With the financial support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation
The First Channel
The Russian Society of Military History
present
In the morning of December 20, 1825 Nicolay I gathered
the diplomatic corps in the Winter Palace.
He decided that it was necessary to explain what had happened.
"I want Europe to know the truth about the events of December 14.
Nothing will be kept secret. The unexpected death of the Emperor
was no more than a pretext but not the cause of the revolt.
It's not a military rebellion but a full-fledged conspiracy
the roots of which stretch to 1815 when a few officers
fell for revolutionary teachings. Unfortunately,
many noble families are involved in it".
Such were the preliminary results of the investigation.
However, none of the statesmen could guess what else they'd soon find out…
The Case of the Decembrists. Part Two
The next morning after the revolt the workers
were already plastering the walls of the Senate
that were riddled by the bullets, put the glass into the broken windows
of the private houses in the Galernaya Street,
and the yard cleaners were covering blood stains with snow.
The day before, on December 14, the army was to administer
the oath to the new Emperor Nicolay I.
However, a part of the guards refused to swear their allegiance to him.
Weapons were used.
On December 14, 1825, 1,271 people died on the Senate Square.
The majority were civilians, mostly idlers.
The military losses amounted to 1 general, 18 officers, and 282 soldiers.
Civilian losses – to 970 people.
All the night through fires were burning in the city.
Police were patrolling the streets. The palace was surrounded by the troops.
The investigation started without delay, at night of December 14-15.
One of the most trusted investigators was General Adjutant
Alexander Khristoforovitch Benkendorf, the Hero of the War of 1812.
Four years before the rebellion he warned the former Emperor Alexander I
of the fact that there were conspirators among his guards.
The Emperor didn't pay much attention to it. Soon after Alexander's death
this careless led to a revolt on the Senate Square.
During the first days after those events the investigation was trying
to understand "What has happened?" Now a new question emerged:
"Why did it happen? Why did it become possible?"
Olly went down the stairs the name of which she didn't know.
It was hard to move from one step to another without holding at the rails.
Olly would squat but she was told that a girl shouldn't sit on anything cold.
Especially if that girl is the Great Princess. How did she manage to escape?
She didn't know herself. She just went out of the half-opened door.
The Princess had no idea that her escape led to a terrible commotion.
An entire flotilla of skirts was sent to look for her.
The girl remembered that December day well.
Everybody was running and shouting in the streets.
In the evening the very pale father came. He talked to mum in hoarse whisper.
Then mum felt unwell. Mum… Olly went to look for her.
During that winter, the children only saw their sick mother twice.
One by one, they were raised to the lips which almost didn't move.
The children didn't see their father for long.
For all their questions they got only one answer – "father is busy".
Very busy. Olly didn't get offended. She guessed that he was busy
with a very important and secret thing that was definitely not her business.
The confessions of the suspects pointed to a bloody trace.
There were lots of candidatures to murder a tsar.
The condition was a full and unconditional obedience to the leader
of the society, the head of the Directorate – Pestel.
Pavel Pestel, 32 years old, Colonel, the commander
of the Vyatka Infantry Regiment, participant of the Patriotic War of 1812
and the Foreign Campaign. He was serious wounded during the Borodino battle,
awarded a golden rapier with a carving "For Bravery".
He was also a founder and leader of the Southern Society.
A part of conspirators in Petersburg were to report to him
and that was the reason why they didn't make their move on December 14.
On that fateful day, some officers acted on the side of the government
against the members of the Northern Society,
for they didn't get Pestel's order to join the rebels.
Pestel was arrested the day before the events on the Senate Square.
Colonel was brought to the capital in secret and isolated from the others.
According to the documents received on the eve of the events,
Pestel was one of the key figures of the conspiracy.
The two months before the revolt, Pestel sent his assistant to Petersburg
to agree joining forces with the Northern Society
and resisting the powers together. However, the Northern Society
declined his plan and decided to act independently.
Another month ago a member of the Southern Society
Captain Arkadiy Mayboroda was caught red-handed when stealing
the regiment's money. He hoped to save his skin from prison
by squealing on his commander Pavel Pestel.
