Fateful Years, 1909-1916 (ePub)

Sergei Dmitrievich Sazonov GCB (10 August 1860, Ryazan Governorate - 25 December 1927) was a Russian statesman who served as Foreign Minister from November 1910 to July 1916.
Born in 1860 in the Ryazan Governorate of lesser noble background, Sazonov was the brother-in-law of Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin, who helped to further Sazonov's career. Having graduated from the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, Sazonov served in the London embassy and became the chief of the diplomatic mission to the Vatican in March 1906. In June 1909 Sazonov was recalled to St. Petersburg and appointed Assistant Foreign Minister. Before long he replaced Alexander Izvolsky as Foreign Minister and followed a policy along the lines laid down by Stolypin.
As World War I unwound, Sazonov worked to prevent Romania from joining the Central Powers and wrested in March 1915 an acquiescence from Russia's allies to the post-war occupation of the Bosphorus, Constantinople, and the European side of the Dardanelles. On 1 October 1914 Sazonov gave a written guarantee to Romania that, if the country sided with the Entente, it would be enlarged at the expense of the Austrian dominions in Transylvania, Bukovina, and the Banat. In general, "his calm and courteous manner did much to maintain fruitful Allied relations".
Sazonov was viewed favourably in London, but the Germanophile faction of Tsarina Alexandra fiercely urged his dismissal, which did materialize only after the minister had aired a proposal to grant autonomy to Poland.
Early in 1917, Sazonov was appointed ambassador in Great Britain, but found it necessary to remain in Russia, where he witnessed the February Revolution. He was opposed to Bolshevism, advised Anton Denikin on international affairs, and was foreign minister in the anti-Bolshevik government of Admiral Kolchak. In 1919 he represented the White movement at the Paris Peace Conference.
He died in Nice in 1927, where he is buried.

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