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.

Decembrists are the name given to the participants in the uprising, which took place on December 14, 1825 in St. Petersburg on Senate Square.

Basically, the Decembrists were advanced, educated nobles, many of them were military men. These people wanted to abolish serfdom in Russia, introduce a constitution, limit or completely abolish tsarist power. The future Decembrists began to create their organization after the Patriotic War of 1812. In 1816 they formed the first secret society - the “Union of Salvation”, and in 1818 - the “Union of Welfare”, which included about 200 members. In January 1821, the “Western Union” was divided into two parts: “Northern Society” (in St. Petersburg) and “Southern Society” (in Ukraine). The composition of these organizations was dominated by officers. Both “Societies” began preparing a revolutionary uprising. All that remained was to wait for the right opportunity to speak.

And such an opportunity presented itself when, on November 19, 1825, Russian Emperor Alexander I, who was being treated in Taganrog, unexpectedly died. He had no children, but had brothers: Konstantin and Nikolai. According to the law on succession to the throne, the eldest of the brothers, Constantine, who at that time was the royal governor in Poland, was supposed to become king. However, he abdicated the throne long before the death of Alexander I.

For some reason the renunciation was made in secret, and almost no one knew about it. Therefore, the capital, and behind it all of Russia, swore allegiance to “Emperor Konstantin Pavlovich.” He refused to come to St. Petersburg and already officially, in a letter, confirmed his reluctance to be king. On December 14, 1825, the next brother, Nicholas, was sworn in. A situation of interregnum arose of its own accord, and the Decembrists decided to take advantage of it.

On December 14, the Decembrists went to Senate Square in St. Petersburg and refused to swear allegiance to Tsar Nicholas. It would have been easy for them to seize the Winter Palace and arrest the entire royal family, but the Decembrists showed indecisiveness. While they stood in the square, the new emperor wasted no time. He managed to quickly gather troops loyal to the government, which surrounded the rebels. The power was with the tsar, and the Decembrists surrendered. On December 29, a belated performance of parts of the “Southern Society” began, but it was quickly suppressed. Mass arrests of participants in the uprising began.

The trial took place. Most of the Decembrists were deprived of their noble titles and rights, sentenced to indefinite hard labor and exiled to Siberia. Ordinary soldiers were driven through the line. Five leaders of the uprising: P. Pestel, S. Muravyov-Apostol, K. Ryleev, M. Bestuzhev-Ryumin and Kakhovsky - were hanged on July 13, 1826 on the crown of the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Some of the wives of the exiled participants in the uprising showed selflessness and voluntarily followed their husbands to Siberia. Only a few Decembrists survived until 1856, when Emperor Alexander II, who ascended the throne, declared an amnesty.

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.

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

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. Wikimedia Commons

They were all nobles

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 vast majority were officers

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.

They were not revolutionaries in the classical sense

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?

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.

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.

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?

“Russian Truth” by Pavel Pestel. 1824 Program document of the Southern Society of Decembrists. The full name is the Reserved State Charter of the great Russian people, which serves as a testament for the improvement of Russia and contains the right order both for the people and for the temporary supreme government, which has dictatorial powers.

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 of the Union of Salvation, or the 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.

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?

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. Project “100 Main Documents of Russian History”

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?

The Battle of Moscow at Borodino on September 7, 1812. Painting by Albrecht Adam. 1815 Wikimedia Commons

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. 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?

Senate Square December 14, 1825. Painting by Karl Kohlman. 1830s Bridgeman Images/Fotodom

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. 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?

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

To investigate the case, a special body was created - “the highly established Secret Committee to find accomplices of the malicious society that opened on December 14, 1825,” to which 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.

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 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.

How did the Decembrists live in exile?

Street in Chita. Watercolor by Nikolai Bestuzhev. 1829-1830 Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images

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. 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.

Interior view of one of the courtyards of the casemate of the Petrovsky Plant. Watercolor by Nikolai Bestuzhev. 1830 Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images

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 already 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.

