Briefly? The attempted coup is surrounded by so many events and characterized by so many nuances that entire books are dedicated to it. This was the first organized protest against serfdom in Russia, which caused a huge resonance in society and had a significant impact on the political and social life of the subsequent era of the reign of Emperor Nicholas I. Nevertheless, in this article we will try to briefly cover the Decembrist uprising.
general information
On December 14, 1825, an attempted coup d'etat took place in the capital of the Russian Empire - St. Petersburg. The uprising was organized by a group of like-minded nobles, most of whom were guards officers. The goal of the conspirators was the abolition of serfdom and the abolition of autocracy. It should be noted that in its goals the uprising was significantly different from all other conspiracies of the era of palace coups.
Salvation Union
The War of 1812 had a significant impact on all aspects of people's lives. Hopes arose for possible changes, mainly for the abolition of serfdom. But in order to eliminate serfdom, it was necessary to constitutionally limit monarchical power. The history of Russia during this period was marked by the massive creation of communities of guard officers, the so-called artels, on an ideological basis. Of two such artels, at the very beginning of 1816, the creator was Alexander Muravyov, Sergei Trubetskoy, Ivan Yakushkin became, and Pavel Pestel later joined. The goals of the Union were the liberation of the peasants and the reform of government. Pestel wrote the organization’s charter in 1817; most of the participants were members of Masonic lodges, therefore the influence of Masonic rituals was reflected in the everyday life of the Union. Disagreements between members of the community over the possibility of killing the Tsar during the coup d'etat caused the Union to be dissolved in the fall of 1817.
Welfare Union
At the beginning of 1818, the Union of Welfare was organized in Moscow - a new secret society. It consisted of two hundred people, concerned with the idea of forming an advanced public opinion, create liberal movement. For this purpose, it was planned to organize legal charitable, literary, and educational organizations. More than ten union councils were founded throughout the country, including in St. Petersburg, Chisinau, Tulchin, Smolensk and other cities. “Side” councils were also formed, for example, the council of Nikita Vsevolzhsky, “Green Lamp”. Members of the Union were required to actively participate in public life, try to occupy high positions in the army, government agencies. The composition of society changed regularly: the first participants started families and retired from political affairs, and new ones came to replace them. In January 1821, a congress of the Welfare Union was held in Moscow for three days, due to differences between supporters of moderate and radical movements. The activities of the congress were led by Mikhail Fonvizin and it turned out that informers informed the government about the existence of the Union, and a decision was made to formally dissolve it. This made it possible to free ourselves from people who entered the community by accident.
Reorganization
The dissolution of the Welfare Union was a step towards reorganization. New societies appeared: Northern (in St. Petersburg) and Southern (in Ukraine). Main role in the Northern Society they played Sergei Trubetskoy, Nikita Muravyov, and later Kondraty Ryleev, famous poet, who rallied the fighting Republicans around himself. The head of the organization was Pavel Pestel, guard officers Mikhail Naryshkin, Ivan Gorstkin, naval officers Nikolay Chizhov and brothers Bodisko, Mikhail and Boris took an active part. The brothers Alexander and the Bobrishchev-Pushkin brothers took part in the Southern Society: Pavel and Nikolai, Alexey Cherkasov, Ivan Avramov, Vladimir Likharev, Ivan Kireev.
Background to the events of December 1825
The year of the Decembrist uprising has arrived. The conspirators decided to take advantage of the difficult legal situation that arose around the right to the throne after the death of Alexander I. There was secret document, according to which Konstantin Pavlovich, the brother of the childless Alexander I, next in seniority behind him, renounced the throne. Thus, the next brother, Nikolai Pavlovich, although extremely unpopular among the military-bureaucratic elite, had an advantage. At the same time, even before the secret document was opened, Nicholas hastened to renounce the rights to the throne in favor of Constantine under the pressure of M. Miloradovich, the Governor-General of St. Petersburg.
Change of power
On November 27, 1825, the history of Russia began a new round - a new emperor, Constantine, formally appeared. Even several coins were minted with his image. However, Constantine did not officially accept the throne, but did not renounce it either. A very tense and ambiguous interregnum situation was created. As a result, Nicholas decided to declare himself emperor. The oath was scheduled for December 14. Finally, the change of power came - the moment that members of the secret communities had been waiting for. It was decided to start the Decembrist uprising.
