The course of the Decembrist uprising briefly point by point. Literary and historical notes of a young technician

The uprising of the Decembrists on Senate Square is one of the greatest and tragic events in the history of Russia. The emergence of revolutionary movements began long before the start of the overthrow of the imperial dynasty. This was the first time people had gathered in such a large scale to attack the imperial dynasty. This uprising was supposed to lead to a change of power. To the destruction of the Russian Empire and the construction of a new, liberal-democratic state. We will consider the causes of the Decembrist uprising, its course and results.

background

After the Patriotic War in 1812, the people did not calm down and began to organize an uprising. Then various secret societies began to form, which should have once led to the emergence of a new revolution. This is what happened in December 1825.

The revolution could not begin without preparation, and the revolutionaries began to prepare in advance. They worked a careful plan, the result of which was to be not something, but the formation of a new state.

According to their plan, Nicholas I was to abdicate. After that, a provisional government would ascend the throne, which was to be headed by Count Speransky.

After that, the reorganization of state power would begin. The Russian Empire was to become a constitutional monarchy or a republic. The entire royal family was planned to be killed or sent abroad to Fort Ross.

But none of this was destined to happen, the uprising was crushed by the strength of the imperial army. How did everything happen?

Causes of the uprising

The causes of the December Uprising of 1825 include the following factors:

Prerequisites

Organized various alliances with insurgent activities. They actively grew and developed. Despite numerous arrests and resistance from the counterintelligence of imperial soldiers, many revolutionaries died or abandoned the idea of ​​seizing power, however, new ones took their place. They were waiting for the perfect moment to launch their offensive. Such a moment was the ambiguous situation of the ascension to the throne of Nicholas, the brother of the emperor after the death of Alexander I.

Interregnum

Konstantin Pavlovich, Alexander's older brother, was supposed to inherit the throne after him, since he had no children. But there was a secret document that confirmed the refusal of Constantine from the throne. He signed it during Alexander's lifetime. This gave chances for the throne to the younger brother Nikolai Pavlovich. However, he was extremely unpopular among the highest ranks and close associates of the royal family.

There was a twofold situation of reign, when Constantine was persuaded to ascend the throne, while Nicholas was also persuaded to sign a renunciation of it. What happened: Nicholas, under pressure, abdicates the throne, giving his place to the legitimate ruler Constantine. But he still refuses the place offered to him and re-signs the abdication, explaining at the meeting his decision in favor of his brother.

Only on December 14, after long deliberations, the Senate recognized the rights to the throne of Nikolai Pavlovich, after which he immediately took the oath.

This situation led to the fact that the throne seemed to be passed from hand to hand, which shook the social strata of society and the revolutionaries could not help but take advantage of this, since this was the ideal moment for an uprising.

Rebellion plan

At this time, the participants in the December uprising were already planning their attack. Their primary goal was to prevent Nicholas from ascending the throne. And for this, all methods were used. The Winter Palace had to be captured by killing the soldiers guarding it. They planned to transfer close associates of the royal family to their side, and if they refused, they would be sent abroad or killed. The royal family was decided to be imprisoned or killed.

Sergey Trubetskoy became the head of the uprising. Active politician and Grand Duke. After the capture, it was necessary to create a new provisional government. And its main legislative body is a special assembly. The main legal act is the Constitution.

On the night of December 14, according to the plan, an assassin was supposed to enter the palace to eliminate the new Emperor Nicholas. However, Kakhovsky, appointed to the role of the murderer, refused to carry out the order to kill the tsar. It was also planned to attack the Izmailovsky regiment on the Winter Palace, but Yakubovich refused to lead his troops.

Thus, by the morning of December 14, Emperor Nicholas was alive, and the revolutionaries managed to bring only about 800 agitated soldiers to the square to the winter palace. And their plan of rebellion was not fully realized, but only partially.

Members

Of the famous personalities who were in the conspiracy can be noted:

Uprising in Senate Square

Nicholas I was warned about a possible planned attack. The plans of the Decembrists were laid out to him by one of the members of the secret society, who considered participation in the uprising against the tsar unworthy of a noble title. Yakov Ivanovich Rostovtsev was a man of honor and told the tsar about the event planned by the revolutionaries, which could lead to the death of the Russian Empire.

At seven in the morning, Nicholas was already proclaimed emperor.. At this time, the Senate Square was completely occupied by the soldiers of the rebels. In addition, seeing the events taking place on the streets of St. Petersburg, ordinary people came out, who gladly joined the uprising. People turned into an unbridled crowd of angry residents.

When the emperor with troops approached the palace, they began to throw stones at him with curses and threats. The rebels were surrounded by a ring of soldiers near the palace, and with the second ring they stood at the entrance to the square, preventing the newly arrived citizens from joining the uprising, who were already crowding and trying to get to the center of events.

Members of the imperial dynasty took refuge in the palace, but in the event of the defeat of the tsarist troops, a retreat plan was prepared and a carriage was prepared that would take the emperor to shelter in Tsarskoye Selo.

Nicholas sent an ambassador to offer peace and negotiate an agreement on the conditions for ending the uprising. They became Metropolitan Seraphim. However, the people did not listen to him, saying that he swore an oath to two kings in a week. Another person who tried to clean up the mess was Governor General Mikhail Miloradovich.

During the negotiations, he was badly wounded, and later he died. After the revolutionaries opened fire on the people sent for negotiations, the soldiers of the imperial army opened fire on the revolutionaries with grapeshot. The crowd was dispersed.

The rebels were surrounded by government troops, four times the number of revolutionaries gathered in the square. When, under a hail of shots, the assembled rushed to flee, they realized that they could not break through the ring of government troops. They rushed to the Neva in order to cross the ice to Vasilyevsky Island. However, the ice collapsed, many died in the water. Those who managed to get closer to the island were already met by artillery fire from its shores. By nightfall, the uprising was completely crushed.

