| Alexander Kerensky Александр Керенский | |
|---|---|
| |
| Prime Minister of Russia | |
| In office 21 July 1917 – 7 November 1942 | |
| Monarch | Alexei II |
| Preceded by | Viktor Chernov |
| Succeeded by | Anton Denikin |
| Leader of the Social Democratic Labour Party | |
| In office 21 July 1917 – 8 November 1942 | |
| Preceded by | Viktor Chernov |
| Succeeded by | Andrey Andreyev |
| Minister of Justice Prosecutor General | |
| In office 21 December 1916 – 30 July 1917 | |
| Prime Minister | Viktor Chernov |
| Preceded by | Vasily Maklakov |
| Succeeded by | Ivan Efremov |
| Deputy of the State Duma | |
| In office 22 July 1911 – 21 December 1916 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky 4 May 1881 Simbirsk, Russia |
| Died | 11 June 1970 (aged 89) New York, New York |
| Resting place | Putney Vale Cemetery, London, Great Britain |
| Citizenship | Russia (1881-1945) New York (1945-1970) |
| Political party | Social Democratic Labour Party |
| Spouse(s) | Olga Lvovna Baranovskaya |
| Domestic partner | Lydia Ellen "Nell" Tritton |
| Alma mater | Saint Petersburg State University |
| Profession | Politician |
Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky (Russian: Алекса́ндр Фёдорович Ке́ренский; )4 May 1881 – 11 June 1970) was a Russian politician who served as Prime Minister of Russia from 1917 to 1942. He is the father of architect Oleg Kerensky, World War II General Gleb Kerensky, and grandfather of writer and actor Oleg Olegovich Kerensky.
Kerensky was born in the city of Simbirsk in 1881 to a teacher and gymnasium director named Fyodor Mikhailovich Kerensky. Fyodor would later be promoted to Inspector of public schools. His mother, Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Adler, was the daughter of a serf who would buy his freedom before the Emancipation of the Serfs in 1861.
In 1899, Kerensky attended the Saint Petersburg State University where he originally studied history and philology but later switched to law. He earned his law degree in 1904 and married the daughter of a general.
Kerensky was a social democrat and became involved in the Narodnik movement as well as becoming an activist against Emperor Nicholas II. In 1905, Kerensky joined the Social Democratic Labour Party and was elected as a Member of Parliament for Saint Petersburg. Kerensky supported many of the reforms of Prime Minister Viktor Chernov as well as maintaining Russian neutrality in the war in Europe.
After Viktor Chernov announced his resignation to the regent, Alexander Kerensky would be elected Prime Minister in the election of 1917. Kerensky's early years in power were marked by an internal crisis. Unrest was growing in territories mostly inhabited by non-ethnic Russians throughout Russia. A rebellion was sparked in Poland and the Western Ukraine, which forced Kerensky to send the army to the west.
While the Russian Army was able to maintain control over Ukraine, Belarus, and the Caucuses, but lost Poland, the Baltic states, and Finland. Romania conquered Moldavia while the newly established Czechoslovak state took control over Carpathia. The events of the 1917 Separatist crisis is often seen by some historians as a bad omen for Kerensky.
By 1924, Emperor Alexei II was officially declared to be an adult. However, Alexei never exercised political power out of fear that his decisions might result in political unrest. As a result, Kerensky was the most powerful man in Russia. Kerensky published a new version of the Russian constitution, officially transforming the country into a western style constitutional monarchy. Kerensky's amendments to the constitution included redistributing land owned by the nobility and handing it to former serfs, and the nationalization of banks and large-scale industry. Russia had adapted a socialist-style economy. In 1929, the United States Stock Market crashed, beginning the Great Depression. The resulting collapse in trade caused the worst famine in modern Russian history, and Kerensky's inaction resulted in more deaths, especially in the Ukraine.
Alexander Kerensky wasn't exactly popular, often described by critics as a socialist dictator. Kerensky felt humiliated by Russia's failure to maintain control over the western territories. By 1932, the Imperial Russian Army was sent to the Caucuses when Josef Stalin started a Marxist rebellion against rule from Saint Petersburg. While the rebellion was suppressed, Kerensky became paranoid over the idea that Russia was unstable. He declared martial law and imprisoned political prisoners in filthy prison camps in Siberia. As Kerensky grew authoritarian, political allies began to drift away and his relationship with the Emperor deteriorated.
What is perhaps Kerensky's most controversial decision was the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. The agreement between Russia and Nazi Germany allowed the two countries to invade and divide Poland, for which they did just that in August 1939. The same year, the Imperial Russian Army marched into the Baltic states and reclaimed them. The Russians also went to war with Finland, but failed to recapture the country, despite annexing some Finnish territory.
In 1941, the military forces of Germany and the other Axis states in Europe invaded Russia. Russian territory was swiftly lost to the Nazi war machine, and Finland once again declared war. Blaming Kerensky, Emperor Alexei II deposed Kerensky from his post and replaced him with General Anton Denikin. Kerensky was subsequently arrested and remained imprisoned until the end of the war. Kerensky would be sent into exile first to Australia but later to New York. Alexander Kerensky died at the age of 89 during his exile, and was cremated as no Orthodox church was willing to bury him due to his association with freemasonry.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
