Who is Sergius Witte from Nicholas and Alexandra and what is their importance?

Sergius Witte was a Russian whose father was Dutch. He was educated in Russia at the University of Odesssa where he hoped to become a mathematics professor. Instead, he went to work for the Southwestern District Railroad and became an administrator. He held various government positions under Alexander and Nicholas. It was Witte who negotiated the peace that ended the war with the Japanese and Witte who advised Nicholas to give the workers a constitution to try to stop the revolution. Witte authored the Imperial Manifesto which gave Russia a constitution and a parliament but immediately took away many of its provisions trying to maintain his own good standing with the Tsar.