Typical St. Petersburg official, Count Dmitry Andreevich Tolstoy (1823–1889) Biography of the Minister

Count Dmitry Andreevich Tolstoy (1823-1889) went down in history as a first-plan statesman, who began his career in the reign of Nicholas I and repeatedly held ministerial posts under Alexander II and Alexander III. The results of his state activity received ambiguous, often opposite assessments among contemporaries and historians. On the one hand, he appears as an enlightenment chapel, on the other, as a patron of scientific research.
The biography of this major official serves as a vivid illustration of many contradictions of the XIX century. In the life path of D. A. Tolstoy, two storylines are clearly traced: the stormy conflicts of bureaucratic life and the cabinet lull of scientific studies.
The reader will find in this biographical description the bright flavor of the landlord life of pre -reform and post -reform Russia, a description of the first steps of domestic historical science, the features of the bureaucratic career of that era, problems of education and charity.
The publication is addressed to a wide reader’s audience: teachers, students, historians, as well as everyone interested in domestic history