The uprising on December 14 was a consequence of the fact that, as a result of a long night meeting on the night of 13 to 14, the Senate nevertheless recognized Nikolai Pavlovich’s legal right to the throne. The Decembrists decided to prevent the Senate and troops from taking the oath to the new king. It was impossible to hesitate, especially since the minister already had a great amount denunciations, and arrests could soon begin.
History of the Decembrist uprising
The conspirators planned to occupy Peter and Paul Fortress and Winter Palace, arrest royal family and, if certain circumstances arise, kill. Sergei Trubetskoy was elected to lead the uprising. Next, the Decembrists wanted to demand from the Senate the publication of a national manifesto proclaiming the destruction of the old government and the establishment of a provisional government. Admiral Mordvinov and Count Speransky were supposed to be members of the new revolutionary government. The deputies were entrusted with the task of approving the constitution - the new fundamental law. If the Senate refused to announce a national manifesto containing points on the abolition of serfdom, equality of all before the law, democratic freedoms, and the introduction of mandatory for all classes military service, the introduction of jury trials, the election of officials, abolition, etc., it was decided to force him to do this forcibly.
Then it was planned to convene a National Council, which would decide the question of choosing a form of government: a republic or If it were chosen republican uniform, the royal family was to be expelled from the country. Ryleev first proposed sending Nikolai Pavlovich to Fort Ross, but then he and Pestel plotted the murder of Nikolai and, perhaps, Tsarevich Alexander.
December 14 - Decembrist uprising
Let us briefly describe what happened on the day of the coup attempt. Early in the morning, Ryleev turned to Kakhovsky with a request to enter the Winter Palace and kill Nicholas. He initially agreed, but then refused. By eleven in the morning, Moscow was withdrawn guards regiment, Grenadier Regiment, sailors of the Guards Marine Crew. In total - about three thousand people. However, a couple of days before the Decembrist uprising of 1825 began, Nicholas was warned about the intentions of members of secret societies by the Decembrist Rostovtsev, who considered the uprising unworthy of noble honor, and the chief of the General Staff, Dibich. Already at seven in the morning, the senators took the oath to Nicholas and proclaimed him emperor. Trubetskoy, appointed leader of the uprising, did not appear on the square. The regiments on Senate Street continued to stand and wait for the conspirators to come to a common opinion on the appointment of a new leader.
Climax Events
On this day the history of Russia was made. Count Miloradovich, who appeared before the soldiers on horseback, began to say that if Constantine refused to be emperor, then nothing could be done. Obolensky, who had left the ranks of the rebels, convinced Miloradovich to drive away, and then, seeing that he was not reacting, lightly wounded him in the side with a bayonet. At the same time, Kakhovsky shot the count with a pistol. Prince Mikhail Pavlovich and Colonel Sturler tried to bring the soldiers to obedience, but all attempts were unsuccessful. Nevertheless, the rebels twice repulsed the attack of the Horse Guards, led by Alexei Orlov.
Tens of thousands of residents of St. Petersburg gathered in the square; they sympathized with the rebels and threw stones and logs at Nicholas and his retinue. As a result, two “rings” of people were formed. One surrounded the rebels and consisted of those who came earlier, the other was formed from those who came later, the gendarmes no longer allowed them into the square, so people stood behind the government troops who surrounded the Decembrists. Such an environment was dangerous, and Nikolai, doubting his success, decided to prepare members royal family crews in case of need to escape to Tsarskoe Selo.
Unequal forces
The newly-crowned emperor understood that the results of the Decembrist uprising may not be in his favor, so he asked Metropolitans Eugene and Seraphim to appeal to the soldiers with a request to retreat. This did not bring results, and Nikolai’s fears intensified. Nevertheless, he managed to take the initiative into his own hands while the rebels were choosing a new leader (Prince Obolensky was appointed to them). Government troops were more than four times larger than the Decembrist army: nine thousand infantry bayonets, three thousand cavalry sabers were assembled, and later artillerymen were called in (thirty-six guns), in total about twelve thousand people. The rebels, as already noted, numbered three thousand.