“The Decembrists are Russian revolutionaries who in December 1825 launched an uprising against autocracy and serfdom. The Patriotic War of 1812, in which almost all the founders and many active members of the future Decembrist movement were participants, subsequent foreign campaigns of 1813-14. were a political school for them.” For each of us, the Decembrists are young nobles who fought for the freedom of the people. As part of my version, I have to reconsider various historical events, including the Decembrist uprising. In 1801, the Russian Emperor Friedrich died, the period of time from 1801 to 1825 is an artificially inserted period of time necessary to complete the computer program and the transition from fictional characters to real ones, the so-called reign of the imaginary Alexander 1. The Patriotic War of 1812 is a reflection of Friedrich’s campaign in 1745 to Moscow. In 1825, Nicholas 1 became the new emperor. After Frederick's death, there were no direct heirs left, so a struggle for the throne broke out between various factions. The struggle for power, after it was presented by numerous learned historians, turned into a struggle for bright ideals. Let readers not reproach me for such views, what should I do if this is how the truth appears to me, and I find more and more evidence of this. If I’m right, then there must be real high-ranking people behind the Decembrists. Let's consider five leaders of the movement, whose age is 25-30 years:
Mikhail Pavlovich Bestuzhev-Ryumin, b. 1801 - died 07/25/1826
Pyotr Grigorievich Kakhovsky, b.1797 - d.1826
Sergei Ivanovich Muravyov-Apostol, b.1796 - d.1826
Pavel-Mikhail Ivanovich Pestel, b.07.5.1793 - d.07.25.1826
Kondraty Fedorovich Ryleev b.1795-1826

