On December 26, 1825, members of secret anti-government societies, known as the Decembrists, raised an uprising in St. Petersburg, trying to prevent Nicholas I from coming to power. The speech was suppressed, but had a huge impact on the further political and cultural life of Russia.
Decembrist movement
According to historians, the emergence of secret anti-government organizations in Russia in the 1810s - 1820s was a manifestation of the pan-European movement against absolutism.
Experts note that the overseas campaigns of the Russian army in 1813-1814 played an important role in this process.
In them, Russian officers got acquainted with the political experience of countries in which developed bourgeois relations existed and serfdom was absent.
“The future Decembrists received a good education, were literate people, read the works of Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, fashionable at that time.
In addition, they were influenced by the experience of the French Revolution, "Vitaly Zakharov, professor at Moscow State Pedagogical University, Doctor of Historical Sciences, said in an interview with RT.
In Russia, circles of young nobility arose, dissatisfied with the existing order.
In 1816, the first well-organized secret political society of the future Decembrists, the Salvation Union, appeared.
Other similar structures began to be created.
First, their members discussed the transformation of Russia into a constitutional monarchy during the transfer of power from one emperor to another.
However, later more radical ideas began to arise - in particular, regicide.
The Salvation Union existed for about two years.
Later, it was dissolved, and on its basis the Union of Welfare arose.
“The Decembrists came to the idea of a military uprising under the influence of the Spanish Revolution, which took place with minimal casualties.
First, one battalion rebelled under the command of Rafael del Riego y Nunez, and then the troops sent to suppress the uprising began to go over to his side.
This experience interested the Decembrists, ”Zakharov noted.
At the same time, according to him, members of secret societies did not want to involve the people in the revolution, fearing "Pugachevism" and massacres.
V. I. Moshkov. Battle of Leipzig on October 16, 1813
© Wikimedia
In 1821, the Southern Society of Decembrists was created in the Podolsk province.
His programmatic document was the Russian Truth, written by Pavel Pestel.
The members of this organization saw Russia in the future as a republic and wanted to abolish serfdom.
In the same year, the Welfare Union was dissolved, and its former members created the Northern Society, headed by Nikita Muravyov, who prepared their constitutional project.
The assessments of the Decembrist movement in historical literature are extremely contradictory.
Some experts see the members of secret anti-government societies of the first quarter of the 19th century as carriers of ideas of progress and argue that if they succeeded, Russia would have been able to avoid bloodshed at the beginning of the 20th century.
Others call them adventurers and political amateurs who could establish a harsh dictatorship in Russia.
Decembrist revolt
“One of the main plans of the Decembrists involved a coup d'état during the annual review of the army in the summer of 1826.
Everything was supposed to happen in Belaya Tserkov, but at the end of 1825 Alexander I unexpectedly died in Taganrog, and plans had to be changed, "said Evgeny Spitsyn, a historian and advisor to the rector of Moscow State Pedagogical University, to RT.
According to historians, after the death of Alexander I, who did not leave his legitimate children, a period began, which is usually called the interregnum.
“Power was supposed to pass to the younger brother of Alexander I - Konstantin Pavlovich, but he managed to give up the right of inheritance even earlier.
There was a manifesto of Alexander about the transfer of power to the next brother, Nikolai, but the difficulty was that it was not published.
As a result, officials and military units began to take an oath to the one whom they considered the legal heir - Konstantin, ”Zakharov noted.
At this time, Konstantin and Nikolai entered into correspondence.
The eldest of the brothers reaffirmed that he renounces the rights to the throne in favor of the younger, and called for the official promulgation of Alexander I's manifesto on the succession to the throne.
As a result, Nicholas signed a manifesto "On the accession to the throne", in which he declared himself emperor.
The oath to him, as the head of state, was scheduled for December 26.
“Against the background of the oath in the state, confusion arose, and the Decembrists decided to use it as an opportunity for an uprising,” stressed Vitaly Zakharov.
The conspirators elected Prince Sergei Trubetskoy as the leader of the performance.
They planned to seize the Winter Palace and the Peter and Paul Fortress, arrest the imperial family and force the Senate to proclaim the "destruction of the former government" with the parallel appointment of a provisional government.
