1825 there was an uprising of the Decembrists. Decembrist uprising on Senate Square

Decembrist revolt- a well-known political speech of young representatives of the nobility in order to change the political system. Before the Decembrists, only spontaneous peasant riots took place in Russia, caused mainly by oppression on the part of the landowners. The peasants, as a disenfranchised estate, could no longer express dissatisfaction.

Decembrist movement- an attempt by representatives of the nobility, mainly officers of the guard and the navy, to carry out a coup d'état in the first quarter of the 19th century. The uprising took place in December 1825 and was unsuccessful.

Background of the uprising

The main prerequisite for the uprising was the dynastic crisis that followed the death of Alexander I. The emperor died suddenly in November 1825 in Taganrog while traveling around the country. Alexander had no sons, so his brother Grand Duke Konstantin, the governor of the Kingdom of Poland, was considered the heir. Back in 1822, he renounced the Russian throne, but this document was not made public, because of which the country swore allegiance to Konstantin Pavlovich after Alexander's death. After the situation with the throne cleared up, a "re-swearing" was appointed to the younger brother of Alexander I, Nicholas.

Causes of the Decembrist uprising

This uprising did not happen spontaneously. Due to the imperfection of the political system, for many years problems have accumulated in the country that have become the causes of the Decembrist uprising.

Main reasons:

autocratic-feudal system;
the impact of the ideas of European and Russian enlighteners on the nobility;
the results of the Patriotic War of 1812 and the results of the foreign campaign of the Russian army;
revolutionary uprisings in Europe.

The advanced nobility of the first half of the 19th century did not support the policy of Alexander I in relation to the peasants, they did not like that people without rights were affected only by force. Under the influence of ideas of equality and democracy, the Russian nobles wanted to rid Russia of serfdom. The teachings of J. Locke, D. Diderot, C. Montesquieu had a special influence. Of the Russian educators, N. I. Novikov and A. N. Radishchev especially stood out.

As a result of the Patriotic War of 1812, an anti-serf movement was born in Russia, due to the fact that by that time there were no disenfranchised estates in Europe. The advanced nobility also wished to bring Russia closer to Europe in this respect.

But another result of the Patriotic War was the strengthening of the conservative direction in domestic politics, which assumed the preservation of the existing status.

The patriotic upsurge and the growth of self-consciousness also became one of the reasons for the uprising.

Rebellion plan

The conspirators developed a plan according to which the uprising was to take place. The organizers sought to interfere with the oath to Nicholas I.

Sergey Petrovich Trubetskoy was elected the head of the uprising.

Scheme: Location of troops on the Senator Square.

Why did the uprising happen on December 14, 1825?

The organizers chose the date of the riot for a reason. It was decided to hold the uprising on December 14 because it was on this day that the oath to Nicholas I was appointed.

Participants of the uprising

The ideas and motives of the conspirators were well received in the upper strata of society, politicians and the nobility. Participants in the uprising:

S. P. Trubetskoy,
I. D. Yakushkin,
A.N Muravyov,
N. M. Muravyov,
M. S. Lunin,
P. I. Pestel,
P. G. Kakhovsky,
K. F. Ryleev,
N. A. Bestuzhev,
S. G. Volkonsky,
M. P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin.

The participants were in communities, also called "artels". In 1816, the Union of Salvation was formed from the merger of the "Sacred" and "Semyonovsky Regiment" artels. Creator - A. Muravyov. Trubetskoy, Yakushkin, N. Muravyov and Pestel became members of the Salvation Union. In the autumn of 1817, the organization was dissolved due to disagreements on the issue of regicide among the members.

A new secret society is created in Moscow in January 1818 - the Welfare Union. The number of participants was about 200 people. It existed until 1821.

The most important in the events of 1825 were the Northern and Southern Society.

The course of the uprising

The uprising of the conspirators began with a speech by the Northern Society on Senate Square in St. Petersburg on the morning of December 14, 1825. The Decembrists immediately ran into unforeseen problems: Nikolai Kakhovsky had previously agreed to kill Alexander I, but changed his mind at the last moment; Alexander Yakubovich, who was responsible for the capture of the Winter Palace, refused to storm it.

In this situation, the Decembrists began to agitate the soldiers to overthrow the autocracy. This led to the fact that 2350 sailors of the Guards crew and 800 soldiers of the Moscow regiment were brought to Senate Square.

The rebels ended up on the square in the morning, but the oath had already been taken, and Nicholas I secretly accepted the powers of the emperor as early as 7 o'clock in the morning. Nicholas managed to gather about 12,000 government troops against the rebel troops.

From the side of the government, Mikhail Miloradovich had a dialogue with the rebels, from the side of the conspirators - Yevgeny Obolensky. Obolensky urged Miloradovich to withdraw the troops and, observing the lack of reaction on his part, decided to wound him with a bayonet in the side. At that moment, Kakhovsky was shot at Miloradovich.

They tried to bring the rebels into obedience, but twice they repulsed the attack of the horse guards. The number of victims is 200-300 people. The bodies of the dead and the bodies of the wounded conspirators were thrown into the hole in the Neva.

After the Southern Society became aware that the performance in St. Petersburg failed, an uprising of the Chernigov regiment took place in Ukraine (December 29-January 3). This rebellion also failed.

Suppression of the uprising

To suppress the uprising, they decided to give a blank volley, which had no effect. Then they fired buckshot, and the square dispersed. The second salvo increased the number of corpses of the conspirators' troops. These measures succeeded in suppressing the rebellion.

Trial of the Decembrists

The trial of the conspirators was held in secret from the public. The commission of inquiry on this case was headed by the emperor himself.

On July 13, 1826, five conspirators were hanged in the Peter and Paul Fortress: Ryleev, Pestel, Kakhovsky, Bestuzhev-Ryumin and Muravyov-Apostol. 121 participants in the riot were brought to the Supreme Court. In total, 579 people were involved in the investigation, the vast majority of them military.

The rest of the participants in the uprising were sent to hard labor and eternal settlement in Siberia or demoted to soldiers and sent to the Caucasus.

Reasons for the defeat of the Decembrists

The main reasons for the failure of the uprising were:

The inconsistency of the actions of the conspirators, the passivity of the rebels in their actions;
Narrow social base (nobility - a small estate);
Bad conspiracy, due to which the plans of the rebels became known to the emperor;
The unpreparedness of the nobles for changes in the political structure;
Weak propaganda and agitation.

Aftermath of the 1825 uprising

The main consequence of the Decembrist uprising was the consolidation of ideas about freedom among the masses. And also the rebellion increased the divergence between the nobility and official power. The overthrow of tsarist power in 1917 can be called a distant consequence of the Decembrist uprising.

The consequences of the rebellion include the fact that this event was reflected in many works of literature.

It is worth noting that the secret investigation hid all the results of the investigation from the people. It was not possible to establish for certain whether there was a plan for the assassination of Nicholas I, whether there was a connection with other secret societies, whether Speransky was involved in these events.

Victims

The number of victims is approximately 200-300 people. Nikolai Pavlovich ordered to hide the traces of what had happened as soon as possible, so the dead and the wounded, who could not move, were dumped into the hole in the Neva. The wounded who were able to escape hid their wounds from doctors and died without medical attention.

The historical significance of the Decembrist movement

The Decembrist uprising greatly influenced the further development of the country. First of all, this speech showed that there are social problems in Russia and that they need to be addressed. The peasantry, as a disenfranchised class, could in no way influence their lives. And even if not well organized rebellion was able to show the presence of "old" problems.

