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

Decembrist revolt- a well-known political speech by young representatives of the nobility with the aim of changing the political system. Before the Decembrists, only spontaneous peasant revolts took place in Russia, caused mainly by oppression from the landowners. The peasants as a powerless class could no longer express their displeasure.

Decembrist movement- an attempt by representatives of the nobility, mainly officers of the guard and 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.

Prerequisites for 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 across the country. Alexander had no sons, so his brother, Grand Duke Constantine, 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, which is why the country swore allegiance to Konstantin Pavlovich after the death of Alexander. After the situation with the throne cleared up, a "re-oath" was appointed to the younger brother of Alexander I, Nicholas.

The reasons for the uprising of the Decembrists

This uprising did not happen spontaneously. Due to the imperfection of the political system, problems accumulated in the country for many years, which became the reasons for the Decembrist uprising.

Main reasons:

autocratic serf system;
the impact of the ideas of European and Russian educators on the nobility;
the results of the Patriotic War of 1812 and the results of the foreign campaign of the Russian army;
revolutionary actions in European countries.

The progressive 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 the fact that people who were deprived of rights were influenced only by force. Under the influence of ideas about equality and democracy, the Russian nobles wanted to rid Russia of serfdom. The teachings of J. Locke, D. Diderot, and C. Montesquieu had a particular influence. Among the Russian enlighteners, N.I. Novikov and A.N. Radishchev stood out in particular.

As a result of the Patriotic War of 1812, an anti-serfdom movement arose in Russia, due to the fact that by that time there were no longer powerless estates in Europe. The advanced nobility also wanted 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 growth of self-awareness also became one of the reasons for the uprising.

Rebellion plan

The conspirators devised a plan according to which an uprising was to take place. The organizers tried to prevent the oath of allegiance to Nicholas I.

Sergei Petrovich Trubetskoy was elected the head of the uprising.

Scheme: The disposition of troops on Senatorskaya 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 of allegiance to Nicholas I was appointed.

Participants in 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 "Semyonov regiment" artels. The creator is A. Muravyov. Trubetskoy, Yakushkin, N. Muravyov and Pestel became members of the Union of Salvation. In the fall of 1817, the organization was disbanded due to disagreements over regicide among the participants.

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

The Northern and Southern societies were of paramount importance in the events of 1825.

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 faced unforeseen problems: Nikolai Kakhovsky earlier agreed to kill Alexander I, but at the last moment changed his mind; Alexander Yakubovich, 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 2,350 sailors of the Guards crew and 800 soldiers of the Moscow regiment were able to withdraw to Senate Square.

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

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

They tried to bring the rioters 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 ice-hole in the Neva.

After the Southern Society learned that the performance in St. Petersburg had failed, an uprising of the Chernigov regiment took place in Ukraine (December 29-January 3). This revolt was also unsuccessful.

Suppression of the uprising

To suppress the uprising, they decided to fire a blank volley, which had no effect. Then they fired buckshot, and the square scattered. The second volley increased the number of corpses of the conspiratorial troops. With these measures, it was possible to suppress the riot.

The trial of the Decembrists

The conspirators were tried 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 riot participants were brought to the Supreme Court. In total, 579 people were involved in the investigation, the overwhelming majority of them military.

The rest of the participants in the uprising were sent to hard labor and an 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:

Inconsistency in the actions of the conspirators, the passivity of the insurgents in their actions;
Narrow social base (the nobility is a small estate);
Bad conspiracy, due to which the plans of the rebels became known to the emperor;
The unwillingness of the nobles to change 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 revolt intensified the discrepancy between the nobility and the official power. A distant consequence of the Decembrist uprising can be called the overthrow of the tsarist government in 1917.

The consequences of the riot also 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 to assassinate 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 wounded who could not move were thrown into the ice-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 uprising of the Decembrists greatly influenced the further development of the country. First of all, this presentation showed that there are social problems in Russia and that they need to be addressed. The peasantry, as a powerless class, could in no way influence their lives. And even if not a well-organized riot was able to show the existence of "long-standing" problems.