Two Bestuzhev-Ryumin brothers are known: Count Alexei Petrovich, b.06.1.1693 - died 04.21.1768 - Russian statesman and diplomat, count (since 1742, deprived of the count's dignity in 1758, returned to 1762), Count of the Roman Empire (from 1745), Chancellor of the Russian Empire under Elizaveta Petrovna, owner of Kamenny Island at the mouth of the Neva. One of the “armchair” field marshals (1762). And Count Mikhail Petrovich, b.09.17.1688. 03/8/1760 - a prominent Russian diplomat from the Bestuzhev family, the elder brother of State Chancellor A.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin. According to my version, we add 69 years to each, we get: Alexey Petrovich 1762-1837, Mikhail Petrovich 1757-1829. So, the “Decembrist” was the elder brother Mikhail Petrovich, but the younger brother also suffered: “In 1757, a serious illness befell Elizabeth. Bestuzhev, thinking that the empress would not rise, voluntarily wrote to Field Marshal Apraksin to return to Russia, which Apraksin did. But Elizaveta Petrovna recovered from her illness. Angry at Bestuzhev for his self-will, the empress on February 27, 1758 (+69 years = 1827) deprived the chancellor of his count's dignity, ranks and insignia. The culprit of his downfall was the heir's favorite, Chamberlain Brockdorff. Alexey Petrovich was removed to the village of Goretovo, which belonged to him, near Mozhaisk, Moscow province. He was sentenced to death, but the empress replaced this sentence with exile. The Chancellor's exile lasted until the accession of Empress Catherine II. He was summoned to St. Petersburg, and Catherine returned the disgraced count's dignity, ranks, orders and renamed him field marshal general. In addition, the highest decree followed, in which the innocence of Bestuzhev-Ryumin was made public.” In my opinion, my explanation of disgrace is much more logical and plausible than the explanations of historians.
Let's consider another Decembrist. Kakhovsky Mikhail Vasilyevich, count general of the infantry, b. 1734 - d. in 1800. If for Bestuzhev-Ryumin the shift was 69 years, because they are directly related to the royal person, then for Kakhovsky the shift is 69 + 10 – 48 = 31 years. He was born in 1766 - died in 1831. Taking into account the well-known shift of 6 years, we will end up in 1825. A real person who could fight for power.
Who is behind the “Decembrist” Muravyov-Apostol. Ivan Matveevich Muravyov-Apostol, b. 10/12/1768 - 03/23/1851 - writer and statesman. He served in the Izmailovsky regiment and was a “cavalier” (educator) under the Grand Dukes Alexander and Konstantin Pavlovich. He was envoy to Hamburg and Madrid, then senator. Born on October 1, 1768, in the family of Major General Matvey Artamonovich Muravyov and Elena Petrovna Apostol (great-grandson of the Ukrainian hetman Daniil Apostol). He was the only child of his parents, his mother married, against the wishes of her father, and was deprived of a dowry; died immediately after the birth of her son. Since 1800, Ivan Matveevich adopted the surname Muravyov-Apostol at the request of his cousin M.D. Apostol. He was in charge of a canal in Shlisselburg (with the rank of prime major = major general). In 1792, under the patronage of M.N. Muravyov, he was invited to the court of Empress Catherine II as a “cavalier” (educator) under the Grand Dukes Alexander Pavlovich and Konstantin Pavlovich; then appointed chief master of ceremonies. At court, he managed to please not only the empress, but also Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, the future emperor, which ensured his future career. In December 1796, he was sent with the rank of chamberlain to Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich as resident minister in Eitin to the court of the Duke - Administrator of Oldenburg and Bishop of Lubeck (in 1798 he combined with a similar post in Hamburg, and at the end of 1799 also in Copenhagen). Everywhere he intensified the activities of the anti-French coalition. The diplomatic service was facilitated by the exceptional linguistic talents of Muravyov-Apostol: he knew at least 8 ancient and contemporary foreign languages. In 1800 he was recalled to Russia, in July he was promoted to privy councilor, and in 1801 - vice-president of the Foreign Collegium. Not belonging to the number of supporters of Emperor Paul (despite his favor), he took part in the anti-Paul conspiracy of 1801, becoming the author of one of the unrealized projects for legislative restrictions on the supreme power. In 1802, he took the post of envoy to Spain, but in 1805, for unclear reasons (according to A.S. Pushkin, he fell out of favor with the emperor for disclosing false information about the preparation of the anti-Pavlovian conspiracy) he was dismissed and did not serve anywhere until 1824. After the defeat of the Decembrist uprising and the tragedy that befell the sons of Muravyov-Apostol (Ippolit, not wanting to give up, shot himself, Sergei was hanged, Matvey was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor, but was soon sent to settle in Siberia; before the trial, on May 11, 1826, his father met with Matvey and Sergei in the Peter and Paul Fortress), he left the service, and in May 1826 he was “dismissed due to illness to foreign lands.” Until 1847 he was listed as an absent senator. Lived mainly in Vienna and Florence. He returned to Russia in the 1840s. The name Muravyov-Apostol was not mentioned in print from 1826 until the end of the 1850s. His library and memoirs have been lost. He died in St. Petersburg and was buried at the St. George Cemetery on Bolshaya Okhta. There is a shift of 20 years here. He fell out of favor in 1805+20=1825, died 1851-20=1831.
“Decembrist” Ivan Borisovich Pestel, b.02.17.1765 - d.05.30.1843 - a major official of the late 18th - early 19th centuries, Governor-General of Siberia, father of the Decembrist P.I. Pestel, brother of the Moscow postal director N.B. Pestel. Since 1792, he was married to his relative Elizaveta Ivanovna Krok (1766-1836), daughter of the actual state councilor Ivan Ivanovich Krok and Baroness Anna von Dietz. The marriage had five sons and a daughter: Pavel (1793-1826), head of the Southern Society of Decembrists. Boris (1794-1848), Olonets, then Vladimir vice-governor, actual privy councilor, heir to the Vasilyevo estate. Vladimir (1795-1865), Kherson, then Tauride governor, senator (1855) and actual privy councilor. Alexander (1801-18..), entered military service in 1818, retired in 1838 with the rank of lieutenant colonel, lived in Moscow. He was married to Countess Praskovya Kirillovna Gudovich (1813-1877), granddaughter of Count I.V. Gudovich. Konstantin (1802 - died in his youth). Sophia (1810 - after 1875), unmarried.
Since 1823, he lived continuously with his wife and daughter on his wife’s Smolensk estate, Vasilyevo; died in Smolensk in May 1843.
The pedigree looks like this:
Boris Vladimirovich (Burkhard Wolfgang) Pestel, b. 01/26/1739 - died 04/15/1811.
wife Anna Helena von Krok, b.04.06.1746 - d.01.8.1809
Ivan Borisovich Pestel, b.02.6.1765 - 05.18.1843 Marriage 1792, wife Elizaveta Ivanovna von Krok, b.1766 -d.1836
Pavel Ivanovich (Paul Burkhard) Pestel, b.06.24.1793 - died 07.13.1826
Boris Vladimirovich, Ivan Borisovich and Pavel Ivanovich Pesteli are the same person, respectively, he did not live in Smolensk until 1843, but was executed in 1826.
And here is the fifth “Decembrist” - Essen Alexander Petrovich, count, colonel of the Life Guards. Izmailov. shelf; died in 1828. Anastasia Matveevna Ryleeva (née Essen), mother of the Decembrist Kondraty Ryleev, married for love to Lieutenant Colonel, commander of the Estland Jaeger Battalion Fyodor Andreevich Ryleev. In 1795, their long-awaited son Kondraty was born.
Please do not pay attention to names and patronymics; the Germans, as a rule, had two names. The son, for example, is Heinrich Woldemar, the father is Gottlieb Eduard. In Russia, a son could be called Genrikh Gotlibovich, Genrikh Eduardovich, Vladimir Gotlibovich or Vladimir Eduardovich, as you like. Titled Germans could have four names, so judge for yourself what they could be called in Russia.
In conclusion, I want to say that the goal of the “Decembrists” was to seize power, and the movement was led not by young people in the struggle for bright ideals, but by noble high-ranking officials who had equal rights to power, like the future Emperor Nicholas 1, but lost and died. Only first place matters; there are no prize-winners like in sports competitions.
Above are depicted from left to right: Mikhail Petrovich Bestuzhev-Ryumin, Mikhail Vasilyevich Kakhovsky, Ivan Borisovich Pestel, Mikhail Vasilyevich Kakhovsky, Ivan Matveevich Muravyov-Apostol, Essen Alexander Petrovich.