It was planned to introduce a constitution in Russia.
On December 26, 1825, about 30 Decembrist officers were taken to Senate Square by guards who had succumbed to their calls: soldiers of the Moscow and Grenadier regiments, as well as sailors of the Guards naval crew.
According to various estimates, from 2,350 to 3,000 servicemen took part in the uprising.
However, the idea of overthrowing the emperor by force was not supported by all members of secret societies.
Nikolai Pavlovich was warned in advance of the conspiracy, so the senators swore allegiance to him early in the morning and managed to disperse.
Some of the troops that were supposed to take part in the uprising did not take to the streets.
The potential dictator Trubetskoy did not appear on Senate Square.
St. Petersburg military governor-general, hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, Mikhail Miloradovich tried to persuade the conspirators to surrender voluntarily, but Pyotr Kakhovsky mortally wounded him.
Decembrist revolt
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Nicholas, meanwhile, was pulling together his loyal troops to Senate Square.
Going out to the military with his seven-year-old son Alexander, he entrusted the protection of the heir to the Preobrazhensky regiment.
The new emperor was calm.
His behavior caused delight in the parts loyal to him.
Metropolitan Seraphim came out to the rebels.
But his attempts to persuade the Decembrists to lay down their arms did not bring any result.
“Nicholas I acted adequately.
He did not want to ascend the throne through the blood of his subjects.
He promised them to pretend that nothing had happened.
But the rebels continued to stand in squares in squares.
People began to gather around.
It is not known what would have started in the city in the evening and at night if Nikolai had not done anything, "Leonid Lyashenko, professor of the Department of Russian History at Moscow State Pedagogical University, said in an interview with RT.
According to him, although the Decembrists developed a generally effective plan for the uprising, they did not have time to prepare it.
“This does not mean that they could retain power in the country.
But to capture the city, if they had the opportunity to follow the plan, they could.
In reality, they did not manage to prepare, and when some of the potential participants refused to withdraw their troops, everything turned into an improvisation on the topic “how gloriously we will die,” Lyashenko noted.
Nicholas I on Senate Square on December 14, 1825.
© Wikimedia
According to historians, having exhausted the possibilities for negotiating, Nicholas I ordered to open artillery fire on the rebels and withdrew to the Winter Palace.
“Nikolai was not afraid to take decisive action, and the Decembrists showed indecision, and this determined the further course of events,” said Vitaly Zakharov.
The gunners fired seven rounds of buckshot - one over the heads of the rebels, and the rest at them.
The soldiers and onlookers gathered around the square fled.
According to official data, 1271 people became victims of the uprising, mainly residents of St. Petersburg who were in the area of the square.
Several hundred guardsmen were arrested.
579 people were officially involved in the case of the uprising.
The leaders of the Decembrists Pavel Pestel, Sergei Muravyov-Apostol, Mikhail Bestuzhev-Rumin, Kondraty Ryleev and Pyotr Kakhovsky were sentenced to quartering, which Nicholas I replaced by hanging.
The sentence was carried out on July 25, 1826.
In total, the court found guilty in the case of the Decembrists and sentenced about 120 people to various punishments.
Many of them were exiled to Siberia to hard labor or settlement.
The attention of society was attracted by the fact that their wives followed a part of the Decembrists to Siberia.
“Historians have different assessments of the Decembrist uprising.
Lenin believed that they were the first revolutionaries to "wake up" Herzen.
Others see it as an attempt at a palace coup in the spirit of the 18th century.
However, taking into account the programs of social reconstruction prepared by the Decembrists, it is impossible to call their actions an ordinary attempt at a palace coup, in my opinion, ”said Yevgeny Spitsyn.
Decembrist revolt
© Wikimedia
According to Lyashenko, the reasons for the defeat of the Decembrists were of a systemic nature.
“At that time the soil in Russia was not ready for bourgeois transformations.
Everything else was already overlapping - bad organization, mutual accusations of ambition, and different programs.
In my opinion, the history of the Decembrists demonstrated the danger of the revolutionary path, but this was not given due attention in the future.
Nicholas I, in turn, decided that the main goal of his reign was to fight against revolutions and dissent, which he did in the future, ”summed up Leonid Lyashenko.