Sazonov, Sergei Dmitreyevich

Related Category: Russian, Soviet, and CIS History: Biographies

(sĭrgā´ dəmē´trēəvĭch səzô´nəf), 1861–1927, Russian statesman. As minister of foreign affairs (1910–16) he played a leading role in the crisis that led to World War I. Sazonov and Russian military leaders urged the czar to order (July 30, 1914) a general rather than a partial mobilization of Russian armed forces. In response to the Russian move, the Austro-Hungarian emperor ordered immediate mobilization; war broke out several days later. After the Bolshevik Revolution (Nov., 1917, N.S.), Sazonov represented the anti-Bolshevik groups in Paris.

See his memoirs, Fateful Years (tr. 1928, repr. 1971).