In 1825, a coup took place in Russia, which ended rather unsuccessfully for the conspirators.
The impetus for the coup was the liberal views of progressive youth who did not agree with the tsar’s policies. Before the Patriotic War, few people thought about the relationship between the common people, the government and the intelligentsia. In Europe there was no longer serfdom, but in Russia the common people were still oppressed with terrible force.
Young progressive youth were hungry for change. Secret circles began to appear in which they discussed how to change the situation in the country. Soon a core of leaders formed. Gradually they came to the conclusion that it was necessary to change the government in Rus', and for this it was necessary to get rid of the monarch.
Just at this time, a very unclear situation arose with the transfer of power. Alexander the First died, and new king has not yet begun his duties. Taking advantage of this situation, the conspirators raised the people against Tsar Nicholas. Many people gathered in the square, the situation became more complicated every minute. The people were quite aggressive. But the worst thing was that the leaders themselves could not find common language between themselves. Already on the square, the leader of the uprising had to be replaced; many activists, for unknown reasons, also did not show up. Therefore, the uprising was left, one might say, without leaders. The military approached the angry crowd, who could not justify their actions, and brutally suppressed the riot. The Decembrist leaders, those who survived, were then executed on the same square. The rest were exiled to Siberia.
The main reasons for the defeat of the uprising were lack of knowledge of all the intricacies of such events, naivety, and betrayal. Poor preparation for such a serious event also played a role. Despite the failure of the Decembrists, their uprising served as good lessons for their descendants, who took into account all the mistakes of the Decembrists.
More details
The victorious march of Russian troops to Paris brought not only glory to Russian weapons and Emperor Alexander I, who received the loud title “liberator”. But there was one more circumstance. People looked at how they lived in Europe without serfdom. There was a revolution in France. The main document there was the constitution. Ideas of equality and brotherhood were in the air. And in Russia, the arbitrariness of the landowners and the tsar himself reigned. The difference was so striking that some military personnel began to become disillusioned with the autocracy.
They began to think about liberal changes in Russia. People wanted to live like in Europe. The main idea was this - changing the existing monarchical system to a constitutional one. Some even swung at the republic. The military created secret societies - Northern and Southern. Alexander I suddenly dies. It was decided to take advantage of the confusion in the transfer of the throne. Withdraw troops on the morning of December 14, 1825 to Senate Square and demand from the newly-crowned Tsar Nicholas I that he abdicate the throne. And then he issued a manifesto, then convened a National Council. And choose on it new uniform board. This, of course, was a utopia. They even planned to take the Peter and Paul Fortress and the Winter Palace. And as a last resort - the arrest, and even murder, of the royal family.
But as always, things didn’t go according to plan. Chief Executive Prince Trubetskoy did not appear on the square after the coup. The troops, left without a commander, were at a loss. They were offered to disperse peacefully, but someone shot Count Miloradovich with a pistol as he spoke. This served as a signal to attack the rebels. Troops loyal to the Tsar approached the square and quickly suppressed the riot. Artillery was used. The square was covered with a pile of corpses. The age of the Decembrists ranged from 20 to 60 years.
The court was quick to render a verdict. Five were hanged. The remaining 124 rebels were exiled to distant, cold Eastern Siberia. Ninety-six people were sentenced to hard labor. On carts, in stages, like criminals, they were quickly transported to their place of exile, shackled in hand and leg shackles. Among them there were one hundred and thirteen people of noble rank, eight had the title of prince, four barons, three generals, eleven colonels and one actual state councilor. The color and pride of Russian society. It was a "political" death - the loss of everyone civil rights, existence without the right of correspondence. This is how the king dealt cruelly with the rebels. Only thirty-four survivors returned from exile as sick old men.
The Decembrists were resettled throughout Eastern Siberia until Sea of Okhotsk in the east, Yakutsk in the north, so as not to communicate with each other. And they were constantly transferred from one place to another.
But the sacrifices made by the Decembrists were not in vain. They shook up Russia, made its inhabitants think, and created the first revolutionary organization. This was the first political speech in the history of the country. The trouble with the Decembrists is that they were still so far from the people, they underestimated their strength and power, and their hatred of autocracy. According to V.I. Lenin: “The Decembrists woke up Herzen, and he began revolutionary agitation.”
The Decembrists left their mark on the development of Siberia. With their own money they opened schools, hospitals, and carried out scientific research. As a token of gratitude, people created museums of the Decembrists. The largest is in Irkutsk. The piano that Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya played has been preserved in it to this day.
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“Ah! Mon Prince, vous avez fait bien du mal à la Russie, vous l"avez reculée de cinquante ans!" (“Ah, Prince, you have done a lot of evil to Russia, you have pushed it back fifty years!”) General Levashov - to Prince Trubetskoy
190 years ago, on the morning of December 26, 1825, guard officers (staff captains, lieutenants, lieutenants...) and several civilians led about three thousand soldiers to Senate Square in St. Petersburg. This is how the famous Decembrist uprising began. Subsequent events shocked the entire country and largely determined its fate for decades to come.
For a real king
The pretext for the uprising was the death of Emperor Alexander I on November 19. Inherit the throne Russian Empire his brother Konstantin should have, but he, like Alexander, was childless. Moreover, he was married to a Polish noblewoman - and his future children would still not be able to inherit the throne. Therefore, back in 1822, Constantine abdicated the throne, and in next year Alexander I secretly draws up a manifesto on the transfer of the throne to the next most senior brother, Nicholas.