The Decembrist movement was the first open attempt by the noble revolutionaries to change the political system of the country and abolish serfdom.

And the subsequent foreign campaigns of the Russian army had a significant impact on all aspects of the life of the Russian Empire, gave rise to certain hopes for changes for the better and, above all, for the abolition of serfdom. The elimination of serfdom was associated with the need for constitutional restrictions on monarchical power. In -1814, communities of guards officers appeared on an ideological basis, the so-called "artels". Of the two artels: "Holy" and "Semyonovsky Regiment" at the beginning of 1816, the Union of Salvation was formed in St. Petersburg. The creator of the Union was Alexander Muravyov. The Salvation Union included Sergei Trubetskoy, Nikita Muravyov, Ivan Yakushkin, later Pavel Pestel joined them. The goal of the Union was the liberation of the peasants and the reform of government. In 1817, Pestel wrote the charter of the Union of Salvation or the Union of True and Faithful Sons of the Fatherland. Many members of the Union were members of Masonic lodges, so the influence of Masonic rituals affected the everyday life of the Union. Disagreements among members of the society over the possibility of regicide during a coup d'état led to the dissolution of the Salvation Union in the autumn of 1817. In January 1818, a new secret society, the Welfare Union, was created in Moscow. The first part of the charter of the society was written by M. N. Muravyov, P. Koloshin, N. M. Muravyov and S.P. Trubetskoy and contained the principles of organizing the Union of Welfare and its tactics. The second part, secret, contained a description of the ultimate goals of society, was compiled later and has not been preserved. The union lasted until 1821, it included about 200 people. One of the goals of the Welfare Union was to create an advanced public opinion, the formation of a liberal movement. For this, it was supposed to establish various legal societies: literary, charitable, educational. In total, more than ten departments of the Union of Welfare were formed: two in Moscow; in St. Petersburg in the regiments: Moscow, Jaeger, Izmailovsky, Horse Guards; councils in Tulchin, Chisinau, Smolensk and other cities. There were also "side councils", including the "Green Lamp" by Nikita Vsevolozhsky. Members of the Welfare Union were required to take an active part in public life, strive to take positions in government institutions, the army. The composition of secret societies was constantly changing: as their first members “settle down” in life and start families, they moved away from politics; their place was taken by younger ones. In January 1821, the congress of the Welfare Union worked in Moscow for three weeks. Its necessity was due to disagreements between supporters of the radical (republican) and moderate movements and the strengthening of the reaction in the country, which complicates the legal work of society. The congress was led by Nikolai Turgenev and Mikhail Fonvizin. It became known that through informers the government was aware of the existence of the Union. A decision was made to formally dissolve the Welfare Union. This made it possible to get rid of random people who got into the Union, its dissolution was a step towards reorganization.

New secret societies were formed - "Southern" (1821) in Ukraine and "Northern" (1822) with a center in St. Petersburg. In September 1825, the Society of United Slavs, founded by the Borisov brothers, joined the Southern Society.

In the Northern society, the main role was played by Nikita Muravyov, Trubetskoy, and later the famous poet Kondraty Ryleev, who rallied the fighting republicans around him. Colonel Pestel was the head of the Southern Society.

Guards officers Ivan Nikolaevich Gorstkin, Mikhail Mikhailovich Naryshkin, naval officers Nikolai Alekseevich Chizhov, brothers Bodisko Boris Andreevich and Mikhail Andreevich took an active part in the Northern Society. Active participants in the Southern Society were the Tula Decembrist brothers Kryukov, Alexander Alexandrovich and Nikolai Alexandrovich, the Bobrishchev-Pushkin brothers Nikolai Sergeevich and Pavel Sergeevich, Alexei Ivanovich Cherkasov, Vladimir Nikolaevich Likharev, Ivan Borisovich Avramov. One of the active figures of the "Society of United Slavs" was Ivan Vasilyevich Kireev.

As is clear from the revelations of the surviving Decembrists that followed many years later, they 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 planned to announce the "destruction of the former government" and the establishment of the Provisional Revolutionary Government. The abolition of serfdom and the equalization of all citizens before the law were announced; freedom of the press, religion, occupation, the introduction of a public jury trial, the abolition of compulsory military service were announced. All government officials had to give way to elected officials.

It was decided to take advantage of the difficult legal situation that had developed around the rights to the throne after the death of Alexander I. On the one hand, there was a secret document confirming the long-standing renunciation of the throne by the next brother after childless Alexander in seniority, Konstantin Pavlovich, which gave an advantage to the next brother, extremely unpopular among the highest military-bureaucratic elite Nikolai Pavlovich. On the other hand, even before the opening of this document, Nikolai Pavlovich, under pressure from the Governor-General of St. Petersburg, Count M. A. Miloradovich, hastened to renounce his rights to the throne in favor of Konstantin Pavlovich.

The state of uncertainty lasted for a very long time, and the right to choose a new emperor, in fact, passed to the Senate. However, after the repeated refusal of Konstantin Pavlovich from the throne, the Senate, as a result of a long night meeting on December 13-14, 1825, reluctantly recognized the legal rights to the throne of Nikolai Pavlovich.

However, the Decembrists still hoped to change the situation by bringing armed guards to the streets to put pressure on the Senate.

Plan

The Decembrists decided to prevent the troops and the Senate from taking the oath to the new tsar. Then they wanted to enter the Senate and demand the publication of a national manifesto, which would announce the abolition of serfdom and the 25-year term of military service, the granting of freedom of speech and assembly.

The deputies had to approve a new 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 manifesto contained several points: the establishment of a provisional revolutionary government, the abolition of serfdom, the equality of all before the law, democratic freedoms (press, confession, labor), the introduction of a jury, the introduction of compulsory military service for all classes, the election of officials, the abolition of the poll tax. The insurgent 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. A dictator, Prince Sergei Trubetskoy, was elected to lead the uprising.

It is characteristic that the leaders of the future interim government were supposed to be the leaders of the Senate, Count Speransky and Admiral Mordvinov, which makes the Senate suspect in connection with the conspirators.

The plan of the uprising has to be judged hypothetically, because absolutely nothing of the above was done:

the main conspirators (Ryleev, Trubetskoy) actually refused to participate in the uprising;
contrary to the plan, the rebels did not occupy palaces and fortresses, but stood still;
in fact, instead of the abolition of serfdom and the introduction of various rights and freedoms, the rebels demanded only Emperor Konstantin Pavlovich and a constitution;
during the rebellion there were plenty of opportunities to arrest or kill the future Tsar Nicholas I, but no attempts were made to do so.

Events December 14

By 11 a.m. on December 14, 1825, 30 Decembrist officers brought about 3,020 people to Senate Square: soldiers of the Moscow and Grenadier regiments and sailors of the Guards Naval crew. However, already at 7 o'clock in the morning, the senators took the oath to Nicholas and proclaimed him emperor. Trubetskoy, who was appointed dictator, did not appear. The rebel regiments continued to stand on Senate Square until the conspirators could come to a unified decision on the appointment of a new leader. Hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, the Governor-General of St. Petersburg Mikhail Miloradovich, appearing on horseback in front of the soldiers lined up in a square, “said that he himself willingly wished Constantine to be emperor, but what to do if he refused: he assured them that he himself I saw a new renunciation, and persuaded me to believe it.” E. Obolensky, leaving the ranks of the rebels, urged Miloradovich to leave, but seeing that he did not pay attention to this, he wounded him with a bayonet in the side. At the same time, Kakhovskiy fired at Miloradovich. Colonel Stürler, Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich and Metropolitan Seraphim of Novgorod and Petersburg tried unsuccessfully to bring the soldiers into obedience. The attack of the horse guards led by Alexei Orlov was repulsed twice. The troops, who had already sworn allegiance to the new emperor, surrounded the rebels. They were led by Nicholas I, who had recovered from the initial confusion. Guards artillery under the command of General Sukhozanet appeared from the side of Admiralteisky Boulevard. A volley of blank charges was fired at the square, which had no effect. After that, the artillery hit the rebels with buckshot, their ranks scattered. “It was possible to limit ourselves to this, but Sukhozanet fired a few more shots along the narrow Galerny Lane and across the Neva to the Academy of Arts, where more of the curious crowd fled!” (Shteingel V.I.)