The Decembrist movement was the first open attempt by noble revolutionaries to change the country's political system 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, first of 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 emerged on an ideological basis, the so-called "artels". From two artels: "Sacred" and "Semyonovsky regiment" at the beginning of 1816 in St. Petersburg the Union of Salvation was formed. The creator of the Union was Alexander Muravyov. The Union of Salvation included Sergei Trubetskoy, Nikita Muravyov, Ivan Yakushkin, later Pavel Pestel joined them. The Union set as its goal the emancipation of the peasants and the reform of state administration. In 1817, Pestel wrote the charter of the Union of Salvation or the Union of the True and Faithful Sons of the Fatherland. Many members of the Union were in Masonic lodges, therefore the influence of the rituals of the Freemasons affected the everyday life of the Union. Disagreements among members of society over the possibility of regicide during a coup d'état led to the dissolution of the Salvation Union in the fall of 1817. In January 1818, a new secret society was created in Moscow - the Union of Prosperity. 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 survived. The union existed until 1821, it included about 200 people. One of the goals of the Welfare Union was the creation of progressive public opinion, the formation of a liberal movement. For this, the establishment of various legal societies was supposed: literary, charitable, enlightenment. In total, more than ten boards 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 Union of Welfare were obliged to take an active part in public life, strive to take positions in government agencies and the army. The composition of secret societies was constantly changing: as their first members “settled down” in life and got families, they moved away from politics; their place was taken by younger ones. In January 1821, a congress of the Union of Welfare worked for three weeks in Moscow. Its need was due to disagreements between supporters of the radical (republican) and moderate trends and the strengthening of reaction in the country, complicating the legal work of society. The congress was chaired 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 - "South" (1821) in Ukraine and "North" (1822) with the 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 militant republicans around him. In the Southern Society, the leader was Colonel Pestel.

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. The active participants in the Southern Society were the Tula Decembrists brothers Kryukov, Alexander Alexandrovich and Nikolai Alexandrovich, the Bobrishchev-Pushkin brothers Nikolai Sergeevich and Pavel Sergeevich, Alexey Ivanovich Cherkasov, Vladimir Nikolaevich Likharev, Ivan Borisovich Avramov. One of the active members of the "Society of United Slavs" was Ivan Vasilievich Kireev.

As is clear from the revelations of the surviving Decembrists that followed many years later, they wanted to raise an armed uprising in 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 a Provisional Revolutionary Government. The abolition of serfdom and the equalization of all citizens before the law were announced; declared freedom of the press, religion, occupation, the introduction of a public jury, the abolition of universal military service. All government officials were 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 childless Alexander in seniority brother, 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 relinquish 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 essentially passed to the Senate. However, after the repeated refusal of Konstantin Pavlovich from the throne, the Senate, as a result of a long night session 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 guardsmen to the streets to put pressure on the Senate.

Plan

The Decembrists decided to prevent the troops and the Senate from taking the oath of office to the new king. Then they wanted to enter the Senate and demand the publication of a national manifesto, which would announce the abolition of serfdom and 25 years of military service, and 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 him to do so. The manifesto contained several points: the establishment of a provisional revolutionary government, the abolition of serfdom, equality of all before the law, democratic freedoms (press, confession, labor), the introduction of a jury trial, 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, and the royal family was 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 make 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 abolishing serfdom and introducing various rights and freedoms, the rebels demanded only the Emperor Konstantin Pavlovich and the constitution;
During the rebellion, there were many opportunities to arrest or kill the future Tsar Nicholas I, but no attempt was made to do so.

December 14 events

By 11 o'clock in the morning on December 14, 1825, 30 Decembrist officers were brought to Senate Square about 3020 people: soldiers of the Moscow and Grenadier regiments and sailors of the Guards Marine crew. However, the senators already at 7 o'clock in the morning took the oath to Nicholas and proclaimed him emperor. The appointed dictator Trubetskoy did not appear. The insurgent 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, 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 that Constantine was emperor, but what to do if he refused: he assured them that he himself saw a new renunciation, and persuaded to believe him. " E. Obolensky, leaving the ranks of the rebels, urged Miloradovich to drive off, but seeing that he did not pay attention to this, he wounded him in the side with a bayonet. At the same time, Kakhovsky shot at Miloradovich. Colonel Sturler, Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich and Metropolitan Seraphim of Novgorod and St. Petersburg tried unsuccessfully to bring the soldiers into submission. The attack of the Horse Guards led by Alexei Orlov was twice repulsed. The troops, already swearing allegiance to the new emperor, surrounded the rebels. They were led by Nicholas I, who recovered from the initial confusion. From the side of the Admiralty Boulevard, guards artillery appeared under the command of General Sukhozanet. A volley of blank charges was fired at the square, which had no effect. After that, the artillery hit the rebels with grapeshot, and their ranks were scattered. "It was possible to stop at this already, 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.)

The end of the rebellion

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

The windows on the façade of the Senate to the top floor were splattered with blood and brain, and the walls were covered with buckshot marks.

Immediately, 371 soldiers of the Moscow regiment, 277 of the Grenadier and 62 sailors of the Marine crew were arrested and sent to the Peter and Paul Fortress. The first arrested Decembrists began to be taken to the Winter Palace.

The uprising of the Chernigov regiment

In the south of Russia, the matter also did not go without an armed rebellion. Six companies of the Chernigov regiment freed the arrested Sergei Muravyov-Apostol, who went 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 mass riots, which led to numerous casualties.