Defeat of the Decembrists
When the Guards artillery appeared from the Admiralteysky Boulevard, Nikolai ordered a volley of grapeshot to be fired at the “rabble” located on the roofs of the Senate and neighboring houses. The Decembrists responded with rifle fire, and then fled under a hail of grapeshot. Shots continued after them, the soldiers rushed onto the ice of the Neva with the goal of moving to Vasilyevsky Island. On the Neva ice, Bestuzhev attempted to establish battle formation and go on the offensive again. The troops lined up, but were fired at by cannonballs. The ice was breaking and people were drowning. The plan was a failure, and by nightfall hundreds of corpses lay on the streets and squares.
Arrest and trial
Questions about what year the Decembrist uprising took place and how it ended will probably not be answered by many today. However, this event largely influenced the further history of Russia. The significance of the Decembrist uprising cannot be underestimated - they were the first in the empire to create a revolutionary organization, develop a political program, prepare and implement an armed uprising. At the same time, the rebels were not prepared for the trials that followed the uprising. Some of them were executed by hanging after the trial (Ryleev, Pestel, Kakhovsky and others), the rest were exiled to Siberia and other places. There was a split in society: some supported the tsar, others supported the failed revolutionaries. And the surviving revolutionaries themselves, defeated, shackled, captured, lived in deep mental anguish.
Finally
The article briefly described how the Decembrist uprising took place. They were driven by one desire - to take a revolutionary stand against autocracy and serfdom in Russia. For enthusiastic young men, outstanding military men, philosophers and economists, prominent thinkers, the coup attempt became an exam: someone showed strengths, some were weak, some showed determination, courage, self-sacrifice, while others began to hesitate, could not maintain the sequence of actions, and retreated.
The historical significance of the Decembrist uprising is that they laid the foundations of revolutionary traditions. Their performance marked the beginning further development liberation thoughts in serf Russia.
December 26, 1825 on Senate Square There was an attempted coup in St. Petersburg. The uprising was organized by a group of like-minded nobles, many of whom were officers of the guard. They tried to use guard units to prevent Nicholas I from ascending the throne, but the attempt was unsuccessful - troops loyal to the throne suppressed the rebellion with artillery.
In the first quarter of the 19th century, Russia was agitated by revolutionary sentiments. The main reason for this was that the most progressively minded part of the nobility was disappointed by the rule of Alexander the First, who, despite his promises (to grant the people a constitution), in fact did not weaken absolutism one iota. A certain part of Russian ruling class It was precisely this that she saw as the main obstacle to the development of the country and sought to end the centuries-old backwardness of Russia.
The growth of these sentiments was greatly facilitated by the liberation campaign in Europe after the War of 1812. Having become familiar with various political movements in the West, the advanced Russian nobility decided that it was serfdom- the reason for the backwardness of the state. Russian serfdom was perceived by the rest of the world as an insult to national public dignity. The views of the future Decembrists were greatly influenced by educational literature, Russian journalism, as well as the ideas of Western revolutionary educators.
It was after the end of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, when Waterloo had already died down, that revolutionary sentiments in Russia began to turn into practical actions. In February 1816, the first secret political society- “Union of Salvation,” which set itself the goal of abolishing serfdom in Russia and adopting a constitution. It was headed by A.N. Muravyov, S.I. Muravyov-Apostol, S.P. Trubetskoy, I.D. Yakushkin, P.I. Pestel. Limited strength prompted the members of the “Union” to create a broader organization, and in 1818 the “Union of Welfare” was created in Moscow, numbering about 200 members and having a charter with an extensive program of action.
The conspirators saw ways to achieve their goals in promoting their views, in preparing society for a painless revolutionary coup. However, due to disagreements, the society was dissolved. In March 1821, the Southern Society arose in Ukraine, headed by P.I. Pestel, and in St. Petersburg on the initiative of N.M. Muravyov, the Northern Society was organized. Both societies interacted with each other and viewed themselves as part of the same organization.
In 1823, preparations began for the uprising, which was scheduled for the summer of 1826. However, as a result of the death of Alexander I in December 1825, an interregnum arose and the conspirators decided to proceed active actions immediately, believing that more favorable moment won't introduce himself anymore. Members of the Northern Society decided to come forward with the demands of their program on the day of taking the oath of office to the new Emperor Nicholas I.