Results

On this day, Petersburg spilled the blood of its citizens. On the streets everywhere were scattered the corpses of rebellious soldiers, ordinary people, united in a crazy crowd, and the royal guards, who bravely defended the Senate Square from the attack.

Wounded rebels were afraid to go to the hospital for help, as they could be arrested and sued for their revolutionary activities. Many died from gunshot wounds already at home, deprived of help and hope of salvation. Others went to the bottom during the passage along the Neva, trying to swim to the shore of Vasilevsky Island in icy water, many died from frostbite.

In total, 277 soldiers from the Grenadier Regiment and 371 from the Moscow Regiment were arrested. And also more than fifty sailors from the sea crew were put on trial. They were taken to the royal palace, where the emperor himself acted as a judge.

The court was conducted by the highest judicial body for criminal cases. The five main participants in the uprising were sentenced to death. The rest, it was decided to send into exile to hard labor in Siberia, where there were the most difficult living conditions.

On December 17, Nicholas I decided to establish a new commission, the main purpose of which was to identify secret societies, find hiding revolutionaries, and eliminate underground anti-government movements. War Minister Alexander Tatishchev became the leader of the new commission.

Briefly about the uprising: dates

• 1816 - the emergence of secret organizations with revolutionary currents (Trubetskoy and Muravyov).
• 1818 - transformation of the organization into the Union of Welfare expansion of the state, an increase in the size of the organization.
• 1819 - poisoning of Speransky, the leader of liberal movements.
• June 1819 - riots in military settlements.
• January 17, 1820 - reform in the universities. The introduction of religious beliefs into the strata of society, the education of humility.
• June 1820 - reform in the rules for the publication of literary works. Tightening censorship.
• January 1, 1825 - the prohibition in Russia of any secret organizations. Persecution and persecution of different communities.
• 1823 - The Southern Society, led by Pestal, releases a new program "Russian Truth".
• December 14, 1825 - Decembrist uprising.
• 1825 - the uprising of the Chernigov regiment.
• 1825 - creation of a special commission to persecute revolutionaries underground.
• July 13, 1826 - the trial of the revolutionaries. Enforcement of the judgment.

The Decembrist uprising is of great importance in the history of Russia. This is one of the largest revolutionary movements in history. Despite the failure of the rebels, one cannot ignore the danger factor that the Russian Empire was exposed to.

The Decembrists lost this war, but the idea of ​​changing society into a new system did not subside in the minds of people. Only a century later, in 1917, it can be said that the plans of the Decembrists were fully implemented. After all, their followers took into account all the mistakes and shortcomings of the 1825 uprising. Thus, we can say that it was at that time that the real Civil War began, which lasted more than one century and led to very tragic consequences.

The patriotic upsurge of popular consciousness after the victorious Patriotic War of 1812, the influence of the educational works of Western philosophers and writers, the desire for the speedy implementation of reforms in the country, including the peasant one, created the basis for the start of the Decembrists' activities in the Russian Empire.

Causes of the Decembrist uprising

The Decembrists were a collection of various societies whose goal was the overthrow of serfdom in Russia and the reorganization of state power structures.

The Decembrist movement got its name from the large-scale uprising that was carried out by its active members in December 1825.

Initially, the Decembrists planned to carry out the uprising in the summer of 1826. However, the death of Emperor Alexander I (or his mysterious disappearance) greatly accelerated the planned uprising.

Immediately after the death of the Emperor, the country was in a short-term stage of confusion and confusion: for a long time it was not decided which date to choose for the oath of allegiance to the new Emperor of Russia, Nicholas I. Ultimately, December 14 was chosen as the date for the oath.

How did the uprising take place?

The unstable situation in the country decided to use the Decembrists. They decided not to allow the oath to Nicholas and demand from the members of the government the right to publish the "Manifesto to the Russian people", in which the Decembrists set out the main requirements for power.

And the demands were as follows: abolish serfdom in the territory of the Empire, introduce universal military service, and provide all residents of Russia with a guarantee of political rights and freedoms.

Trubetskoy, the main organizer of the uprising, planned to persuade the officers of the garrison to renounce their oath to Nicholas.

The Petersburg garrison and members of the Senate were able to swear allegiance to the new Emperor, despite the efforts of members of the Decembrist Society. The rebellion was suppressed, and the officers were dispersed from the Senate Square.

An attempt by the Chernigov regiment to carry out an uprising in Ukraine, two weeks after the events in St. Petersburg, was also suppressed. Nicholas I personally led the investigation of active members of the Decembrists.

Participants and significance of the Decembrist uprising

The organizers of the uprising: Bestuzhev-Ryumin, P. Kakhovsky, P. Pestel, S. Muravyov-Apostol were sentenced to death by hanging. More than a hundred Decembrists were exiled to Siberia, some of the officers were demoted in rank and sent to fight in the Caucasus.

The Decembrist movement played a huge role in the social life of the country, even despite its defeat. The first revolutionary nobles could not resist the gendarme machine of Nicholas I, but they planted in the minds of people the ideas of revolution, the struggle for their civil rights and freedoms.

The Decembrist movement inspired many figures of art and literature. Many writers in their works, as if between the lines, conveyed to people the educational ideas of the Decembrists. And although only a few decades later, their followers were still able to achieve the abolition of serfdom and directed the course of development of the state towards liberalism.

December 14, 1825. This is the day of the uprising of the Decembrists in St. Petersburg on Senate Square, the first open action with arms in hand against the autocracy and serfdom. The Decembrists are often called "the first-born of Russian freedom."

On December 14, the officers-members of the secret society were still in the barracks after dark and were agitating among the soldiers.

