Decembrists in Russia - who they are and why they rebelled. Decembrist uprising on Senate Square

The whole point is that historically the Decembrists in Russia were the first who dared to oppose the power of the Tsar. It is interesting that the rebels themselves began to study this phenomenon; they analyzed the reasons for the uprising on Senate Square and its defeat. As a result of the execution of the Decembrists, Russian society lost the very best of enlightened youth, because they came from families of the nobility, glorious participants in the War of 1812.

Who are the Decembrists

Who are the Decembrists? They can be briefly characterized as follows: these are members of several political societies fighting for the abolition of serfdom and a change in state power. In December 1825 they organized an uprising, which was brutally suppressed. 5 people (leaders) were executed, shameful for officers. Decembrist participants were exiled to Siberia, some were shot in the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Causes of the uprising

Why did the Decembrists revolt? There are several reasons for this. The main one, which they all, as one, reproduced during interrogations in the Peter and Paul Fortress - the spirit of freethinking, faith in the strength of the Russian people, tired of oppression - all this was born after the brilliant victory over Napoleon. It is no coincidence that 115 people from among the Decembrists were participants in the Patriotic War of 1812. Indeed, during military campaigns, liberating European countries, they did not encounter the savagery of serfdom anywhere. This forced them to reconsider their attitude towards their country as “slaves and masters.”

It was obvious that serfdom had outlived its usefulness. Fighting side by side with the common people, communicating with them, the future Decembrists came to the idea that people deserve a better fate than a slave existence. The peasants also hoped that after the war their situation would change for the better, because they shed blood for the sake of their homeland. But, unfortunately, the emperor and most of the nobles firmly clung to the serfs. That is why, from 1814 to 1820, more than two hundred peasant uprisings broke out in the country.

The apotheosis was the revolt against Colonel Schwartz of the Semenovsky Guards Regiment in 1820. His cruelty towards ordinary soldiers crossed all boundaries. Activists of the Decembrist movement, Sergei Muravyov-Apostol and Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin, witnessed these events, as they served in this regiment. It should also be noted that a certain spirit of freethinking was instilled in most of the participants at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum: for example, its graduates were I. Pushchin, V. Kuchelbecker, and the freedom-loving poems of A. Pushkin were used as inspired ideas.

Southern Society of Decembrists

It should be understood that the Decembrist movement did not arise out of nowhere: it grew out of world revolutionary ideas. Pavel Pestel wrote that such thoughts go “from one end of Europe to Russia”, even covering such opposite mentalities as Turkey and England.

The ideas of Decembrism were realized through the work of secret societies. The first of them are the Union of Salvation (St. Petersburg, 1816) and the Union of Welfare (1818). The second arose on the basis of the first, was less secretive and included a larger number of members. It was also dissolved in 1820 due to differences of opinion.

In 1821, a new organization emerged, consisting of two Societies: Northern (in St. Petersburg, headed by Nikita Muravyov) and Southern (in Kiev, headed by Pavel Pestel). Southern society had more reactionary views: in order to establish a republic, they proposed killing the king. The structure of the Southern Society consisted of three departments: the first, along with P. Pestel, was headed by A. Yushnevsky, the second by S. Muravyov-Apostol, the third by V. Davydov and S. Volkonsky.

Leaders of the Decembrists: 1.Pavel Ivanovich Pestel

The leader of the Southern Society, Pavel Ivanovich Pestel, was born in 1793 in Moscow. He receives an excellent education in Europe, and upon returning to Russia begins service in the Corps of Pages - especially privileged among the nobles. The pages are personally acquainted with all members of the imperial family. Here the freedom-loving views of young Pestel first appear. Having brilliantly graduated from the Corps, he continues to serve in the Lithuanian Regiment with the rank of ensign of the Life Guards.

During the War of 1812, Pestel was seriously wounded. Having recovered, he returns to service and fights bravely. By the end of the war, Pestel received many high awards, including a golden award weapon. After World War II, he was transferred to serve in the Cavalry Regiment - at that time the most prestigious place of service.

While in St. Petersburg, Pestel learns about a certain secret society (the Union of Salvation) and soon joins it. Paul's revolutionary life begins. In 1821, he headed the Southern Society - in this he was helped by magnificent eloquence, a wonderful mind and the gift of persuasion. Thanks to these qualities, in his time he achieved unity of views of Southern and Northern societies.

Pestel's Constitution

In 1823, the program of the Southern Society, compiled by Pavel Pestel, was adopted. It was unanimously accepted by all members of the association - future Decembrists. Briefly it contained the following points:

• Russia must become a republic, united and indivisible, consisting of 10 districts. State administration will be carried out by the People's Assembly (legislatively) and the State Duma (executively).
• In resolving the issue of serfdom, Pestel proposed to immediately abolish it, dividing the land into two parts: for peasants and for landowners. It was assumed that the latter would rent it out for farming. Researchers believe that if the 1861 reform to abolish serfdom had gone according to Pestel’s plan, the country would very soon have taken a bourgeois, economically progressive path of development.
• Abolition of the institution of estates. All the people of the country are called citizens, they are equally equal before the law. Personal freedoms and inviolability of person and home were declared.
• Tsarism was categorically not accepted by Pestel, so he demanded the physical destruction of the entire royal family.

It was assumed that "Russian Truth" would come into force as soon as the uprising ended. It will be the fundamental law of the country.

Northern Society of Decembrists

Northern society begins to exist in 1821, in the spring. Initially, it consisted of two groups that later merged. It should be noted that the first group was more radical in orientation; its participants shared Pestel’s views and fully accepted his “Russian Truth”.

Activists of the Northern Society were Nikita Muravyov (leader), Kondraty Ryleev (deputy), princes Obolensky and Trubetskoy. Ivan Pushchin played not the least role in the Society.

The Northern Society operated mainly in St. Petersburg, but it also had a branch in Moscow.

The path to uniting Northern and Southern societies was long and very painful. They had fundamental differences on some issues. However, at the congress in 1824 it was decided to begin the process of unification in 1826. The uprising in December 1825 destroyed these plans.

2. Nikita Mikhailovich Muravyov

Nikita Mikhailovich Muravyov comes from a noble family. Born in 1795 in St. Petersburg. Received an excellent education in Moscow. The War of 1812 found him in the rank of collegiate registrar at the Ministry of Justice. He runs away from home for the war and makes a brilliant career during the battles.

After the Patriotic War, he begins to work as part of secret societies: the Union of Salvation and the Union of Welfare. In addition, he writes the charter for the latter. He believes that a republican form of government should be established in the country; only a military coup can help this. During a trip to the south he meets P. Pestel. Nevertheless, he organizes his own structure - the Northern Society, but does not break ties with like-minded people, but, on the contrary, actively cooperates.

He wrote the first edition of his version of the Constitution in 1821, but it did not find a response from other members of the Societies. A little later, he will reconsider his views and release a new program offered by the Northern Society.

Muravyov's Constitution

The Constitution of N. Muravyov included the following positions:

• Russia should become a constitutional monarchy: the legislative branch is the Supreme Duma, consisting of two chambers; executive - the emperor (also the supreme commander in chief). It was separately stipulated that he did not have the right to start and end the war on his own. After a maximum of three readings, the emperor had to sign the law. He had no right to veto; he could only delay the signing in time.
• When serfdom is abolished, the landowners' lands will be left to the owners, and the peasants - their plots, plus 2 tithes will be added to each house.
• Suffrage is only for land owners. Women, nomads and non-owners stayed away from him.
• Abolish the institution of estates, level everyone with one name: citizen. The judicial system is the same for everyone. Muravyov was aware that his version of the constitution would meet fierce resistance, so he provided for its introduction with the use of weapons.

Preparing for the uprising

The secret societies described above lasted 10 years, after which the uprising began. It should be said that the decision to revolt arose quite spontaneously.

While in Taganrog, Alexander I dies. Due to the lack of heirs, the next emperor was to be Constantine, Alexander's brother. The problem was that he secretly abdicated the throne at one time. Accordingly, the reign passed to the youngest brother, Nikolai. The people were in confusion, not knowing about the renunciation. However, Nicholas decides to take the oath on December 14, 1825.

Alexander's death became the starting point for the rebels. They understand that it is time to act, despite the fundamental differences between Southern and Northern societies. They were well aware that they had catastrophically little time to prepare well for the uprising, but they believed that it would be criminal to miss such a moment. This is exactly what Ivan Pushchin wrote to his lyceum friend Alexander Pushkin.

