Pyotr Stolypin

Shot on 14 September 1911 at the Kiev Opera House, in the presence of Tsar Nicholas II, by Dmitry Bogrov; the prime minister died four days later.

Overview

Pyotr Stolypin was Prime Minister of Russia from 1906, combining harsh repression of the revolutionary movement after 1905 with ambitious agrarian reforms designed to create a class of independent peasant farmers. Military field courts under his government executed so many people that the gallows became known as Stolypin neckties. He dissolved the Duma and changed the electoral law in 1907. During a gala performance in Kiev he was shot by Dmitry Bogrov, a revolutionary who was also an informer for the secret police, a dual role that has fueled speculation ever since. Bogrov was hanged days later. Many historians see Stolypin as the last serious attempt to reform the tsarist order.