The unsuspecting society continued to consider Constantine as the heir. Nikolai was not loved in the army either. And on November 27, the oath to Constantine began - Nikolai had to be the first to swear allegiance. But then the will of Alexander I was revealed - and a two-week interregnum began. As a result, Constantine renounced power; on December 14, a manifesto on Nicholas’s accession to the throne was to be published. The Decembrists decided to take advantage of this chance to “wedge themselves” between two legitimate monarchs - and withdrew the troops subordinate to them under the pretext of protecting the “correct” king - i.e. Constantine, who was being kept in chains.
If we compare the recollections of the participants in the events, a noticeable difference in the behavior of the parties catches the eye. The Decembrists lead their troops to the square, but then hour after hour they passively stand in place and best case scenario defend themselves - and then they do it belatedly. All the energy of the conspirators was enough for single strikes with a saber, bayonet or shot at officers trying to talk to soldiers. And the soldiers shoot from the hand and without aiming, most often - upwards, or even blanks.
Nicholas and his supporters - for example, the chief of artillery Ivan Sukhozanet, who fought from Pultusk to Paris - although they do not know what exactly is happening, they do not lose control of the soldiers at hand. And they act. The Senate and Synod manage to swear allegiance to the new emperor around eight o'clock in the morning. The generals and regimental commanders of the guard also swore allegiance to Nicholas and went to their units - even before the rebels entered the square at the eleventh hour. The Winter Palace is occupied by sappers personally loyal to Nicholas. Orders are given loudly and confidently, troops actively move behind their commanders. Nikolai himself leads the Preobrazhensky battalion. The cavalrymen are attacking. Parliamentarians are sent out. And, as a decisive argument, artillery is located (and used). Even before the uprising, an operation was thought out and carried out to arrest the leader of the Southern Society of Decembrists, Pavel Pestel.
Four cannons were fired to suppress the uprising. According to Sukhozanet, “there was no need to aim the guns, the distance was too close.” By the third salvo there was no one left on the spot. In total, at least seven buckshot shots were fired on the square - and some of them, according to some historians, could have been fired upward.
Kakhovsky's shot at Miloradovich. Lithograph from a drawing by A. I. Charlemagne. 1861
borodino2012–2045.com
Information about human casualties differs tenfold - from several dozen to more than a thousand killed. In Soviet times, the data of the police official Sergei Nikolaevich Korsakov was considered the most reliable. According to his note, a total of 1,271 people were killed, including 39 “in tailcoats and greatcoats,” 903 “rabbles” and 9 “women.” 1 general (Miloradovich) and 1 staff officer (probably Colonel Sturler) were mortally wounded by the Decembrist Kakhovsky. The lower ranks of the Life Guards of the Moscow Regiment were killed 93, although, according to the calculations of the regimental historian, no more than 29 people were killed, wounded and missing. The same discrepancies between the notes and the archives of the units are found in other cases - in total, another 189 lower ranks were killed versus 27 along with the missing.
Layout of regiments on Senate Square
http://www.runivers.ru/
What did the Decembrists want?
And until now, almost every participant in those events, their actions and behavior are assessed extremely emotionally and contradictorily. The Decembrists were either rebels and traitors, or practically holy “heroes forged from pure steel” (Herzen). Nicholas I is either a bloody despot and gendarme of Europe, or a wise and generous ruler. Alas, the length of the article does not allow us to reveal all aspects of the Decembrist movement (and this is impossible) - only to raise some questions.
“Fighters against centuries of slavery?” But the intended dictator was to become Prince Trubetskoy - Gediminovich. One of the most active participants in the uprising was Rurikovich, Prince Obolensky. Representatives of such ancient and noble families could technically even look at the Romanovs as rootless upstarts.
Colonel Pestel, the first in the Corps of Pages to be awarded five military orders, was called a “fanatical doctrinaire” a century ago, who allegedly screwed up his soldiers “to teach them to hate their superiors” - which is refuted by the documents of the regiment. At the same time, the future Republican revolutionary loved his father, the Governor-General of Siberia, and often consulted with him. Some relatives cursed the Decembrists - but not Pestel Sr. (the story about the last conversation of the Pestels was invented by Herzen). Another paradox - in 1821, Pestel compiled unfavorable reports about the Greek rebels - supposedly members of a worldwide revolutionary conspiracy.
Portrait of Pavel Pestel
www.rosimperija.info
“The desire to see a representative structure in your Fatherland”? But this did not at all mean a desire to immediately overthrow the tsarist government - moreover, after the foreign campaigns of the Russian army, Alexander I was looked upon as the liberator of Europe from Napoleon. And the first idea to kill the emperor arose in 1817 - after the message that “the sovereign intends to return to Poland all the regions we have conquered and retire to Warsaw with the entire court.”
Liberation of the peasants as the main goal? But the first Main Rule of “Russian Truth” read: “ The liberation of Peasants from Slavery should not deprive the Nobles of the income they receive from their Estates"The second point is no less significant: “This liberation should not cause Unrest and Disorder in the State, for which reason the Supreme Government is obliged to use merciless severity against any Violators of the general peace.” In this case, the peasants would not be freed immediately and, most importantly, without land. And according to the Decree on free cultivators, the Decembrists already had the opportunity to release their own peasants.