Gathering on the night before December 14, the rebels prepare a plan of action. It boiled down to the following points:

• Appoint Prince Trubetskoy as commander.
• Occupy the Winter Palace and the Peter and Paul Fortress. A. Yakubovich and A. Bulatov were appointed responsible for this.
• Lieutenant P. Kakhovsky was supposed to kill Nikolai. This action was supposed to be a signal to action for the rebels.
• Conduct propaganda work among the soldiers and win them over to the side of the rebels.
• It was up to Kondraty Ryleev and Ivan Pushchin to convince the Senate to swear allegiance to the emperor.

Unfortunately, the future Decembrists did not think through everything. History says that traitors from among them made a denunciation of the impending rebellion to Nicholas, which finally convinced him to appoint the oath to the Senate in the early morning of December 14.

The uprising: how it happened

The uprising did not go according to the scenario that the rebels had planned. The Senate manages to swear allegiance to the emperor even before the campaign.

However, regiments of soldiers are lined up in battle formation on Senate Square, everyone is waiting for decisive action from the leadership. Ivan Pushchin and Kondraty Ryleev arrive there and assure the imminent arrival of the command, Prince Trubetskoy. The latter, having betrayed the rebels, sat out in the tsarist General Staff. He was unable to take the decisive actions that were required of him. As a result, the uprising was suppressed.

Arrests and trial

The first arrests and executions of the Decembrists began to take place in St. Petersburg. An interesting fact is that the trial of those arrested was not carried out by the Senate, as it should have been, but by the Supreme Court, specially organized by Nicholas I for this case. The very first, even before the uprising, on December 13, was Pavel Pestel.

The fact is that shortly before the uprising he accepted A. Maiboroda as a member of the Southern Society, who turned out to be a traitor. Pestel is arrested in Tulchin and taken to the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg.

Mayboroda also wrote a denunciation against N. Muravyov, who was arrested on his own estate.

There were 579 people under investigation. 120 of them were exiled to hard labor in Siberia (among them Nikita Muravyov), all were disgracefully demoted from military ranks. Five rebels were sentenced to death.

Execution

Addressing the court about a possible method of executing the Decembrists, Nikolai notes that blood should not be shed. Thus, they, the heroes of the Patriotic War, are sentenced to the shameful gallows...

Who were the executed Decembrists? Their surnames are as follows: Pavel Pestel, Pyotr Kakhovsky, Kondraty Ryleev, Sergei Muravyov-Apostol, Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin. The sentence was read on July 12, and they were hanged on July 25, 1826. The place of execution of the Decembrists took a long time to be equipped: a gallows with a special mechanism was built. However, there were some complications: three convicts fell from their hinges and had to be hanged again.

In the place in the Peter and Paul Fortress where the Decembrists were executed there is now a monument, which is an obelisk and a granite composition. It symbolizes the courage with which the executed Decembrists fought for their ideals.

Found a mistake? Select it and press left Ctrl+Enter.

The history of the Decembrists in Russia is known to almost every person. These people, who dreamed of changing the world and seeing their country different, laid down their heads for their ideas. But their uprising shook up society and served as the reason for a number of subsequent reforms, which nevertheless changed the socio-political life in the country. From our article you will learn about the uprising itself, as well as about the execution of the Decembrists, which was accompanied by many rumors.

Dissatisfaction with the Tsarist regime in Russia

The War of 1812 gave officers the opportunity to see the true state of affairs in the country and understand the need for large-scale political reforms. Many of the military, having visited European countries, realized how much the development of the Russian Empire was hampered by serfdom, which none of the tsars dared to abolish. Military actions revealed the ineffectiveness of the existing legislative and executive powers, so most officers had hope for limiting the monarchy, which was supposed to begin with the liberation of the peasants. These ideas penetrated deeply into Russian society, so in the mid-nineteenth century secret groups began to form in St. Petersburg that actively developed a reform program.

The first secret societies

The first serious and massive group was the Union of Salvation, which managed to exist for two years. This society saw its main goal as the abolition of serfdom and the implementation of reforms. During their work, the leaders of the Union of Salvation wrote several versions of the program, which was supposed to serve as the basis for political reforms. However, many historians are inclined to believe that most of the members of the secret society belonged to the Masonic lodge. In this regard, disagreements constantly arose within the group, which led to the dissolution of the Union of Salvation.

Instead, in the eighteenth year of the nineteenth century, the “Union of Welfare” was formed, the leaders of which went further than their predecessors. According to the written program, members of the secret society worked to change public consciousness, forming a liberal-minded stratum of the intelligentsia. For this purpose, library circles, educational societies and other organizations were created, which aroused great interest among young people in large cities of Russia. In total, the Union of Welfare included more than two hundred people, but the main composition was changing all the time. Passionate about politics and ardent young people found their own families, had children and moved away from once interesting and fashionable ideas. Over time, several branches of the secret society appeared in the country, and some of them were very radical. Naturally, such ideas could not but arouse interest from the state. The Union of Welfare came under the surveillance of the authorities and was disbanded three years after its creation.

Southern and Northern Society of Decembrists

The collapsed “Union of Welfare” became the basis for the emergence of two new secret groups, which later became the focus of the uprising. The Northern Society of Decembrists was formed one year after the collapse of the previous secret organization. St. Petersburg became its center; in parallel, the Southern Society operated in Ukraine. Members of both groups were quite active and managed to recruit a large number of people into their ranks. They hoped that the written programs of the Decembrists could be implemented and the time for a new regime would come in Russia. By 1825, a very unstable political situation had developed in the country, which members of secret organizations took advantage of.

Prerequisites for the uprising

Before moving on to the story of the uprising, which resulted in the exile and execution of the Decembrists, it is necessary to explain why the conspirators decided to act in this particular period of time. The fact is that after the death of Tsar Alexander I, the issue of succession to the throne arose very acutely in Russia. According to the law, his brother Constantine was supposed to rule the empire after the childless king. However, he had long ago renounced the throne, about which there was an official document. Therefore, the next oldest brother, Nikolai, could claim his rights, but it was he who did not enjoy the support of the people and the military elite.

On November twenty-seventh, Constantine was sworn in and became the legitimate emperor. The newly-made ruler did not seek to delve into state affairs, recalling his previous abdication. However, Konstantin made no attempts to issue a second refusal. Tension grew in all levels of society, and at that moment Nicholas decided to take advantage of the situation and proclaimed himself the only legitimate emperor. His brother immediately signed the renunciation, and the second oath was scheduled for the fourteenth of December. This fact caused great discontent among the aristocracy and the high military command. This was the most convenient moment for the Decembrists and their like-minded people to speak out.

Action plan

After analyzing the situation, the leaders of the uprising decided to prevent the king from taking the oath. For this purpose, this plan has been developed, taking into account all the details. The performance was supposed to begin on Senate Square. The Decembrists, at the head of several regiments, planned to capture the Winter Palace and the Peter and Paul Fortress. The entire royal family was subject to arrest, while the leaders of the uprising took into account the option of killing the king. However, not all participants in the uprising supported such a decision. Many advocated sending the imperial family safe and sound outside Russia.

The Decembrists planned to form a new government, publish a Manifesto on Rights and Freedoms, which would include a clause on the abolition of serfdom, as well as a reform program. The form of government was to be a republic or a constitutional monarchy.

The beginning of the uprising

Historians say that on the fourteenth of December, from the very morning, everything did not go as planned. Peter Kakhovsky, who was supposed to enter the Winter Palace and kill the emperor, which would have been the beginning of an uprising, refused to do so. The plan to bring the sailors to the palace also fell through. The performance of the Decembrists, planned as a powerful and unexpected capture of key points in St. Petersburg, lost its surprise and strength literally before our eyes.

However, with the light hand of Kondraty Ryleev, who was the leader of the conspirators, at least three thousand people came out to Senate Square, awaiting the command to attack. But the rebels seriously miscalculated; Nicholas I was aware of the intentions of the conspirators in advance and took the oath from the senators early in the morning. This discouraged the Decembrists, who could not make a decision on their further actions.

Bloody pages of the uprising

More than once, people loyal to the Tsar came out to the regiments lined up in the square, trying to convince the soldiers to return to their barracks. Gradually, more than ten thousand citizens flocked to the palace. The people formed two rings around Senate Square, and government troops were also surrounded, which threatened very serious problems. The people sympathized with the Decembrists and shouted unpleasant slogans against Nicholas I.