He informed the authorities of the revolutionary activities of the Colonel.
On finding out about the report, Pestel decided to surrender.
He wrote a draft of his repenting speech to Emperor Alexander.
However, when he heard of an unexpected death of the tsar,
he changed the plan abruptly. Pestel summoned an urgent meeting
at which he decided to organize the revolt immediately.
At that time, a convoy was already on its way to arrest Pestel.
A few days later the colonel got an order to urgently report
to the headquarters of the regiment.
Pestel knew that he would be arrested there,
and burnt all the incriminating papers. All except for the "Russian Truth".
He sealed the manuscript into a waterproof cloth, signed it "The Logarithms"
and put it in a chest. He asked his comrades to hide the document well.
In the evening of December 13, Pestel was arrested on his way to Tulchin.
He was put into irons and sent to Petersburg.
During the search, the police found poison.
All that time Pestel's comrades were trying to decide the fate
of the "Russian Truth". What's better – to hide it or to destroy it?
At last, they buried the papers on a field close to a village of Kirsanovka.
The first interrogation of Pestel failed. The arrested talked cheekily
and denied his involvement in the case for he was sure
that all the incriminating papers were destroyed.
However, during the second interrogation Pestel was much sincerer.
It is proved that the suspects weren't tortured.
A rumor circulated among the arrested that Pestel was tortured,
that his head was squeezed in a vice after what red lines remained
on his forehead for long. The rumor turned out to be false.
In truth, Pestel changed his behavior hoping for the tsar's mercy.
Simultaneously with the investigation of the secret society activities,
Pestel was to be judged for another crime – embezzlement of state funds.
Being the commander of the Vyatka Regiment
and receiving a salary of 3,000 rubles per year,
Pestel was paying his father's colossal debts.
While being a governor in Siberia, his father was accused of embezzlement
of state property. Pestel led very modest, even poor lifestyle
but participated in large machinations. For example,
when he received uniforms for his regiment sent by two storehouses
by mistake, he quickly exchanged one party for money.
That fraud helped Pestel get 60,000 rubles, about 70 million in today's money.
All these funds were spent on the necessities of the secret society.
Many noble rebels in Petersburg were the shareholders
of the Russian-American Company headed by Mordvinov.
Through this company, the state treasury sent money
for the development of Alaska. Officially it was selling beavers,
ice, walrus tusks, seals' skins etc. However, the profit from this trade
was minimal. The main profit came from the sale of state loans.
The shareholders included the most influential people –
from the merchants of the First Guild to the members of the Senate,
Council and the relatives of the Emperor's family.
The shareholders divided a part of the loaned money between themselves.
The plotters often met in the house of the head of the company
Mordvinov where Rylyeyev lived too.
The investigation pondered over a question:
could it be so that the debtors tried to get rid of the creditor
with a help of a conspiracy? Their creditor was the monarchy.
Comrades didn't like Pestel. They considered him to be too reserved
and accused him of an intention to play a part of Bonaparte
in the oncoming revolution. However, there were other candidates.
Among them, military leaders were the most prominent.
Pestel foresaw that threat and decided to secure himself from the competitors.
He tailed many members of the Southern Society,
ordered Sergey Volkonskiy to open letters addressed to the headquarters
of the Second Army, encouraged mutual reports.
It's not surprising that he became a victim of a report himself.
One day, at the dawn of the revolutionary activities,
fate brought Pestel together with the 80-year old Count Palen
who organized the coup d'etat and murder of Emperor Pavel.
The Count liked Pestel and gave him a friendly advice:
"Listen, young man. If you want to do something through a secret society,
it's nonsense. If there are 12 participants, the 12th will certainly be a traitor.
I have the relevant experience…"
During the confrontation with the Colonel his ex-comrade Alexander Podgio
stated that in September of 1824 Pestel claimed the necessity to murder
the entire Emperor's family. He listed future victims counting off his fingers.
"The entire Women's Regiment. There won't be the end of it.
We shall also kill those abroad".
To realize that plan he needed executors capable of killing
the members of the Emperor's family. These supposed murderers
constituted the so called "doomed cohort".
They were the plotters ready to sacrifice themselves
in order to murder first of all the Emperor himself.