In general, the plans of the Decembrists are best characterized by the phrase: “The distribution of the People among the Volosts combines all Benefits and all Conveniences, averting all Injustices and all Difficulties”. In other words, it is literally a struggle for all that is good against all that is bad. Despite the fact that among the Decembrists themselves there was not even close to a unity of views. Even offers for political system ranged from a constitutional monarchy headed by a federation of thirteen powers and two regions (Nikita Muravyov, Northern Society) to a unitary republic (Pestel, Southern Society).
Pestel defended the legal equality of all people. But in practice, this would result in the confiscation of land from the landowners, the deportation of those who had separated from all Jews to Asia Minor - in case of disobedience, resettlement Caucasian peoples to the central provinces, etc. and so on. Any national identity would destroy the principles of equal opportunity, “homogeneity, uniformity and like-mindedness.”
Results of the failed uprising
The Decembrists, like their opponents, were people of their era. An era at the turning point of the romance of the 18th century and the cynical pragmatism of the 19th century. When secret societies grew, like today's interest groups, and a secular person became a Freemason in his youth, in the intervals between card games, drinking wine and other pleasant pastimes. An era when the conspirator, businessman and poet Ryleev could be friends with the poet and secret police agent Bulgarin. The era of enlightenment - many Decembrists received not just a good, but an elite education, but in closed institutions, which leaves a certain imprint on the individual. Although Ryleev, on the contrary, was self-taught. Eras of many conspiracies and revolutions, from Spain to Greece - when even generals intrigued and fought duels. And every young military man could see the career of Napoleon’s artillery lieutenant, and in 1820, the success of the battalion commander Riego, who transformed Spain into a constitutional monarchy and became president of the Cortes. “The mass is nothing, it will be what the individuals, who are everything, want,” said Sergei Muravyov, one of the most active participants in the Southern Society of Decembrists.
But time passed. Former enthusiastic youths became adult statesmen. Many of the founders and active figures of Decembrism (the founder of the Union of Salvation, Alexander Muravyov, Lunin, who proposed to kill Alexander I) had already moved away from their previous ideas by the time of the uprising. Many members of secret societies went on to successful careers. Some of the former Decembrists generally took part in suppressing the rebellion. Trubetskoy, being near Senate Square, does not participate in the uprising - for which he is either accused of cowardice and even meanness, or praised for his sober assessment of what is happening. Colonel Moller, the commander of the battalion guarding the Winter Palace, directly refused to participate in the uprising.
To a person of the 21st century, it may seem incredible, for example, such a situation - the emperor personally, almost alone, “point-blank” interrogates the most dangerous conspirators, many of whom spent many years in the army, and even fought bravely. It is worth noting that some of the conspirators had previously proposed solving the problem by killing Nikolai. However, the participants in the events themselves were brought up in the traditions of society back in the 18th century, in which chivalrous behavior was first and foremost required of the nobles. This probably also explains another “unthinkable” behavior from our point of view - almost all participants in the secret society (except for Lunin and Pestel) did not hide anything during interrogations - including about other members. And earlier, the Decembrists indignantly rejected Pestel’s ideas about conspiracy and the creation of their own secret police, “the office of impenetrable darkness.”
The state of secrecy of “secret societies” is best described by Pushkin’s phrase: “But who, besides the police and the government, did not know about him? they were shouting about the conspiracy in all the alleys.”. And the fact that back in 1823, Alexander I made an unambiguous hint to General Sergei Volkonsky (by the way, the only real general among the Decembrists) to focus on his brigade, and not on managing the Russian Empire, shows that the government had long been aware of it. Subsequently, some contemporaries were outraged not so much by the fact of the conspiracy as by Volkonsky’s forgery of the state seal for opening government papers. It is not surprising that during the entire period of the Decembrist movement, integral organizations practically did not exist, and the strictly developed, detailed rules were not implemented in practice. Some societies generally existed only in words. In St. Petersburg, almost every Decembrist had his own program of action. Pestel, a theorist and practitioner of the secret police, will be betrayed by the person whom he himself introduced into the secret society.
According to the 19th military article, “if any subject arms an army, or takes up arms against His Majesty, or intends to captivate, or kill, or inflict any kind of violence on the said Majesty,” then he and everyone who helped him should be quartered and their property confiscated. That is, strictly according to the letter of the law in force at that time, five hanged and a hundred sent to Siberia for two uprisings, including the Chernigov regiment in Ukraine, is extremely soft. Especially by the standards of subsequent eras, when the number of deaths during “social experiments” was measured in tens of thousands, or even millions. But, on the other hand, in an age of hopes for enlightenment and all kinds of progress, the arrests and execution of the untouchable elite of society - nobles and officers - looked like an unheard-of crime. And the fate of the soldiers, who were first taken to the square under buckshot and then sent to the Caucasus, did not particularly worry anyone then.
Nicholas I
http://www.bibliotekar.ru/
Now it is difficult to say whether the Decembrists had a chance of victory, and even more so, what path Russia would have taken then. In our reality, the saddest consequence was the mutual bitterness of both the authorities and the opposition for many decades. From the first hours of his reign, Nicholas I by example became convinced of the existence of a huge and cruel conspiracy - threatening both the lives of Nicholas himself and his family. Equally, the opposition decided that with such a bloody government it was impossible to do otherwise.