Darkness was approaching, and the emperor understood that the problem must be solved before the common people finally joined the rebels. Then it will be quite difficult to stop the conspirators. But the Decembrists still hesitated and could not decide to take active action. As historians say, this predetermined the outcome of events. The king took advantage of the prolonged pause and pulled up about ten thousand loyal soldiers to the city. They surrounded the rebels and began firing grapeshot at the Decembrists and the curious crowd. This was followed by rifle fire, which made the ranks of the Decembrists waver. Many rushed to run towards the city, others descended onto the icy Neva. Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin tried to line up troops on the ice to capture the Peter and Paul Fortress, but they were fired at by cannonballs. The ice crumbled, and dozens of people went under the water.

Victims of the uprising

After the suppression of the uprising, the city streets were littered with corpses; eyewitnesses of the events wrote in their memoirs that several hundred Decembrists were killed in total. The emperor ordered the bodies to be disposed of before morning, but his order was taken literally. They made holes in the ice and threw the bodies of all those killed there. Many said that the wounded, who could still be helped, also went under the ice. A large number of soldiers and ordinary people who were maimed and wounded never turned to doctors for fear of ending up in prison. It is known that at least five hundred people died from their wounds in the city.

Trial of the conspirators

The morning after the bloody events, mass arrests began. In total, about six hundred people were imprisoned. The Decembrists were arrested one by one and secretly brought to Zimny, where the interrogations were headed by the emperor himself. One of the first to be brought was Pavel Pestel. It is known that his interrogation lasted several hours. It was not easy for Muravyov-Apostol, who distinguished himself during the uprising itself and took an active part in its preparation.

The formed investigative commission worked under the clear leadership of Nicholas I. He knew about every step of the investigators, and all interrogation reports were sent to him. Many understood that the trial of the Decembrists was just a formality. After all, based on the results of investigative actions, the decision had to be made by the emperor himself. He carefully studied the programs of the Decembrists and found out the circumstances of the conspiracy. He was especially interested in those individuals who personally consented to the murder of the king.

During the trial of the Decembrists, they were all divided into eleven categories. Each implied a certain degree of guilt, and punishment was assigned depending on the severity of the crime committed. About three hundred people were found guilty.

It is interesting that the emperor himself saw in the uprising the terrible specter of “Pugachevism,” which almost shook the Russian monarchy. This forced Nicholas I to impose very harsh punishment on the conspirators.

Sentence

As a result of court hearings, five organizers of the uprising were sentenced to death, among them were Pavel Pestel, Ryleev, Bestuzhev and Kakhovsky. The emperor decided that state criminals should be quartered, despite their high social status. Among the persons already mentioned was S.I. Muravyov-Apostol, who also had to suffer such a terrible death.

Thirty-one Decembrists were sentenced to execution by beheading, while the rest had to go to Siberia for hard labor. So Nicholas I decided to deal with those who attempted to oppose him and the monarchy as a whole.

Change of sentence

Due to numerous requests for clemency for criminals, the emperor relented and replaced the execution of the Decembrists by quartering with hanging. Beheading was also changed to lifelong hard labor. However, most of the convicts believed that it was simply impossible to survive in the mines in Siberia, and with his decision the tsar simply prolonged the torment of the rebels. After all, it is known that convicts as a whole rarely survived three years of daily hard work. Most of them died after a year of hard labor.

The date of execution of the Decembrists was set for the night of July thirteenth of the year twenty-six. Nicholas I feared that the people who saw the execution would rebel again, so he ordered the sentence to be carried out in the dark in the presence of random spectators.

Execution

The place where the Decembrists were executed was chosen for security reasons. The authorities were afraid to take the convicts somewhere far from the Peter and Paul Fortress. After all, reports came to the emperor’s desk that disparate groups of conspirators were planning to recapture Bestuzhev-Ryumin and other organizers of the uprising on the way to the scaffold. As a result, the gallows were built on the roof of the Peter and Paul Fortress, where the execution itself took place.

According to historical sources, while it was still dark, the prisoners were led outside in white coats. On each person’s chest hung a black leather sign with the name of the convict; after throwing a noose, a white linen cap was put on the Decembrists’ head. Before ascending the scaffold, Kondraty Ryleev turned to the priest and asked him to pray for the souls of the Decembrists and his family. Eyewitnesses recalled that his voice was firm and his gaze clear.

Two executioners took part in the execution, who, after the verdict was announced, knocked the benches out from under the feet of the Decembrists. It was at this moment that three loops broke and the condemned fell onto the scaffold. Pyotr Kakhovsky made an angry speech to the head of the execution. His words contained accusations accompanied by undisguised contempt for his tormentors. Contrary to all the rules, the Decembrists, who had already escaped from the gallows, were executed again. This caused a murmur from the crowd, because in such a case the miraculously saved convicts should have been pardoned. However, the sentence was still carried out.

Funeral of the Decembrists

Due to an unpleasant incident, the execution dragged on until dawn. Therefore, they planned to bury the Decembrists only the next day. The bodies were taken by boat to Goloday Island, where they were interred.

But some historians still doubt the reliability of this information. Many argue that there are no records preserved anywhere certifying the burial of the executed conspirators. According to an alternative version of events, the corpses of the Decembrists were simply thrown into the river so that no one would ever even remember their existence.

Secrets of execution

It should be mentioned that all the circumstances of the execution of the conspirators are still unknown. Immediately after the execution of the sentence, rumors spread throughout St. Petersburg that there were already dead bodies of Decembrists in the noose. Many talked about strangling the conspirators while still in their cells, so that during the execution no one could save them. This fact was never confirmed or denied.

There were also many rumors about the fact that the bodies of the conspirators were nevertheless quartered after hanging. With this, the newly-crowned emperor wanted to assert his strength and power, erasing among the people the memory of the December uprising.

Results and consequences of the uprising

Despite the fact that the conspiracy against the tsarist government could not be brought to an end, it had serious consequences for Russia. First of all, such a large-scale protest against the autocracy sowed doubts in the minds of ordinary people about the inviolability of the tsarist regime. The people warmly sympathized with the Decembrists, so the liberation movement in the country began to gain momentum.

Many interpreted the uprising as the first stage of the revolutionary movement that led to the events of 1917. Without the Decembrists, history could have taken a completely different turn, almost all historians admit this.

The events on Senate Square shook not only Russia, but also Europe. Many newspapers began to publish articles about the weakness of the tsarist government and draw parallels between the Decembrist uprising and the revolutionary movement that captured many countries. This interpretation made it possible for new secret societies to contact their like-minded people in Europe. Some historians believe that further developments in the country were coordinated by the more progressive European revolutionary movement. This formulation usually refers to England, which had very close ties with the Russian revolutionaries of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Memory of the Decembrists

The alleged burial of the conspirators still did not go unnoticed by people who considered their uprising a real feat and the first serious attempt to change the life of ordinary people in the country.

A hundred years after the execution of the Decembrists, an obelisk was erected on Goloday Island. Black granite was used to make it, and the island itself was renamed in honor of those who rebelled against the monarchy. The streets, squares and bridges of St. Petersburg were named after the conspirators. It also received a new name and a place where the rebel regiments stood all day. From that time on, it began to be called Decembrist Square.

Another fifty years later, an obelisk with a bas-relief and an inscription appeared at the site of the execution of the conspirators. It is dedicated to the five executed Decembrists; it is their faces in profile that are depicted on the black bas-relief. The monument itself is made of light granite, and on the pedestal there is a composition of wrought iron. Interestingly, in the process of clearing a place for the obelisk, the builders came across a half-decayed wooden pillar with shackles covered with rust.

Now the area around the monument has turned into a beautiful and landscaped park. Many trees have been planted here, and beautiful wrought-iron lanterns and fences have been installed. Townspeople often walk near the obelisk, enjoying the beautiful surrounding views.

Every year on the day of the execution of the Decembrists, many St. Petersburg residents come to the obelisk with flowers and lighted candles. Often the day of remembrance is accompanied by reading the memoirs of participants and witnesses of those bloody events, letters and various works devoted to this topic. Memories of the feat of the Decembrists still live in the hearts of not only the residents of St. Petersburg, but also other Russians who are ready to come to the obelisk on the thirteenth of July just to lay flowers in honor of the executed heroes of the uprising.

Fighters against autocracy

Soviet history textbooks were still too ideological. Any rebel in the slightest degree was declared a hero and fighter against the hated autocracy. Take, for example, Stepan Razin. Yes, he did not speak out against the king! Stenka simply did not obey the tsar. He created his own Cossack freemen and plundered the surrounding area. True, he went down in history as a noble robber. A sort of Russian Robin Hood. How many books have been written about him! His bravery and courage were admired by many. The Persian princess must be thrown into the oncoming wave - please, guys! By the way, the first Russian feature film, released in 1908, was about Razin and was called “Ponizovskaya Volnitsa”.