Later, the new republican government was to arrest the killers of the tsar
and execute them to remain above suspicions.
Pestel was enlisting that "doomed cohort" personally.
Why did the conspirators want to sacrifice the Emperor's family
and many other people? "The Russian Truth" and the "Constitution"
drafted by the plotters reveal their main goals.
Both the Northern and the Southern Societies had their own programs
which described the actions of the new government
in transforming of the political system in Russia.
The Southern Society was guided by Pestel's "Russian Truth"
and the Northern – by Muravyov's "Constitution".
These documents and, as a consequence, the plans of the revolutionaries
weren't coordinated. Both works weren't even finished.
"The Russian Truth" of Pestel stipulated the eviction
of all the Causation peoples to Siberia and the armed escorting
of 2 million of the Jews to the lands of Palestine.
The capital of the Russian Empire was to be moved to Nizhniy Novgorod
that to be renamed to Vladimir in honor of Russia's heroic past.
The new government planned to announce a revolutionary war
against the neighboring countries and to establish a militarized corps
amounting to 50,000 people inside the country to force the population
to obey the new power's orders. According to Pestel's plans,
that military corps was to be ten times larger
than Benkerdorf's secret police force. Besides, a ten-year
military dictatorship was to be introduced in Russia to restore order.
Pestel wanted to become the dictator himself.
The main articles of both documents were dedicated to the serfdom.
At that time, 84% of the Russia's population were serfs.
Nowhere else in Europe people were slaves. After the war with Napoleon
and the Foreign Campaign of the Russia army many people
started to ask the question – why is it so different at home?
The educated people were appalled by the idea that one person
might own another one, sell him, exchange him, give as a present or punish.
Both the members of the secret societies and those in opposition to them
were thinking about the abolition of serfdom.
However, they all offered different methods.
The conspirators believed that after the triumph of the revolution
all the estates would become even, therefore,
the selfdom would disappear by itself.
But… how to organize the life of the peasants after the abolition?
Who will own the land? This issue was only simple on a paper.
The members of the Northern Society didn't want to give
almost anything to the peasants after the abolition of serfdom.
An ordinary peasant could count only on 2 desyatinas of land
instead of the 15. The plotters from the capital wanted to seize the power
as soon as possible and let the peasants go free almost without any rights
to the land. The Southern Society had other views.
Pestel's "Russian Truth" offered to divide the land in two parts –
into "private", owned by the landowners, and the "communal",
owned by the state. To enlarge the fund of the communal lands,
they stipulated the forced requisition of the estates.
The communal land was to be given to the peasants.
It couldn't be sold, bought or loaned.
Besides, the peasants had to do some communal works.
The land projects of the secret societies weren't coordinated.
In a case of a victory the issue of serfdom would remain
one of the most acute for the revolutionary government.
Isolated and not-approved plans of the conspirators were so unreal
and cruel that the investigation didn't even take them seriously.
They had no connection to the realities of Russia in the 19th century.
Neither of the societies comprehended and formulated
the idea of the peasants' reform. Despite that,
the public considered the Decembrists to be
"fighters for the freedom of peasants" for many years.
The clock at the tower of the Petropavlovsk fortress
rang the English hymn "God Save the Tsar" every hour of night and day.
The arrested were kept in not entirely prison conditions.
Baron Rosen recalled that Obolenskiy gained weight in the fortress
and got rosy cheeks. Colonel Podgio complained that his prison dinner
of cabbage soup, porridge and veal was accompanied
with black "soldier" bread instead of a white bun that he was to get
as a nobleman (it was a part of the afternoon tea).
Major Lorer received baskets of oranges in his cell.
The Neva was full of boats with the relatives
who came to deliver the food and notes.
Bestuzhev-Ryumin started to learn Russian and later
addressed the investigation with a request: "Please allow me
to answer in French, for I am ashamed to confess
that I'm more used to this language than to Russian".
The cells were not big – six steps long and four steps wide, about 10-12 sq.m.
The door locks were noiseless, the corridors were covered with thick carpets
and the guards wore felted shoes not to disturb the peace of the inmates.