Pushkin, hot on his heels, noted the extreme ambition and distortions in the upbringing of the younger generation: “He enters the world without any solid knowledge, without any positive rules: every thought is new to him, every news has an influence on him. He is unable to believe or object; he becomes a blind follower or an ardent follower of the first comrade who wants to exert his superiority over him or make him his tool.” Pushkin proposed reform as an antidote public education. Alas, both supporters and opponents of the authorities usually preferred more radical methods.
Sources and literature:
- Gordin Ya. A. Revolt of reformers: When the fate of Russia was decided. St. Petersburg, Amphora, 2015.
- Kersnovsky A. A. History of the Russian Army. - M.: Voice, 1993.
- Kiyanskaya Oksana. Pestel. M., Young Guard, 2005.
- Lomovsky E. The most tragic day // Science and life. - 2014. - No. 6.
- Margolis A.D. On the question of the number of victims on December 14, 1825 // Margolis A.D. Prison and exile in Imperial Russia. Research and archival finds. M., 1995.
- Memoirs of the Decembrists. Northern society // Comp. V. A. Fedorova. - M.: Moscow University Publishing House, 1981.
- Pushkin A.S. About public education. Quote via http://rvb.ru/
- Sukhozanet I. O. December 14, 1825, story of the chief of artillery Sukhozanet / Communication. A. I. Sukhozanet // Russian antiquity, 1873. - T. 7. - No. 3.
The Decembrist uprising, briefly described here, played a very important role in the history of Russia. It is difficult to overestimate him. And everyone today should know how and why it began and how it ended.
Causes of the Decembrist uprising (briefly)
After the Patriotic War of 1812, liberal sentiments began to mature in Russia. Looking at Western countries where serfdom was abolished, industry was better developed and people had more high level life and more freedoms, the progressive public wanted changes in their state. Various secret organizations were created and educational activities were carried out.
By 1825, a core of conspirators had formed, and their main goal was determined - to change the form of government in Russia. According to activists, the monarchy, at a minimum, should have become constitutional. And, as a maximum, leave completely and give way to the republic.
Progress of the uprising
Taking advantage of the unclear situation with the transfer of the throne after the death of Alexander the Great, the conspirators, including many nobles with officer rank, on December 14, 1825, 3 thousand people were brought to the square in St. Petersburg. They were sympathized with by many local residents who did not want to see Nicholas on the throne.
The situation was heating up every minute. The rebels were surrounded by a dense ring of ordinary people, who threw sticks and stones at Nicholas and his retinue. The emperor, who had just been enthroned, was already preparing crews for evacuation.
Meanwhile, there was confusion and vacillation in the ranks of the rebels. Officer Trubetskoy, appointed leader of the coup, did not appear at the scene of events. Instead, Obolensky was elected on the spot. The action strategy was not fully thought through.
Results of the Decembrist uprising (briefly)
The approaching military, who did not side with the Decembrists, contrary to their expectations, managed to suppress the rebellion. The rebels were forced to flee from the bullets. Some of them reached the frozen Lake Ladoga, where officers tried to restore order in the ranks and go on the offensive. But the ice broke under them, people drowned. In addition, gunfire was fired from the shore.
Hundreds of corpses lay on Senate Square after the suppression. Most of the Decembrists were killed. The rest were executed later or sent to Siberia until the end of their days.
Decembrist uprising: reasons for defeat
The Decembrist uprising of 1825 was the first serious attempt at a revolutionary coup in Russia. The conspirators failed to properly prepare for such significant actions. Their naivety and the presence of traitors in the ranks, who informed Nicholas in advance about the impending rebellion, also played a role in the defeat.
But the uprising cannot be called a complete failure. The heroism of the Decembrists inspired their followers to become active. Civil society developed rapidly in the country, which eventually achieved the abolition of serfdom and even overthrew the monarchy.
On December 14, 1825, an event occurred in St. Petersburg that later became known as the Decembrist uprising. Several military regiments, led by members of a secret society, lined up on Senate Square with the aim of blocking the work of government bodies and forcing senators to sign documents that actually announced the change political system Russia.
In 20 - 30 years. In the 19th century, a wave of uprisings, revolutions, liberation wars, whose goal was to overthrow monarchs and carry out liberal reforms. Educated military personnel took an active part in these events. On the one hand, the Decembrist uprising was on a par with similar events. On the other hand, nothing similar to what happened in Russia happened anywhere: representatives of the nobility, who have always been the support of the Russian throne, opposed the existing order.
The first secret society in Russia appeared shortly after the end of the Patriotic War of 1812. Its members were young and educated war participants who, after the victorious expulsion of Napoleon’s troops, returned to Russia with the expectation of renewal, the liberation of the serfs who heroically fought for the freedom of the country alongside government troops. But time passed, and the emperor never began liberal reforms in the country. Moreover, there was a desire to strengthen monarchical power.
In 1816, the "Union of Salvation" was created - a secret political organization whose goal "was, in a broad sense, the good of Russia." The organization consisted of about 30 people who called themselves “true and faithful sons of the Fatherland.” Two years later, in 1818, the Union of Salvation was reformed into the Union of Welfare. New organization was more numerous - about 200 people.
Members of the Union of Welfare set themselves the task of gradually changing the order in the country by spreading their liberal ideas among educated representatives of high society, developing education, and fighting arbitrariness in the army. On the basis of this society, two organizations arose in 1821 - the Southern Society in Ukraine and the Northern Society in St. Petersburg. The Southern society was headed by Pavel Pestel, who was committed to more decisive revolutionary actions, and the Northern society was headed by a more moderate one - Nikita Muravyov. Members of both societies worked seriously on programs for the future development of Russia, which they saw as a republican state. Members of both societies planned a joint military action for the summer of 1826. However, circumstances turned out differently.