Tsarist Lieutenant General Alexander Navrotsky also admired Stenka. He served in the military-judicial department and, according to the recollections of his contemporaries, was a very strict person. Died in 1914. He had a short conversation with the revolutionary terrorists, not to mention the other criminal elements. So, Alexander Navrotsky wrote the song “There is a cliff on the Volga” about Stenka Razin. After Fyodor Chaliapin performed it, it became very popular in Russia for many years.

Emelyan Pugachev actually declared himself tsar. Peter Fedorovich, resurrected husband of Catherine the Great. Otherwise, so many fugitive Cossacks, ordinary people, Bashkirs and Kalmyks would not have followed him. He gathered over twenty thousand troops! He robbed and hanged everyone who got in his way. Both rich and poor. He was also that bandit! Gloomy personality.

Despite the fact that Catherine declared the uprising a national tragedy and ordered it to be consigned to oblivion, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin sympathized with Emelyan Pugachev. The story “The Captain's Daughter,” for example, serves as confirmation of this.

Many books have also been written and rewritten about Emelka and films have been made. And the name of the Bashkir field commander Salavat Yulaev, loyal to him, is immortalized in the name of the Kontinental Hockey League club from Ufa, the capital of the Republic of Bashkortostan.

We also have our own fighter against autocracy in Belarus. Pole Kastus Kalinowski, leader of the uprising - but not against the sovereign, but for the revival of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

But most of all books, monographs, studies and articles have been written about the Decembrists. By the way, next year is the round date of their uprising - 190 years.

Elite of the Russian intelligentsia

The Decembrist uprising is a unique event not only for Russian, but also for world history. For the first time, it was not the oppressed who rose up to fight the regime, but, on the contrary, educated, very rich and titled people. They were called the elite of the Russian intelligentsia. Almost all are nobles and guards officers, heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812 and foreign campaigns of the Russian army. Many of them were writers and poets. They even adopted their own officer's Code of Honor, according to which participants in the conspiracy must have impeccable behavior, avoid ill-treatment of soldiers and not use obscene words. All participants in the Decembrist uprising were members of various prohibited secret societies, the most famous of which are the Northern and Southern societies.

There was an action plan, the main goal of which was the overthrow of the autocracy and the abolition of serfdom. It seems to be good. For a long time, the Decembrists were the object of admiration for their famous contemporaries. Pushkin and Griboyedov, for example. But any plan presupposes, in addition to the goal, the means and methods of its implementation. For some reason, Soviet textbooks and encyclopedic dictionaries were silent about this. One got the impression that all the conspirators who were preparing a rebellion, an armed coup and the overthrow of the legitimate government were ideal people beyond criticism.

But there is another point of view. I don’t presume to judge which one is correct.

Having seen enough of life abroad, the conspiratorial officers firmly decided to eliminate the autocracy and establish a republic in Russia. Only a few of them proposed creating a constitutional monarchy in the country. In any case, it was planned to adopt a constitution. It was in its absence that the Decembrists saw many of Russia’s troubles. They developed several projects. By the way, at that time the most powerful states in the world were England and, despite the defeat in the Napoleonic wars, France. So, England did not have a constitution at that time. It still does not exist, which does not prevent the United Kingdom from continuing to remain one of the most powerful countries in the world.

At the very beginning of their “glorious” deeds, the conspirators plotted the murder of the royal family. Radicals Pavel Pestel and Kondraty Ryleev persistently proposed to kill not only the entire royal family, but also the grand duchesses married abroad, including the children born to them there, so that no one could lay claim to the Russian throne. Somehow I feel uneasy from such plans. Imagine what would have happened if the Decembrists had carried out all this! Okay, the reaction of the Danish royal court would not be so terrible, but how would England, France, Austria and Prussia react to this? It is quite possible that a war would break out, after which these countries would simply dismember and divide Russia.

Before the start of decisive action, the conspirators entered into contact with Polish secret societies. Negotiations with the representative of the Polish Patriotic Union, Prince Anton Yablonovsky, were personally conducted by the Russified German, Colonel Pavel Pestel. The two Masons quickly found a common language with each other. It was agreed that the independence of Poland would be recognized and the provinces of Lithuania, Podolia, Volyn, and Little Russia would be transferred to it from Russia. All this is reminiscent of a scene from the film “Ivan Vasilyevich changes his profession”: “Kemsk volost? Yes, take it, please!”

The plan for the uprising was constantly postponed. It is interesting that the officers Sergei Muravyov-Apostol, Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin and Ivan Povalo-Shveikovsky served in the Bobruisk fortress in 1823. That year, Emperor Alexander I planned to review troops in the fortress. The Decembrists developed the so-called “Bobruisk Plan,” which provided for the arrest of the emperor. But, by luck, the emperor canceled his visit to Bobruisk.

The right moment to speak came on December 14, 1825. At that moment, a dangerous interregnum situation developed in Russia, and the Decembrists decided to take advantage of this. After the death of Emperor Alexander I, his eldest son Constantine was to take the throne. Nicholas' entry was not intended. The State Council, Senate and troops took the oath to Constantine, but he renounced the reign in writing. A unique case in world history! The brothers Konstantin and Nikolai did not dispute, but persistently ceded the throne to each other. On this occasion, Count Langeron wrote: “The members of the Romanov dynasty are so noble that they do not ascend, but descend to the throne.”

“For Constantine and the Constitution!”

On the morning of December 14, 1825, rebel units consisting of the Life Guards of the Moscow Regiment, the Life Guards of the Grenadier Regiment and the Guards naval crew lined up in a square on Senate Square in St. Petersburg. There are about three thousand people in total. Civilian onlookers began to gather around them, the number of which gradually increased. Unfortunately, Decembrist officers often did not comply with the requirements of their own Code of Honor. Soldiers were drawn into the uprising by any means - from a simple order from a senior in rank to the distribution of money (sometimes government money) and deliberate lies. The rebels understood very well that “the regiments will not go against the regiments” and the soldiers will not “overthrow the tsar.” Therefore, they were explained that Constantine was their rightful emperor, and he promised to reduce the period of military service (which never happened!). They did not tell the peasant soldiers about the constitution. They thought they wouldn't understand. Therefore, it was explained to everyone that the constitution is the wife of Constantine.

We will stand on the square “For Constantine and the Constitution” until the end! - the officers announced to their subordinates.

Interestingly, it was planned to kill Konstantin, but at that moment he was in Warsaw.

Colonel Prince Sergei Trubetskoy, who had been appointed dictator the day before by the rebels, did not go to Senate Square. According to some sources, he was at home, according to others, he sometimes watched what was happening from around the corner. This, however, did not save him from punishment.

The military commandant of St. Petersburg, General Mikhail Miloradovich, tried to persuade the rebels, but the Decembrist Pyotr Kakhovsky, a retired lieutenant, killed him with a pistol shot. For what? The general was a renowned hero. He distinguished himself for his bravery in the Battle of Borodino and successfully commanded the rearguard of the Russian army during the retreat from Moscow.

Before Miloradovich, on the same day, Kakhovsky shot and killed the commander of the Life Guards Grenadier Regiment, Colonel Nikolai Sturler, who refused to comply with the demands of the rebels. But for some reason it is still not customary to write about this.

Then Metropolitan Seraphim tried to reason with the soldiers and officers, but no one listened to the bishop. In the afternoon, the number of government troops surrounding the rebels gradually reached a fourfold superiority. The artillery opened fire. To this day, some people write that they fired at the line of soldiers. It is not true. They shot exclusively over their heads. Of course, the buckshot, hitting the walls of houses, scattered with a ricochet into the crowd of civilian onlookers. But why stare at the showdown between the military?

On the same day the rebellion was ended. On December 14, 1,271 people died on Senate Square. Of these - one general, 18 officers, 282 soldiers and 1,170 civilians, of whom 79 were women and 150 children.

Well, on whose conscience are these victims?

The events of December 14 are shown quite truthfully in Vladimir Motyl’s film “Star of Captivating Happiness,” released in 1975. A film in the genre of historical drama with a great cast. Nicholas I is played by Vasily Livanov, Pestel by Alexander Porokhovshchikov, Ryleev by Oleg Yankovsky, Trubetskoy by Alexey Batalov.

There was a second attempt at a coup d'etat - the uprising of the Chernigov regiment, stationed in the Kyiv province. They don't write about it in detail. Nothing to advertise. The regimental commander, Colonel Gustav Gebel, became aware of the failed mutiny attempt in St. Petersburg a few days later. He received an order to arrest Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Muravyov-Apostol, who served in the regiment and was associated with the Decembrists.