Alexander Bestuzhev delivered a heated speech to the soldiers of the Moscow Regiment. “I spoke strongly, they listened to me eagerly,” he later recalled. The soldiers refused the oath to the new king and decided to go to the Senate Square. The regimental commander of the Moscow regiment, Baron Frederiks, wanted to prevent the insurgent soldiers from leaving the barracks - and fell with a severed head under the blow of the saber of officer Shchepin-Rostovsky. Colonel Khvoshchinsky, who wanted to stop the soldiers, was also wounded. With the regimental banner fluttering, taking live ammunition and loading their guns, the soldiers of the Moscow regiment were the first to come to Senate Square. At the head of these revolutionary troops, the first in the history of Russia, was Alexander Bestuzhev, the captain of the Life Guards Dragoon Regiment. Together with him at the head of the regiment were his brother, the staff captain of the Life Guards of the Moscow regiment Mikhail Bestuzhev and the staff captain of the same regiment Dmitry Shchepin-Rostovsky.

The regiment lined up in battle formation in the form of a square near the monument to Peter 1. The square (combat quadrangle) was a proven and proven combat formation, providing both defense and attack on the enemy from four sides. It was 2 o'clock in the morning. The governor-general of St. Petersburg Miloradovich galloped up to the rebels, began to persuade the soldiers to disperse, swore that the oath to Nicholas was correct, took out the sword presented to him by Tsarevich Konstantin with the inscription: “To my friend Miloradovich”, reminded of the battles of 1812. The moment was very dangerous: the regiment was still alone, the other regiments had not yet come up, the hero of 1812, Miloradovich, was widely popular and knew how to talk with the soldiers. The uprising that had just begun was in great danger. Miloradovich could greatly shake the soldiers and succeed. It was necessary at all costs to interrupt his agitation, remove him from the square. But, despite the demands of the Decembrists, Miloradovich did not leave and continued persuasion. Then the chief of staff of the rebels, the Decembrist Obolensky, turned his horse with a bayonet, wounding the count in the thigh, and the bullet, fired at the same moment by Kakhovsky, mortally wounded the general. The danger looming over the uprising was repelled.

The delegation chosen to address the Senate - Ryleev and Pushchin - went early in the morning to Trubetskoy, who had previously called on Ryleev himself. It turned out that the Senate had already sworn in and the senators had left. It turned out that the rebel troops had gathered in front of the empty Senate. Thus, the first goal of the uprising was not achieved. It was a hard failure. Another conceived link broke away from the plan. Now the capture of the Winter Palace and the Peter and Paul Fortress was coming.

What exactly Ryleyev and Pushchin talked about during this last meeting with Trubetskoy is unknown, but, obviously, they agreed on some kind of new plan of action and, having then come to the square, they brought with them the confidence that Trubetskoy would now come there, to area, and take command. Everyone was impatient, waiting for Trubetskoy.

But there was no dictator. Trubetskoy betrayed the uprising. A situation was developing on the square that required decisive action, but Trubetskoy did not dare to take them. He sat, tormented, in the office of the General Staff, went out, peered around the corner, how many troops had gathered on the square, hid again. Ryleev looked for him everywhere, but could not find him. Who could have guessed that the dictator of the uprising was in the tsarist General Staff? The members of the secret society, who elected Trubetskoy as a dictator and trusted him, could not understand the reasons for his absence and thought that he was being delayed by some reasons important for the uprising. Trubetskoy's fragile noble revolutionary spirit was easily broken when the hour for decisive action came.

The leader, who betrayed the cause of the revolution at the most decisive moment, is, of course, to some extent (but only to some extent!) the spokesman for the class limitations of the revolutionary spirit of the nobility. But still, the failure of the elected dictator to appear on the square to the troops during the hours of the uprising is an unprecedented event in the history of the revolutionary movement. By this, the dictator betrayed both the idea of ​​an uprising, and his comrades in a secret society, and the troops that followed them. This failure to appear played a significant role in the defeat of the uprising.

The rebels waited a long time. Soldier's guns fired "themselves." Several attacks, undertaken on the orders of Nicholas by the horse guards on the square of the rebels, were repulsed by rapid rifle fire. The protective chain, isolated from the square of the rebels, disarmed the tsarist policemen. The "mob" who were on the square also did the same (the broadsword of one disarmed gendarme was handed over to the brother of A. S. Pushkin, Lev Sergeevich, who came to the square and joined the rebels).

Outside the fence of the St. Isaac's Cathedral, which was under construction, there were dwellings of construction workers, for whom a lot of firewood was procured for the winter. The village was popularly called "Isaac's village", from there a lot of stones and logs flew to the king and his retinue 1).

We see that the troops were not the only living force of the uprising on December 14: there was another participant in the events on Senate Square that day - huge crowds of people.

The words of Herzen are well known - "the Decembrists on Senate Square did not have enough people." These words must be understood not in the sense that there were no people on the square at all, there were people, but in the sense that the Decembrists were unable to rely on the people, to make them an active force in the uprising.

During the entire interregnum, the streets of St. Petersburg were busier than usual. This was especially noticeable on Sunday, December 13, when there was a rumor about a new oath, a new emperor and the abdication of Constantine. On the day of the uprising, still dark, people began to gather here and there at the gates of the barracks of the guards regiments, attracted by rumors about the impending oath, and possibly by widespread rumors about some benefits and relief for the people, which will now be announced at the oath. These rumors undoubtedly came from the direct agitation of the Decembrists. Shortly before the uprising, Nikolai Bestuzhev and his comrades traveled around the military guards at the barracks at night and told the sentries that serfdom would soon be abolished and the term of soldier's service would be reduced. The soldiers eagerly listened to the Decembrists.