End of the rebellion

By nightfall, the uprising was over. Hundreds of corpses remained on the square and streets. Most of the victims were crushed by the crowd, which rushed in panic from the center of events. An eyewitness wrote:

The windows on the facade of the Senate up to the top floor were spattered with blood and brains, and the walls were left with marks from buckshot.

371 soldiers of the Moscow Regiment, 277 of the Grenadiers and 62 sailors of the Naval Crew were immediately arrested and sent to the Peter and Paul Fortress. The first arrested Decembrists began to be brought to the Winter Palace.

Uprising of the Chernihiv Regiment

In the south of Russia, the matter also did not go without an armed rebellion. Six companies of the Chernigov regiment released the arrested Sergei Muravyov-Apostol, who marched with them to Bila Tserkva; but on January 3, overtaken by a detachment of hussars with horse artillery, the rebels laid down their arms. The wounded Muravyov was arrested.

In the case of the uprising, 265 people were arrested (excluding those arrested in southern Russia and Poland - they were tried by provincial courts)

Investigation and trial

The main fault of the rebels was the murder of high-ranking civil servants (including the St. Petersburg Governor-General Miloradovich), as well as the organization of riots, which led to numerous victims.

Mordvinov and Speransky were included in the composition of the Supreme Criminal Court - precisely those high-ranking officials who were suspected of behind-the-scenes directing of the failed rebellion. Nicholas I, through Benckendorff, bypassing the Investigative Committee, tried to find out whether Speransky was connected with the Decembrists. HELL. Borovkov testified in his notes that the issue of involvement in the plans of the Decembrists Speransky, Mordvinov, Yermolov and Kiselev was investigated, but then the materials of this investigation were destroyed.

Place of execution of the Decembrists

During the execution, Muraviev-Apostol, Kakhovsky and Ryleev fell off the noose and were hanged a second time. This was contrary to the tradition of re-enforcement of the death penalty, but, on the other hand, was due to the absence of executions in Russia over the past several decades (the exception was the executions of participants in the Pugachev uprising).

In Warsaw, the Investigative Committee for the opening of secret societies began to operate on February 7 (19), and submitted its report to Tsarevich Konstantin Pavlovich on December 22. (Jan 3, 1827). Only after this did the trial begin, which acted on the basis of the Constitutional Charter of the Kingdom of Poland, and treated the defendants with great leniency.

According to the plans of the "military revolution", the speech in the capital was of decisive importance. At the same time, the performance of troops in the south of the country, in the 2nd Army, was to take place. In St. Petersburg, at the apartment of the Decembrist Ryleev, there were daily meetings at which the uprising was being prepared. Here information was concentrated on the readiness of individual regiments for a speech, instructions were given to individual members of the society, and a general plan of action was discussed. It was decided to speak on December 14 - the day of the "re-swearing". One of the initiators of the founding of the secret society, S. Trubetskoy, a colonel of the guard, a participant in the Patriotic War of 1812 and foreign campaigns, who had extensive military experience and was known to soldiers, was elected dictator of the uprising.

What was the plan of the uprising on December 14? What did the Decembrists want? On December 14, they decided to prevent the regiments from taking the oath and, under the pretext of demanding the accession of Constantine, lead the soldiers to the Senate, where at that time the oath of senators and members of the Council of State to the new emperor was to take place. This oath had to be thwarted at all costs. By persuasion, and if not, then by force of arms, it was supposed to force the members of the Senate and the State Council to publish the "Manifesto to the Russian people." This manifesto is an important ideological document of the movement, the political platform of the December 14 uprising. The manifesto declared the abolition of serfdom, freedom of the press, conscience, occupation and movement; the position of the soldiers was facilitated; universal military service was introduced; elected officials were to replace the former officials. It was announced that the Assembly of People's Representatives, or the Great Council, was to be convened, which was supposed to decide on the form of government in Russia. The text of the manifesto had already been developed and was kept by Trubetskoy. It was supposed to capture the Winter Palace by the insurgent troops (sailors-guards), the arrest of the royal family, and the capture of the Peter and Paul Fortress. The former government was declared deposed. Prior to the decisions of the Great Council, the administration of the state was transferred to the provisional government, which was supposed to include Speransky and Mordvinov.

It was a cold and windy morning on December 14th. Members of the secret society were in their regiments before the light and campaigned against the oath. The first to come to Senate Square was the Moscow Regiment under the command of the Decembrist writer Alexander Bestuzhev (Marlinsky), his brother Mikhail and officer Shchepin-Rostovsky. The regiment lined up in a square - a combat quadrangle - near the monument to Peter I. This arrangement of troops under the given conditions was the most appropriate: attack and defense could be needed on the square from four sides. While the insurgent regiment stood alone on the square, the St. Petersburg Governor-General Miloradovich galloped up to him for persuasion. The moment was dangerous - Miloradovich was known among the troops, and his persuasion could impede the further course of the uprising. The Decembrist Obolensky, the chief of staff of the rebels, turning the horse of the governor-general back, wounded him with a bayonet, and a bullet sent in pursuit by Kakhovsky mortally wounded Miloradovich. The danger has been eliminated. Soon the Muscovites were joined by the guards naval crew under the command of Nikolai Bestuzhev and two hours later the life grenadiers under the command of Panov and Sutgof (this happened quite late, at about one o'clock in the afternoon). In total, the rebel soldiers and sailors in combat formation on Senate Square were more than 3 thousand people with 30 combat commanders of the uprising.

Serious complications occurred from the first steps of the uprising. It was very important that the dictator of the uprising, Trubetskoy, betrayed the revolutionary cause and did not appear on the square. The rebels were left without a leader. Ryleev looked for him everywhere, but could not find him. The Decembrists themselves rightly regarded such behavior of Trubetskoy as "treason." What happened cannot be unequivocally explained by "cowardice" - Trubetskoy has repeatedly proved his courage and bravery on the battlefields. The reason, most likely, is that at the very last moment he lost faith in the success of the uprising. Trubetskoy's vacillations, already noticeable on the eve of the uprising, intensified even more on the day of December 14. Being in the office of the General Staff, tormented by doubts, Trubetskoy goes out to see how many troops have gathered on the square, and, realizing that the rebels have too few forces, he does not dare to lead the uprising. The non-appearance of the dictator was in itself a severe embarrassment, but, in addition, the immediate goal was lost: Nicholas managed to swear in members of the Senate and the Council of State. The conceived plan of the uprising collapsed, new decisions had to be made, but there was no dictator. Confusion began to be seen in the ranks of the Decembrists.