The next day, Decembrist officers Kuzmin, Soloviev, Sukhinov and Shchepillo burst into Gebel’s office and began beating him, demanding the release of Muravyov-Apostol.

Again I return to the concepts of officer honor among the Decembrists. Four for one! This is not only unofficer-like, it’s not even masculine.

The freed Muravyov-Apostol immediately struck his regimental commander in the stomach with a bayonet. Colonel Gebel was saved from death by Private Maxim Ivanov.

It is interesting that, while already in hard labor, the convicted Decembrist Lieutenant Ivan Sukhinov, having rallied around himself the criminal element (there were still only a few political elements at that time), raised an uprising at one of the mines of the Nerchinsk plant. Sentenced to death, he hanged himself in his cell shortly before execution. But that's nothing! At least it’s not a shame: the former officer in the zone has become an authority. And the people in hard labor were specific - inveterate bandits and highwaymen.

The next day, Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Murav-Apostol announced to the soldiers that he had been appointed by senior leadership to replace the sick Colonel Gebel (again, not true!) and ordered them to advance to Zhitomir. In Vasilkovo he seized the regimental cash register - 10 thousand rubles in banknotes and 17 rubles in silver. Solid money for those times! So what did he hope for? The man seemed smart. The fact that along the way he will be joined by rebel regiments? Adventurism of the purest water!

Along the route of the regiment, the soldiers committed robberies and drank. Many deserted.

Near the village of Ustimovka, the Chernigov regiment was surrounded by government troops and, after a short battle, surrendered. Ant-Apostle tried to hide, but the orderly pierced the horse’s stomach with a bayonet:

“You, your honor, brewed this porridge, you eat it with us,” the soldier said to the lieutenant colonel.

By decree of Nicholas I, a commission was created to investigate the attempted coup, chaired by Minister of War Alexander Tatishchev. The report to the emperor was compiled by Dmitry Bludov.

A total of 679 people were involved in the investigation. But as things progressed, it became clear that two-thirds (!) of this number were simply agreed upon by members of secret societies in order to give the conspiracy a mass appeal. That's it!

Again to the question of honor. It turns out that the Decembrists did not act according to their principles. Thank God, it was not 1937: then it took a long time to deal with the conspirators. And no one tortured or beat members of secret societies during interrogations. They handed over everyone themselves, including completely innocent people, thus settling their personal scores with someone.

The court sentenced 112 people to civil execution with deprivation of all rights and wealth, 99 people were exiled to Siberia, 36 of them to hard labor. Nine officers were demoted to soldiers. Initially, 36 people were sentenced to death. 31 through beheading and five people - Colonel of the Vyatka Infantry Regiment Pavel Pestel, retired Second Lieutenant Kondraty Ryleev, Lieutenant Colonel of the Chernigov Infantry Regiment Sergei Muravyov-Apostol, Second Lieutenant of the Poltava Infantry Regiment Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin and retired Lieutenant Pyotr Kakhovsky - to quartering. In the verdict to Pestel, for example, the following was said: “He had a plan for regicide, sought means for this, elected and appointed persons to carry it out. He plotted the extermination of the Imperial family and incited others to do so... He incited and prepared a rebellion... He participated in the plot to secede the regions from the Empire.”

In the verdict of Bestuzhev-Ryumin, Kakhovsky and Major Mikhail Spiridonov (not executed) it is written: “he himself volunteered to kill the Sovereign Emperor of blessed memory and the now reigning Sovereign Emperor.”

By Nikolai’s personal decision, the sentence was commuted for everyone. The death penalty was left to only five Decembrists, replacing quartering with hanging.

During the execution in the crownwork of the Peter and Paul Fortress (one of the auxiliary fortifications), Muravyov-Apostol, Kakhovsky and Ryleev fell from the noose and were hanged a second time.

There is a misconception that this was contrary to the tradition of inadmissibility of the second execution of the death penalty. However, in the then existing military Article No. 204 it was stated that “the death penalty should be carried out until the final result, that is, until the death of the convicted person.”

The procedure for releasing a convict who fell from the gallows, which was in force even before Peter I, was abolished by the Military Article. On the other hand, the “marriage” was explained by the absence of executions in Russia over the previous several decades. The only exception was the execution of six participants in the Pugachev uprising.

It was difficult to find the executioner. It rained during the execution and the ropes were wet.

Decembrist wives

I personally have never been a fan of the Decembrists. They would have done a lot of things! But I always admired their wives. Well, they were lucky with their wives...

There are truly romantic and touching stories. The poet Nikolai Nekrasov dedicated the poem “Russian Women” to them. There is an episode in the film “The Star of Captivating Happiness” where cavalry guard Ivan Annenkov (actor Igor Kostolevsky) reports to his mother about his upcoming marriage:

So who is she? - the landowner asked imperiously.

Frenchwoman. A fashion model from a fashion house.

Go away! Previously, only I knew that you were a fool. And now all of St. Petersburg will know.

Nevertheless, Polina Gebl, who did not know the Russian language at all, came to the exiled Decembrist in Siberia, married him in Chita, in her marriage she began to be called Praskovya Egorovna Annenkova, and was a faithful and loving wife. She gave birth to seven children. In 1856 she settled with her husband in Nizhny Novgorod. She died at the age of 76.

Emperor Nicholas allocated money for the journey to the poor foreign woman in the amount of three thousand rubles from his personal funds.

There was another French Decembrist, a governess in the house of the Ivashev nobles - Camille Le Dantu.

Russia at that time was a very rich country, and many foreign migrant workers came here to work. Many French, German and English women wanted to become governesses and housekeepers in Russian families. And in Switzerland, work in Russia was passed down by inheritance. Young people got jobs as bouncers in taverns from Arkhangelsk to Astrakhan. They often arrived maimed - with knocked out teeth and broken noses, but with the initial capital to start their own business. To this day, elderly people dressed in uniform at the entrance to drinking establishments are called doormen. Many Dutch and Danes came to Russia for permanent residence. They settled mainly in the Volga region. All of them were mistakenly called Germans - from the word “mute”. So: a seventeen-year-old girl Camilla fell in love with a brilliant cavalry officer Vasily Ivashev, but the huge difference in social status did not allow even a hint of her feelings.

After the Decembrist’s conviction, the governess reported her feelings to his parents. Vasily Ivashev’s parents and his relatives reacted favorably to the girl’s noble impulse and informed their son about it, who agreed with a feeling of amazement and gratitude. In her marriage, Kamilla Petrovna Ivasheva gave birth to four children. She died at the age of 31 from a cold. A year later, Vasily Ivashev also died. Their common grave is still one of the attractions of the city of Turinsk, Sverdlovsk region.

And the first to come to their husbands in Siberia were princesses Ekaterina Trubetskaya and Maria Volkonskaya (daughter of the famous general Nikolai Raevsky). We must pay tribute to the courage of the officers' wives. After all, they were immediately deprived of noble privileges and equated in status to the wives of exiled convicts... Many sought permission to leave for several years.

The emperor again paid financial assistance to the widows of the executed Decembrists from his own funds and awarded them a pension.

The families of the convicts received benefits from the General Staff for twenty years. Children were placed in educational institutions at public expense.

Nicholas I handed over the draft decrees of the Decembrists to a specially established committee and began developing peasant reform, which subsequently made their life easier.

Alexander II, who ascended the throne in 1856, amnestied all the Decembrists, and in 1861 abolished serfdom, although by this year there were just over thirty percent of serfs in peasant Russia. Slavery flourished in civilized America at this time...

So much for the hated tsarist regime, so much for the sovereign-emperors who oppressed their people!

Their case is not lost

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin wrote about the Decembrists: “The circle of these revolutionaries is narrow. They are terribly far from the people. But their cause was not lost. The Decembrists woke up Herzen, and Herzen launched revolutionary agitation.”

...The Decembrists’ plan was exceeded in Russia less than a century later.

In Yekaterinburg, in the House for Special Purposes, requisitioned from engineer Ipatiev, the royal family was shot. On the night of July 16-17, 1918, the following were killed: Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov, 50 years old, his wife Alexandra Fedorovna, 46 years old, daughters Olga, 23 years old, Tatyana, 21 years old, Maria, 19 years old, Anastasia, 17 years old, and sick Tsarevich Alexei, 14 years old. For the company, four of their close associates were also shot: doctor Evgeny Botkin (son of the world famous doctor Sergei Petrovich Botkin), valet Alexei Trupp, cook Ivan Kharitonov and maid Anna Demidova. Why?

The execution was supervised by Yakov Yurovsky. The cook Leni Sednev, a friend of Tsarevich Alexei, was not in the house that day. Lucky! How about drinking, they would also put him up against the wall. Leonid Sednev would die later - in 1942 on the Bryansk Front.