The impression of a contemporary about how “empty” it was at that moment in other parts of St. Petersburg is curious: “The further I moved away from the Admiralty, the less I met the people; it seemed that everyone ran to the square, leaving their houses empty. An eyewitness, whose last name remained unknown, said: “All of Petersburg flocked to the square, and the first Admiralty part contained up to 150 thousand people, acquaintances and strangers, friends and enemies forgot their personalities and gathered in circles, talked about the subject that struck their eyes » 2)

It should be noted the striking unanimity of the primary sources, speaking of a huge crowd of people.

The “common people”, the “black bone” prevailed - artisans, workers, artisans, peasants who came to the bars in the capital, men released for quitrent, “people working and commoners”, there were merchants, petty officials, students of secondary schools, cadet corps, apprentices... Two "rings" of the people were formed. The first consisted of those who came early, it surrounded the square of the rebels. The second was formed from those who came later - their gendarmes were no longer allowed into the square to the rebels, and the “late” people crowded behind the tsarist troops who surrounded the rebellious square. Of these who came "later" and formed a second ring that surrounded the government troops. Noticing this, Nikolai, as can be seen from his diary, realized the danger of this environment. It threatened with great complications.

The main mood of this huge mass, which, according to contemporaries, numbered tens of thousands of people, was sympathy for the rebels.

Nikolai doubted his success, "seeing that the matter was becoming very important, and not yet foreseeing how it would end." He ordered to prepare carriages for members of the royal family with the intention of "exporting" them under the "cover of cavalry guards" to Tsarskoye Selo. Nicholas considered the Winter Palace an unreliable place and foresaw the possibility of a strong expansion of the uprising in the capital. The order to guard the palace to sappers spoke of the same thing: obviously, while guarding the Winter Tsar, even some hastily erected fortifications for batteries seemed to appear. Nicholas expressed these sentiments even more clearly, writing that in the event of bloodshed under the windows of the palace, "our fate would be more than doubtful." And later, Nikolai told his brother Mikhail many times: “The most amazing thing in this story is that we weren’t shot with you then.” These words contain little optimistic assessment of the general situation. It must be admitted that in this case the historian must fully agree with Nicholas.

Under these conditions, Nicholas resorted to sending Metropolitan Seraphim and Metropolitan Eugene of Kyiv to negotiate with the rebels. Both were already in the Winter Palace for a thanksgiving service on the occasion of the oath to Nicholas. But the prayer service had to be postponed: there was no time for the prayer service. The idea of ​​sending metropolitans to negotiate with the rebels occurred to Nicholas as a way to explain the legitimacy of the oath to him, and not to Konstantin, through clergymen who were authoritative in matters of the oath, the “archpastors.” It seemed, who better to know about the correctness of the oath than the metropolitans? The decision to seize on this straw was strengthened by alarming news from Nikolai: he was informed that the life grenadiers and the guards marine crew were leaving the barracks to join the "rebels". If the metropolitans had managed to persuade the rebels to disperse, then the new regiments that came to the aid of the rebels would have already found the main core of the uprising broken and could themselves run out of steam.

The sight of the approaching spiritual delegation was quite impressive. Patterned green and crimson velvet vestments against the background of white snow, sparkling of diamonds and gold on panagias, high miters and raised crosses, two accompanying deacons in magnificent, sparkling brocade surplices, put on for a solemn court service - all this was to attract the attention of soldiers .

But in response to the metropolitan’s speech about the legality of the required oath and the horrors of shedding fraternal blood, the “rebellious” soldiers began to shout to him from the ranks, according to the authoritative testimony of deacon Prokhor Ivanov: “What kind of metropolitan are you when you swore allegiance to two emperors in two weeks ... You are a traitor , you are a deserter, Nikolaev Kaluga?. We do not believe you, go away! .. This is not your business: we know what we are doing ... "

Suddenly, the metropolitans rushed to the left at a run, hid in a gap in the fence of St. Isaac's Cathedral, hired simple cabs (while, on the right, closer to the Neva, they were issued by a palace carriage) and returned to the Winter Palace by a detour. Why did this sudden flight of the clergy happen? Huge reinforcements approached the rebels. On the right, on the ice of the Neva, a detachment of the insurgent life-grenadier rose, making his way with a weapon in his hands through the troops of the tsar's encirclement. On the other hand, rows of sailors entered the square - the guards marine crew. This was the largest event in the camp of the uprising: its forces immediately more than quadrupled.

“The guards crew, heading to Petrovsky Square, was met by the Life Guards of the Moscow Regiment with exclamations of “hurray!”, to which the guards crew answered him, which was repeated several times on the square,” shows Mikhail Kuchelbeker.

Thus, the order of the arrival of the insurgent regiments on the square was as follows: the first to come was the Moscow Life Guards Regiment with the Decembrist Alexander Bestuzhev and his brother Mikhail Bestuzhev at the head. Behind him (much later) - a detachment of the Life Grenadier - the 1st Fusilier Company of the Decembrist Sutgof with his commander at the head; further, the guards marine crew under the command of the Decembrist captain-lieutenant Nikolai Bestuzhev (the elder brother of Alexander and Mikhail) and the Decembrist lieutenant Arbuzov. Following the guards crew, the last participants in the uprising entered the square - the rest, the most significant part of the life grenadiers, led by the Decembrist lieutenant Panov. Sutgof's company joined the square, and the sailors lined up from the Galernaya side with another military formation - the "attack column". The life grenadiers who came later under the command of Panov formed a separate, third on Senate Square, formation - the second "column to attack", located on the left flank of the rebels, closer to the Neva. About three thousand rebellious soldiers gathered on the square with 30 officers-Decembrists-combat commanders. All the rebel troops were armed and with live ammunition.

The rebels had no artillery. All the rebels were foot soldiers.