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

Place of execution of the Decembrists

During the execution, Muravyov-Apostol, Kakhovsky and Ryleev fell off the noose and were hanged again. This contradicted the tradition of the secondary enforcement of the death penalty, but, on the other hand, was explained by the absence of executions in Russia over the past several decades (with the exception of 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 presented its report to Tsarevich Konstantin Pavlovich on December 22. (Jan 3, 1827). Only after that 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 performance in the capital was of decisive importance. At the same time, there was to be an offensive by troops in the south of the country, in the 2nd Army. 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 to march, instructions were given to individual members of society, and a general plan of action was discussed. It was decided to speak on December 14 - the day of the "swearing-in". The dictator of the uprising was 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 the soldiers.

What was the plan for the uprising on December 14? What did the Decembrists want? They decided on December 14 to interfere with the oath of allegiance in the regiments and, under the pretext of demanding the accession of Constantine, to lead the soldiers to the Senate, where at that time the senators and members of the State Council were to be sworn in to the new emperor. This oath had to be prevented by all means. 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 promulgate 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 announced the abolition of serfdom, freedom of the press, conscience, occupation and movement; the position of the soldiers was eased; general conscription was introduced; the elected officials were to replace the former officials. The convocation of the Assembly of People's Representatives, or the Great Council, was announced, which was to decide the question of the form of government in Russia. The text of the manifesto had already been developed and was in the possession of Trubetskoy. It was assumed that the insurgent troops (sailors-guardsmen) would seize the Winter Palace, arrest the royal family, and seize the Peter and Paul Fortress. The previous government was declared deposed. Before the decisions of the Great Council, government was transferred to a provisional government, which was supposed to include Speransky and Mordvinov.

The cold and windy morning came on December 14th. Members of the secret society were in their regiments even before the light of day 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 in these conditions was the most appropriate: on the square, attack and defense could be needed from four sides. While the insurgent regiment stood alone on the square, the governor-general of St. Petersburg Miloradovich galloped up to persuade him. The moment was dangerous - Miloradovich was known among the troops, and his persuasion could complicate the further course of the uprising. Decembrist Obolensky, chief of staff of the rebels, turning the governor-general's horse back, wounded him with a bayonet, and a bullet from Kakhovsky sent in pursuit fatally wounded Miloradovich. The danger has been removed. Soon the Guards naval crew under the command of Nikolai Bestuzhev joined the Muscovites and two hours later the Life Grenadiers under the command of Panov and Sutgof (this happened quite late, at about one in the afternoon). In total, there were more than 3 thousand rebel soldiers and sailors in combat formation on Senate Square, with 30 combat commanders of the uprising.

From the first steps of the uprising, there were serious complications. 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 it. The Decembrists themselves rightly regarded this behavior of Trubetskoy as "treason." The incident cannot be unambiguously 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. The hesitation of Trubetskoy, already noticeable on the eve of the uprising, intensified even more on the day of December 14. Being in the chancellery of the General Staff, tormented by doubts, Trubetskoy goes out to see how many troops have gathered in the square, and, realizing that the rebels have too few forces, he does not dare to lead the uprising. The failure of the dictator to appear in itself was a difficult difficulty, but, in addition, the immediate goal was lost: Nicholas managed to swear in the members of the Senate and the State Council. The planned plan of the uprising collapsed, new decisions had to be made, but there was no dictator. Confusion began to be noticed in the ranks of the Decembrists.

Meanwhile, a lot of common people gathered on the square: there were courtyards, petty officials, artisan people, and the urban poor. According to eyewitnesses, the number of people significantly exceeded the number of the rebels. This, in the words of Nicholas I, "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, by order of Nicholas I, the imperial troops undertook horse attacks on the revolutionary square, but each time, reflected by the fighting 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 guard, which was on the side of Nicholas I, there were many killed and wounded. The insurgent troops fired without a command; a quick rifle fire was opened at the approaching Nicholas and at the troops trying to push the people away from the ranks of the rebels.

Towards evening, the Decembrists chose a new "dictator" of the uprising - Prince Obolensky, but it was too late. Nicholas managed to draw four times more troops to the square than the rebels had, and surrounded them with squares on all sides. It was getting dark. Fearing that "the excitement would not be passed on to the rabble," Nikolai gave the order to fire buckshot. But the artillery soldier did not obey the order: “Yours, 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 slightly above the ranks of the rebels, along the colonnade and the roof of the Senate, where people sympathizing with the uprising had gathered. The insurgents responded to the first shot with grape-shot with fugitive rifle fire, but after several volleys with grape-shot the ranks of the rebels wavered and hesitated. The flight began. M. Bestuzhev's attempt to build the escaping 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 in the snow of Senate Square. By nightfall, the uprising was over.