Prince Sergei Trubetskoy
At the end of 1825, Emperor Alexander I died in Taganrog while traveling around the country. According to the laws existing in Russia, his brother Konstantin should have taken his place on the throne, but few people knew that he signed an abdication of the throne in favor of his brother Nicholas, who was extremely unpopular among the nobles and especially in the army. For some time there was an incomprehensible situation in the country political situation: Some of the military had already sworn allegiance to Constantine, and the upcoming re-oath was something very strange for them. Members of secret societies decided to take advantage of the current situation of interregnum. According to their plans, it was necessary to gather troops on Senate Square in order to prevent the senators from swearing allegiance to the new tsar, to force them to sign a document that announced the overthrow of autocracy, the abolition of serfdom, the reduction of military service, the proclamation in Russia civil liberties. Prince S. Trubetskoy was appointed dictator (leader) of the uprising. Part of the military under the command of A. Yakubovich was supposed to seize the Winter Palace and arrest royal family. They also planned to capture the Peter and Paul Fortress.
Peter Kakhovsky
Nicholas became aware of the impending performance, and he tried to do everything to prevent the development of events planned by the rebels. Early on the morning of December 14, the senators swore allegiance to the new emperor and then left the building. The storming of the Winter Palace did not take place: Yakubovich at the last moment refused to command the troops, fearing, as he later said, bloodshed.
By 11 o'clock in the morning the Moscow Regiment arrived at Senate Square, later the Grenadier Regiment and the Marine Crew arrived. The troops lined up in a square around the Bronze Horseman. The entire space around the square gradually filled with people; there were simply curious people, but there were also openly sympathetic ones. The Governor-General of St. Petersburg M. Miloradovich rode up to the rebels on horseback and began to call on the soldiers and officers to return to the barracks and swear allegiance to Nikolai Pavlovich. Everyone knew Miloradovich as a brave military general, a hero of the War of 1812, and the leaders of the uprising were seriously afraid of his influence on the soldiers. One of the active members of the secret society, P. Kakhovsky, shot at the general and mortally wounded him.
Time passed, but the rebels did not take any decisive action. The dictator of the uprising, S. Trubetskoy, did not appear on the square, and the plan for the speech was disrupted from the very beginning. Meanwhile, Nicholas sent troops loyal to him to the square, the number of which was several times greater than the number of rebels. Several attempts to attack the rebels were repulsed by them, and the people gathered around began to shout encouragement to the rebels; stones and logs were even thrown towards the government troops. It gradually grew dark, and Nicholas, fearing that the unrest would spread to the people surrounding the troops, ordered the use of artillery against the rebels. After the first shots, dead and wounded military and civilians remained on the square, the rest of the soldiers began to retreat - some along Galernaya Street, others along the ice of the Neva. They were also shot at, the ice broke, and many drowned. By nightfall the uprising was crushed.
A few days later, having learned about the events in St. Petersburg, members of the Southern Society also attempted an anti-government protest, but were defeated by government troops.
Kondraty Ryleev
Immediately after the defeat of the uprising in St. Petersburg, arrests of its participants began. The most active members of the secret society were interrogated by Nicholas himself in the Winter Palace. To investigate all the circumstances of the preparation of the uprising, a secret Investigative Committee was created under the chairmanship of Minister of War A. Tatishchev. Six months later, the Committee submitted a report to the emperor, which determined the degree of guilt of the participants in the rebellion.
Those arrested were kept in the Peter and Paul and Shlisselburg fortresses in very harsh conditions. All of them behaved differently during the investigation: only a few did not give any testimony, while the majority wrote in detail about all the circumstances of their participation in the conspiracy. Today it is difficult to judge these people, because for many of them, the concepts of noble honor, which ordered them to be frank with the sovereign, were above all else. Others wanted, by talking in detail about the society's plans, to draw the attention of the authorities to the need to solve existing problems in the country.
Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin
The verdict of the Supreme Criminal Court was announced in a special manifesto on June 1, 1826. All those arrested were divided into 11 categories according to the degree of their guilt. There were five of the most dangerous criminals - Pavel Pestel, Kondraty Ryleev, Sergei Muravyov - Apostol, Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin and Pyotr Kakhovsky. They were sentenced to the most terrible punishment - quartering. Those who entered the first category were sentenced to beheading, the rest to different periods hard labor. Nicholas I, by his highest decree, commuted the sentence: the quartering of five of the most dangerous criminals was replaced by hanging, the rest were spared their lives. All members of the Supreme Court supported the verdict, only Admiral N. Mordvinov spoke out against it, who referred to the law on the abolition death penalty, pleasant still to Elizabeth and confirmed by Paul I.
The sentence of five people condemned to execution was carried out on July 13, 1826 at the crown of the Peter and Paul Fortress. During the execution, a truly terrible incident occurred: after the benches were knocked out from under the feet of the condemned, three ropes could not withstand the weight of the bodies and broke. According to all existing Christian concepts, a second execution was impossible. But they brought new ropes, and, as the head of the police department later said, the three criminals “were soon hanged again and received a well-deserved death.”
The rest of the convicts were sentenced to various terms of hard labor, the officers were demoted to privates, and at first a humiliating ritual of civil execution was carried out with the deprivation of all nobility and ranks. The soldiers who took part in the performance were severely punished with rods, many were sent to the active army in the Caucasus.