"Every day floors were washed in the cells and they were aired; "
the inmates' bed linen was changed. An order was given
"to help the inmates fight the boredom which is inevitable
in the prisoners' state, supply them with books from the library
that shall be constantly expanded the new books".
The prisoner's day started at about 9 a.m. In ten minutes
the personnel came in. One of the guard gave the water to wash the face,
others cleaned the cell. Then they brought a teapot,
three lumps of sugar and a white bun for breakfast.
However, even such incarceration proved to be a terrible trial
for some prisoners. During their stay in the fortress many inmates
lost their physical balance. Young midshipman Dyvov had nightmares.
Each night he woke up from the same dream –
as if he was shooting at the Emperor.
"Ivan Annenkov attempted to kill himself; "
Petr Svistunov tried to poison himself by swallowing his brace buttons.
In the evening of January 18, the guards heard a moan in the cell.
Open the door, faster!
They opened the door and saw Alexander Bulatov lying on the floor
with a crushed head. He must have attempted to kill himself
buy banging his head against the wall.
Take him to the doctor! Faster!
Alexander Bulatov, 29 years old, Colonel. He studied at the First Cadet Corps
together with Ryleyev. A participant of the War of 1812
and the Foreign Campaign of the Russian Army, Bulatov came to Petersburg
a few days before the revolt and joined the society four days before it.
He didn't even have time to realize what he was getting involved into.
Her former comrade from the Cadet Corps Kondratiy Ryleyev
quickly recruited Bulatov appointing him Trubetskoy's deputy
and the murderer of the tsar. Bulatov impressed the plotters
with his status and the rank of Colonel –
there were few senior officers in the Society.
Bulatov surrendered in the evening of December 14, on the day of the revolt.
He came to the commandant of the Winter Palace,
reported his participation in the conspiracy and his unfulfilled intentions
and surrendered his rapier. The next day Bulatov was interrogated
by the Emperor. Bulatov confessed that the day before
he was standing two steps away from the Emperor with loaded guns
in his pockets and a strong intention to murder the tsar.
However, every time he touched the gun, his heart didn't let him do it.
Bulatov blamed himself for his involvement in the secret society
and his intention to murder the tsar. Addressing Grand Duke
Mikhail Pavlovitch, he wrote that he "sentenced himself to die"
and in five days he asked Nicolay to sentence him to death.
Bulatov refused to eat to die of starvation. He died at the hospital
the next day after he was found on the floor of his cell with a crushed head.
It was poor Bulatov's comrade Alexander Yakubovitch
who brought him to Ryleyev's apartment. They made Bulatov promise
to sacrifice himself by "murdering a tyrant". Being mortally ill,
he suffered from painful migraines and was glad that his death
would bring some good. Following the joint conversation,
the poor man was repeating from time to time:
"Gentlemen, what about the freedom of the Motherland?
I can only see a change of the rulers". Nobody listened to him.
"We shall deliver the blow", Ryleyev suggested.
"The general commotion will provoke the action.
The success of any revolution is in its cheekiness"!
Kakhovskiy was citing excerpts from a book about the Great French Revolution:
"Only an immediate success will justify the coup d'etat.
In any other case, a massacre will begin". Puschin was against it.
"To start the rebellion now means to die in vain
and to allow others to die". Bestuzhev argued with him:
"Death for the sake of Motherland will allow us to go down in history".
To stop the arguments, Ryleyev, Obolenskiy and Kakhovskiy
decided to appoint Sergey Trubetskoy the "Dictator".
The others agreed with it easily,
although the Prince himself doubted his authority.
"It's flattering to die for freedom. I'm ready for that.
However, I'd try to avoid bloodshed".
Alexander Odoyevskiy shouted: "We'll die! How glorious our death will be"!
At last, Yakubovitch offered to start crushing the pubs
and use the general commotion. Bulatov kept asking him:
"Do you think they have thought it over well?
Do they have enough forces"? Yakubovitch answered:
"I don't see any. All of them seem suspicious to me".
It was Bulatov who voiced a thought that tortured many:
"If it turns out tomorrow that these actions won't bring any good,
we won't get involved". Hinting at Kakhovskiy's poverty and not-noble origins,
Ryleyev said: "My dear friend! You're poor on this Earth.
