Kiselev P.D. (1788-1872), statesman

Categories / Capital/Personalia
KISELEV Pavel Dmitrievich (1788-1872), count (1839), statesman and military leader, Infantry General (1834), Adjutant General (1823), Honorary Member of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1855). The uncle of D. A. Milyutin and N. A. Milyutin. From 1806, he served in Cavalry Guards Regiment, took part in the Wars of 1806-07 and 1812-14 against Emperor Napoleon. From 1819, he was Chief of Staff of the 2nd Army. He was acquainted with many of the future Decembrists, who considered him a member of the Provisional Government that was to be established after the coup d'etat. Kisilev distinguished himself in the Russian-Turkish War of 1828-29; in 1829-34, he was Chairman of the Divans (Councils of Hospodars) of Moldavia and Walachia; in 1833, he commanded a detachment of Russian forces sent to defend Constantinople from the insurgent army of the Egyptian Pasha. From 1834, in St Petersburg, he was a member of the State Assembly; in 1836, at Emperor Nicholas I's behest, he established the Fifth Department of His Imperial Majesty's Chancellery; he also initiated the creation of the Ministry for State Property (1837; headed it until 1856). He enjoyed the confidence of Emperor Nicholas I, who called Kiselev his Chief of Staff for Peasant Affairs; Kiselev also sat in on all secret commissions concerning the peasantry in 1830-40s, promoting the State Peasant Administration Reform. Many young officials who served under Kiselev became prominent figures in the Epoch of Great Reforms of the 1860-70s. In 1856-62, he was the Ambassador to Paris, but considered this assignment a disgrace. In 1862, he went into retirement, refusing to take the post of Chairman of State Assembly offered to him, staying in Paris till his dying day. He was an Honorary Member of the Russian Geographic Society (1846) and the Medical and Surgical Academy (1865). In St Petersburg he lived at the Zurova Residence (102 Moika River Embankment).

Works: Count Kiselev's Notes on His Highness Nicholas Pavlovich and Nicholas I: Husband, Father, Emperor (Moscow, 2000, Pg. 522-531).

References: Заблоцкий-Десятовский А. П. Граф П. Д. Киселев и его время: Материалы для истории имп. Александра I, Николая I и Александра II: В 4 т. СПб., 1882; Минин А. С. Министр государственных имуществ граф П. Д. Киселев в воспоминаниях сослуживцев // Петербургские чтения-96. СПб., 1996. С. 427-429; Его же. Образ жизни государственного министра: Граф П. Д. Ки селев в документах и мемуарах // Петербургские чтения-97. СПб., 1997. С. 652-654.

D. N. Shilov. Kiselev Pavel Dmitrievich
Milyutin Dmitry Alexeevich
Milyutin Nikolay Alexeevich
Napoleon I Bonaparte, Emperor
Nicholas I, Emperor
Zurova Ekaterina Alexandrovna
Moika River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 102
Заблоцкий-Десятовский А. П. Граф П. Д. Киселев и его время: Материалы для истории имп. Александра I, Николая I и Александра II: В 4 т. СПб., 1882
Минин А. С. Министр гоударственных имуществ граф П. Д. Киселев в воспоминаниях сослуживцев // Петербургские чтения-96. СПб., 1996
Минин А. С. Образ жизни государственного министра: Граф П. Д. Киселев в док. и мемурах // Петербургские чтения-97. СПб., 1997
Записка графа Киселева о государе Николае Павловиче // Николай I: Муж. Отец. Император. М., 2000 Russian Academy of Sciences
Cavalier Guards Regiment
State Assembly
Chancellery, His Imperial Majesty's Personal
Ministry of Agriculture
Russian Geographical Society