Meanwhile, a lot of ordinary people had gathered on the square: there were courtyards, petty officials, artisans, and the urban poor of the capital. According to eyewitnesses, the number of people significantly exceeded the number of rebels. This, in the words of Nicholas I, "the mob" asked the Decembrists to hold on, showed their sympathy for the uprising, threw stones and logs at the emperor and his retinue. Several times, on the orders of Nicholas I, the imperial troops launched cavalry attacks on the revolutionary square, but each time, repulsed by the combat fire of the rebels, they were forced to retreat. According to the testimony of the tsarist officers, bullets from the ranks of the rebels "flew in a swarm", in the horse guards, who were on the side of Nicholas I, there were many killed and wounded. The insurgent troops fired without command; rapid rifle fire was opened on the approaching Nicholas and on the troops who were trying to push the people back from the ranks of the rebels.

In the evening, the Decembrists chose a new "dictator" of the uprising - Prince Obolensky, but it was too late. Nikolai managed to pull four times as many troops into the square as the rebels had, and surrounded them on all sides with squares. It was getting dark. Fearing that "the excitement would not be transmitted to the mob," Nikolai gave the order to shoot grapeshot. But the artillery soldier did not comply with the order: “Your own, your honor,” he said to the officer who ran up. The officer pulled out the fuse and put it in himself. The first shot rang out - it was fired a little higher than the ranks of the rebels, along the colonnade and the roof of the Senate, where the people sympathizing with the uprising had accumulated. The rebels responded to the first shot with grapeshot with rapid rifle fire, but after several volleys of grapeshot, the ranks of the rebels trembled and wavered. The flight began. M. Bestuzhev's attempt to line up the fleeing soldiers on the ice of the Neva and throw them against the tsarist troops failed. Buckshot hit the ice, it cracked, many drowned. More than 80 corpses remained on the snow of Senate Square. By nightfall, the uprising was over.

Patrols walked around the city, traces of blood were cleaned from the pavement, the capital looked like a city conquered by enemies. The arrested were taken to the Winter Palace.

The news of the defeat of the uprising on Senate Square reached the Southern Society of the Decembrists in the twentieth of December. However, it was decided to organize an agreed performance. Members of the Society of United Slavs, officers of the Chernigov Regiment Sukhinov, Kuzmin, Schepilla and Solovyov released Lieutenant Colonel of the Chernigov Regiment Decembrist Sergei Muravyov-Apostol and his brother Matvey from arrest, and dealt with Colonel Gebel who had arrested them. Sergei Muravyov-Apostol, who even earlier promised to act together with the northerners, led the uprising of the Chernigov regiment. It began on December 29, 1825 in the village of Trilesy, where the 5th company of the regiment was stationed. The rebels moved in military formation to the village of Kovalevka, joined up with other companies, and from there went to the city of Vasilkov to join the bulk of the regiment stationed there. Having captured the city, the rebel regiment moved to the village of Motovilovka. Waiting for the insurgent units to join, on January 1, 1826, Sergei Muravyov-Apostol announced a day in Motovilovka, but no one joined, except for a small number of surrounding peasants who sympathized with the uprising and followed the regiment in the wagon train.

For the purpose of agitation, Sergei Muravyov-Apostol and his friend Bestuzhev-Ryumin wrote a revolutionary "catechism" intended for distribution among the troops and the people. In it, quotations from the Holy Scriptures proved the need to overthrow the autocracy. The Catechism was read before the insurgent regiment, copies of it were distributed among the people, and were even sent to Kyiv. But on January 3, a detachment of General Geismar, sent to quell the uprising, defeated the Chernigov regiment near the village of Kovalevka. Schepilla was killed on the battlefield, a member of the Society of United Slavs Kuzmin shot himself immediately after his arrest. Wounded in the head, the leader of the uprising, Sergei Muravyov-Apostol, was arrested with a weapon in his hands, as was his friend Bestuzhev-Ryumin.

The memory of the uprising of the Chernigov regiment was preserved among the serfs of Ukraine. The agitated Ukrainian peasantry in 1826-1827. remembered this uprising and expressed a desire to follow the example of the Chernigovites.

Under whom was the Decembrist uprising? This question is asked not only to schoolchildren in history lessons. Many people who are interested in the history of their country recall with great interest the events of those distant times.

At that time, the Decembrist uprising meant an unsuccessful attempt to carry out a coup d'état and prevent Tsar Nicholas I from ruling Russia.

Many participants in this event belonged not only to a noble family, but also to military officers of the Russian army. The peculiarities of conducting domestic and foreign policy of that time did not suit most of the elite and the population, so the atmosphere of distrust and desire to change the vector of the country's development was in the air.

Although the Decembrist uprising itself was not successful, it left a huge mark on the history of the country and was covered in a mass of literature. And the prerequisites for this event have existed for a long time.

Reasons for the Decembrist uprising of 1825

As often happens in history, there were many reasons for such a serious action as speaking out against official power. Problems and contradictions accumulated for many years and resulted in a riot.

After the harsh war of 1812, many Russian officers saw life abroad, expanded the horizons of their worldview.

People saw that slavery and serfdom have long been gone in the West, citizens live much more freely and joyfully. Rare protests against serfdom before that could not have any success, since people did not see another life. Now this problem has become clearly felt.

Other serious reasons include:

Experienced officers who had been in Europe saw that Russian industry lagged significantly behind Western countries. Here, hard labor slave labor was still used, while industrialization began in the west, complex machines and mechanisms appeared. They were afraid that such a situation would make Russia uncompetitive.
Enlightened people wanted freedom of speech to finally reign in the country.
Many did not like the fact that the current emperor Alexander I influenced the peasants and ordinary people exclusively by repression and force. This constantly raised the degree of hatred towards him in society.

All these reasons became the preconditions for the future rebellion. Also, one of the reasons was that the military did not see a worthy replacement for Alexander I, since Nicholas I frankly did not sympathize with most of them.

Goals and plans of the Decembrists

Based on the indicated reasons for discontent, one can also understand what goals the Decembrists set for themselves. Their task was to prevent Nicholas I from the throne, the desire to completely abolish serfdom, open the country for closer interaction with other countries and radically remake the system of state administration, removing autocracy and other attributes of tsarism.

The events of the future coup were planned in this way:

the Decembrists wanted to prevent the new emperor from taking the oath;
further, the soldiers were to seize government buildings, take the emperor's family hostage;
The next stage of the plan was the announcement of a national manifesto with a number of points.

The rebellion had many goals, which, however, were never destined to come true.

Participants of the uprising

The main force in the uprising was the officers who participated in the war of 1812 and wanted to bring to Russia what they saw abroad. The movement against serfdom was supported by many prominent nobles and politicians.

Officers began to create so-called artels - military communities for a future coup. Two large artels, which had the names "Holy" and "Semenovsky Regiment", formed in 1816 the so-called Union of Salvation.

The union was created by Alexander Muravyov, a lieutenant general of the Russian army.

Prominent participants in the movement were such personalities as Sergei Trubetskoy, Ivan Yakushkin, Nikita Muravyov and others. The course was significantly changed when the leader of the movement, Trubetskoy, was detained before the start of the riot, and Prince Obolensky, who had participated in the movement from the very beginning, immediately took his place.

The history of the Decembrist uprising briefly

Consider a summary of those events. Entry into the imperial rank of Nicholas I was not smooth. At first, he tried to compromise with those who were dissatisfied with his candidacy, but in the end, he secretly entered the rank at 7 am on December 14, 1825. It was on this day that the Decembrists planned their coup.

The rebels put up about 3,000 soldiers on Senate Square, which were supplemented by ordinary people who came to gawk at the events. It is said that the audience of the event was about 10,000.