You shall sacrifice yourself for the sake of the society. Murder the Emperor!"
On hearing his consent, many people rushed to hug Kakhovskiy.
They left Ryleyev's apartment late at night. Everybody was excited.
The plan was accepted unanimously. However, despite its strong sides,
no part of that plan was documented as an order.
The actions of the conspirators weren't clearly described.
The plan failed. In three hours Kakhovskiy became the first to violate it
by refusing to shoot the tsar. He was followed by Trubetskoy,
Bulatov, Yakubovitch, Puschin and others. In the course of the day,
none of them fulfilled the duties they had undertaken.
By restoring the events of December 14 step by step,
Benkendorf realized clearly why the conspiracy failed.
December 14, 6:00 a.m. Ryleyev got a note from Kakhovskiy
in which he informed that he changed his mind about shooting the Emperor.
In a quarter of an hour Yakubovitch said
that he wouldn't lead the Guards' Regiment
to capture the Winter Palace. According to his words, it was
"an unrealistic thing" and "we wouldn't be able to avoid spilling blood".
7:00 a.m. The conspirators waited for Bulatov but he didn't come.
Kakhovskiy was sent to lead the Regiment of Grenadiers instead of him.
9:00 a.m. The missing Bulatov came to Ryleyev's apartment and reported:
"If few troops support the revolt, I won't stain myself".
Ryleyev snapped at him in irritation:
"You're nothing more than a mask of a revolutionary".
10:00 a.m. Alexander Odoyevskiy disappeared without a trace.
He didn't come to the square during that day.
10:40 a.m. On seeing the Moscow Regiment marching
along the Gorokhovaya street from his window,
Yakubovitch ran outside and being a senior in rank assumed the command
from Mikhail Bestuzhev. 11:00 a.m. On the Senate Square,
Yakubovitch saw that the other troops didn't support the rebels
and quietly left the square. On his way home, he bumped into Ryleyev
and Puschin and informed them that he led the Moscow Regiment
to the Senate Square but that to leave because of terrible headache.
11:30 a.m. At home Ryleyev took a soldier's bag
and rushed to the place of the revolt. He joined the crowd of privates
who were still getting cold waiting for a command.
13:00. Ryleyev couldn't stand the uncertainty anymore
and rushed to the house of the Lavals nearby where Trubetskoy lived.
However, he didn't find him there. At that time, Trubetskoy was hiding
at the Chancellery of the Main Headquarters.
Bulatov was also close to the Senate Square.
He was waiting for the development of events and trying to concentrate.
2:30 p.m. Yakubovitch came to the Senate Square again.
With a gun in his pocket, he squeezed through the Emperor's court.
Instead of murdering the Emperor, he addressed Nicolay pointing to the rebels:
"I was with them, but on hearing that they support Konstantin I came to you."
Yakubovitch returned to the formation of the soldiers.
The rebels met him with applause. Yakubovitch had to lie
that the Emperor was very scared and appealed to the rebels
to stand until the end. At the same time Bulatov was close to Nicolay
watching his every step. He didn't date shoot at the Emperor, though.
3:00 p.m. The Senate Square. Yevgeniy Obolenskiy was appointed
the dictator instead of the missing Trubetskoy.
However, the time was up.
The rebels lost the initiative.
At the end of the day the conspirators gathered in Ryleyev's apartment again.
They were surprised to find out that none of the thirty Decembrists
who had been under fire was killed or even wounded.
Ryleyev burned all the incriminating materials leaving only a pack of papers.
He put them in a folder and tied with a string.
These were his unpublished poems.
The conspirators discussed their behavior at the interrogations.
After that Ryleyev sent his emissary to the South, to the Second Army
where even more radical conspirators were acting.
Ryleyev informed the "southerners" about the failure on Petersburg.
However, the rebellion was already in full swing.
Lieutenant Colonel of the Chernigov Regiment Sergey Muravyov-Apostol
decided to act. He had the full support of his comrade,
Second Lieutenant of the Poltava Infantry Regiment Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin.
