With the financial support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation
The First Channel
Star Media
Babich-design
The Russian Society of Military History
present
On July 13, 1826 an execution of the people guilty of an attempt
of a coup d'etat took place in Petersburg.
Later they will be called "the Decembrists".
On December 14, 1825 an attempt of a coup d'etat took place in Petersburg
that went down in history as the "Decembrists' revolt".
On a day of administering of an oath to the new Emperor
the rebels led the guards' units out to the square
to prevent Nicolay I from ascending the throne.
Fire was opened at the crowd. As a result,
over a thousand people were killed. The rebellion failed.
December 14, 1825
On that fateful night of December 14,
when the rebellion had already been suppressed,
hundreds of bodies were transported from the Senate Square.
Everybody – both the participants of the revolt and the chance witnesses –
couldn't realize what had happened. The question "What had it been?"
hang in the air. Everything was as if in a fog and could start all over again.
Count Alexander Khristoforovitch Benkendorf, Cavalry General,
the hero of the 1812 war, was the main person
to carry out the investigation in that case.
The revolt was suppressed. Now Benkendorf had to find out
what had happened and restore the chronology of the events – step by step.
Everything has finished. But everything was just beginning…
The Case of the Decembrists. Part One
That same night first arrested were brought to the palace.
The guardhouse of the Winter Palace was crowded with soldiers
arrested on the Senate Square who didn't understand anything themselves.
However, the government asked their first questions not to them
but to those who were in charge of the rebellious military units.
Almost all the witnesses first thought that the events of December 14
were a result of the Interregnum, i.e. the absence
of the legally legitimate power that started in Russia
after the death of Emperor Alexander I.
A year before the events on the Square, Emperor Alexander I
wrote a testament in which he named the successor to the throne.
According to Alexander's will, his brother Nicolay was to become
the new Emperor. Alexander put his testament into a secret chest
that was placed on an altar of the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin.
The Emperor personally made a note on the envelope:
"In case of my death, open this before doing anything else".
On August 30, 1825 Alexander I went to Taganrog with his wife.
In three months the capital was shaken by the news of his premature death.
Emperor Alexander I didn't have children but had three younger brothers –
Konstantin, Nicolay and Mikhail. By right of seniority, Konstantin was the one
to ascend the throne. But he often mentioned his fear of ruling:
"They will strangle me quietly, like they did with dad".
In his youth he was deeply affected by the murder of his father,
Emperor Pavel I, whose difficult character he inherited.
Since 1815, Konstantin served as the commanded-in-chief
of the Polish army and was in effect the governor of Poland.
The second heir was the second brother Nicolay.
Mikhail's candidature wasn't discussed for he was the youngest
and didn't have many chances to take the throne.
In 1819, Nicolay first found out that Emperor Alexander
wanted to make him his heir. However, he didn't know
about the documents in the chest. He always underlined
that he wasn't prepared for the throne and that his brother's will
remained a secret for him up until the opening of the letter.
According to the succession law, it was Konstantin who had to take
the absolute power in his hands. However, four years before his father's death
Mother Empress made Konstantin abdicate.
It was a condition under which he could marry his beloved woman.
In Poland Konstantin fell in love with a kind, decent and beautiful girl
Jannetta Grudzinska. By tying a knot in a marriage considered uneven
for a member of the imperial family, he lost his rights to the crown.
Then mother allowed Konstantin divorce his first wife
but only on condition of abdication from the throne.
Konstantin agreed but didn't forgive.
Now, when the situation demanded his participation,
when Russia and his brother Nicolay needed him,
Konstantin wanted to see how they will fare alone, without him.
A month before the events on the Square in November of 1825,
the youngest of the Grand Dukes Mikhail Pavlovitch left Petersburg
to go to Konstantin in Poland. He was to deliver a letter
in which his relatives begged Konstantin either to come
and accept the crown or to address his subjects with
an official manifesto on his abdication. The prince didn't want to do either.
The relatives' fear entertained him.
Rumors spread among the members of the guards
that Grand Duke Nicolay was trying to seize the power unlawfully.