Patrols walked around the city, traces of blood were removed 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 Decembrists in the twentieth of December. However, it was decided to organize the agreed performance. Members of the Society of United Slavs, officers of the Chernigov regiment Sukhinov, Kuzmin, Schepilla and Solovyov freed the Decembrist Lieutenant Colonel of the Chernigov Regiment Sergei Muravyov-Apostol and his brother Matvey, and dealt with Colonel Gebel, who had arrested them. Sergei Muravyov-Apostol, who had previously 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 marched in a 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 insurgent regiment moved to the village of Motovilovka. Waiting for the rebellious units to join, Sergei Muravyov-Apostol announced a day off in Motovilovka on January 1, 1826, but no one joined, except for a small number of neighboring peasants who sympathized with the uprising and followed the regiment in a 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 among 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, even sent to Kiev. But on January 3, a detachment of General Geismar, sent to pacify the uprising, defeated the Chernigov regiment near the village of Kovalevka. Shchepilla was killed on the battlefield, a member of the Society of United Slavs Kuzmin shot himself immediately after his arrest. The head of the uprising, Sergei Muravyov-Apostol, wounded in the head, 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 the Ukraine. The agitated Ukrainian peasantry in 1826-1827 remembered this uprising and expressed a desire to follow the example of the Chernigovites.

With 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 the events of those distant times with great interest.

The uprising of the Decembrists at that time meant an unsuccessful attempt to carry out a coup d'etat 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 the conduct of domestic and foreign policy of that time did not suit most of the elite and the population, therefore the atmosphere of mistrust and a desire to change the vector of the country's development was in the air.

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

Reasons for the uprising of the Decembrists in 1825

As often happens in history, there were many reasons for such a serious action as opposing the official authorities. Problems and controversies accumulated over the years and turned into a riot.

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

People saw that slavery and serfdom had long ceased to exist in the West; citizens live much more freely and happily. Rare protests against serfdom before that could not have any success, since people did not see another life. Now this problem began to be clearly felt.

Other serious reasons include:

Experienced officers who had been in Europe saw that Russian industry lagged significantly behind Western countries. Hard slave labor was still used here, while industrialization began in the west, complex machines and mechanisms appeared. They feared 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 through repression and force. This constantly increased the degree of hatred towards him in society.

All these reasons became the prerequisites 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 openly did not sympathize with most of them.

Goals and plans of the Decembrists

Based on the indicated reasons for discontent, it is possible to understand what goals the Decembrists set for themselves. Their task was to prevent Nicholas I from accessing the throne, the desire to completely abolish serfdom, open the country for closer cooperation with other countries and radically alter the system of government, 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;
then the soldiers had to seize government buildings, take the family of the emperor 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 be realized.

Participants in 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 anti-serfdom movement was supported by many prominent nobles and politicians.

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

The union was created by Alexander Muravyov, Lieutenant General of the Russian Army.

Such persons as Sergei Trubetskoy, Ivan Yakushkin, Nikita Muravyov and others became prominent participants in the movement. 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, urgently 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 rioters put about 3,000 soldiers on Senate Square, complemented by ordinary people who came to watch the events. It is said that there were about 10,000 spectators for the event.

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

Suppression of the uprising

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

The emperor's outnumbered soldiers quickly pushed the rioters back 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 dire: 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.

Also, about 600 people were put on trial. All over the country, these events generated significant unrest.

The results of the December uprising

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

The entire social and political life of the country hesitated, and questions about the feasibility 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 set by the Decembrists - not to admit Nicholas I to the throne - was not realized. At the same time, other ideas also failed. Petersburg did not accept the ideas of the revolutionaries, and the revolution did not take place.

The historical significance of the events considered was enormous. Subsequently, Lenin called them the beginning of the birth of the 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 what tsar the uprising was, as the ideas that were firmly entrenched in the people as a result of it.

There are historical events whose dates become a symbol of the country's history. The 190th anniversary of the Senate Square uprising. Due to the difference in the calendar account, the anniversary now 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, came out to the square against the force that breaks people's destinies.

“To go out to the square”, to rebel 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 were: heroic revolutionaries of the nobility or traitors? As a result, the liberal Boris Nadezhdin came to the conclusion that he would have executed the Decembrists if they had threatened him, and the writer Yuri Polyakov thought that it would be better if they did not perform at all ...

Of course, it looked like an awkward impromptu, but significant.

The performance of the Decembrists is alive in our minds, it had a huge impact on Russian history, literature, on the very spirit of our people. The history of the uprising was and is being addressed by politicians, philosophers, scientists.

Academician Militsa Vasilievna Nechkina has become one of the leading researchers of this topic since the early 1930s. She wrote more than 450 works on the history of the Russian liberation movement. The result was a two-volume work "The Decembrist Movement", 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 "Day of December 14, 1825".