Sergey Muravyov-Apostol, 29 years old, Lieutenant Colonel,
a son of a senator. He started his service in the Semenov Regiment,
participated in the war of 1812 and the Foreign Campaign.
He was one of the leaders of the Southern Society.
Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin, 24 years old,
one of the leaders of the Southern Society. Together with his friend,
he headed the rebellion of the Chernigov Regiment.
Muravyov-Apostol and Bestuzhev-Ryumin decided to start their own revolt.
They sent letters to the neighboring regiments with a request
to support their revolt and go to capture both capitals.
Not a single unit supported their appeal.
They could only count on their own Chernigov Regiment.
In the evening of December 31, the rebels stopped in a village
to celebrate the New Year. That stop sped up
the moral disintegration of the regiment.
The soldiers refused to obey their revolutionary officers.
During the New Year night, the soldiers robbed the village
and emptied the pubs' stores. A wave of pogroms and rapes followed.
In one of the houses the soldiers danced with a body of a dead old man.
Mass deserting started. In two days, the government troops
stormed the rebellious regiment. At the first cannon round,
the soldiers kneeled. Muravyov-Apostol, who was wounded in his head,
rushed to his horse. But an infantryman stuck his bayonet
into his horse's belly and shouted with rage:
"You made this porridge. Now eat it with us"!
The soldiers of the Chernigov Regiment encircled Muravyov
and he didn't have any other choice but to surrender to the authorities.
Muravyov was a senior officer who violated his oath.
According to the Military Statute, he was to be executed.
Before the execution, the Lieutenant Colonel got a terrible piece of news.
His father, Senator Ivan Matveyevitch Muravyov-Apostol, cursed his son
and made sure he got to know about that.
The father of the other officer on the death row, Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin,
on hearing about his son's execution said: "A dog shall die like a dog".
There were all the legal grounds for the death penalty.
According to the Statute, a staff military man
who went against the state authorities with a weapon in his hands
was to be sentenced to death. The young Emperor was inclined
to fulfil the sentence at once but Benkendorf changed
the Emperor's attitude to this case. Quick death of the conspirators
would tear all the threads of the investigation.
It would prevent the investigation of the foreign trace,
of the participation of members of the Emperor's family in the conspiracy
and the involvement of the important statesmen whose names
were mentioned at the interrogations. All these aspects
of the investigation became a part of the so called "Secret Case".
Many surnames weren't mentioned.
However, the arrested were asked questions about them.
"Our conversation will be kept secret.
Remember that you're between life and death now".
"I can't slander innocent people, can I?"
Benkendorf tried to press Trubetskoy into giving evidence against
the leading liberal Mikhail Speranskiy – politely but insistently.
During the investigation of the secret societies' activities,
Speranskiy was just a step away from the arrest despite the fact
that the Emperor liked him and used his draft of the Manifesto
on Ascension to the Throne. Still, Speranskiy was mentioned
first by the petty members of the society.
Then Ryleyev, Trubetskoy and Kakhovskiy.
The less important a member of the society was and the less he knew,
the more certainly he would say: "Yes, Mordvinov, Speranskiy and Yermolov
are with us. In truth, their leaders lured the ordinary members
into joining the society with the names of the high-ranking statesmen.
On the eve of the revolt Ryleyev came to Speranskiy and invited him
to join the Temporary Government. The old bureaucrat answered:
"Win first. Then everybody will be for you".
Besides, Speranskiy was a high-ranking member of the masonic lodges.
The behavior of Grand Duke Konstantin during the Interregnum days
was also dubious. There were traces that led to his mother,
Widow Empress Maria Fedorovna, and the wife of the late Alexander I
Elizaveta Alexeyevna whom some of the conspirators planned
to formally enthrone with a title of the "Mother of the Liberated Motherland".
The threads led to the brave general Miloradovitch as well as
to the high-ranking shareholders of the Russian-American Company,
The Emperor decided not to announce it publicly.
Instead, he informed the foreign ambassadors of another important discovery
made in the course of the investigation.
It turned out that according to the original plan of the Decembrists
the revolt was to start on March 12, 1826,
on the anniversary of Alexander's I enthronement.