The military started to stir.
Only Konstantin's arrival could relieve the tension.
However, Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovitch came back
from Warsaw empty-handed. The situation was critical.
The army swore its allegiance to the Emperor who wasn't going to rule.
Seeing such behavior of Konstantin, military and state authorities
started to take the side of Nicolay.
Besides problems with the succession to the throne,
Nicolay was to confront even more unpleasant news.
While sorting out the papers in the estate of his late brother Alexander
on the first anniversary of his death Nicolay found documents
which warned him of an anti-government conspiracy.
"What a day, Lord! Why exactly on this date?
I found out the documents about a terrible conspiracy".
Benkendorf was among the people whom Nicolay showed the letter.
Four years ago, when Benkendorf was the Head of the Guards' Headquarters,
he grew suspicious. He started his own investigation
and wrote a report addressed to Emperor Alexander
about the secret societies that had been agitating the junior officers.
Secret societies appeared in Russia soon after the War of 1812
and the Foreign Campaign of the Russian Army.
Conversations between the military in the fields
and the members of the masonic lodges developed into circles of conspirators.
The secret societies were talking about the "future happiness"
awaiting Russia in the new future, after the revolution.
It was a tradition to gather for so called "Russian breakfasts"
with white wine (vodka) and sauerkraut. It became fashionable
among the nobility to be a member of some secret organization.
The participants held heated discussions and confessed
their intimate intentions. Among them, the so called
Northern and Southern Societies were the most influential.
The Northern Society was established in Petersburg in autumn of 1821.
It stipulated the transformation of Russia into a constitutional monarchy.
The Parliament was supposed to have the legislative power
and the monarch – the executive power. The voting rights
were limited by the property qualification of 500 rubles.
The Southern Society was formed in March of 1821 in the town of Tulchin.
It based on a republican program. Its members planned to eliminate
the Imperial family, hand the legislative power over to the Parliament
and the executive - to the State Council consisting of five members.
They were to replace the sole dictator and change every year.
Alexander I didn't react to Benkendorf's warning.
However, he tried to move the participants
as far from the capital as possible – to the army garrisons.
When the conspirators found out that the government knew
of their existence, they disbanded their societies for some time.
It seemed that calm and peace were restored in the Empire.
However, the secret societies didn't stop their work.
All these years, the conspiracy was ripening.
Alexander I died giving the secret societies a unique chance.
The Emperor's death and a new oath-administering procedure
promised a serious political crisis in the country.
It was the most convenient moment for the blow and seizure of the power.
The Interregnum wasn't the cause of the revolt.
It was simply used by the conspirators as a pretext.
It was the best moment to deliver a blow to the throne.
The stakes were high. Nicolay realized that the conspirators
would inevitably make their move. Only a ruler could suppress the resistance,
avoid the rebellion and an outburst of the civil way.
Therefore, the administration of the oath to Nicolay
was to be arranged as soon as possible, on December 14.
That's why, to seize the power before Nicolay's ascend to the throne,
the conspirators scheduled the attack
for the same morning of December, 14.
The young Emperor didn't know what to expect the next day.
The night before he said to his wife:
"Swear that if we have to die tomorrow, we'll die decently".
At the same time, the last meeting was coming to an end
in the conspirators' apartment. They parted with hidden apprehension.
The Emperor knew about the plot.
The plotters knew that their actions were expected.
It was impossible to forecast the outcome.
The only question was who will do the first step…
To solve the case, Benkendorf had to connect all the details
of the case together. He started with a step-by-step restoration
of events of December 14. He compared the time and
found out who was where at different points of the revolt.
His task was to fully restore the events.
December 14, 6 a.m. The Winter Palace.
Nicolay was dressing up in his parade uniform in his personal chambers.
Instead of a red stripe of a Grand Duke he put on a blue one –
the sign of an Emperor. The highest military authorities
had already gathered in the reception hall.
They started to swear allegiance to Nicolay.