14 (26) December 1825 in St. Petersburg, an uprising took place on Senate Square. It was organized by a group of like-minded nobles, many of them were officers of the guard. 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 number of at least 2,350 people.

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

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

By evening, from the direction of Admiralteisky Boulevard, the guards artillery, loyal to Nikolai, appeared. The first volley was fired above the ranks of the rebel soldiers - on the "rabble" on the roof of the Senate building and neighboring houses. The rebels responded with rifle fire, but then, under a hail of grapeshot, they began to flee ...

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

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

<...>The round-up 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 “collect 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 Horse Pioneer Squadron.

By order of the police, all the gates and doors had long been locked, and large crowds of insurgents who fled along the streets were surrounded and arrested by the troops detached for a round-up. In some places, by chance or not by accident, the open gates and doors welcomed the fugitives. So, a large group of them took refuge in the courtyard of the Academy of Arts. A group of escaping soldiers hid for some time in the courtyard where the priest Vinogradov lived. Forty soldiers managed to hide in the cellar of the Senate, where they were soon arrested. Hastily discarded soldiers' uniforms and greatcoats were found at 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 in front of the officers who took part in the uprising. Nikolai Bestuzhev, along with two other fugitives, entered the "half-opened gates" of one of the houses on the narrow Galernaya Street. All three were covered by the owner of the house, who ordered to lock all the bars and gave the Decembrists tea. 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 had brought the insurgent troops to the square. The owner of the house himself (Nikolai Bestuzhev never named his name) was in the crowd on Senate Square, watched the entire course of the uprising and believed that the demands of the insurgents "were very fair."

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

In a letter to Constantine, Nicholas wrote that the captured soldiers were about 500 people, but this number is clearly understated. Preserved "A record of the number of lower military ranks of the Life Guards of the Moscow and Grenadier regiments and the guards crew, placed in casemates in the St. Petersburg Fortress", dated December 20, 1825. It has 680 members. “Many were taken to prison in sledges of the wounded,” writes Komarovsky. The column of prisoners, obviously, was not accidentally escorted to the Peter and Paul Fortress by the same specially selected Semyonovsky regiment of a new composition, which was formed instead of the Semyonovsky regiment that had rebelled in 1820. The Decembrists did not count on this regiment for nothing, building their plans and preparing for an uprising.

Nikolai entrusted the protection of the central part of the city to Adjutant General Vasilchikov, under whose command were the Semenovsky regiment, two battalions of Izmailovsky, the 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 the Horse Guards and four cavalry guns artillery. After the search and capture of the participants in the uprising, the protection of Vasilievsky Island was also entrusted to Benckendorff, who, to the six previous squadrons of the Horse Guards, was also assigned a battalion of the Finnish regiment and four guns of foot artillery. Petersburg looked like a city conquered by enemies. There were troops everywhere in the streets; on Senate Square, on the site of the revolutionary square, ranks of horse guards were blackened. The entrance to Gorokhovaya Street was guarded by two battalions of the Life Guards Jäger Regiment and four squadrons of cavalry guards. At Malaya Millionnaya, at Bolshaya Millionnaya, at the barracks of the Preobrazhensky regiment and on the Bolshaya Naberezhnaya near the theater, pickets of gamekeepers and two cannons were placed right there. Batteries were set up against the corners of the Winter Palace overlooking the Neva: eight-cannon and four-cannon. The main entrance of the Winter Palace from the embankment was guarded by a whole battalion of the Izmailovsky regiment, and to the left, opposite the corner of the palace, were two squadrons of cavalry guards. On the Palace Square itself, with the rear facing the palace, there was a Preobrazhensky regiment with four cannons. In the courtyard of the Winter Palace were both guards sapper battalions and the first "grenadier" company.

Nothing can more colorfully portray Nicholas' fear of the revolution than this "disposition" on the night of December 15, which we set out from his "Notes". Sending Adjutant General Komarovsky to Moscow with orders to take the oath, Nikolai, when asked whether to return immediately, answered: "I would like to, but as God pleases." Having defeated the uprising with grapeshot, he still felt the Decembrists as an unkilled, living, active force! Maybe they will perform in Moscow? According to the information entered in the diary of Senator P.G. Divov, the government was waiting for a new outbreak, and in the Arsenal they hastily made shells filled with buckshot. An anonymous eyewitness described the view of the city after the suppression of the uprising: “At 7 o'clock in the evening I went home, and here is an extraordinary sight in St. Petersburg: there are pickets at all exits of the palace, at each picket there are two sentries, rifles in pyramids, soldiers are warming themselves around the burning fires, night, lights, smoke, the conversation of passing, the calls of the sentries, cannons turned by vents into all the streets leaving from 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 capital ... "He also recalled" the bullet holes in the walls of the Senate, knocked out frames of private houses on 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, Steingel, Batenkov. It is difficult to establish a complete list of its participants: it was one of those conspiratorial 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 floor 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, 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. To I.I. Pushkin's (lyceum student!) Was visited by a friend of Pushkin's poet P.A. Vyazemsky and took from him a locked briefcase containing a copy of the Constitution of Nikita Muravyov, copied by K.F. Ryleev, manuscripts of poems by A.S. Pushkin, K.F. Ryleeva and A.A. Delvig. P.A.'s portfolio was kept for thirty-two years. Vyazemsky, avoiding capture by the gendarmes of Nicholas I. In the fall of 1856, when I.I. Pushchin returned from Siberia after serving the term of hard labor and settlement, the portfolio returned to him. Not everyone did this: when on the evening of December 14, the Decembrist Kornilovich asked Ilya Lvov to transfer several thousand rubles to the participant in the events - the second 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 very aide-de-camp of Durnovo, who out of cowardice did not dare to speak with the "rebels" on the square. On the night of December 15, the arrested were taken to the Winter Palace. The first open battle that the young Russian revolutionary movement gave to the old system was lost.