It was found out that each conspirator wore an iron ring
with an engraved number "71" on it. It was a sum of the days
left until the planned revolt starting from the New Year –
31 days of January, 28 days of February and 12 first days of March.
Unexpected death of Alexander forced the members
of the secret societies to change that plan.
Alexandra Fedorovna closed her eyes and braced herself.
That long December night after the revolt she got scared for the lives –
her own, of her husband and children – and rushed to the court church.
She tried to find peace in a prayer, but the excitement was so strong
that she had nervous tic for a long time afterwards.
She started to lose weight. She melted away before everybody's eyes.
She felt better in January. She even went to some court events,
gracious as ever, just a bit lighter and thinner.
Her husband and mother-in-law hoped that the December horror
passed without affecting a new life that was growing inside of her.
They cared for her peace of mind but it didn't help.
They didn't inform even the closest ones about the miscarriage.
Her Highness was just sick. Enough of sorrows.
The young Empress stood up. Her head span.
The doctors prohibited her from standing but she couldn't keep lying.
Her husband didn't visit her for a week. Sure, Niks had a lot of work,
he was very busy at the Investigation Commission. Will he need her now?
And the children? They stopped bringing the little ones to see her.
What does she look like?
It turned out that a ten-step distance was very long.
The goal of the efforts was above the fireplace.
The Empress flinched.
A stranger withered lady was staring at her from the mirror.
In six months after the revolt on June 1, 1826
the Emperor informed his subjects on the establishment
of the High Criminal Court that was to deliver its sentence.
The Emperor could have sentenced the Decembrists himself
in 24 hours without engaging the educated lawyers.
However, he wanted to arrange a court hearing.
Speranskiy prepared the documents so they were legally impeccable.
The court made it clear that the noblemen
who dared encroach upon the authorities
would be judged as all the other subjects. However,
the conspirators weren't ready to get even with the common folk.
Some people hoped for complete forgiveness.
For example, Prince Trubetskoy even hoped to be restored
in his former ranks and positions. During the hearing, he accused Ryleyev
and Pestel of everything. That sealed their fate.
He accused himself only of a failure to expose the state criminals in time.
Trubetskoy avoided the execution despite the fact that,
being the leader of the revolt, he had all the chances
to be the sixth on the death row.
Many of the main members didn't realize the seriousness
of what had happenedto the end. In those-times legal system,
the rebels had only hope for salvation – the Emperor's mercy.
According to the decision of the High Criminal Court,
112 people were deprived of all their rights of nobility,
99 exiled to Siberia, out of them – 36 to the hard labor prison,
9 officers were demoted to soldiers.
36 people were sentenced to death:
31 through beheading and 5 through quartering.
The Emperor replaced the beheading with hard labor,
hard labor – with an exile,
exile – with demotion into soldiers and exile to the Caucasus,
quartering with hanging. However, the list of the five people
sentenced to death remained the same: Pestel, Ryleyev,
Muravyov-Apostol, Bestuzhev-Ryuminm and Kakhovskiy.
The ceremony was organized by the Emperor himself.
"The troops were to arrive at the spot at 3 p.m."
Not to miss anything, the locals started to arrive at night.
"First those sentenced to the hard labor and demoted to soldiers
shall be taken outside and placed opposite to the banners".
Those who were to undergo a shameful procedure of demotion
were led out of the fortress.
"When everybody is there, command "At attention!"
and fire one shot. Then generals are to read the sentence…"
The convicts demonstrated depressed indifference instead of repenting.
"After that fire another shot and command "At the shoulder!"
Then the guards shall tear off their unfirms and crosses
and break their rapiers which shall then be burnt in a fire".
Some rapiers were broken so low over the accused' faces
were stained with blood from their cuts.
"Lead those sentenced to death to the gallows
where a priest shall wait with the cross".
On seeing the gallows Pestel cringed his nose and exchanged glances
with the others. Till the end, he hoped that they would be shot.
The death at the gallows was considered shameful.
Pestel and Bestuzhev died at once.
After that, the rope tore from the weights of the shackles.
The accused had to wait for the execution for another hour –
time was needed to bring new ropes and to tie them to the gallows.
"…after what turn right and got to the department,
letting the participants go home".
