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Birthday of Sergey D. Sazonov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire
July 29 (August 10), 1860 in the province of Ryazan was born Sergey Sazonov, Russian statesman, diplomat, Chamberlain (1910), a member of the State Council of the Russian Empire (1913), Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire (1910-1916), member of A. Kolchak’s and A. Denikin’s governments (1918-1919).
Sazonov was educated in St. Petersburg, at the Imperial Alexander Lyceum. After graduation in May 1883 he was hired in the office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the rank of titular counselor. From 1890, over the next 15 years, Sazonov was involved in diplomatic work of the Russian missions in the countries of Western Europe. As an adviser to the embassy in London in 1904-1906 he participated in the settlement of the Incident of Hull, which nearly led to a major British-Russian military conflict. In 1906-1909 Sazonov had been extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador to the Vatican.
In April 1907 Sazonov was promoted to actual state councilor, and two years later occupied the post of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs under A. P. Izvol'skiy. After becoming in 1910 the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire, Sazonov continued rapprochement with England and Japan, trying not to aggravate diplomatic relations with Germany and Austria-Hungary. However, he tried to unite the Balkan States and Turkey against the Austro-Hungarian Empire into a "confederation" under the aegis of Russia. Further activities of the minister were aimed at strengthening of ties with the Entente bloc. In June 1914 Sazonov made an attempt to attract Romania to the bloc. Being sure of the inevitability of war, the minister persuaded Emperor Nicholas II to issue 17 (30) July a decree of general mobilization. The German ultimatum to Russia to stop mobilizing was rejected, and two days later Germany declared war on Russia.
During the war, Sazonov held talks with Britain and France for military cooperation and the conditions for future peace. He took an active part in preparation of the Anglo-Franco-Russian agreement of 1915, which provided for transfer of Black Sea straits to Russian. Given the direct relationship between the Russian national policy and ensuring of international interest, in late 1915, the Minister developed a draft of the Russian-Polish union, which stipulated for common monarch, court, army, borders, finances, diplomacy and communication routes. However, this draft was rejected by the Russian government.
In July 1916, having left with the permission of the emperor on vacation in Finland, Sazonov was dismissed, which, however, prompted protests from the British and French ambassadors. The following January he was appointed ambassador extraordinary and phenipotentiary to London, but due to the abdication of Nicholas II, he did not have time to start fulfilling his duties.
After the fall of autocracy in Russia, the Provisional Government in May 1917 dismissed Sazonov to resignation. After leaving for Crimea, in August 1918 in Ekaterinodar (now - Krasnodar) the former minister, as the Head of the Foreign Relations, became a member of the Special Council - the "supreme body of civil administration" under the supreme leader of the Volunteer Army, General of Infantry, M. V. Alekseev. In 1918-1920 Sazonov was a member of governments under Lieutenant-General A. Denikin and Admiral A. Kolchak. As a representative of these governments he attended the Paris Peace Conference of 1919-1920. He was also a member of the Russian political conference. From 1921 Sazonov had lived abroad as an emigrant.
In 1927, Sazonov published his "Memoirs", covering his service as Deputy Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the pre-revolutionary government of the Russian Empire. December 25 1927, Sergey Sazonov died at the age of 67 in Nice, France.
Lit.: Игнатьев А. В. С. Д. Сазонов // Вопросы истории. 1996. № 9; Лиманская Т. О. С. Д. Сазонов (министр иностранных дел 1910-1916 гг.) // Дипломатический вестник. 2011. Нояб.; Сазонов С. Д. Воспоминания. Минск, 2002; Шилов Д. Н. Государственные деятели Российской империи. СПб., 2002.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:
Портрет министра иностранных дел С. Д. Сазонова [Изоматериал] : [фотография]. Пг., 1914;