An hour before the end of the uprising, the Decembrists chose a new "dictator" - Prince Obolensky, the chief of staff of the uprising. He tried three times to convene a military council, but it was too late: Nicholas managed to take the initiative into his own hands and concentrate four times large military forces on the square against the rebels, and his troops included cavalry and artillery, which the Decembrists did not have. Nicholas had 36 artillery pieces at his disposal. The rebels, as already mentioned, were surrounded by government troops on all sides.

The short winter day was drawing to a close. “The piercing wind chilled the blood in the veins of the soldiers and officers who stood in the open for so long,” the Decembrists later recalled. The early Petersburg twilight was setting in. It was already 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and it was getting noticeably darker. Nicholas was afraid of the onset of darkness. In the dark, the people gathered in the square would have behaved more actively. From the ranks of the troops that stood on the side of the emperor, defections began to the rebels. Delegates from some of the regiments that stood on the side of Nicholas were already making their way to the Decembrists and asked them to "hold out until the evening." Most of all, Nikolai was afraid, as he later wrote in his diary, that "the excitement would not be communicated to the mob." Nikolai gave the order to shoot grapeshot. The command was given, but no shot was fired. The gunner who lit the fuse did not put it into the cannon. “Own, your honor,” he quietly answered the officer who pounced on him. Officer Bakunin snatched the fuse from the soldier's hands and fired himself. The first volley of grapeshot was fired above the soldiers' ranks - precisely at the "mob" that dotted the roof of the Senate and neighboring houses. The rebels responded to the first volley with buckshot with rifle fire, but then, under a hail of buckshot, the ranks trembled, hesitated - a flight began, the wounded and the dead fell. “During the intervals of shots, one could hear how the blood flowed along the pavement, melting the snow, then itself, the alley, froze,” the Decembrist Nikolai Bestuzhev later wrote. The tsar's cannons fired at the crowd running along the Promenade des Anglais and Galernaya. Crowds of rebellious soldiers rushed to the Neva ice in order to move to Vasilyevsky Island. Mikhail Bestuzhev tried on the ice of Nova to re-form the soldiers in battle order and go on the offensive. The troops lined up. But the cores hit the ice - the ice broke, many drowned. Bestuzhev's attempt failed,

By nightfall it was all over. The tsar and his slanderers in every possible way underestimated the number of those killed, they talked about 80 corpses, sometimes about a hundred or two. But the number of victims was much more significant - buckshot mowed down people at close range. By order of the police, the blood was covered with clean snow, and the dead were hastily removed. There were patrols everywhere. Bonfires were burning in the square, the police sent home with an order that all the gates be locked. Petersburg looked like a city conquered by enemies.

The most trustworthy is the document of S. N. Korsakov, an official of the Ministry of Justice in the statistical department, published by P. Ya. Cain. There are eleven headings in the document. We learn from them that on the day of December 14, “people were killed”: “generals-1, staff officers - 1, chief officers of different regiments - 17, lower ranks of the Life Guards of the Moscow regiment - 93, Grenadiers - 69, [ marine] crew of the Guard - 103, Equestrian - 17, in tailcoats and overcoats - 39, female - 9, minors - 19, mob - 903. The total number of those killed was 1271 people "3).

At this time, the Decembrists gathered at Ryleev's apartment. This was their last meeting. They agreed only on how to behave during interrogations ... The despair of the participants knew no bounds: the death of the uprising was obvious. Ryleev took the word from the Decembrist N. N. Orzhitsky that he would immediately go to Ukraine to warn the Southern Society that "Trubetskoy and Yakubovich have changed"

Notes:

1) According to the latest archival data received by G. S. Gabaev, the construction of St. Isaac's Cathedral occupied a larger area than shown on the schematic map (see, p. 110) and narrowed the field of action of the troops,

2) Teleshov I. Ya: December 14, 1825 in St. Petersburg. - Red Archive, 1925, vol. 6 (13), p. 287; An eyewitness account of December 14. - In the book: Collection of old papers stored in the Museum of P.I. Shchukin, M 1899, part 5, p. 244.

3) Kann P. Ya. On the number of victims on December 14, 1825, - History of the USSR, 1970, No. 6, p. 115
Nechkina M.V. Decembrists. M., "Science" 1984

Secret societies

The first Russian revolutionaries wanted to raise an armed uprising among the troops, overthrow the autocracy, abolish serfdom and popularly adopt a new state law - a revolutionary constitution. It was decided to speak at the time of the change of emperors on the throne. After the death of Alexander I, an interregnum arose - a government crisis that was beneficial to the revolutionaries.

The day of December 14 was the day of the oath to the new emperor -. His older brother - had just died childless, the brother following him renounced the throne (Alexander left a copy of his refusal in the Assumption Cathedral in a closed package, so almost no one knew about the refusal of the throne), and here is the third brother, Nikolai - rude and ignorant serf-owner and tormentor of soldiers - has already put his foot on the step of the throne ...

Plan

The Decembrists carefully worked out their plans. First of all, they decided to prevent the troops and the senate from taking the oath to the new king. Then they wanted to enter the Senate and demand the publication of a nationwide manifesto, which would announce the abolition of serfdom and the 25-year term of military service, the granting of freedom of speech, an assembly of deputies elected by the people.

The deputies had to decide what system to establish in the country and approve its basic law - the constitution. If the Senate did not agree to promulgate the people's manifesto, it was decided to force it to do so. The rebellious troops were to occupy the Winter Palace and the Peter and Paul Fortress, the royal family were to be arrested. If necessary, it was supposed to kill the king. In the meantime, as the Decembrists thought, deputies elected from the provinces would come to St. Petersburg from all sides. Autocracy and serfdom will collapse. A new life for the liberated people will begin.

A dictator was elected to lead the uprising - a longtime member of the society, one of its founders - Guards Colonel Prince Sergei Trubetskoy.

