His father, the grandson of a peasant, was a factory owner of some means, whose family came from a stock of Old Believers who had acknowledged the authority of the Russian Orthodox Church while keeping their ancient ritual.

[1] Guchkov studied history and humanities at the Moscow State University, and, after having gone through his military training in a grenadier regiment, left for Germany where he read political economy in Berlin under Schmoller.

During the Russo-Japanese War, he served in the Red Cross and in the Municipal Union for the organization of hospitals, and he was left to take care of the Russian wounded after the Battle of Mukden.

When the Russian Revolution of 1905 developed, he took part in the meetings of Zemstvo representatives, but did not join the Cadets, whom he considered to be too doctrinaire and cosmopolitan.

He had the hope that the Tsar's government would recognize the necessity of great reforms and work with the moderate liberals of the Zemstvos, while safeguarding the monarchical principle.

Pyotr Stolypin was for some time in sympathy with that agenda, and even contemplated the formation of a ministry strengthened by leaders of public opinion, of whom Guchkov, Count Heyden and N. Lvov would have been prominent members.

[8] With the outbreak of World War I, Guchkov was put in charge of the Red Cross organization on the German front, and it fell to him to search for the corpse of the unfortunate General of the Second Army, Alexander Samsonov.

In June 1915 Vladimir Sukhomlinov left on charges of abuse of power and treason by Guchkov and Grand Duke Nicholas.

[1] Shortly after the Petrograd riots in February 1917, Guchkov, along with Vasily Shulgin, came to the army headquarters near Pskov to persuade the Tsar to abdicate.

In 1923, while living in Berlin, Guchkov hosted meetings of the "Eurasian Movement" over which the OGPU maintained covert control even after the fall of The Trust.

[13] Sergey Mikhailovich Spiegelglass,[a] who was a military counterintelligence Chekist (Russian: военная контрразведка) since January 1919,[14] was the deputy head of the Foreign Division of the OGPU from 1936 to 1937.

[13] Spiegelglass stated "The Guchkov Circle had long worked with General Bredow who is the Chief of Military Intelligence of the German Army.

Guchkov has become something of a cult figure in recent years: his reputation in Russia has grown after a documentary on the main state channel, which included an interview with then-President Vladimir Putin.