Nicholas I wasted no time and gathered 12,000 government troops.

Suppression of the uprising

When the troops of Nicholas I approached the Senate Square, the artillerymen were ordered to fire blank charges at the rebels in order to force them to stop the unrest. But this did not give any result, and a fight ensued.

The emperor's outnumbered soldiers quickly pressed the rebels and forced them to flee. Many Decembrists tried to dig in on the ice of the Neva River, but the ice began to break from artillery shells, and many soldiers drowned.

The consequences of the massacre were terrible: approximately 1,300 people died, including even 150 children and 80 women. All prominent figures of the Decembrists were brought to trial and hanged for treason.

About 600 people were also put on trial. Throughout the country, these events have created significant unrest.

The results of the December uprising

In addition to the results of the uprising in terms of the number of convicted and dead, which the corresponding table can show, many other things happened as a result of the uprising.

The entire socio-political life of the country began to waver, and questions about the expediency of serfdom, human rights, renewal of the country's industrial base, etc. began to appear on the agenda among politicians, military and public figures.

The inherent doubts about the effectiveness of the state model of Russia at that time gave their significant shoots during the reign of Nicholas I.

The significance of the Decembrist uprising in the history of Russia

The goal that the Decembrists set for themselves - to prevent Nicholas I from the throne, was not realized. However, other ideas failed as well. Petersburg did not accept the ideas of the revolutionaries, and the revolution did not take place.

The historical significance of the events discussed was enormous. Subsequently, Lenin called them the beginning of the birth of a revolutionary movement in Russia, which ultimately led not only to the abolition of serfdom, but also to the abolition of the old political system.

It is not so important under which king there was an uprising, as those ideas that are firmly entrenched among the people as a result of it.

There are historical events , the dates of which become a symbol of the country's history. The 190th anniversary of the uprising on Senate Square is being celebrated. Due to the difference in the calendar account, now the anniversary falls on the 26th. However, you say "December 14" - and the soul responds with the memory of those heroes who, for the sake of freedom and justice, went to the square against the force that breaks people's destinies.

“Going out to the square”, rebelling against tyranny is always an inviting, inspiring image. Who are they, who came out: heroes or unreasonable extras, destroyers of the state? In a recent broadcast on NTV, the host of Tochka even staged a mise-en-scene, forcing the interlocutors to find out who they are: noble revolutionary heroes or traitors? As a result, the liberal Boris Nadezhdin came to the conclusion that he would execute the Decembrists if they threatened him, and the writer Yuri Polyakov considered that it would be better if they did not speak at all ...

Of course, it looked awkward impromptu, but significant.

The speech of the Decembrists is alive in our minds, it had a huge impact on Russian history, literature, on the very spirit of our people. Politicians, philosophers, and scientists have turned and are turning to the history of the uprising.

Academician Militsa Vasilievna Nechkina became one of the leading researchers of this topic since the early 1930s. She is the author of over 450 works on the history of the Russian liberation movement. The result was the two-volume work "The Movement of the Decembrists", which became a significant phenomenon in domestic and foreign historiography.

In today's issue of Otechestvennye Zapiski we present a fragment of the work of M.V. Nechkina "The Day of December 14, 1825".

December 14 (26), 1825 Petersburg, on the Senate Square, an uprising took place. It was organized by a group of like-minded nobles, many of them were guard officers. The purpose of the uprising was the abolition of autocracy and the abolition of serfdom.

Members of the secret society brought about 800 soldiers of the Moscow Life Guards Regiment to Senate Square; later they were joined by units of the 2nd Battalion of the Grenadier Regiment and sailors of the Guards Naval Crew in the amount of at least 2350 people.

However, a few days before this, Nikolai had been warned of the intentions of the secret societies. Senators swore in advance

Nicholas and proclaimed him emperor. Trubetskoy, who was appointed leader of the uprising, did not appear.

By evening, guards artillery, loyal to Nikolai, appeared from the side of Admiralteisky Boulevard. The first volley was fired above the rows of rebellious soldiers - on the "mob" on the roof of the Senate building and neighboring houses. The rebels answered with rifle fire, but then, under a hail of buckshot, the flight began ...

Immediately after the suppression of the uprising, 371 soldiers of the Moscow regiment, 277 of the Grenadiers and 62 sailors of the Naval crew were arrested and sent to the Peter and Paul Fortress.

A total of 579 people were involved in the investigation. K.F. Ryleev, P.I. Pestel, P.G. Kakhovsky M.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin, S.I. Ants-Apostol were hanged. 120 people were exiled to hard labor in Siberia or to a settlement.

<...>The raid on the participants in the uprising began immediately after the Senate Square was "cleared" with grapeshot. The future chief of the gendarmes, Adjutant General Benckendorff, at the head of six squadrons of the Horse Guards, was instructed to "gather the hidden and fled," as Nikolai writes in his Notes. Benckendorff operated “on this side of the Neva”, and on Vasilyevsky Island the same order was carried out by Adjutant General Alexei Orlov (brother of the Decembrist), who was given command of the Guards Cavalry Pioneer Squadron.

By order of the police, all gates and doors had long been locked, and large crowds of rebels, who had fled along the streets, were surrounded and arrested by troops sent out to raid. In some places, by chance or not by chance, open gates and doors received fugitives. So, a large group of them took refuge in the courtyard of the Academy of Arts. A group of runaway soldiers hid for some time in the yard where priest Vinogradov lived. Forty soldiers managed to hide in the cellar of the Senate, where they were soon arrested. Hastily discarded soldier's uniforms and overcoats were found near the ice-holes on the Neva. Four privates, dressed in peasant clothes, were interrogated in the Winter Palace by General Levashov on the evening of December 14 after a solemn prayer service. After all, someone gave them this peasant dress!

The doors were also opened before the officers - participants in the uprising. Nikolai Bestuzhev, along with two other fugitives, entered the "half-open gate" of one of the houses on the narrow Galernaya Street. All three were covered by the owner of the house, who ordered all the bolts to be locked and gave the Decembrists tea to drink. The owner hid Nikolai Bestuzhev in his house until late in the evening, although he told him that he was one of the officers who brought the rebel troops to the square. The owner of the house himself (Nikolai Bestuzhev never named him) was in the crowd on Senate Square, watched the entire course of the uprising and believed that the demands of the rebels "were very fair."

The troops detached for the round-up drove the "prisoners" to the Senate Square, where they built them in rows to be sent to the Peter and Paul Fortress. This tragic column of "prisoners" lined up at the monument to Peter cannot be forgotten by the historian on December 14th. But usually nothing is written about her in works devoted to the day of the uprising.

In a letter to Konstantin, Nicholas wrote that there were about 500 captured soldiers, but this number is clearly underestimated. The “Statement of the number of lower military ranks of the Life Guards of the Moscow and Grenadier Regiments and the Guards Crew, placed for detention in casemates in the St. Petersburg Fortress”, dated December 20, 1825, has been preserved. It has 680 people. “Many were taken to the prison in sledges of the wounded,” writes Komarovsky. Obviously, it was not by chance that the column of prisoners was escorted to the Peter and Paul Fortress by the very specially selected Semenovsky regiment of the new composition, which was formed instead of the Semenovsky regiment that rebelled in 1820. It was not for nothing that the Decembrists did not count on this regiment, building their plans and preparing for the uprising.