The beginning of the uprising

More than 3,000 soldiers of the guards under the command of revolutionary officers - nobles gathered on the Senate Square of the capital, raised by the heated speeches of their teachers. The first to march on the square was the Moscow Guards Regiment. He was raised to rebellion by the revolutionary speech of the officer Alexander Bestuzhev. Colonel Commander Baron Frederiks wanted to prevent the rebels from entering the square, but he fell with a severed head under the blow of the saber of officer Shchepin-Rostovsky. Soldiers of the Moscow Regiment came to Senate Square with a fluttering regimental banner, loaded their guns and took live ammunition with them. The regiment lined up in a battle square (quadrilateral) near the monument to Peter I.

End of the rebellion

By nightfall, the first Russian uprising was over. Dozens of corpses remained on the square. The police covered the pools of blood with snow. Fires were burning everywhere. There were guard patrols. The arrested were taken to the Winter Palace.

Not everything that was planned came true. It was not possible to raise all the planned regiments for the uprising. There were no artillery units among the rebels. The dictator Trubetskoy betrayed the uprising and did not come to the square. The rebel troops lined up in front of the empty Senate building - the senators had already taken the oath and dispersed.

In the south, the matter was also not without an armed rebellion. Six companies of the Chernigov regiment released the arrested Sergei Muravyov-Apostol, who went with them to Bila Tserkva; but, overtaken by a detachment of hussars with horse artillery, the rebels laid down their weapons. The wounded Muraviev was arrested.

Investigation and trial

By decree, a Commission was established for research on malicious societies, chaired by Minister of War Tatishchev. The Commission of Inquiry submitted to Emperor Nicholas the most submissive report compiled by D. N. Bludov. The Manifesto of the city established the Supreme Criminal Court of three state estates: the State Council, the Senate and the Synod, with the addition of "several persons from the highest military and civil officials." The following were put on trial: from the Northern Society - 61 people, from the Southern Society - 37 people, from the United Slavs - 23 people. The court established eleven categories, highlighting five people in particular, and sentenced: to death - five by quartering, 31 - by beheading, 17 - to political death, 16 - to exile forever in hard labor, 5 - to exile in hard labor for 10 liters ., 15 - to exile in hard labor. work for 6 years, 15 - to exile to the settlement, 3 - to the deprivation of ranks, nobility and to exile in, 1 - to the deprivation of ranks and nobility and writing to the soldiers until the length of service, 8 - to the deprivation of ranks with writing to the soldiers with length of service . Emperor Nicholas by decree

The Decembrist uprising is an unprecedented phenomenon not only in Russian history, but also in the world. When the oppressed rise up in revolt, it is easier if not to justify them, then at least to understand them. But here the coup d'état is being prepared not by the "humiliated and insulted", but by high-ranking military and hereditary nobles, among whom there are many eminent personalities.

Decembrist phenomenon

For this reason, until now, the phenomenon of Decembrism has not only not been unraveled, but is also as far from an unambiguous assessment as it was in the 19th century.

The main thing that causes misunderstanding in the actions of the Decembrists so far is that they (none of them) did not claim power. This was the condition of their activity. Both then and now, the attitude towards the actions of the Decembrists is not uniform, including the attitude towards their execution: “They started to hang up a bar and exile them to hard labor, it’s a pity that they didn’t outweigh everyone ...” (a statement among cantonists, soldier’s children) and “ According to my conscience, I find that executions and punishments are disproportionate to the crimes ”(the words of Prince P. Vyazemsky).

The verdict of Nicholas I horrified society not only with the cruelty of punishment of the participants in the uprising, but also with the hypocrisy of the emperor: he informed the Supreme Criminal Court, which decided the fate of the Decembrists, that "it rejects any execution associated with the shedding of blood." Thus, he deprived the Decembrists sentenced to death of the right to be shot. But two of them participated in the Patriotic War of 1812, had injuries and military awards - and now they were sentenced to a shameful death on the gallows. For example, P.I. Pestel, at the age of 19, was seriously wounded in the Battle of Borodino and was awarded a golden sword for bravery, and also distinguished himself in the subsequent foreign campaign of the Russian army. S.I. Ants-Apostol was also awarded a golden sword for bravery in the battle of Krasnoy.

Five Decembrists were sentenced to death by hanging:

P. Pestel

All the imprisoned Decembrists were taken out into the courtyard of the fortress and lined up in two squares: those who belonged to the guards regiments and others. All sentences were accompanied by demotion, deprivation of ranks and nobility: swords were broken over the convicts, epaulettes and uniforms were torn off them and thrown into the fire of blazing bonfires. The sailors-Decembrists were taken to Kronstadt and that morning they were sentenced to be demoted on the flagship of Admiral Kroun. Their uniforms and epaulettes were torn off and thrown into the water. “It can be said that they tried to destroy the first manifestation of liberalism with all four elements - fire, water, air and earth,” the Decembrist V.I. wrote in his memoirs. Steingel. Over 120 people of the Decembrists were exiled for various periods to Siberia, to hard labor or a settlement.

The execution took place on the night of July 25, 1826 on the crown work of the Peter and Paul Fortress. During the execution, Ryleev, Kakhovsky and Muravyov-Apostol fell off their hinges and were hanged a second time. “To know that God does not want them to die,” one of the soldiers said. And Sergey Muravyov-Apostol, having risen, said: "A cursed land where they do not know how to plot, judge, or hang."

Because of this unforeseen incident, the execution was delayed, it was dawning on the street, passers-by began to appear, so the funeral was postponed. The next night, their bodies were secretly taken away and buried on Goloday Island in St. Petersburg (presumably).

Pavel Ivanovich Pestel, colonel (1793-1826)

Born in Moscow into a family of Russified Germans who settled in Russia at the end of the 17th century. The first child in the family.