On December 26, 1825, conspiratorial officers brought the Grenadier Life Guards, the Moscow Life Guards, and the Guards Marine Regiment to Senate Square in St. Petersburg. The total number of rebels was about three thousand bayonets. This would be quite enough for a coup; the history of our country was changing dramatically and with less military support (for example, Elizaveta Petrovna needed only a few guards companies to seize power).
But Nicholas, who had already ascended the throne, was warned about the uprising and managed to swear in the Senate, which gave him the opportunity to quickly gather loyal troops, which soon surrounded Senate Square. First, they entered into negotiations with the rebels, which led nowhere, and after Kakhovsky mortally wounded Governor Miloradovich, troops loyal to the government used artillery. Unable to do anything against the hail of grapeshot, the rebels surrendered - the Decembrist uprising was suppressed.
A little later (December 29), the Chernigov regiment also rebelled, the rebellion of which was also suppressed in two weeks.
Arrests of the organizers and participants of the uprisings occurred throughout Russia. In the case of the Decembrists, 579 people were brought to trial, 289 were found guilty. Five - Ryleev, Pestel, Kakhovsky, Bestuzhev-Ryumin, Muravyov-Apostol - were hanged. More than 120 people were exiled to different terms to Siberia for hard labor or settlement.
Decembrist revolt- attempted coup that took place in St. Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire, on December 14 (26) of the year.
Prerequisites for the uprising
The conspirators decided to take advantage of the complex legal situation that had developed around the rights to the throne after the death of Alexander I. On the one hand, there was a secret document confirming the long-standing renunciation of the throne by the brother next to the childless Alexander in seniority, Konstantin Pavlovich, which gave an advantage to the next brother, who was extremely unpopular among the highest military-bureaucratic elite to Nikolai Pavlovich. On the other hand, even before the opening of this document, Nikolai Pavlovich, under pressure from the Governor-General of St. Petersburg, Count M.A. Miloradovich, hastened to renounce his rights to the throne in favor of Konstantin Pavlovich.
Uprising plan
The Decembrists decided to prevent the troops and the Senate from taking the oath to the new king. The rebel troops were supposed to occupy the Winter Palace and the Peter and Paul Fortress, the royal family was planned to be arrested and, under certain circumstances, killed. A dictator was elected to lead the uprising - Prince Sergei Trubetskoy.
After this, it was planned to demand that the Senate publish a national Manifesto, which would proclaim the “destruction former board"and the establishment of the Provisional Revolutionary Government. It was supposed to make Count Speransky and Admiral Mordvinov its members (later they became members of the trial of the Decembrists).
Deputies had to approve a new fundamental law - the constitution. If the Senate did not agree to publish the people's manifesto, it was decided to force it to do so. The manifesto contained several points: the establishment of a provisional revolutionary government, the abolition of serfdom, equality of all before the law, democratic freedoms (press, confession, labor), the introduction of jury trials, the introduction of compulsory military service for all classes, the election of officials, the abolition of the poll tax.
After this, a National Council was to be convened ( constituent Assembly), which was supposed to decide the question of the form of government - constitutional monarchy or republic. In the second case, the royal family would have to be sent abroad. In particular, Ryleev proposed sending Nikolai to Fort Ross.
Events of December 14 (26), 1825
It is worth noting that, unlike their brother, Alexander I, who regularly received reports about the growth of the spirit of freethinking in the troops and about conspiracies directed against him, Konstantin and Nicholas did not even suspect the existence of secret army societies. They were shocked and depressed by the events of December 14 (26). In his letter to Nicholas on December 20, 1825 (January 1, 1826), Konstantin Pavlovich wrote:
Great God, what events! This bastard was unhappy that he had an angel as his sovereign, and conspired against him! What do they need? This is monstrous, terrible, covers everyone, even if they are completely innocent, who did not even think about what happened!
However, a few days before this, Nikolai was warned about his intentions secret societies the chief of the General Staff I.I. Dibich and the Decembrist Ya.I. Rostovtsev (the latter considered the uprising against the tsar incompatible with noble honor). At 7 o'clock in the morning, the senators took the oath to Nicholas and proclaimed him emperor. Trubetskoy, who was appointed dictator, did not appear. The rebel regiments continued to stand on Senate Square until the conspirators could come to a common decision on the appointment of a new leader.