9 a.m. In the caserns of the Moscow Infantry Regiment,
a few officers participating in the conspiracy agitated soldiers
to sabotage the new oath claiming that the Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovitch
was under arrest in Warsaw. In truth, the Grand Duke was crossing
the Narva outpost to enter Petersburg. He had a letter from his brother
Konstantin with his final decision on the abdication.
9:15 a.m. The rebellious Moscow Infantry Regiment left the caserns.
Dive senior officers of the regiment blocked the way
of the rebellious soldiers. Taking a sable out, one of the rebels
delivered a few blows to get rid of them.
Unfolding the banner of St. George, the rebellious soldiers stepped over
their mortally wounded officers and went out into the street.
The rebellion has begun…
The night. The guilty were brought to the palace one by one.
People on both sides of the investigation table were at a loss.
Following a hot scent, at 11:30 p.m. Nicolay wrote a letter
to Konstantin in Warsaw. He asked for his permission
to appoint a new commander-in-chief of Petersburg.
It means that the Emperor didn't feel like a lawful ruler at that time.
He was lagging behind the events. The conspirators didn't feel any better.
Each rebel was taken to the fortress after the interrogation
in Nicolay's palace. He wrote notes to the commandant
about the conditions of the isolation – secret, strict or just isolation.
Tortures were strictly forbidden.
An order was established, according to which the Emperor
talked to each suspect on his own. He met Ryleyev the very first evening.
Kondratiy Ryleyev, 30 years old. A retired Lieutenant,
participant of the Foreign Campaign of the Russian Army,
the head of the Chancellery of the Russian-America Company,
a poet, one of the leaders of the secret society.
Ryleyev lived in the house of the head of the Russian-American Company.
The conspirators used to meet at his place. On December 14,
Ryleyev appeared on the Square very late when it was evident
that the revolt had failed. At 7 p.m. the conspirators gathered
at Ryleyev's place again to agree on the uniformity of testifying
and about how to behave at the interrogations.
After that, Ryleyev locked in his room, where he was arrested.
At midnight he was escorted to the Petropavlovsk Fortress with Nicolay's note.
The Emperor forbade to tie the arrested man's hands and ordered
to give him as much paper and ink as he would wish.
Ryleyev was very open at the interrogations. From his testimony,
the authorities found out about the planned murders
of the members of the Emperor's family.
"An explosion was being prepared for long to murder us
and to establish a republic".
Republic is a form of state organization at which the head of the state
is elected by the population. Therefore, the power is generated
"from below", from the people. The Parliament has the legislative power.
At that point, the United States and Switzerland were republics.
Civil wars were fought for the establishment of republics
in the countries of the Latin America. In a result of the French Revolution
at the end of the 18th century France became a republic for a short time
but under Napoleon Bonaparte the monarchy was restored.
However, the majority of the states remained monarchies.
"The sole rulers – monarchs – headed them; "
they inherited the power and grounded it on the religious law.
Therefore, in this case the power was generated "from above" – from God itself.
In the 19th century vast masses of nobility
the members of which were educated in Europe,
including the army officers, started to talk about the rights of a human
and a citizen. The other classes of society didn't discuss this issue yet.
So, Ryleyev started to testify. He didn't deny his key part
in the organization of the conspiracy but named a lot of his comrades.
The solving of the case was underway. The organizers of the revolt
often confided some new and unexpected facts to Benkendorf.
Again and again, Benkendorf was repeating everything
that happened that fateful day - step by step.
10:15 a.m. The Palace Embankment. Coaches started to arrive
to the parade entrance of the Winter Palace.
The halls were full of quests who came to congratulate the Imperial couple.
The last preparations to the solemn mass were under way
in the Big Church of the Winter Palace. At that time the Empress Widow
Maria Fedorovna wrote a letter to her son Konstantin in Warsaw:
"Everything happened as you wanted to.
Nicolay proclaimed himself the ruler".
However, worried voices from the outside distracted her.
From the window she saw crowds of city folk arriving to the Palace Square.
At that time the Emperor was reported that the Moscow Leib-Guards Regiment
refused to swear its allegiance and left the caserns.