And then they killed the entire royal family - the grand dukes and princesses...

Having accepted martyrdom, the family of Nicholas II was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.

It all started with the February revolution of 1917. As Bonch-Bruevich wrote, “The Russian army was destroyed by three decrees (orders):

Failure to salute officers;

Soldiers' Committees;

Election of commanders."

Moreover, all the commanders of the fronts and fleets of the Russian army agreed with the abdication of Nicholas II and signed it... And the leaders of the White movement, generals Lavr Georgievich Kornilov, Anton Ivanovich Denikin, Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel and Admiral Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak, the question of the revival of the monarchy in any they didn’t even consider her form...

In Minsk they remember the Decembrists. In the 70s, Decembrist Street and a memorial plaque appeared on the building of the music college - opposite the city hall in the very center of the city. It is dedicated to the Decembrist Nikita Muravyov, the head of the Northern Society of Decembrists. On this site there was a house in which the Decembrist revolutionary lived from 1821 to 1822.

I don't see anything bad in this. We must remember history and draw the right conclusions from it. To govern the state you need to have a firm hand, be able to defend yourself and not simply give power to anyone.

...Looking at the colorful revolutions and armed coups in the modern world, you are once again convinced that this does not lead to anything good. The country in its development after such “revolutions” goes into oblivion...

Reserve Lieutenant Colonel IGOR SHELUDKOV

For almost 200 years, the Decembrist uprising has attracted the attention of historians. A huge number of scientific articles and even dissertations have been written on this topic. As a result of the execution of the Decembrists, Russian society lost the very best of enlightened youth, because they came from families of the nobility, glorious participants in the War of 1812...

Who were the Decembrists?

A company of young nobles who dreamed of changing the state of affairs in Russia.

In the early stages, quite a lot of people participated in the Decembrist secret societies, and later the investigation had to think about who to consider as a conspirator and who not.

This is because the activities of these societies were limited exclusively to conversations. Whether the members of the Union of Welfare and the Union of Salvation were ready to take any active action is a moot point.

Decembrists at the mill in Chita. Drawing by Nikolai Repin. 1830s. Decembrist Nikolai Repin was sentenced to hard labor for 8 years, then the term was reduced to 5 years. He served his sentence in the Chita prison and in the Petrovsky Factory.

The societies included people of varying degrees of nobility, wealth and position, but there were several things that united them.

Poor or wealthy, well-born or not, but they all belonged to the nobility, that is, to the elite, which implies a certain standard of living, education and status.

This, in particular, meant that much of their behavior was determined by the code of noble honor. Subsequently, this presented them with a difficult moral dilemma: the code of the nobleman and the code of the conspirator apparently contradict each other.

A nobleman, being caught in an unsuccessful uprising, must come to the sovereign and obey, the conspirator must remain silent and not betray anyone. A nobleman cannot and should not lie, a conspirator does everything that is required to achieve his goals.

It is impossible to imagine the Decembrist living in an illegal position using forged documents - that is, the ordinary life of an underground worker in the second half of the 19th century.

The Decembrists are people of the army, professional military men with the appropriate education; many went through battles and were heroes of wars, had military awards.

All of them sincerely considered their main goal to be service for the good of the fatherland and, had circumstances been different, they would have considered it an honor to serve the sovereign as state dignitaries.

The overthrow of the sovereign was not at all the main idea of ​​the Decembrists; they came to it by looking at the current state of affairs and logically studying the experience of revolutions in Europe (and not all of them liked this idea).

How many Decembrists were there in total?

In total, after the uprising on December 14, 1825, more than 300 people were arrested, 125 of them were convicted, the rest were acquitted.

It is difficult to establish the exact number of participants in Decembrist and pre-Decembrist societies, precisely because all their activities boiled down to more or less abstract conversations in a friendly circle of young people, not bound by a clear plan or strict formal organization.

Nikolai Panov's cell in the Petrovsky Zavod prison. Drawing by Nikolai Bestuzhev. 1830s Nikolai Bestuzhev was sentenced to hard labor forever, kept in Chita and in the Petrovsky Plant, then in Selenginsk, Irkutsk province.

It is worth noting that the people who participated in the Decembrist secret societies and directly in the uprising are two not too intersecting sets.

Many of those who participated in the meetings of the early Decembrist societies subsequently completely lost interest in them and became, for example, zealous security officials; in nine years (from 1816 to 1825), quite a lot of people passed through secret societies.

In turn, those who were not members of secret societies at all or were accepted a couple of days before the rebellion also took part in the uprising.

How did they become Decembrists?

To be included in the circle of Decembrists, sometimes it was enough to answer the question of a not entirely sober friend: “ There is a society of people who want the good, prosperity, happiness and freedom of Russia. Are you with us?"- and both could later forget about this conversation.

It is worth noting that conversations about politics in the noble society of that time were not at all encouraged, so those who were inclined to such conversations, willy-nilly, formed closed circles of interests.

In a certain sense, the Decembrist secret societies can be considered a way of socializing the then generation of young people; a way to get away from the emptiness and boredom of officer society, to find a more sublime and meaningful way of existence.

Thus, the Southern Society arose in the tiny Ukrainian town of Tulchin, where the headquarters of the Second Army was stationed. Educated young officers, whose interests are not limited to cards and vodka, gather in their circle to talk about politics - and this is their only entertainment.

They would call these meetings, in the fashion of that time, a secret society, which, in essence, was simply a way characteristic of the era to identify themselves and their interests.

In a similar way, the Salvation Union was simply a company of comrades from the Life Guards Semyonovsky Regiment; many were relatives. Returning from the war in 1816, they organized their life in St. Petersburg, where life was quite expensive, according to the artel principle familiar to soldiers: they rent an apartment together, chip in for food and prescribe the details of general life in the charter.

This small friendly company will subsequently become a secret society with the loud name “Union of Salvation”, or “Society of True and Faithful Sons of the Fatherland”. In fact, this is a very small - a couple of dozen people - friendly circle, the participants of which wanted, among other things, to talk about politics and the ways of development of Russia.

“Russian Truth” by Pavel Pestel. 1824 Program document of the Southern Society of Decembrists. The full title is “The reserved state charter of the great Russian people, serving as a testament for the improvement of Russia and containing the right order both for the people and for the temporary supreme government with dictatorial powers.”

By 1818, the circle of participants began to expand, and the Union of Salvation was reformed into the Union of Welfare, in which there were already about 200 people from Moscow and St. Petersburg, and all of them had never gathered together and two members of the union might no longer know each other personally.

This uncontrolled expansion of the circle prompted the leaders of the movement to announce the dissolution of the Union of Welfare: to get rid of unnecessary people, and also to give the opportunity to those who wanted to seriously continue the business and prepare a real conspiracy to do so without unnecessary eyes and ears.

How were they different from other revolutionaries?

In fact, the Decembrists were the first political opposition in the history of Russia, created on ideological grounds (and not, for example, as a result of the struggle of court groups for access to power).

Soviet historians habitually began with them the chain of revolutionaries, which continued with Herzen, Petrashevists, Narodniks, Narodnaya Volya and, finally, the Bolsheviks.

However, the Decembrists were distinguished from them primarily by the fact that they were not obsessed with the idea of ​​revolution as such, and did not declare that any transformations were meaningless until the old order of things was overthrown and some utopian ideal future was proclaimed.

They did not oppose themselves to the state, but served it and, moreover, were an important part of the Russian elite. They were not professional revolutionaries living within a very specific and largely marginal subculture - like everyone else who later replaced them.

They thought of themselves as possible assistants to Alexander I in carrying out reforms, and if the emperor had continued the line that he had so boldly begun before their eyes by granting the constitution to Poland in 1815, they would have been happy to help him in this.

What inspired the Decembrists?

Most of all, the experience of the Patriotic War of 1812, characterized by a huge patriotic upsurge, and the Foreign Campaign of the Russian Army of 1813-1814, when many young and ardent people saw another life up close for the first time and were completely intoxicated by this experience.

It seemed unfair to them that Russia lives differently from Europe, and even more unfair and even savage - that the soldiers with whom they won this war side by side are entirely serfs and the landowners treat them like a thing.

It was these topics - reforms to achieve greater justice in Russia and the abolition of serfdom - that were the main ones in the conversations of the Decembrists.

No less important was the political context of that time: transformations and revolutions after the Napoleonic Wars took place in many countries, and it seemed that Russia could and should change along with Europe.

The Decembrists owe the very opportunity to seriously discuss the prospects for a change of system and revolution in the country to the political climate.