Colonel Sturler and Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich. Then the rebels twice repulsed the attack of the Horse Guards led by Alexei Orlov.
A large crowd of St. Petersburg residents gathered on the square and the main mood of this huge mass, which, according to contemporaries, numbered in tens of thousands of people, was sympathy for the rebels. They threw logs and stones at Nicholas and his retinue. Two “rings” of people were formed - the first consisted of those who came earlier, it surrounded the square of the rebels, and the second ring was formed of those who came later - their gendarmes were no longer allowed into the square to join the rebels, and they stood behind the government troops who surrounded the rebel square. Nikolai, as can be seen from his diary, understood the danger of this environment, which threatened great complications. He doubted his success, “seeing that the matter was becoming very important, and not yet foreseeing how it would end.” It was decided to prepare crews for members of the royal family for a possible escape to Tsarskoye Selo. Later, Nikolai told his brother Mikhail many times: “The most amazing thing in this story is that you and I weren’t shot then.”
Nicholas sent Metropolitan Seraphim and Kyiv Metropolitan Eugene to persuade the soldiers. But in response, according to the testimony of Deacon Prokhor Ivanov, the soldiers began to shout to the metropolitans: “What kind of metropolitan are you, when in two weeks you swore allegiance to two emperors... We don’t believe you, go away!..”. The metropolitans interrupted the soldiers' conviction when the Life Guards Grenadier Regiment and the Guards crew, under the command of Nikolai Bestuzhev and Lieutenant Anton Arbuzov, appeared on the square.
But the gathering of all the rebel troops occurred only more than two hours after the start of the uprising. An hour before the end of the uprising, the Decembrists elected a new “dictator” - Prince Obolensky. But Nicholas managed to take the initiative into his own hands and the encirclement of the rebels by government troops, more than four times the number of the rebels, was already completed. In total, 30 Decembrist officers brought about 3,000 soldiers to the square. According to Gabaev’s calculations, 9 thousand infantry bayonets, 3 thousand cavalry sabers were collected against the rebel soldiers, in total, not counting the artillerymen called up later (36 guns), at least 12 thousand people. Because of the city, another 7 thousand infantry bayonets and 22 cavalry squadrons, that is, 3 thousand sabers, were called up and stopped at the outposts as a reserve, that is, in total, another 10 thousand people stood in reserve at the outposts.
Nikolai was afraid of the onset of darkness, since most of all he feared that “the excitement would not be communicated to the mob,” which could become active in the dark. From the side of Admiralteysky Boulevard, guards artillery appeared under the command of General I. Sukhozanet. A volley of blank charges was fired at the square, which had no effect. Then Nikolai ordered to shoot with grapeshot. The first salvo was fired above the ranks of the rebel soldiers - at the “mobs” on the roof of the Senate building and the roofs of neighboring houses. The rebels responded to the first volley of grapeshot with rifle fire, but then they began to flee under a hail of grapeshot. According to V.I. Shteingel: “It could have been limited to this, but Sukhozanet fired a few more shots along the narrow Galerny Lane and across the Neva towards the Academy of Arts, where more of the crowd of curious people fled!” . Crowds of rebel soldiers rushed onto the Neva ice to move to Vasilievsky Island. Mikhail Bestuzhev tried to again form soldiers into battle formation on the ice of the Neva and go on the offensive against the Peter and Paul Fortress. The troops lined up, but were fired at by cannonballs. The cannonballs hit the ice, and it split, many drowned.
Victims
By nightfall the uprising was over. Hundreds of corpses remained in the square and streets. Based on the papers of Section III official M. M. Popov, N. K. Shilder wrote:
| After the artillery fire ceased, Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich ordered Chief of Police General Shulgin to remove the corpses by morning. Unfortunately, the perpetrators acted in the most inhumane manner. On the night on the Neva, from the Isaac Bridge to the Academy of Arts and further to the side of Vasilievsky Island, many ice holes were made, into which not only corpses were lowered, but, as they claimed, also many wounded, deprived of the opportunity to escape from the fate that awaited them. Those of the wounded who managed to escape hid their injuries, afraid to open up to doctors, and died without medical care. |
Arrest and trial
371 soldiers of the Moscow Regiment, 277 of the Grenadier Regiment and 62 sailors of the Sea Crew were immediately arrested and sent to the Peter and Paul Fortress. The arrested Decembrists were brought to the Winter Palace. Emperor Nicholas himself acted as an investigator.