Nikolai entrusted the protection of the central part of the city to Adjutant General Vasilchikov, under whose command were the Semenovsky regiment, two Izmailovsky battalions, a combined battalion of the Pavlovsky and Moscow regiments (meaning the part of the Muscovites who did not participate in the uprising), as well as two squadrons of horse guards and four horse guns artillery. The protection of Vasilyevsky Island after the search and capture of the participants in the uprising was also entrusted to Benkendorf, who, in addition to the six previous squadrons of the horse guards, was given another battalion of the Finnish Regiment and four foot artillery guns. Petersburg looked like a city conquered by enemies. Everywhere there were troops in the streets; on Senate Square, on the site of a revolutionary square, the ranks of the horse guards blackened. The entrance to Gorokhovaya Street was guarded by two battalions of the Life Guards of the Jaeger Regiment and four squadrons of cavalry guards. At Malaya Millionnaya, at Bolshaya Millionnaya, at the barracks of the Preobrazhensky Regiment and on Bolshaya Embankment near the theater, there were pickets of rangers and two cannons right there. Opposite the corners of the Winter Palace overlooking the Neva, batteries were placed: eight-gun and four-gun. The main entrance of the Winter Palace from the embankment was guarded by a whole battalion of the Izmailovsky regiment, and to the left, against the corner of the palace, two squadrons of cavalry guards were stationed. On Palace Square itself, with the rear of the palace, stood the Preobrazhensky Regiment and with it four guns. Both guards engineer battalions and the first "grenadier" company were stationed in the courtyard of the Winter Palace.

Nothing can more vividly depict Nicholas's fear of the revolution than this "disposition" on the night of December 15, set out by us from his Notes. Sending Adjutant General Komarovsky to Moscow with orders for the oath, Nikolai, when asked whether he should return immediately, answered: “I would like to, but as God pleases.” Having crushed the uprising with grapeshot, he still felt the Decembrists as an unkilled, living, active force! Maybe they will perform in Moscow? According to information entered in the diary of Senator P.G. Divov, the government was waiting for a new outbreak, and shells stuffed with grapeshot were hastily manufactured in the Arsenal. An anonymous eyewitness described the view of the city after the suppression of the uprising: “At 7 pm I went home, and here is an unusual sight in St. Petersburg: there are pickets at all exits of the palace, two sentries walk at each picket, guns in pyramids, soldiers warm themselves around burning bonfires, night, lights, smoke, the talk of passers-by, the calls of sentries, cannons turned with vents into all the streets leaving the palace, cordon chains, patrols, rows of Cossack spears, the reflection of lights in the naked swords of the cavalry guards and the crackle of burning firewood, all this was in reality in the capital ... "He also recalled the" shot through the walls of the Senate, the knocked-out frames of private houses along Galernaya Street ... "

Late in the evening, several Decembrists gathered for the last meeting in Ryleev's apartment. The meeting was attended by Ryleev, Kakhovsky, Orzhitsky, Shteingel, Batenkov. It is difficult to establish a complete list of its participants: it was one of those secret meetings that the Decembrists tried not to talk about during the investigation. They agreed on how to behave during interrogations, said goodbye to each other. The despair of the participants in the uprising knew no bounds: the death of all plans was obvious. Ryleev took the word from N. Orzhitsky that he would immediately go to the second army and inform the Southern Society that "Trubetskoy and Yakubovich have changed ...".

On the same evening of December 14, sympathetic friends who were not members of secret societies came to some of the Decembrists and offered their help in hiding the necessary papers. K I.I. Pushchin (a lyceum student!) was visited by Pushkin's friend, the poet P.A. Vyazemsky and took from him a locked briefcase containing a copy of the Constitution of Nikita Muravyov, rewritten by K.F. Ryleev, manuscripts of poems by A.S. Pushkin, K.F. Ryleeva and A.A. Delvig. For thirty-two years, the portfolio was kept by P.A. Vyazemsky, avoiding the capture of Nicholas I by the gendarmes. In the autumn of 1856, when I.I. Pushchin returned from Siberia after serving the term of hard labor and settlement, the portfolio was returned to him. Not everyone acted this way: when on the evening of December 14, the Decembrist Kornilovich asked Ilya Lvov to hand over several thousand rubles to the participant in the events, Lieutenant of the Izmailovsky Regiment Kozhevnikov, Lvov was afraid to do this and refused.

“A little after midnight” Nikolai was already ordering the arrest of K.F. Ryleev to the same adjutant wing of Durnovo, who, out of cowardice, did not dare to talk with the "rebels" on the square. On the night of December 15, the arrested were brought to the Winter Palace. The first open battle which the young Russian revolutionary movement gave to the old order was lost.

As early as December 15, priest Vinogradov saw numerous bloodstains on Senate Square. He did not dare to write these words in Russian and wrote in Latin: "Sanguinis multa signa." The janitors covered the blood with fresh snow. By order of Nicholas, the Senate wall riddled with bullets was hastily plastered.

***

Let us now summarize the features of the course of events on Senate Square. First of all, let us answer the question: is the widespread idea of a “standing” uprising correct? It is clear that is wrong. Usually the events are presented in a schematic form as follows: in the morning three regiments gathered on the square and stood for four or five hours until they were shot with grapeshot. They stood, either waiting for the dictator, or not knowing at all what to do. The facts show that this wrong scheme must be abandoned: it is fundamentally wrong. It should not be about the "standing" of the assembled regiments, but about the process of gathering the insurgent regiments on the square, about the process of their unification, the concentration of the forces of the uprising. This collection was very slow and difficult. The regiments arrived at the square at different times. Nicholas crushed not a "standing", but a numerically growing uprising.

Even more widespread is the erroneous assertion that the insurgent troops allegedly came out with unloaded guns and had no intention of shooting at all. The Decembrist uprising was allegedly a "peaceful military demonstration." These fictions belong to the liberal concept and contradict the facts. Above, cases of “battle shooting” from the faces of a square and the use of force have been repeatedly noted.

Let us delve into the idea of the Decembrists themselves about the reasons for their "inaction" on Senate Square. How did they explain their passive position to themselves? In order to better understand this, let us take into account that in those approximately five hours that the uprising lasted, two situations that differed significantly from one another changed in it. The first lasted those hours when there was only one regiment on the square - the Moscow one. At this time, until all the forces of the uprising gathered, until other regiments joined, in fact, it was not supposed to begin operations. After all, none of the Decembrists thought that a situation could arise when there would be only one rebel regiment on the square for more than two or more hours, or, more precisely, even only a part of one regiment - about 800 people. In imagining the course of events the day before, the Decembrists did not at all consider this situation, considering it unrealistic. Their testimony about the alleged course of events is permeated with the thought: either a lot of regiments will gather at the same time, or no regiments will gather at all. The dictator was supposed to be present. It was supposed to start acting, of course, with close forces. The capture of the Winter Palace by Yakubovich was considered as part of the general plan, but even this part had to be carried out by more than two regiments - the Guards naval crew and the Izmailovites, supported by the cavalry pioneer squadron. Consequently, according to this concept, the presence of only one regiment on the square forced one to wait. According to the Decembrists, it was necessary to wait for the addition of new units for action. During this first situation, the absence of a dictator at first might not cause much unrest: after all, a dictator is a dictator only to know where he is and what to do. Maybe he is already negotiating with the Senate?

But time passed, and the shelves did not go. More than two hours have passed. The Senate was empty, and entering the Senate with demands was pointless. The first well-thought-out and seemingly most "legitimate" situation was lost by itself, and the plan of action, obviously, had to be sharply restructured in a more active and more revolutionary form. But there is no dictator, and only one regiment, there is no one to "start" anything with. The naive idea of some Decembrists that the Senate could be called together by “exclamations” clearly did not correspond to reality: there were as many exclamations as you wanted, the whole square was buzzing with screams, but the Senate did not even think of gathering.