At the moment, I want to clarify that Friedrich Wilhelm himself, who died in 1860, dealt with the Decembrists - his former comrades-in-arms in the fight against the Russian Empire, and his son, one of whose names was Nicholas 1, was only born in 1828.

Decembrist uprising (briefly)

A Brief History of the Decembrist Uprising

In the first quarter of the nineteenth century, revolutionary sentiments flared up every now and then in Russia. According to historians, the main reason for this was that the progressive part of society was disappointed with the rule of Alexander the First. At the same time, a certain part of people sought to end the backwardness of Russian society.

During the era of liberation campaigns, having become familiar with various political movements in the West, the advanced Russian nobility realized that it was serfdom that was 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 liberation movements.

The very first secret political society was organized in St. Petersburg in the winter of 1816. The main goal of the society was the abolition of serfdom and the adoption of a Constitution in the state. There were about thirty people in total. A couple of years later, the Union of Welfare and the Northern Society were formed in St. Petersburg, pursuing the same goals.

The conspirators were actively preparing for an armed uprising and very soon, after the death of Alexander, the opportune moment for this came. The Decembrist uprising occurred in 1825 on the day of the oath of the new ruler of Russia. The rebels wanted to capture both the monarch and the Senate.

So, on the fourteenth of December, the Life Guards Grenadier Regiment, the Life Guards Moscow Regiment, and the Guards Marine Regiment were on Senate Square. In general, there were at least three thousand people in the square itself.

Nicholas the First was warned in advance about the Decembrist uprising and swore in the Senate in advance. He then gathered loyal troops and ordered them to surround Senate Square. Thus negotiations were started, which, however, did not bring any results.

During this, Miloradovich was mortally wounded, after which, on the orders of the new king, artillery was used. Thus, the Decembrist uprising of 1825 was extinguished. A little later (December twenty-ninth) the Chernigov regiment also rebelled, the rebellion of which was also suppressed in two weeks.

Arrests of the organizers and participants of the uprisings took place throughout Russia and as a result, more than five hundred people were involved in the case.