By decree of December 17 (29), a Commission was established for research into malicious societies, chaired by the Minister of War
“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. Further 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. His brother Constantine was supposed to inherit the throne of the Russian Empire, 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 also not loved in the army. 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, at best, defend themselves - and then they do it belatedly. All the energy of the conspirators was enough for single blows with a saber, a bayonet, or a shot at officers trying to talk with soldiers. And the soldiers shoot from the hand and aimlessly, 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 to arrest the leader was thought out and carried out Southern Society 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 time 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 royal power- moreover, after foreign trips The Russian army looked at Alexander I 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 the main objective? But the very 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 lands from landowners, the deportation of those who had separated from all Jews to Asia Minor - in case of disobedience, the resettlement of 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 personality. 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 artillery lieutenant Napoleon, and in 1820 - the success of the battalion commander Riego, who transformed Spain into 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 participants in secret societies successfully did 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, 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 take care of his brigade, and not management Russian Empire, shows that the government has been in the know for a long time. 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 the “ 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 most sad consequence there was mutual bitterness for many decades between both the authorities and the opposition. 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. Likewise, the opposition decided that with such a bloody government it could not be otherwise.
Pushkin, hot on the heels, noted extreme ambition and distortions in upbringing 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. O 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.
On December 26, 1825, the Decembrist uprising broke out in St. Petersburg. If you peel away the husks of Soviet mythology, you can see a lot of interesting things.
The king is not real
In fact, the coup d'état took place 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, second in seniority after the childless Alexander, was named the new emperor. The Senate hastily swore the oath to him, State Council and the entire capital. 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 Mikhail Miloradovich.
However, on December 3, Constantine renounced the crown. Either everyone in St. Petersburg decided to change their game, or Konstantin was afraid that he might 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, of course, happened in an atmosphere of the strictest secrecy and gave rise to a lot of rumors.
Who's pulling the strings
The oath of office to the new emperor was scheduled for December 14 (26). The Decembrists, who had not previously shown 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 Sergei Trubetskoy, who was appointed “dictator,” did not come to the square at all: it is quite possible that the appointment occurred retroactively. There was practically no coordination, Kondraty Ryleev rushed around St. Petersburg, “like a sick man in his restless bed,” everything was done at random. Quite strange for a secret society that operated for several years, covering a significant part of military elite and had an extensive network throughout the country.
Orange technologies
Classic technologies were used to withdraw troops; today they would be called orange. Thus, 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 forward by him on purpose and etc. Having enticed the soldiers in this way, he led them to Senate Square. Believing this deception, other regiments entered the square. At the same time, thousands of people gathered there, near the embankment of St. Isaac's Cathedral. It was easier to work 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 his troops would free him. And soon the excited crowd shouted: “Hurray, Konstantin!”
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. The crowd, trying to persuade the rebels to return to the officers' barracks, threw logs from a dismantled woodpile near St. Isaac's Cathedral. One of the rebels is a hero Caucasian War Yakubovich, who came to Senate and was appointed commander of the Moscow regiment, referred to headache and disappeared from the square. Then he stood for several hours in the crowd surrounding the emperor, and then approached him and asked permission to personally persuade the rebels to lay down their arms. Having received consent, he went to the chain as a truce and, approaching V. Kuchelbecker, said in an undertone: “Hold on, they are severely afraid of you.” After which he left. Today on the Maidan he would be considered a titushka.
"Noble" shot
However, things soon came to clashes. General Miloradovich also 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 drew 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.
Senseless and merciless
In Soviet times, a myth was created about the unfortunate Decembrist sufferers. But for some reason no one talks 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 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 those killed: from among the mob - 903, minors - 150, women - 79, lower ranks of soldiers - 282 people.
Everything is secret...
IN Lately The following version of the reasons for the rebellion is 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. He probably knew who was behind this, and did not want to wash his dirty laundry 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.