Priest Vinogradov on December 15 saw numerous bloody spots on Senate Square. He did not dare to write these words in Russian and wrote in Latin: "Sanguinis multa signa". The wipers 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. Let us answer ourselves, first of all, to the question: is the widespread idea of a "standing" uprising correct? Clearly wrong. Typically, events are schematically represented as follows: in the morning three regiments gathered on the square and stood for four to five hours until they were shot with buckshot. 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 uniting them, and concentrating the forces of the uprising. This collection was very slow and difficult. The regiments came to the square at different times. Nicholas defeated not a "standing", but a numerically growing uprising.

Even more widespread is the erroneous assertion that the insurgent troops allegedly came out with unloaded rifles and had no intention of firing at all. The uprising of the Decembrists was supposedly a "peaceful military demonstration." These fictions belong to the liberal concept and contradict the facts. Above, cases of "battle shooting" from the front of the 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 the 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, significantly different from one another, situations 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 action. After all, none of the Decembrists thought that a situation could arise when in the square for more than two or two hours there would be only one rebel regiment, or, more precisely, even only a part of one regiment - about 800 people. Imagining the course of events the day before, the Decembrists did not think about this situation at all, considering it unreal. 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 the regiments will not gather at all. The dictator was supposed to be present. It was supposed to begin to act, of course, with united forces. The capture of the Winter Palace by Yakubovich was seen as part of the general plan, but even this part had to be carried out by more than two regiments - a guards naval crew and Izmailovo, supported by a horse pioneer squadron. Consequently, according to this concept, the presence of only one regiment on the square forced 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 have caused much concern: after all, a dictator is a dictator, in order to know where he is and what to do. Maybe he's already in talks with the Senate?

But time passed, and the shelves did not go. More than two hours have passed. The Senate was empty, and it was pointless to enter the Senate with demands. The first well-thought-out and seemingly most "legitimate" situation was lost by itself, and the plan of action, obviously, had to be drastically rebuilt in a more active and more revolutionary form. But there is no dictator, and there is only one regiment, there is no one to "start" anything with. The naive notion of some Decembrists that the Senate could be assembled by "exclamations" was clearly not true: there were as many exclamations as necessary, the whole square was buzzing with shouts, but the Senate did not even think to gather.

At the end of this first situation, anxiety sharply grows, and then direct indignation at the dictator, who did not keep his word, who betrayed his comrades. Of course, the Decembrists - military people - could not help but have a question about 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 whom to command? The Moscow regiment had its own chiefs on the square. None of them - neither Alexander, nor Mikhail Bestuzhev, nor even more so Shchepin-Rostovsky - considered and could not consider himself as a candidate for dictatorship. According to them, the dictator was elected by voting. They would perceive anyone's suggestion of the possibility of seizing the dictatorship at this moment as a grave accusation, even as an insult inflicted on 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? Heroic. There is no other answer. It did not flinch in front of the governor-general's persuasion, it resolutely boldly swept Miloradovich from its path - this hindering force, it despised the persuasions of the chief of the Guards infantry, General Voinov, it did not bow before the metropolitan with a cross in its hands. The defensive chain of the rebels perfectly fulfilled its task on the square: apparently, neither the officers of the retinue, nor the gendarmes, nor Bibikov, nor initially Miloradovich himself managed to break through it. Finally, being alone on the square, the Muscovites heroically repelled the attacks of the Horse Guards with rifle fire - the onslaught of a thousand first-class horsemen who had moved into their ranks.