What did the Decembrists want?

In general - reforms, changes in Russia for the better, the introduction of a constitution and the abolition of serfdom, fair courts, equality of people of all classes before the law. In details, they diverged, often radically.

It would be fair to say that the Decembrists did not have any single and clear plan for reforms or revolutionary changes. It is impossible to imagine what would have happened if the Decembrist uprising had been crowned with success, because they themselves did not have time and were unable to agree on what to do next.

The first page of Nikita Muravyov's constitutional project. 1826 The Constitution of Nikita Mikhailovich Muravyov is a program document of the Northern Society. It was not officially accepted by the society, but was widely known and reflected the sentiments of the majority of its members. Compiled in 1822-1825.

How to introduce a constitution and organize general elections in a country with an overwhelmingly illiterate peasant population? They did not have an answer to this and many other questions. The Decembrists’ disputes among themselves only marked the emergence of a culture of political discussion in the country, and many questions were raised for the first time, and no one had answers to them at all.

However, if they did not have unity regarding goals, they were unanimous regarding the means: the Decembrists wanted to achieve their goal through a military coup; what we would now call a putsch (with the amendment that if the reforms had come from the throne, the Decembrists would have welcomed them).

The idea of ​​a popular uprising was completely alien to them: they were firmly convinced that involving the people in this story was extremely dangerous. It was impossible to control the rebel people, and the troops, as it seemed to them, would remain under their control (after all, most of the participants had command experience). The main thing here is that they were very afraid of bloodshed and civil strife and believed that a military coup would make it possible to avoid this.

In particular, this is why the Decembrists, when bringing the regiments to the square, had absolutely no intention of explaining their reasons to them, that is, they considered conducting propaganda among their own soldiers an unnecessary matter. They counted only on the personal loyalty of the soldiers, to whom they tried to be caring commanders, and also on the fact that the soldiers would simply follow orders.

How did the uprising go?

Unsuccessful. This is not to say that the conspirators did not have a plan, but they failed to carry it out from the very beginning. They managed to bring troops to Senate Square, but it was planned that they would come to Senate Square for a meeting of the State Council and the Senate, which were supposed to swear allegiance to the new sovereign, and demand the introduction of a constitution.

Decembrist revolt. Senate Square December 14, 1825. Painting by Karl Kohlman. 1830s.

But when the Decembrists came to the square, it turned out that the meeting had already ended, the dignitaries had dispersed, all decisions had been made, and there was simply no one to present their demands to.

The situation reached a dead end: the officers did not know what to do next and continued to keep the troops in the square. The rebels were surrounded by government troops and a shootout occurred.

The rebels simply stood on Senate Street, not even trying to take any action - for example, to storm the palace. Several shots of grapeshot from government troops scattered the crowd and put them to flight.

Why did the uprising fail?

For any uprising to succeed, there must be an undoubted willingness to shed blood at some point. The Decembrists did not have this readiness; they did not want bloodshed. But it is difficult for a historian to imagine a successful rebellion, whose leaders make every effort not to kill anyone.

Blood was still shed, but there were relatively few casualties: both sides shot with noticeable reluctance, if possible over their heads. Government troops were tasked with simply scattering the rebels, but they fired back.

Modern calculations by historians show that about 80 people died on both sides during the events on Senate Street. Talks that there were up to 1,500 victims, and about the heap of corpses that the police threw into the Neva at night, are not confirmed by anything.

Who judged the Decembrists and how?

A special body was created to investigate the case - “ the most highly established Secret Committee to find accomplices of the malicious society, which opened on December 14, 1825", where Nicholas I appointed mainly generals.

To pass a verdict, a Supreme Criminal Court was specially established, to which senators, members of the State Council, and the Synod were appointed.

Interrogation of the Decembrist by the Investigative Committee in 1826. Drawing by Vladimir Adlerberg

The problem was that the emperor really wanted to condemn the rebels fairly and according to the law. But, as it turned out, there were no suitable laws. There was no coherent code indicating the relative gravity of various crimes and the penalties for them (like the modern Criminal Code).

That is, it was possible to use, say, the Code of Law of Ivan the Terrible - no one has canceled it - and, for example, boil everyone in boiling tar or cut them on the wheel. But there was an understanding that this no longer corresponds to the enlightened 19th century. In addition, there are many defendants - and their guilt obviously differs.

Therefore, Nicholas I instructed Mikhail Speransky, a dignitary then known for his liberalism, to develop some kind of system. Speransky divided the charge into 11 categories according to the degree of guilt, and for each category he prescribed what elements of the crime corresponded to it.

And then the accused were assigned to these categories, and for each judge, after hearing a note about the strength of his guilt (that is, the result of the investigation, something like an indictment), they voted on whether he corresponds to this category and what punishment to assign to each category.

There were five outside the ranks, sentenced to death. However, the sentences were made “with reserve” so that the sovereign could show mercy and mitigate the punishment.

The trial of the Decembrists.

The procedure was such that the Decembrists themselves were not present at the trial and could not justify themselves; the judges considered only the papers prepared by the Investigative Committee.

The Decembrists were only given a ready verdict. They later reproached the authorities for this: in a more civilized country they would have had lawyers and the opportunity to defend themselves.

Execution

Addressing the court about a possible method of executing the Decembrists, Nikolai notes that blood should not be shed. Thus, they, the heroes of the Patriotic War, are sentenced to the shameful gallows...

Who were the executed Decembrists? Their surnames are as follows: Pavel Pestel, Pyotr Kakhovsky, Kondraty Ryleev, Sergei Muravyov-Apostol, Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin. The sentence was read on July 12, and they were hanged on July 25, 1826.

Execution of the Decembrists. Drawing of Pushkin in the manuscript of "Poltava", 1828

The place of execution of the Decembrists took a long time to be equipped: a gallows with a special mechanism was built. However, there were some complications: three convicts fell from their hinges and had to be hanged again.

In the place in the Peter and Paul Fortress where the Decembrists were executed there is now a monument, which is an obelisk and a granite composition. It symbolizes the courage with which the executed Decembrists fought for their ideals.

Those who received a sentence of hard labor were sent to Siberia. According to the verdict, they were also deprived of ranks, noble dignity and even military awards.

More lenient sentences for the last categories of convicts include exile to a settlement or to distant garrisons where they continued to serve; not everyone was deprived of their ranks and nobility.

Those sentenced to hard labor began to be sent to Siberia gradually, in small batches - they were transported on horses, with couriers.

The first batch, of eight people (the most famous included Volkonsky, Trubetskoy, Obolensky), were especially unlucky: they were sent to real mines, to mining factories, and there they spent the first, really difficult winter.

But then, fortunately for the Decembrists, in St. Petersburg they realized: after all, if you distribute state criminals with dangerous ideas among the Siberian mines, this also means dispersing rebellious ideas throughout the penal servitude with your own hands!

Nicholas I decided, in order to avoid the spread of ideas, to gather all the Decembrists in one place. There was no prison of this size anywhere in Siberia. They set up a prison in Chita, transported there those eight who had already suffered at the Blagodatsky mine, and the rest were taken immediately there.

It was cramped there; all the prisoners were kept in two large rooms. And it just so happened that there was absolutely no hard labor facility there, no mine. The latter, however, did not really worry the St. Petersburg authorities. In exchange for hard labor, the Decembrists were taken to fill up a ravine on the road or grind grain at a mill.

By the summer of 1830, a new prison was built for the Decembrists in Petrovsky Zavod, more spacious and with separate personal cells. There was no mine there either.

They were led from Chita on foot, and they remembered this transition as a kind of journey through an unfamiliar and interesting Siberia: some along the way sketched drawings of the area and collected herbariums. The Decembrists were also lucky in that Nicholas appointed General Stanislav Leparsky, an honest and good-natured man, as commandant.

Leparsky fulfilled his duty, but did not oppress the prisoners and, where he could, alleviated their situation. In general, little by little the idea of ​​hard labor evaporated, leaving imprisonment in remote areas of Siberia.

Cell of the Decembrists in the Chita prison.

If it were not for the arrival of their wives, the Decembrists, as the tsar wanted, would have been completely cut off from their past life: they were strictly forbidden to correspond. But it would be scandalous and indecent to prohibit wives from correspondence, so the isolation didn’t work out very well.

There was also the important point that many still had influential relatives, including in St. Petersburg. Nicholas did not want to irritate this layer of the nobility, so they managed to achieve various small and not very small concessions.

A curious social collision arose in Siberia: although deprived of nobility and called state criminals, for local residents the Decembrists were still aristocrats - in manners, upbringing, and education.

