Nikolay Alekseyevich Milyutin (1818—1872) was a
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n statesman remembered as the chief architect of the great liberal reforms undertaken during
Alexander IIAlexander II Nikolaevich , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor, or Czar, of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
's reign, including the emancipation of the serfs and the establishment of
zemstvoZemstvo was a form of local government instituted during the great liberal reforms performed in Imperial Russia by Alexander II of Russia. The idea of zemstvo was elaborated by Nikolay Milyutin, and the first zemstvo laws were promulgated in 1864...
.
Nikolay Milyutin was the nephew of Count Pavel Kiselev, the most brilliant Russian reformer of
Nicholas INicholas I , , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometres.Nicholas I was born in Gatchina to Emperor Paul I and...
's reactionary reign. His brothers were Vladimir Milyutin (1826-55), a social philosopher and journalist, and
Dmitry MilyutinCount Dmitry Alekseyevich Milyutin was Minister of War and the last Field Marshal of Imperial Russia...
(1816-1912), one of the great military leaders of the 19th-century Russia.
Nikolay graduated from the Moscow University and joined the Ministry of the Interior in 1835.
Nikolay Alekseyevich Milyutin (1818—1872) was a
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n statesman remembered as the chief architect of the great liberal reforms undertaken during
Alexander IIAlexander II Nikolaevich , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor, or Czar, of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
's reign, including the emancipation of the serfs and the establishment of
zemstvoZemstvo was a form of local government instituted during the great liberal reforms performed in Imperial Russia by Alexander II of Russia. The idea of zemstvo was elaborated by Nikolay Milyutin, and the first zemstvo laws were promulgated in 1864...
.
Nikolay Milyutin was the nephew of Count Pavel Kiselev, the most brilliant Russian reformer of
Nicholas INicholas I , , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometres.Nicholas I was born in Gatchina to Emperor Paul I and...
's reactionary reign. His brothers were Vladimir Milyutin (1826-55), a social philosopher and journalist, and
Dmitry MilyutinCount Dmitry Alekseyevich Milyutin was Minister of War and the last Field Marshal of Imperial Russia...
(1816-1912), one of the great military leaders of the 19th-century Russia.
Nikolay graduated from the Moscow University and joined the Ministry of the Interior in 1835. A man of liberal views who sympathized with the
SlavophileSlavophilia is an intellectual movement originating from 19th century that wanted the Russian Empire to be developed upon values and institutions derived from its early history. Slavophiles were especially opposed to the influences of Western Europe in Russia...
cause, young Milyutin helped reform the municipal administration in St Petersburg,
MoscowMoscow is the capital and the largest city of Russia. It is also the largest metropolitan area in Europe, and ranks among the largest urban areas in the world. Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the world, a...
, and
OdessaOdessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .Odessa was founded by Hacı I Giray, the Khan of Crimea, in 1240...
in the 1840s.
As an Assistant Minister of Interior since 1859, he succeeded in defending his vision of ambitious liberal reforms against attacks by conservatives and disconcerted nobility. The Emancipation Manifesto of 1861 was largely drafted by him.
During the
January UprisingThe January Uprising was an uprising in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against the Russian Empire...
he was dispatched to
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
in order to implement his reforms there. He devised an effective program of
RussificationRussification is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attribute by non-Russian communities...
, which involved the emancipation of the peasantry at the expense of the nationalist landowners and the expulsion of Roman Catholic priests from schools.
Milyutin resigned his office in 1866 after having suffered a stroke and spent the rest of his life in seclusion.