The Decembrists-chiefs at this moment behaved, undoubtedly, staunchly. 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, a centralizing force. We see him at all 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 being taken. He was in his place during Miloradovich's negotiations and abruptly interrupted them. He is present during the negotiations of the Metropolitan, he also interrupted these negotiations. He actively and decisively protects the stamina and fighting efficiency of the punishment 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 a retinue officer and actively intervened in the metropolitan's sermon, clearly wanted to "atone" for his morning rejection of regicide. We can say that the bullet intended for Nikolai flew at Miloradovich. Kakhovsky, moreover, went as a liaison to the Guards Marine Crew, urging him to leave. Kakhovsky also did a lot to get the Life Grenadier out, not without reason he exclaimed: “What is my Sutthof!” When the first company of Life Grenadier joined the ranks of the rebels.

And Ryleev? His powers as the de facto chief of staff for preparing the uprising naturally expired in the hours before dawn. He was not a military man and, according to a long-conceived plan, gave way to the military leaders elected by the revolutionary organization with a dictator at the head. Everything was conceived and arranged in such a way that on the square all powers were transferred to the military dictator. Ryleev could not and did not have the right, from the point of view of the Decembrists, to dictate on the square. In the morning he kept the closest relationship with Trubetskoy. Even after dark, Trubetskoy was with him, and then Ryleev and Pushchin went to him. Ryleev was fully aware of the events, unable to know only about one and the most important thing - about Trubetskoy's betrayal. On the square, some faint glimpse, the "aftereffect" of his previous role is his participation in sending Yakubovich to reconnaissance, his efforts to communicate with other regiments. He played an active role in bringing the Life Grenadier to the square. And then he “ran to look for Trubetskoy” and did not appear on the square again - he kept looking for him! How much tragedy there is in this testimony. And what a slander against this outstanding nobleman-revolutionary is the conjecture of one of the later researchers, according to which the whole tragedy of Ryleev was allegedly that “Ryleev the revolutionary boiled away in the verbal flame of the previous days” - the days of the development of the plan of the uprising! Was it because he spoke a lot? Yes, he would have given all his blood 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 own death ("I know, death awaits ...") and thought that "all the same it is necessary." History has shown that he was right.

Between one and two o'clock, a second situation is created on the square, which is sharply different from the first. Apparently, 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 to two o'clock in the afternoon; 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 tsar's encirclement and buckshot.

The difference between the second situation and the first is created by the arrival of new insurgent troops. Two new regiments arrived: almost in full force, the Guards Marine 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 rebels Muscovites (about 800 people), and in general, the number of rebels increased fourfold. For the first time between one and three o'clock, the long-awaited situation of a gathering of troops arises. This increase in the forces of the insurgents is reflected in the fact that a new dictator was chosen. According to the concept of the uprising, the choice of a new dictator, in fact, could be made only after the gathering of the insurgent troops at the appointed place.

What the Decembrists assumed to be the same or almost coincident in time (the arrival of individual insurgent regiments on the square) actually turned out to be sharply torn apart in time, separated from each other by two or more hours. A situation that was completely unforeseen and contradicted the concept of the Decembrists was even created: regiments (Life Grenadiers) who had sworn allegiance to Nicholas came to the square.

Why did this unforeseen delay in the assembly of military units happen? The difficulties that have arisen in connection with the withdrawal of new units have already been mentioned. Yakubovich's refusal seemed to disrupt the entire plan for the sailors to leave, but Ryleev's timely orders to a certain extent restored the torn link: the sailors were brought out by Nikolai Bestuzhev. For the withdrawal of the sailors, their commanders had to be released from arrest by force. Should Nikolai Bestuzhev have completely restored the Yakubovich function, i.e. lead the sailors to capture the Winter Palace? Obviously, he had no other instructions than those that he carried out: to bring out the sailors and add them to the number of participants in the uprising. The sailors, following the rules of the military regulations, "rushed to the shots." All further depended on the will of the dictator. The late departure of the sailors, therefore, is fully explained by the extremely difficult situation created in the barracks: Yakubovich's failure to appear, the change of the leader, the arrest of the leaders of the insurgent 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. Both the sailors (in part) and the Life Grenadiers, especially the latter, did not just come to Senate Square, but clearly made their way through the tight ring of the imperial guard. The opposition of the rebellious forces of imperial Russia was very sharp, their antagonism was very clearly revealed.

