Russia
Sergei Sazonov
1860–1927 Russian Foreign Minister, 1910–1916
A polished diplomat and brother-in-law of the reformer Stolypin, Sazonov was a nervous, sickly man who tied Russia's honor to the Slavic cause and to the Straits. In July 1914 he did not want a general war but felt that Russia could not afford another humiliation like 1909. He pressed for the Period Preparatory to War, then for general mobilization, and was the man who persuaded the Tsar on 30 July. His critics say he took Russia into a war it could not win; his defenders say he had little choice. He was dismissed in July 1916 after clashing with the court over Poland, served briefly in anti-Bolshevik governments, and wrote the memoir Fateful Years before dying in Nice in 1927.