At the end of this first situation, anxiety grows sharply, and then outright indignation at the dictator, who did not keep his word and betrayed his comrades. Of course, the Decembrists - military people - could not help but raise the question of choosing a new dictator. But according to the concept of the uprising adopted by the Decembrists, it was still necessary to “wait” for the arrival of new forces. From whom to choose and over whom to command? The Moscow regiment on the square had its chiefs. None of them - neither Alexander, nor Mikhail Bestuzhev, and even more so Shchepin-Rostovsky - considered and could not consider himself as a candidate for dictators. According to them, the dictator was chosen by voting. Anyone's suggestion of the possibility of seizing the dictatorship at this moment they would take as a heavy accusation, even as an insult to their honor. According to their understanding of things, they did not pretend to be leaders and were proud of the fact that they were in the military subordination of the elected revolutionary leader.

How did the revolutionary square behave during these difficult first hours? Heroically. No other answer can be given. It did not flinch before the governor-general's persuasion, it resolutely swept Miloradovich out of its path - this obstructing force, it despised the persuasion of the head of the guards infantry, General Voinov, it did not bow before the metropolitan with a cross in his hands. The defensive chain of the rebels perfectly fulfilled its task on the square: apparently, neither the retinue officers, nor the gendarmes, nor Bibikov, nor initially Miloradovich himself managed to break through it. Finally, being alone in the square, the Muscovites heroically repulsed the attacks of the horse guards with rifle fire - the onslaught of a thousand first-class horsemen who had advanced on their ranks.

The Decembrist leaders at this moment behaved, no doubt, steadfastly. Kakhovsky killed Miloradovich, Obolensky turned the governor-general's horse with a bayonet and wounded him, interrupting his speech to the troops. Obolensky - the chief of staff - was generally an active and to a certain extent centralizing force. We see him in all the decisive and difficult moments of the uprising. He made a quick and purposeful detour of the barracks before dawn. He was fully aware of how the oath was going. He was in his place during Miloradovich's negotiations and abruptly interrupted them. He is present during the negotiations of the metropolitan, he interrupted these negotiations as well. He actively and resolutely guards the steadfastness, combat readiness of the square of the rebels. One must think that Yakubovich's intelligence was also organized by him or with his consent. Thus, Obolensky had a clearly persistent and consistent line of conduct.

Kakhovsky, who killed Miloradovich, wounded an officer of the retinue, and actively intervened in the Metropolitan's sermon, clearly wanted to "expiate" his morning refusal to commit regicide. We can say that the bullet intended for Nikolai flew at Miloradovich. Kakhovsky, moreover, traveled as a messenger to the Guards naval crew, prompting him to leave. Kakhovsky did a lot for the release of the Life Grenadier, it was not for nothing that he exclaimed: “What is my Sutgof!” When the first company of the Life Grenadier joined the ranks of the rebels.

And Ryleev? His powers as the actual chief of staff for the preparation of the uprising, of course, expired in the wee hours. He was not a military man and, according to a long-conceived plan, gave way to the military leaders elected by the revolutionary organization, headed by a dictator. Everything was conceived and arranged in such a way that all powers on the square were transferred to the military dictator. Ryleyev could not and did not have the right, from the point of view of the Decembrists, to dictatorship on the square. In the morning he kept the closest connection with Trubetskoy. It was still dark when Trubetskoy was with him, and then Ryleyev and Pushchin went to see him. Ryleev was completely aware of events, not being able to know only about one and the most important thing - about Trubetskoy's betrayal. On the square, some faint reflection, "aftereffect" of his former role is his participation in sending Yakubovich for reconnaissance, his efforts to contact other regiments. He played an active role in bringing the Life Grenadiers to the square. And then he “ran to look for Trubetskoy” and never appeared on the square again - he kept looking for him! How much tragedy in this testimony. And what a slander on this outstanding revolutionary nobleman is the speculation of one of the later researchers, according to which the whole tragedy of Ryleev allegedly consisted in the fact that “Ryleev the revolutionary boiled away in the verbal flame of the previous days” - the days of the development of the uprising plan! Was it because he spoke a lot? Yes, he would give all his blood in order to “find” Trubetskoy, to restore the planned course of events, in the name of which he had long wanted to give and really gave his life. He foresaw his death (“I know that death awaits ...”) and thought that “it’s necessary after all.” History has shown that he was right.

Between one and two o'clock a second situation is created on the square, sharply different from the first. Everything shows that this situation is somewhat shorter than the first one in terms of time. The first lasts more than two hours, from eleven o'clock in the morning until the second hour of the day; the second lasts a little less than two hours - from the second hour of the day until about four - the beginning of the fifth, ending with the appearance of artillery in the royal environment and grapeshot.

The difference between the second situation and the first is created by the arrival of new insurgent troops. Two new regiments arrived: almost at full strength the Guards Naval Crew - over 1100 people and the Life Guards Grenadiers - about 1250 people, in total - at least 2350 people, i.e. forces arrived in total more than three times compared with the initial mass of the rebellious Muscovites (about 800 people), and in general the number of rebels increased fourfold. For the first time, between one and three, the long-awaited situation of gathering troops occurs. This increase in the strength of the rebels is reflected in the fact that a new dictator has been chosen. According to the concept of the uprising, the choice of a new dictator, in fact, could only be made after the gathering of the insurgent troops at the agreed place.

What the Decembrists supposed coincided or almost coincided in time (the arrival of individual rebel regiments on the square) actually turned out to be sharply broken in time, separated from each other by two or more hours. Even a situation that was completely unforeseen and contrary to the concept of the Decembrists was created: the regiments (life grenadiers) who swore allegiance to Nicholas came to the square.

Why did this unforeseen delay in the collection of military units happen? The difficulties created in connection with the withdrawal of new units have already been mentioned. Yakubovich's refusal seemed to frustrate the entire plan for the sailors to leave, but Ryleev's timely orders restored the broken link to a certain extent: Nikolai Bestuzhev brought the sailors out. To withdraw the sailors, they had to forcefully release their commanders from arrest. Should Nikolai Bestuzhev fully restore Yakubovich's function, i.e. lead the sailors to capture the Winter Palace? Obviously, he did not have any other instructions than those that he carried out: to withdraw the sailors and pour them into the number of participants in the uprising. The sailors, following the rules of the military charter, "hurried to the shots." Everything else depended on the will of the dictator. The late exit of the sailors, therefore, is fully explained by the extremely difficult situation that has arisen in the barracks: the absence of Yakubovich, the change of leader, the arrest of the heads of the rebel units, and their release.

The late exit of the Life Grenadier (after the oath) also has its own motives, discussed above. We will also take into account the distance of the grenadier barracks from the Senate Square. And the sailors (in part) and the life grenadiers, especially the latter, not only came to the Senate Square, but clearly made their way through the dense encirclement of the imperial guard. The opposition of the rebellious forces of imperial Russia was very sharp, their antagonism was revealed very clearly, clearly.