In 1975, at the site of the execution of the Decembrists, a memorial obelisk was erected on the crown of the Peter and Paul Fortress.
Text prepared by Galina Dregulas
For those who want to know more:
1. Petersburg of the Decembrists. Comp. And Margolis. St. Petersburg, 2001
2. Eidelmen N. Amazing generation. Decembrists: faces and destinies. M., 2001
3. Nechkina M. Day December 14, 1825. M., 1985
April 5th, 2015
I'm almost done posting more topics. This is already the ninth and penultimate topic. There were practically no volunteers to cover the second ten topics in the post, but the authors of the topics, in principle, can present them in the next vote.
So, today we have the topic of alternative history from a friend kisyha_74. The concept may not be entirely accurate, but there is certainly a certain current and direction that calls into question the official version of many historical events. History in general has always been a complex matter. And the further it goes into the depths of centuries, the more complicated it is. All these are just serifs and outlines for further independent study for those interested.
What claims are made against the well-known official version? On December 26, 1825, the Decembrist uprising broke out in St. Petersburg.
If you peel away the shavings of Soviet mythology, you can see a lot of interesting things.
1. The king is not real
In fact coup d'etat occurred not on December 26, but on November 27, 1825. On this day in St. Petersburg, the death of Emperor Alexander in Taganrog was announced and Konstantin Pavlovich, 2nd in seniority after the childless Alexander, was declared the new emperor. The Senate, the State Council and the entire capital hastily swore the oath to him. True, Constantine had no rights to the throne, since back in 1823 he abdicated the throne in favor of Nicholas, which was also formalized in Alexander’s spiritual will. Nikolai also took the oath to Konstantin under pressure from the military governor Miloradovich.
However, on December 3, Constantine renounced the crown. Either in St. Petersburg everyone decided to replay the game, or because Konstantin was afraid to share the fate of his father Paul I, he allegedly said: “They will strangle you, just like they strangled your father.” Nicholas was declared the legal heir to the throne. Everything that happened, of course, took place in an atmosphere of strict secrecy and gave rise to a lot of rumors.
2. Who is pulling the strings?
The oath of office to the new emperor was scheduled for December 14 (26). The Decembrists, who had previously not identified themselves in any way, timed their performance to coincide with the same date. They did not have a clear program, the idea was this: to bring the regiments to Senate Square that day in order to prevent the oath of allegiance to Nicholas. The main conspirator, Prince Trubetskoy, who was appointed dictator, did not come to the square at all; it is quite possible that the appointment happened retroactively. There was practically no coordination, Ryleev rushed around St. Petersburg, “like a sick man in his restless bed,” everything was done at random. It looks quite strange for a secret society that has been operating for several years, covering a significant part of the military elite, and having an extensive network throughout the country.
3. Orange technologies
Classic technologies were used to withdraw troops; today they would be called orange. So Alexander Bestuzhev, having arrived at the barracks of the Moscow regiment, already ready to take the oath, began to assure the soldiers that they were being deceived, that Tsarevich Konstantin had never abdicated the throne and would soon be in St. Petersburg, that he was his adjutant and was sent ahead by him on purpose, etc. . Having captivated the soldiers with such deception, he led them to Senate Square. In the same way, other regiments were brought to the square. At this time, thousands of people gathered on the square and near the embankment of St. Isaac's Cathedral. They worked easier with the common people; they spread a rumor that the legitimate Emperor Constantine was already on his way to St. Petersburg from Warsaw and was taken under arrest near Narva, but soon the troops would free him, and after a while the excited crowd shouted: “Hurray, Constantine!”
4. Provocateurs
Meanwhile, regiments loyal to Emperor Nicholas arrived on the square. A confrontation arose: on the one hand, the rebels and the incited people, on the other, the defenders of the new emperor. Trying to persuade the rebels to return to the officers' barracks, the crowd threw logs from a dismantled woodpile near St. Isaac's Cathedral. One of the rebels is a hero Caucasian War Yakubovich, who came to Senateskaya and was appointed commander of the Moscow regiment, cited a headache and disappeared from the square. Then he stood in the crowd near the emperor for several hours, and then approached him and asked permission to go to the rebels to persuade them to lay down their arms. Having received consent, he went to the chain as a parliamentarian and, approaching Kuchelbecker, said in a low voice: “Hold on, they are severely afraid of you,” and left. Today on the Maidan he would be considered a titushka.
5. “Noble” shot
However, soon it came to clashes. General Miloradovich went to the rebels for negotiations and was killed by a shot from Kakhovsky. The hero Kakhovsky, if you look at him through a magnifying glass, turns out to be a very interesting person. A Smolensk landowner, lost to smithereens, he came to St. Petersburg in the hope of finding a rich bride, but he failed. By chance he met Ryleev and he pulled him into a secret society. Ryleev and other comrades supported him in St. Petersburg at their own expense. And when the time came to pay the benefactors’ bills, Kakhovsky, without hesitation, fired. After this, it became clear that it would no longer be possible to reach an agreement.
6. Pointless and merciless
In Soviet times, a myth was created about the unfortunate sufferers - the Decembrists. But for some reason no one is talking about the real victims of this senseless riot. While few were killed among the members of the secret societies who stirred up this mess, the full charm of buckshot was felt by the common people and the soldiers drawn into the massacre. Taking advantage of the indecision of the rebels, Nikolai managed to transfer artillery, shot at the rebels with grapeshot, people and soldiers scattered, many fell through the ice and drowned while trying to cross the Neva. The result is deplorable: among the mob - 903 killed, minors - 150, women - 79, lower ranks of soldiers - 282.