Education: primary at home, then in 1805-1809 he studied in Dresden. Upon his return to Russia in 1810, he entered the Corps of Pages, from which he brilliantly graduated with his name entered on a marble plaque. He was sent as an ensign in the Life Guards Lithuanian Regiment. He took part in the Patriotic War of 1812, was seriously wounded in the Battle of Borodino. Awarded with a golden sword for bravery.

Returning after being wounded in the army, he was an adjutant to Count Wittgenstein and participated in the campaigns of 1813-1814 abroad: the battles of Pirn, Dresden, Kulm, Leipzig, distinguished himself while crossing the Rhine, in the battles of Bar-sur-Aube and Troyes. Then, together with Count Wittgenstein, he was in Tulchin and from here was sent to Bessarabia to collect information about the performances of the Greeks against the Turks, as well as to negotiate with the sovereign of Moldavia in 1821.

In 1822, he was transferred as a colonel to the Vyatka infantry regiment, which was in a state of disarray, and within a year Pestel brought him into full order, for which Alexander I granted him 3,000 acres of land.

The idea of ​​improving society came to him as early as 1816, from the time of participation in Masonic lodges. Then there was the Salvation Union, for which he drew up the charter, the Welfare Union and, after its self-liquidation, the Southern Secret Society, which he headed.

Pestel expressed his political views in the Russkaya Pravda program he compiled, which was the main point of accusation by the Investigative Commission after the defeat of the uprising.

He was arrested on the road to Tulchin after the uprising on December 14, 1825, was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress and after 6 months was sentenced to quartering, replaced by hanging.

From the verdict of the Supreme Court on the main types of crime: “He had intent to regicide; searched for means for this, elected and appointed persons to commit it; he plotted to destroy the IMPERIAL FAMILY and with composure numbered all its members who were doomed to sacrifice, and aroused others to do so; founded and with unlimited power managed the Southern Secret Society, which had the goal of rebellion and the introduction of republican government; drafted plans, statutes, constitution; aroused and prepared for rebellion; participated in the intention of tearing the Regions away from the Empire and took the most active measures to spread the society by attracting others.

According to one of the officers, before the execution, Pestel said: "What you have sown, then it must sprout and will certainly sprout later."

Petr Grigoryevich Kakhovsky, lieutenant (1797-1826)

On December 14, 1825, he mortally wounded the Governor-General of St. Petersburg, the hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, Count M.A. Miloradovich, the commander of the Life Guards of the Grenadier Regiment, Colonel N.K. Styurler, as well as the retinue officer P.A. Gastfer.

Born into a family of impoverished nobles in the village of Preobrazhensky, Smolensk province, he studied at a boarding school at Moscow University. In 1816, he entered the Jaeger Regiment as a cadet in the Life Guards, but was demoted to the soldier for too violent behavior and dishonest attitude to service. In 1817 he was sent to the Caucasus, where he rose to the rank of cadet and then to lieutenant, but was forced to retire due to illness. history of European states.

In 1825 he joined the Northern Secret Society. On December 14, 1825, he raised the Guards naval crew and was one of the first to arrive at Senate Square, where he showed firmness and determination. Arrested on the night of December 15, imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Having an ardent character, Kakhovsky was ready for the most daring deeds. So, he was going to Greece to fight for its independence, and in a secret society he was a supporter of the destruction of autocratic power, the assassination of the king and the entire royal dynasty, and the establishment of republican rule. At a meeting on December 13, 1825, at Ryleev's, he was assigned the assassination of Nicholas I (because Kakhovsky did not have his own family), but on the day of the uprising he did not dare to kill him.

During the investigation, he behaved very impudently, sharply criticizing the emperors Alexander I and Nicholas I. In the Peter and Paul Fortress, he wrote several letters to Nicholas I and the investigators, which contained a critical analysis of Russian reality. But at the same time, he petitioned to alleviate the fate of other arrested Decembrists.

From the verdict of the Supreme Court on the main types of crime: “He contemplated the regicide and the extermination of the entire IMPERIAL FAMILY, and, having been intended to encroach on the life of the current EMPEROR, he did not renounce this election and even expressed his consent to it, although he assures that he subsequently hesitated; participated in spreading the riot by attracting many members; personally acted in rebellion; excited the lower ranks and himself dealt a mortal blow to Count Miloradovich and Colonel Styurler and wounded the Svitsky Officer.

Kondraty Fedorovich Ryleev, second lieutenant (1795-1826)

Born in the village of Batovo (now the Gatchinsky district of the Leningrad region) in the family of a small landed nobleman, who managed the estate of Princess Golitsyna. From 1801 to 1814 he was brought up within the walls of the St. Petersburg First Cadet Corps. He was a member of the foreign campaigns of the Russian army in 1814-1815.

After his resignation in 1818, he served as an assessor of the St. Petersburg Criminal Chamber, and from 1824 - the head of the office of the Russian-American Company.

He was a member of the "Free Society of Lovers of Russian Literature", was the author of the well-known satirical ode "To the temporary worker". Together with A. Bestuzhev, he published the almanac "Polar Star". His thought "Death of Yermak" became a song.

In 1823 he joined the Northern Secret Society and headed its radical wing, was a supporter of the republican system, although initially he stood in the position of monarchism. He was one of the leaders of the Decembrist uprising. But during the investigation, he completely repented of what he had done, took all the “blame” on himself, tried to justify his comrades, and hoped for the mercy of the emperor.

From the verdict of the Supreme Court on the main types of crime: “Contemplated regicide; appointed to commit this person; contemplated deprivation of liberty, expulsion and extermination of the IMPERIAL FAMILY and prepared means for this; strengthened the activities of the Northern Society; controlled it, prepared ways for rebellion, made plans, forced to compose a Manifesto on the destruction of the Government; himself composed and distributed outrageous songs and poems and received members; prepared the main means for the rebellion and commanded them; aroused the lower ranks to rebellion through their Chiefs through various seductions, and during the rebellion he himself came to the square.