But just at the moment of the gathering of the regiments, it was already too late to act. The encirclement of the rebels by government troops, more than four times the number of the rebels, had already been completed. According to G.S. Gabaev, against 3 thousand insurgent soldiers, 9 thousand infantry bayonets, 3 thousand cavalry sabers were assembled, in total, not counting the artillerymen called later, at least 12 thousand people. Because of the city, another 7 thousand infantry bayonets and 22 cavalry squadrons were called in and stopped at the outposts as a reserve, i.e. 3 thousand sabers; in other words, another 10,000 people were in reserve at the outposts, not counting the garrison units and other reserve units scattered in the vicinity of St. Petersburg, which could be called on demand.

Even during the invasion of Napoleon, the capital of the Russian Empire was guarded much weaker - only by one Wittgenstein corps ...

***

Thus, the analysis of the reasons for the defeat of the uprising is, first of all, the identification of the class limitations of that noble-revolutionary concept of the uprising, with the collapse of which Russia's great accumulation of revolutionary experience began. This experience was, to some extent, the starting point for the subsequent creation of the theory of the art of insurrection, which was finally worked out only in the last period of the Russian revolutionary movement. Herzen's thesis "the Decembrists did not have enough people on Senate Square" was the first learning of the bitter lesson that was given to the social movement in the defeat of the Decembrist uprising.

The Decembrists were looking for forms of organized uprising. They were opponents of "Pugachevism" - the elements of the people's "rebellion", devoid of a single leadership (they meant their own leadership, the revolutionary nobles). The Decembrists strove for an organized uprising. They developed a plan for the uprising. The organizing and embodying force must be the dictatorial will of the revolutionary nobleman (the dictator elected by the revolutionary organization), leading the troops in the name of the good of the people with the passive sympathy of the latter. The concept of "people" was separated by the Decembrists from the conditional concept of a revolt of "mob" - an anarchist force of anarchy and robbery, devoid, in their opinion, of any ideological motives for the struggle. In this regard, the words of Bulatov, spoken at a meeting with Ryleev, are remarkable: “So, friends, instead of unprecedented goodness, so as not to harm the people; do not forget, when we open fire, mob in all parts of the city can devastate houses and cause great harm to the people and the city. Zavalishin formulates the reason why the Decembrists did not want to accept the assistance of the people: they were afraid “that instead of assisting the uprising, the people would not give him a chance to plunder and violence, especially since such fears were fully justified by the fact that, demanding weapons, the shouting added: “We will turn all of Petersburg upside down for you in half an hour.” It should be noted that Zavalishin criticized this provision already in the 1930s; he is aware of the lesson given by the bitter experience of the Decembrists, and writes that with the tactics of the Decembrists in this matter "it is impossible, however, to fully agree."

The greatest strength of the movement - the ultimate, deep solidarity of the government units with the insurgent units - was recognized by the Decembrists. The expectation that their own people will not shoot at their own characterizes the ideology of the uprising. But the Decembrists were unable to use this force, and because of the class limitations of their revolutionary nature, they not only took a passive position, but, so to speak, were slowed down by this force, unable to become masters of the situation. Zavalishin formulates this peculiar situation in the following way: the Decembrists did not want to launch "an attack of their own" in order "not to force by a surprise attack some favorably located regiment to act against itself in the form of its own defense." True, he criticizes this tactic in the years when he wrote his memoirs, and comes to a fair conclusion: “Immobility was clearly taken by everyone as a sign of indecision, which paralyzed the determination of all regiments, ready and waiting for an opportunity to also take part in the uprising ... Through those as for the non-combatants who came from the regiments, it was easy to warn them that the movement undertaken would not be with a hostile purpose against them, but to give them the opportunity and an opportunity to declare themselves on the side of the uprising, even if they rushed towards and mixed up in the ranks. But all this is already later reasoning.

The entire history of the Russian revolutionary movement from the tactical side is a search for forms of organized insurrection, directed by a single revolutionary will towards a single goal. Only populist theories, especially Bakuninism, gave examples of tactics based on the elements of the peasant “rebellion”, which is supposedly ready to rise “at the first word” and, playing out without leadership, will still lead to the desired goal - the victory of the revolution and the overthrow of the old government. Compared to these anarchist conceptions of popular "rebellion", the ideology of the Decembrists is undoubtedly superior: it seeks an organized and led uprising. Of course, she embodies these searches in an extremely imperfect, practically unsuccessful military uprising, led by revolutionary nobles in the name of the interests of the people and with their passive sympathy, but without the active participation of the people. In this inability and class unwillingness to make the people an active force in the movement, Lenin's thesis "they are terribly far from the people" is revealed. But the very idea of an organized and led uprising is a fruitful idea. The idea of Herzen-Ogarev at the end of the 1950s to organize a “everywhere” uprising, “going in formation”, led by revolutionary troops, followed by the insurgent people in the ranks, no matter how utopian it may be, is certainly the next stage in the development of the same idea of an organized and led uprising in the Russian revolutionary movement. The connection of this concept with the experience of the Decembrists is undeniable, its practical weakness is again shown by an unsuccessful outcome, unrealized plans.

The development of the same idea in the Russian revolutionary movement is the tactical side in Chernyshevsky's proclamation "Bow to the lord peasants from their well-wishers." This revolutionary document is permeated with the idea of a single, simultaneous popular uprising, organized at the signal of the revolutionary leadership; armed and even to some extent trained in military affairs, the people act in the uprising.

The only correct solution to the deep and fruitful task of developing the idea of an organized and led popular uprising, an uprising under the hegemony of the only class that was revolutionary to the end - the proletariat - was given by the Bolshevik Party, Lenin's Party. Young students often ask the question whether the Decembrists could have won. The historian in such cases is forbidden the subjunctive mood. Unless they “change” the arbitrarily created conditions for their actions (including, of course, Ryley’s conclusion “what Trubetskoy and Yakubovich changed”, preserving the unexpectedness of the death of Alexander I and the forced date of the uprising), they could not win.

The cause of the Decembrists turned out to be difficult and required in the future an enormous effort of the people's forces and the deep work of the revolutionary movement. Many subsequent generations of revolutionaries, although they were burning with the idea of open revolutionary action, could not bring it to life. Open revolutionary armed action was carried out after the uprising of the Decembrists only eighty years later - in 1905, but it was already realized as a movement of the popular masses under the hegemony of the only, to the end, revolutionary class - the proletariat.

Only the Great October Socialist Revolution "in passing", "in passing", as V.I. Lenin, decided the questions of the bourgeois democratic revolution in Russia - exactly one hundred years and one year after the organization of the first secret society of the Decembrists (1816-1917). “We solved the questions of the bourgeois-democratic revolution in passing, in passing, as a “by-product” of our main and real, proletarian-revolutionary, socialist work,” Lenin wrote in his article “On the Fourth Anniversary of the October Revolution.”

But the cause of the Decembrists "was not lost" (Lenin). The Decembrists not only conceived, but also organized the first in the history of Russia action against the autocracy with weapons in their hands. They performed it openly, on the square of the Russian capital, in front of the assembled people. They acted in the name of crushing the obsolete feudal system and moving their homeland forward along the path of natural social development. The ideas in the name of which they rebelled - the overthrow of the autocracy and the elimination of serfdom and its remnants - proved to be vital and for many years, in fact a whole century, gathered subsequent generations under the banner of revolutionary struggle.

In the country of victorious socialism, in the country building communism, we honor the memory of the rebellious noble revolutionaries-Decembrists - the first fighters against autocracy and serfdom.

H. Kuzmin. Pushkin among the Decembrists

The figure shows: Trubetskoy, N. Muravyov, Chaadaev, N. Turgenev, Kuchelbecker, Pushkin(standing); Yakushkin, Lunin, Pushchin(sitting)

M.V. NECHKIN