7. Everything is secret...
Recently, the following version of the reasons for the rebellion has been gaining momentum. If you look closely, all the threads lead to Konstantin, in whom you can see the true customer. The Decembrist revolutionaries, who kept papers in their desks about the reconstruction of Russia, the adoption of a constitution, and the abolition of serfdom, for some reason began to force the soldiers to swear allegiance to Constantine. Why did people opposed to the monarchy do this? Maybe because they were directed by someone who benefited from it. It is no coincidence that Nikolai, having begun the investigation into the uprising, and he was personally present during the interrogations, said that they should not look for the guilty, but give everyone the opportunity to justify themselves, since he probably knew who was behind it, and did not want to wash dirty linen in public. Well, one more conspiracy theory and eloquent fact. As soon as Konstantin left Warsaw after the next Polish uprising and ended up in Vitebsk, he suddenly fell ill with cholera and died a few days later.
What other points are not only questioned, but perhaps more “not discussed”?
First of all, regicide.
Moreover, as S. G. Nechaev, the head of the “People’s Retribution” society, later said, “with the entire great litany” (today they would say “the entire payroll”) the august family, including the grand duchesses extradited abroad and their offspring, had to die. So that no one can lay claim to the throne.
The thought of the immorality of such a step, of course, occurred to the leaders of the conspiracy. And if they themselves were ready to step over mental anguish, then neither the crowd, nor numerous ordinary participants, nor even a number of high-ranking brethren, for example, Prince S.P. Trubetskoy, shared their bloodthirsty aspirations.
Therefore, the so-called “act of retaliation” had to be carried out. “doomed cohort” - a detachment of several people who knew in advance that they were sacrificing themselves. They undertook to kill representatives of the royal house, and then the new government of the republic would execute them, dissociating itself from the bloody massacre. So, A.I. Yakubovich promised to shoot Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich, and V.K. Kuchelbecker - Mikhail Pavlovich. As the latter later told his brother: “The most amazing thing is that they didn’t kill us.”
The logic is well known: what is the death of one family compared to the happiness of millions? But the extermination of the reigning house seems to give a free hand for bloody atrocities in the rest of the country. The punitive authorities, the creation of which Pestel envisaged, were supposed to number 50 thousand people. Later, 4 thousand served in the Corps of Gendarmes, including the lower ranks - essentially internal troops. Why did Pestel need so much? In order to “persuad” compatriots who do not agree to a republic. So the royal family would be followed not by great, but numerous families. Is it only nobles? Experience of the beginning of the 20th century. shows that it is not far away.
How they handed over their
Historians are now studying internal strife in the circle of conspirators and know that at the Moscow Congress of 1821, for the first time in Russian history, the question of predatory expropriations - money for the revolution - was raised. That spying on each other and opening letters were not alien to the heroes of December 14th. Their behavior after their arrest in the fortress is so shocking to novice researchers that they had to come up with two mutually exclusive myths. The nobleman answers the first request, so the arrested did not hide anything, called their comrades, and told everything they knew.
Another option: the Decembrists wanted to give the impression of a large organization so that the government would be scared and make concessions. Thus, Prince S.G. Volkonsky, at the very first interrogation, listed the names of 22 members of the society, some of whom turned out to be completely uninvolved. That is, he slandered people.
Letters of repentance were written to the emperor, services were offered to reveal “all the hidden sides of the conspiracy.” In the hope of saving themselves, they confessed almost in a race. Perhaps K. F. Ryleev showed more than anyone. Although no methods of physical coercion were used against those arrested. I would very much like to find similar facts in early Soviet historiography. But alas...
And torture was prohibited by law. And the sovereign and the investigators are not cut out for this. Of course, people are not sinless, but there is a line beyond which the authorities at that time did not go. As they wrote then:
“Frightened boys found themselves in the Peter and Paul Fortress, who had been grabbed by the hand after the “festival of disobedience,” and who were now repeating: we won’t do it again.”
Here are excerpts from the book by Prof. Gernet "History of the Tsar's Prison", published by the Bolsheviks.
| “... Leparsky, an exceptionally kind man, who created a tolerable life for them, was appointed head of the Chita prison and the Petrovsky plant, where all the Decembrists were concentrated. This was probably done by the Tsar deliberately, because... he personally knew Leparsky as a devoted, but gentle and tactful person.” “In the absence of government work,” wrote the head of the convict prison in Chita, “I occupy them in the summer earthworks, 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon, and in the winter they will grind government-issued rye for themselves and for the factory stores.”