Real aristocrats were rarely brought to Siberia; the Decembrists became a kind of local curiosity, they were called “our princes,” and the Decembrists were treated with great respect. Thus, that cruel, terrible contact with the criminal convict world, which happened to exiled intellectuals later, did not happen in the case of the Decembrists either.

A modern person who knows about the horrors of the Gulag and concentration camps is tempted to regard the exile of the Decembrists as a frivolous punishment. But everything is important in its historical context. For them, exile was associated with great hardships, especially in comparison with their previous way of life.

And, whatever one may say, it was a conclusion, a prison: for the first years they were all constantly, day and night, shackled in hand and leg shackles. And to a large extent, the fact that now, from a distance, their imprisonment does not look so terrible is their own merit: they managed not to give up, not to quarrel, maintained their own dignity and inspired real respect in those around them.

ON JULY 25, 1826, 190 YEARS AGO, THE EXECUTION OF FIVE TOOK PLACE
LEADERS OF THE DECEMBER UPRISING.

A.S.PUSHKIN. 1827

Deep in Siberian ores
keep proud patience,
your sorrowful work will not be wasted
and thoughts of high aspiration.

Unluckily faithful sister,
hope in a dark dungeon
will awaken vigor and joy,
the desired time will come:

Love and friendship up to you
will reach through the dark gates,
like in your convict holes
my free voice comes through.

The heavy shackles will fall,
the prisons will collapse and freedom
you will be greeted joyfully at the entrance,
and the brothers will give you the sword.

A letter with poems was brought to the Decembrists by N.M. Muravyov’s wife, Alexandra
Grigorievna. The Decembrist poet Alexander Ivanovich Odoevsky wrote poetry to Pushkin
good answer.

A.I.ODOEVSKY

Strings of prophetic fiery sounds
reached our ears...
Our hands rushed to the swords
and only found shackles.

But be calm, bard! With chains
we are proud of our destiny;
and behind the prison gates
In our hearts we laugh at kings.

Our sorrowful work will not be wasted,
a spark will ignite a flame,
and our enlightened people
will gather under the holy banner.

We forge swords from chains
and let us re-ignite the flame of freedom,
she will come upon the kings,
and the peoples will sigh with joy!

The accession to the throne of NICHOLAS 1 was marked by an uprising on Senate Square
December 14, 1825, with its suppression and execution of the Decembrists.
The Decembrist uprising is an unprecedented phenomenon not only in Russian history,
but also in the world. When the oppressed rise up in rebellion, it is easier, if not op-
To be fair, then at least understand. But here the coup was being prepared highly
appointed military and hereditary nobles, among whom there are many eminent personalities
news For this reason, the phenomenon of Decembrism is far from an unambiguous assessment, as it is
it was also in the 19th century, including in relation to their execution.
None of the Decembrists laid claim to power. Two of those executed (Pestel and
Muravyov-Apostol) were participants in the Patriotic War of 1812, were wounded
and military awards.

Up to 600 people were involved in the Decembrist case. The investigation was conducted under direct
and the direct participation of Nicholas 1. He himself conducted interrogations in his office. Track-
The national commission reported every step during the investigation to Nikolai1. The trial was only
behind the screen, the verdict was essentially pronounced by the sovereign himself.
Justice over the Decembrists was administered not by the highest judicial body of Russia - the Senate, but
created bypassing the laws on the orders of Nicholas1, the Supreme Criminal Court, where
the judges were selected by the emperor himself.
Of the entire court, only Senator N.S. MORDVINOV (admiral, first naval
Minister of Russia) raised his voice against the death penalty to anyone, writing
special opinion. Everyone else showed ruthlessness in trying to please the king.
Even 3 clergy (2 metropolitans and an archbishop), who, as expected
Speransky, “according to their rank they will renounce the death penalty,” they did not renounce the sentence
five Decembrists for quartering.
The result of the court's work was a list of 121 "state criminals"
divided into 11 categories according to the degree of offense. Outside the categories were placed
sentenced to quartering
PESTEL Pavel Ivanovich (1793-1826), colonel
RYLEEV Kondraty Fedorovich (1795-1826), second lieutenant
MURAVYOV-APOSTOL Sergei Ivanovich (1796-1826), lieutenant colonel
BESTUZHEV-RYUMIN Mikhail Pavlovich (1801/1804/-1826), second lieutenant
KAKHOVSKY Pyotr Grigorievich (1793-1826), lieutenant.

31 “criminals” of the first category (who gave personal consent to the regicide)
sentenced to death by beheading. The rest were sentenced to various
long terms of hard labor.
Later, the death penalty was replaced with eternal hard labor for the “first-class men,” and for five
For the leaders of the uprising, quartering was replaced with the death penalty by hanging.
About 120 members of secret societies were subjected to EXTRAJUDICIAL REPRESSION (imprisonment
in the fortress, demotion, transfer to the active army in the Caucasus, transfer under
police supervision). The cases of the soldiers who took part in the uprising were examined by Special Commissions
these (178 people were driven through the gauntlet, 23 were subjected to other corporal punishment -
niyam, about 4,000 were sent to the army in the Caucasus). In 1826-1827 military courts
sent to hard labor and settlement in Siberia members of secret societies who did not
were directly connected with Northern and Southern societies, but only separated
their views.
A.M. Muravyov called the Investigative Committee an “inquisitorial tribunal... without
shadows of justice or impartiality..."
All sentences were accompanied by demotion, deprivation of ranks and nobility: above
the convicts broke their swords, tore off their epaulettes and uniforms and threw them into the fire
blazing fires.

25.7.1926, in connection with the 100th anniversary of the execution, at the site of the supposed
an obelisk was erected for the burial of the Decembrists, Golodny Island was renamed
to Dekabristov Island, and Senate Square, where the balls stood on December 14, 1825
Tight regiments - to Decembrist Square.
In 1975, in connection with the 150th anniversary of the Decembrist uprising, on the crown
Verka, a granite obelisk was built - a monument to the five best representatives
the first generation of Russian revolutionaries (architects V. Petrov, A. Lelyakov,
sculptors - A. Ignatiev, A. Dema). There is a bas-relief on the front side of the obelisk
with profiles of the Decembrists, which was first made at the request of Herzen and
featured on the cover of the Polar Star magazine he published. On the other hundred
the fiery words of A. S. Pushkin are carved on the ron - the last five lines from the poem -
niya "To Chaadaev".

A.S.PUSHKIN. TO CHAADAEV*.

Love, hope, quiet glory
deception did not bless us for long,
youthful fun has disappeared
like a dream, like morning fog;

But the desire still burns within us,
over the yoke of fatal power
impatient soul
Let us heed the calling of the fatherland.

We wait with languid hope
moments of holy freedom,
how a young lover waits
moments of a faithful date.

While we are burning with freedom,
while hearts are alive for honor,
my friend, let's dedicate it to the fatherland
beautiful impulses from the soul!

Comrade, believe: she will rise,
star of captivating happiness,
Russia will wake up from its sleep,
and on the ruins of autocracy
write our names!

The word "star" in Pushkin's time symbolized revolution. Poem
“To Chaadaev” is considered the anthem of the Decembrists. Pushkin did not plan to publish it
vat. But written down from the words of the poet during a reading in a narrow circle of friends, it was translated
passed from hand to hand until it was published in the almanac "North Star"
yes" in 1929. Pushkin gained fame as a freethinker, as a result of which
the poet went into exile twice by decree of Tsar Alexander 1.
*CHAADAEV Pyotr Yakovlevich is one of Pushkin’s close friends from his lyceum years.

To hard labor for some of the Decembrists (Trubetskoy, Volkonsky, Nikita Murav-
Yev and others) their wives voluntarily followed - young ones who had barely managed to get out
married aristocrats: princesses, baronesses, generals (12 people in total).
Three of them died in Siberia, the rest returned with their husbands after 30 years,
having buried more than 20 of his children in Siberian soil. The feat of these women was sung
in the poems of N.A. Nekrasov and the Frenchman A. de Vigny.

Reviews

Well, if the "Decembrists were not close to
people, but they were people with the progressive views of their time..." - they were not close to the people, and therefore to the interests of the people. Then what were their "advanced views"? It is necessary in the same way as in this article about execution , a detailed interpretation of these questions, without which millions will not understand - in the name of what are such sacrifices? And why, in the name of what does A. Pushkin speak so passionately about faith in the rising of a “star” (revolution)?

For your work - thank you, from the bottom of my heart. But to “tear” the Decembrists away from the people’s “aspirations”... then why should the people know and remember these events? Logics? Sincerely -