsk is a town in Tver Oblast, Russia, located on the Mologa River at its confluence with the Ostrechina River. It serves as the administrative center of Bezhetsky District, although it is not administratively a part of it. Population: 29,000 ....

 district of Tver Oblast. His father Vladimir Vilgemovich Stürmer was a retired Captain of Cavalry in the Imperial Russian Army

Imperial Russian Army

The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of around 938,731 regular soldiers and 245,850 irregulars . Until the time of military reform of Dmitry Milyutin in...

. His mother was Ermoniya Panina.

A graduate of the Law Faculty of St. Petersburg University, Stürmer enjoyed a good relationship with a conservative court clique that engineered his appointment as Governor of Novgorod in 1894 and Yaroslavl

Yaroslavl

Yaroslavl is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historical part of the city, a World Heritage Site, is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl Rivers. It is one of the Golden Ring cities, a group of historic cities...

 in 1896. Despite recurrent rumours of financial mismanagement, Stürmer became one of the most trusted bureaucrats working under Vyacheslav von Plehve

Vyacheslav von Plehve

Vyacheslav Konstantinovich von Plehve , also Pléhve, or Pleve was the director of Imperial Russia's police and later Minister of the Interior.- Biography :...

 and was admitted into the State Council of Imperial Russia

State Council of Imperial Russia

The State Council was the supreme state advisory body to the Tsar in Imperial Russia.-18th century:Early Tsars' Councils were small and dealt primarily with the external politics....

 in 1904. He aspired to succeed Plehve in office and the Tsar even signed an ukase

Ukase

A ukase , in Imperial Russia, was a proclamation of the tsar, government, or a religious leader that had the force of law...

 to that effect, yet the post eventually went to Prince Svyatopolk-Mirsky

Pyotr Dmitrievich Sviatopolk-Mirskii

Prince Pyotr Dmitrievich Sviatopolk-Mirskii was a Russian politician and police official, Minister of the Interior in 1904–1905. He was the son of the general Dmitry Ivanovitch Sviatopolk-Mirskii and father of the literary historian D. S. Mirsky....

.

Stürmer's career took a plunge under Pyotr Stolypin

Pyotr Stolypin

Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin served as the leader of the 3rd DUMA—from 1906 to 1911. His tenure was marked by efforts to repress revolutionary groups, as well as for the institution of noteworthy agrarian reforms. Stolypin hoped, through his reforms, to stem peasant unrest by creating a class of...

, but he resurfaced in connection with the 1913 countrywide celebrations of the tercentenary of the Romanov Dynasty, when he accompanied the Tsar on a journey along the Volga and was nominated for the post of the mayor of Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

. Stürmer's election bid was unsuccessful.

At the height of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, Stürmer petitioned Tsar Nicholas II to sanction the change of his German surname to Panin. Since the Panins were a distinguished family of Russian nobility, the monarch could not agree to Stürmer's request until he had consulted all members of the Panin family. Pending these proceedings, Stürmer was appointed Prime Minister with a high degree of political latitude (20 January 1916). He was simultaneously acting as Minister of the Interior (from March 1916) and Minister of Foreign Affairs (from July).

Stürmer's government was deeply unpopular with all ranks. He was suspected of archreactionary views and Germanophilia. His ill-starred attempt to conscript non-Russians into the active army touched off a bloody Kyrgyz uprising known as the Urkun

Urkun

Urkun is the Kyrgyz name for a 1916 revolt against Russian Tsarist forces and a mass flight to escape to China. The events occurred at the Bedel Pass border post near the Kyrgyz-Chinese border on July 30, 1916....

. After the collapse of the Brusilov Offensive

Brusilov Offensive

The Brusilov Offensive , also known as the June Advance, was the Russian Empire's greatest feat of arms during World War I, and among the most lethal battles in world history. Prof. Graydon A. Tunstall of the University of South Florida called the Brusilov Offensive of 1916 the worst crisis of...

 it transpired that Stürmer had entered into separate peace talks with Germans. On 1 November Paul Miliukov, concluding that Stürmer's policies placed in jeopardy the Triple Entente

Triple Entente

The Triple Entente was the name given to the alliance among Britain, France and Russia after the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907....

, delivered his famous "stupidity or treason" speech at the State Duma

State Duma

The State Duma , common abbreviation: Госду́ма ) in the Russian Federation is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia , the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia. The Duma headquarters is located in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to...

. Even the Tsar had to concede that Stürmer was as much of a red rag to the parliament as to everyone else. On 19 November he was sacked.

Following his resignation, Stürmer ran for a seat in the fifth State Duma. He was arrested by the Russian provisional government after the February Revolution

February Revolution

The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Centered around the then capital Petrograd in March . Its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire...

 in 1917 and died at the Peter and Paul Fortress

Peter and Paul Fortress

The Peter and Paul Fortress is the original citadel of St. Petersburg, Russia, founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and built to Domenico Trezzini's designs from 1706-1740.-History:...

later that year.