“In fact, for any “shops” there was no need for the work of the Decembrists. Leparsky solved this problem by turning work into a walk or a picnic with useful gymnastics.” |
The Decembrists did not need anything financially. During the 10 years of their stay in hard labor, the prisoners received from relatives, not counting countless parcels of things and food, 354,758 rubles, and their wives - 778,135 rubles, and this is only through official means; undoubtedly, they managed to receive money secretly from the administration.”
| “The new Chita prison was divided into four rooms, warm and bright.” “In 1828, the shackles were removed from the Decembrists. In the same year, Leparsky “authorized the building of two small houses in the courtyard: in one they placed carpentry, lathe and bookbinding machines for those wishing to engage in crafts, and in the other - a piano.” “Hard labor soon became something like gymnastics for those who wanted it. In the summer they filled up the ditch, which was called the “Devil’s Grave,” the watchmen and servants of the ladies scurried about, carried folding chairs and chessboards to the place of work. The guard officer and non-commissioned officers shouted: “Gentlemen, it’s time to go to work! Who's coming today? If interested, i.e. those who were not said to be sick were not enough, the officer said pleadingly: “Gentlemen, please add someone else! Otherwise the commandant will notice that there is very little!” One of those who needed to see a comrade living in another casemate allowed himself to beg: “Well, I guess I’ll go.” The watchmen carried shovels. Led by an officer and guarded by soldiers with guns, the prisoners set off on their journey. To the sound of shackles, they sang their favorite Italian aria, the revolutionary “Our Fatherland suffers under your yoke,” or even the French Marseillaise. Officers and soldiers walked rhythmically to the beat of revolutionary songs. Arriving at the place, we had breakfast, drank tea, and played chess. The soldiers, having put their guns in the trestles, settled down to rest and fell asleep; The non-commissioned officers and guards were finishing the prisoners’ breakfast.” |
A new building with 64 rooms was waiting for them in Petrovskaya. Singles - one, married - two.
| “The rooms were large,” writes Tseitlin, “for married people, they soon took on the appearance of rooms in an ordinary apartment, with carpets and upholstered furniture.” Russian and foreign newspapers and magazines were produced. The Decembrist Zavalishin estimates the total book fund of the Petrovsky prison at 500,000 titles. Prof. Gernet considers this number possible, taking into account the huge library of Muravyov-Apostol.” "Book Trubetskoy and Prince. Volkonskaya lived outside the prison, in separate apartments, each with 25 servants.” “We worked a little on the road and in the gardens. It happened that the officer on duty asked to go to work when there were too few people in the group. Zavalishin describes the return from these works as follows: “returning, they carried books, flowers, sheet music, delicacies from the ladies, and behind them government workers carried picks, stretchers, shovels... they sang revolutionary songs.” “The Decembrists actually did not carry out hard labor, with the exception of a few people who worked in the mine for a short time,” Prof. himself admits. Gernet. |
They woke up Herzen
It is to A.I. Herzen, a talented journalist who worked in England, that we owe the Decembrist myth. Later, the picture only became more complicated, but did not change in essence.
The printing house of “The Bell” and “The Polar Star” was located in London. England, after the Napoleonic Wars, is the largest heavyweight player on the European stage. The most dangerous enemy of the Russian Empire. Therefore, support for the opposition journalist was always provided. For example, Nikolai Turgenev, one of the then “Decembrist” defectors, was hiding in London. Master of high dedication. The man whom Alexander I was afraid to arrest at home, simply writing to him: “My brother, leave Russia” (by the way, this phrase is disputed). But Nicholas I demanded extradition.
Where would we be without the Masons?
Here is another version:
The entire ideological basis of both the first Russian secret political alliances that arose after the Patriotic War and the later ones is not Russian, foreign. All of them are copied from foreign samples. Some researchers of the history of the Decembrist uprising claim that the charter of the “Union of Welfare” was copied from the charter of the German “Tugendbund”. But most likely, the origins of the political ideas of the Decembrists must be sought in political ideas European Freemasonry and in the ideas of the “Great” French Revolution, which again lead us to Masonic ideas about “universal brotherhood, equality and freedom.”
| “In the guard,” reports the deputy on August 29, 1822 French Ambassador Count Boilcomte, - the extravagance and slander have reached the point that one general recently told us - sometimes it seems that all it takes is a leader for a rebellion to start. Last month, the Guard openly sang a parody of the famous tune “I wandered around the world for a long time,” which contained the most criminal attacks on His Majesty personally and on His trips and congresses: this parody was sung by many officers. Then, what happened in the meeting of young guards officers shows so clearly the spirit reigning among them that it is impossible not to report it.” “Excited by previous heated and intemperate disputes regarding political events, the 50 officers present at this meeting ended with getting up from the table, they walked one by one past the portrait of the Emperor and cursed at him.” |
From the same letter from Count Boileconte we learn who the instigators of these rebellious sentiments were. These were the Freemasons, of whom, as we remember, the army abounded.
Many of the Decembrists passed through Masonic lodges. In the charter of the Union of Salvation, Tseitlin rightly points out, “Masonic features are clearly visible, and subsequently one can trace the secret underground streams of Freemasonry in the political movement of those years”. Tseitlin is a Jew and he knew what he was writing.
N. Berdyaev also admits that the Decembrist conspiracy grew ideologically from Masonic ideas.
There is no way to list the names of everyone who, after the end of World War II, were members of Masonic lodges of all kinds. Freemasonry pursued, as before, two goals: to undermine Orthodoxy, the basis of the spiritual identity of the Russian people and the source of its spiritual strength, and to completely undermine the autocracy.
In order to overthrow the autocracy, officers who were members of Masonic lodges began preparations for the destruction of the autocracy. The Decembrist uprising was the realization of the plans of the Freemasons, for which it had been preparing for decades. The Decembrist uprising is essentially an uprising of the Freemasons.
Here is another series of versions for those who might be interested: "Murka" from MUR. Two versions, here it is. Many people argue, is it really? and here . Let's also remember about, as well as The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy was made -