But precisely 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 outnumbering 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 collected, 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 and stopped at the outposts as a reserve, i.e. 3 thousand sabers; in other words, another 10,000 people stood at the outposts in reserve, 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 the noble-revolutionary concept of the uprising, with the collapse of which began the great accumulation of revolutionary experience in Russia. This experience was, to some extent, the starting point for the subsequent creation of the theory of the art of insurrection, which was finally developed only in the last period of the Russian revolutionary movement. Herzen's thesis "the Decembrists on Senate Square did not have enough people" and was the first to learn 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 element of popular "rebellion", deprived of a single leadership (they meant their leadership, the noble revolutionaries). The Decembrists strove for an organized uprising. They developed a plan for an uprising. The organizing and embodying force should be the dictatorial will of the revolutionary nobleman (elected by the revolutionary organization of the dictator), leading the troops for the good of the people with the passive sympathy of the latter. The concept of "people" was separated by the Decembrists from the conventional concept of rebellion of the "rabble" - the anarchic force of anarchy and robbery, deprived, in their opinion, of any ideological motives of the struggle. In this respect, Bulatov's words, spoken at a meeting with Ryleev, are remarkable: “So, friends, instead of unprecedented good, so as not to harm the people; do not forget that when we open fire, the 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 “so that instead of assisting the uprising from the people, they would rather not give them a chance for robbery and violence, especially since such fears were fully justified by the fact that, demanding weapons, those who shouted added: "We will turn the whole Petersburg upside down for you in half an hour." It should be noted that Zavalishin already in the 30s criticized this position, i.e. realizes 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 completely agree."

The greatest strength of the movement - the final, 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, due to the class limitations of their revolutionism, not only took a passive position, but, so to speak, were slowed down by this force, unable to become the masters of the situation. Zavalishin formulates this peculiar position as follows: the Decembrists did not want to launch "their own attack", so as "not to force a surprise attack on some favorably located regiment to act against themselves in the forms of their own defense." True, he criticizes this tactic in the years when he wrote his memoirs, and comes to a just conclusion: “Immobility was clearly taken by everyone as a sign of indecision, which paralyzed the determination of all regiments that were ready and waiting for an opportunity to also take part in the uprising ... the non-combatants who came from the regiments, it was easy to warn them that the undertaken movement would not be at all with a hostile goal against them, but in order to give them the opportunity and a convenient opportunity to declare themselves on the side of the uprising, at least rushing to meet and mingling in the ranks. " But all this is a later reasoning.

The entire history of the Russian revolutionary movement from the tactical perspective is a search for forms of organized uprising, guided by a single revolutionary will towards a single goal. Only populist theories, especially Bakunism, provided examples of tactics based on the elements of the peasant "rebellion", which was supposedly ready to rise "at the first word" and, played out without leadership, would nevertheless lead to the desired goal - the victory of the revolution and the overthrow of the old regime. Compared to these anarchist concepts of popular "rebellion", the ideology of the Decembrists is undoubtedly superior: it seeks an organized and guided 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. This inability and class unwillingness to make the people an active force in the movement reveals Lenin's position "they are terribly far from the people." But the very idea of an organized and guided insurrection is a fruitful idea. The idea of Herzen-Ogarev at the end of the 1950s to organize a "widespread" uprising, "marching in formation", led by revolutionary troops, followed by the insurgent people in the ranks, no matter how utopian it may be, is undoubtedly the next stage in the development of the same idea of an organized and guided uprising in the Russian revolutionary movement. The connection of this concept with the experience of the Decembrists is undoubted, its practical weakness is again shown by an unfortunate outcome, unrealized plans.

The development of the same idea in the Russian revolutionary movement is the tactical side in Chernyshevsky's proclamation "I bow to the lords 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; in the uprising, a people who is armed and even to some extent trained in military affairs acts.

The only correct solution to a profound and fruitful task - the development of the idea of an organized and guided popular uprising, an uprising under the hegemony of the only, until the end of the revolutionary class - the proletariat - was given by the Bolshevik Party, the Party of Lenin. Student youth often ask the question whether the Decembrists could have won. The subjunctive mood is forbidden to the historian in such cases. If they did not “change” the arbitrarily created conditions for their actions (including here, of course, Ryleev's conclusion that “what Trubetskoy and Yakubovich changed”, keeping the unexpected death of Alexander I and the forced date of the uprising), they could not win.

The matter of the Decembrists turned out to be difficult and demanded in the future an enormous exertion of the people's forces and deep work of the revolutionary movement. Although many subsequent generations of revolutionaries were burning with the idea of an open revolutionary action, they were unable to bring it to life. An open revolutionary armed uprising took place after the uprising of the Decembrists only eighty years later - in 1905, but it was already realized as a movement of the masses under the hegemony of the only, until the end of the revolutionary class - the proletariat.

Only the Great October Socialist Revolution "in passing", "in passing," as V.I. Lenin, solved the issues 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 issues 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 Four Years Anniversary of the October Revolution”.

But the Decembrists' cause "did not disappear" (Lenin). The Decembrists not only conceived, but also organized the first in the history of Russia, an uprising against the autocracy with arms in hand. 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 whose name they revolted - the overthrow of the autocracy and the elimination of serfdom and its remnants - turned out to be vital and for many years, in fact, a whole century, subsequent generations were gathered under the banner of the revolutionary struggle.

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

H. Kuzmin. Pushkin among the Decembrists

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

M.V. NECHKINA