He addressed his last words on the scaffold to the priest: "Father, pray for our sinful souls, do not forget my wife and bless my daughter."

Even during the investigation, Nicholas I sent Ryleev's wife 2 thousand rubles, and then the empress sent another thousand rubles for her daughter's name day. He took care of the Ryleev family even after the execution: his wife received a pension until her second marriage, and her daughter until she came of age.

I know that death awaits

The one who rises first

On the oppressors of the people;

Fate has already doomed me.

But where, tell me when was

Is freedom redeemed without sacrifice?

(K. Ryleev, from the poem "Nalivaiko")

Sergei Ivanovich Muravyov-Apostol, lieutenant colonel (1796-1826)

Born in St. Petersburg and was the fourth child in the family of the famous writer of that time and statesman I.M. Muravyov-Apostol. He was educated in a private boarding school in Paris with his brother, M.I. Muravyov-Apostol, where their father served as a Russian envoy. In 1809 he returned to Russia and was shocked, as it were, by the situation in Russia he saw again after a long absence, especially the existence of serfdom. Upon his return, he entered the corps of railway engineers in St. Petersburg.

During the Patriotic War of 1812 he took part in many battles. For the battle of Krasnoe he was awarded a golden sword for bravery. Together with the Russian army he entered Paris and there he completed his foreign campaign.

In 1820, the Semyonovsky regiment rebelled, in which Muravyov-Apostol served, and he was transferred to the Poltava, then to the Chernigov regiment as a lieutenant colonel. He was among the founders of the Union of Salvation and the Union of Welfare, as well as one of the most active members of the Southern Society. He established a connection with the Society of United Slavs.

Muraviev-Apostol agreed with the need for regicide, was a supporter of republican rule.

Conducted propaganda among the soldiers, being one of the leaders of the Decembrists. Already after the defeat of the uprising in St. Petersburg, the Chernigov regiment was raised, and “being surrounded by a detachment of hussars and artillerymen, it defended itself, standing against the artillery itself, and, thrown to the ground by grapeshot, with the help of others, mounted the horse again and ordered to go forward.”

Seriously wounded, he was taken prisoner. Sentenced to death and hanged on the crown of the Peter and Paul Fortress.

From the verdict of the Supreme Court on the main types of crime: “He had intent to regicide; found means, elected and appointed others to that; agreeing to the expulsion of the IMPERIAL FAMILY, he demanded in particular the murder of Tsesarevich and aroused others to do so; had the intent to deprive the sovereign of the emperor; participated in the management of the Southern secret society in the entire space of its outrageous designs; drew up proclamations and aroused others to achieve the goal of this society, to rebellion; participated in the intention of tearing away the Regions from the Empire; took the most active measures to spread society by attracting others; personally acted in rebellion with a willingness to shed blood; excited the soldiers; freed the convicts; bribed even the priest to read in front of the ranks of the rebellious false catechism, compiled by him and taken up in arms.

Mikhail Pavlovich Bestuzhev-Ryumin, second lieutenant (1801(1804)-1826)

Born in the village of Kudreshki, Gorbatovsky district, Nizhny Novgorod province. Father - court adviser, mayor of the city of Gorbatov, from the nobility.

In 1816 the Bestuzhev-Ryumin family moved to Moscow. The future Decembrist received a good home education, entered the service of the Cavalier Guard Regiment as a cadet, and in 1819 was transferred to the Semenovsky Life Guards Regiment, where he was promoted to lieutenant. After the uprising in the Semyonovsky regiment, he was transferred to the Poltava infantry regiment, then he made a military career: ensign, battalion adjutant, front adjutant, second lieutenant.

Bestuzhev-Ryumin was one of the leaders of the Southern Society, which he was admitted to in 1823. Together with S.I. Muravyov-Apostol headed the Vasilkov Council, was a participant in the congresses of the leaders of the Southern Society in Kamenka and Kyiv, negotiated with a secret Polish society on joining the Society of United Slavs to the Southern Society. Led (together with S.I. Muravyov-Apostol) the uprising of the Chernigov regiment.

He was arrested at the place of the uprising with weapons in his hands, delivered to St. Petersburg in chains from the White Church to the General Staff, on the same day he was transferred to the Peter and Paul Fortress. Sentenced to hang.

From the verdict of the Supreme Court on the main types of crime: “He had intent to regicide; searched for the means; he himself volunteered for the murder of the blessed memory of the EMPEROR and now the reigning EMPEROR; elected and appointed persons to commit it; had the intent to destroy the IMPERIAL FAMILY, expressed it in the most cruel terms scattering of ashes; had the intent to expel the IMPERIAL FAMILY and deprive the freedom of the blessed memory of the EMPEROR, and he himself volunteered to commit this last atrocity; participated in the management of the Southern Society; attached Slavic to it; drafted proclamations and delivered outrageous speeches; participated in the composition of a false catechism; excited and prepared for rebellion, demanding even oath promises by kissing the image; concocted an intent to secede the Regions from the Empire and acted in the execution thereof; took the most active measures to spread society by attracting others; personally acted in rebellion with a willingness to shed blood; incited officers and soldiers to rebellion and was taken with weapons in their hands.

Executed on the crown work of the Peter and Paul Fortress. He was buried along with other executed Decembrists on about. Starving.

A monument was erected at the site of the death of the Decembrists. Under the bas-relief on the monument there is an inscription: “On this place on July 13/25, 1826, the Decembrists P. Pestel, K. Ryleev, P. Kakhovsky, S. Muravyov-Apostol, M. Bestuzhev-Ryumin were executed.” On the other side of the obelisk, poems by A. S. Pushkin are carved:

Comrade, believe: she will rise,
Star of captivating happiness
Russia will wake up from sleep
And on the ruins of autocracy, .