Editing Nikolai Mezentsov

{{Short description|Russian statesman, chief of police and adjutant general}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
[[File:Мезенцов Николай Владимирович.jpg|thumb|General Mezentsov Nikolay Vladimirovich]]
'''Nikolay Vladimirovich Mezentsov''' (also '''Mezentsev'''; {{langx|ru|Николай Владимирович Мезенцов/Мезенцев}}; 24 April 1827 – 16 August 1878) was a [[Russians|Russian]] [[politician|statesman]], chief of police, [[adjutant general]] (1871), and member of the [[State Council of Imperial Russia]] (1877), assassinated for having advocated harsh punishment against the constitutional movement.

Mezentsov was a descendant of [[Alexander Suvorov]].

==Military career==

Mezentsov began his military career in 1845. He participated in the [[Crimean War]] of 1853–1856. In 1864, he was appointed [[Chief of staff (military)|Chief of Staff]] of the [[Gendarmery]] Corps; in 1874, Deputy Chief of Gendarmery; and finally, in 1876, Chief of Gendarmery and Chief of the "[[Third Section of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery|Third Department]]" (Третье отделение; Political Surveillance and Investigations Department) of [[His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery|His Imperial Highness's Personal Chancellery]].

==Politics and assassination==
[[File:Sergius Stepniak by Elliott & Fry.jpg|thumb|[[Sergey Kravchinsky]], his assassin|upright|left]]
Mezentsov was active during the famous [[Trial of the 193]], in which university students were threatened with treason charges for having committed "disobedience". [[Alexander II of Russia|Alexander the Second]], considered by some to have been an enlightened monarch, gave light sentences, until Mezentsov, then Chief of State Police, suggested that they should be heavy sentences.  The emperor changed the sentences to heavier ones, and in response, Mezentsov was assassinated in 1878 by [[Sergey Kravchinsky]],<ref>Saunders, David (May 2005). "Sergey Mikhailovich Kravchinsky (1851–1895)". ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] online edition''. Oxford University Press</ref> a member of the revolutionary group [[Land and Liberty (Russia)|Land and Liberty]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Tsarist and Communist Russia 1855–1964|last=Waller|first=Sally|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2015|isbn=978-0-19-835467-3|location=Oxford|pages=47}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
 | title=The Constitutional Movement in Russia
 | url=http://www.revoltlib.com/?id=142
 | author=Peter Kropotkin
 | publisher=The Nineteenth Century
 | website=revoltlib.com
 | date=1 January 1905
}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mezentsov, Nikolay}}
[[Category:1827 births]]
[[Category:1878 deaths]]
[[Category:Assassinated Russian military personnel]]
[[Category:Russian military personnel of the Crimean War]]
[[Category:Military leaders of the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Assassinated politicians from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Members of the State Council (Russian Empire)]]
[[Category:Monarchists from the Russian Empire]]