In two hours the bodies were removed and taken to the Trinity church
for the commemoration service. The conspirators were buried in secret,
and the exact place of the burial is still unknown.
As it often happens in Russia, tragic and funny interconnected.
When the accused waited for their transportation to Siberia,
an order arrived not to rivet the shackles but to lock them.
The guards had to go to the nearest shops. All they could find
were miniature locks with careless notes engraved on them.
Decembrist Dmitry Zavalishin was surprised to finds the words
"I Give It To Whom I Love" on one of the locks, and Nicolay Bestuzhev
found an engraving "Your Present is Not Dear to Me, Your Love Is".
The exiles will cover 6,800 versts. The trip will take over two months.
They'll move along the Yaroslavl tract – Rybinsk, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Vyatka.
Then they'll move through Perm, Ekaterinburg, Tyumen, Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk…
In Irkutsk the local government will receive the Decembrists as heroes
and send them for light works in Chita.
On August 22, 1826 Nicolay will sign a manifesto
replacing eternal hard labor with a 20-year term.
After obtaining the Emperor's personal permission,
11 wives of the Decembrists will follow them to Siberia,
together with 8 sisters and mothers.
In four more years the convicts with families will be allowed
to live in separate apartments together with their wives.
The exiles will read lectures to each other, arrange events and concerts.
Sergey Trubetskoy and his wife Ekaterina will have four children.
In 1835 the Emperor will shorten the term of the hard labor again.
In four years, when it ends, the majority of the Decembrists
will stay in Siberia and find civilian jobs.
Poet Alexander Odoyevsky will go to the Caucasian War as a private.
Alexander Muravyov, the founder of the "Union of Salvation"
will make a career in the state establishments
and finish his days in a rank of a senator.
Grim was the fate of Alexander Yakubovitch.
He was suffering from terrible headaches bordering on insanity
and the governor ordered to send him to the madhouse.
Yakubovitch died the day after that.
In 1856 the new Emperor Alexander II will announce the amnesty.
Only a handful of former conspirators will use their right
to leave Siberia, among them Volkonskiy, Trubetskoy, Puschin and Obolenskiy.
The intelligentsia met them as heroes.
The cult of the Decembrists lasted until the Soviet times.
The inflow of the discoveries made the head of the young Emperor spin.
He noticed that he became very suspicious even towards the closest people.
For Nicolay, it was a real burden. Being a kind person by nature,
he felt that by immersing into the depth of the intricate conspiracy
he started to betray himself. It couldn't go on any longer.
He had to stop and accept the fact that he would never know everything.
Did he need it, though? At some point, Nicolay felt internal peace
which no new discoveries about the plotters could shake.
He made a decision to stop the investigation and to destroy the "Secret Case"
concerning the members of the Emperor's family
and the most influential statesmen… and to forget about it forever.
The Emperor kept a notebook in which he put down
all the Decembrists' confessions during the interrogations.
Although Nicolay didn't accept the methods of his enemies,
he understood that there were serious grounds for the revolt.
In such situation it was clear that terror wouldn't bring any result.
It was time to change the organization of the Empire…
Nicolay devised a plan of vast transformations to be effected during his reign.
Soon he started to prepare the laws
that made the abolition of the serfdom possible.
Then he gradually liberated state and landlords' peasants,
reformed the army that suffered from lack of discipline,
opened hundreds and thousands of schools, institutes and technical schools.
Nicolay built new railways and highways that Russia so desperately needed.
For the first time in history, Russia's industry became able
to satisfy the Empire's needs. After closing the case of the Decembrists,
the young tsar heaved a sigh of relief and straitened his shoulders.
It was the end. It was just the beginning.
The Case of the Decembrists
Narrated by Valeriy Kukhareshin and Lyubov Germanova
Created by Olga Yeliseyeva
Directed by Maksim Bespaliy
Directors of Photography – Ivan Barkhvart and Valeriy Petrov
Music by Maksim Voytov
Art Director Mikhail Gavrilov
Executive Producer – Maria Bykova
Produced by Valeriy Babich, Vlad Ryashin, Sergey Titinkov, and Konstantin Ernst
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