10:40 a.m. The rebellious regiment amounting to 700 people
was moving along the Gorokhovaya Street to the Senate
joined by the crowds of onlookers. Nicolay decisively took the manifesto
into his hands and left his office. Mother-Empress Maria Fedorovna
hurried through a suite of rooms to her daughter's-in-law chamber.
Together, they ran to the window.
10:50 a.m. Suddenly heavy doors burst open and the Emperor appeared
on the threshold of the Winter Palace. He went straight to the people.
The noise subsided…
During the revolt and right after it the main mass of the soldiers
who went out to the Senate Square believed that they were fighting
for Konstantin's right to the throne and didn't have any idea
that they were participating in a conspiracy of some secret society,
that the plotters used them by cheating. They also had their own views
concerning the Constitution. The interrogated privates believed
that "Constitution" was the name of Konstantin's Polish wife.
It was evident that one retired Lieutenant Ryleyev couldn't have organized
the military coup d'etat on his own. It was bound to be headed
by the highest military ranks. When the interrogations of the participates
of the revolt started, many mentioned Nicolay Mordvinov.
Nicolay Mordvinov, 71 years old. A count, Admiral, former Minister of the Seas,
the head of the Department of Civil and Religious Affairs of the State Council.
In Russia, he was considered a liberal and a supporter
of the English political system. Participants of the secret societies
planned to invite him to join the new revolutionary government.
The young Emperor remembered one case when at night of December 13-14
he gathered the members of the State Council to read the manifesto
on his ascension to the throne.
"Everybody listened to me in deep silence and after I have finished
they bowed lowly to me. Mordvinov was the first to stand up,
and his bow was the lowest".
In the evening of the same day when the revolt on the Senate Square
had already been suppressed Nicolay summoned the State Council again
and told the ministers about the conspiracy.
"The old Mordvinov listened very attentively.
The expression of his face struck me as peculiar".
Besides his post at the State Council, Mordvinov headed
the Russian-American Company. An entire floor of his house
was occupied by Kondratiy Ryleyev. It was in his apartment
that the conspirators were meeting. Could Mordvinov not know
about their meetings? Other leading statesmen were suspected too.
The investigations were carried out very carefully and later were isolated
into a separate and a strictly confidential case.
Even its materials were kept separately.
Not a single senior officer – commander of a regiment, division or a brigade –
participated in a revolt on the Senate Square.
If they had been among the participants, the government wouldn't be able
to deal with the rebels in one day.
The most prominent conspirator was Colonel Sergey Trubetskoy.
Prince Sergey Trubetskoy, 35 years old. Colonel, staff officer
of the Fourth Infantry Corps. Participant of the War of 1812
and the Foreign Campaign, awarded with four battle medals.
He started his activities in the secret societies in 1816.
He was one of the founders and leaders of the "Union of Salvation",
head and supervisor of the "Union of Prosperity"
and the founder and leader of the Northern Society.
From December 11 to December 13 Trubetskoy was writing the Manifesto
which according to the plan was to be proclaimed by the Senate.
This is why the troops went to the Senate. On the eve of the revolt,
Prince Trubetskoy was appointed the Dictator, or the sole ruler.
The Emperor saw Trubetskoy that fateful day.
Benkendorf went on restoring the chronology of the events of December 14.
11 a.m. The Moscow Infantry Regiment went to the empty Senate Square.
They were late. By that time the members of the Senate
had already administered their oaths and went home.
Dictator Trubetskoy was to give further instructions
but he was absent on the Square. Waiting for him,
the regiment formed a square by the monument to Peter I.
11.15 a.m. On the Palace Square, Nicolay finished reading his manifesto
on ascending the throne. The people accepted the tsar and shouted "Hurray!'
Nicolay gave an order to bring his children from the Annichkov Palace
to the Winter Palace and appointed the miners' battalion to guard the palace.
At that time, crowds of the curious arrived to the Senate Square.
The Moscow Regiment continued standing there alone
waiting for Dictator Trubetskoy. At that time the patron of the regiment
Grand Duke Milhail Pavlovitch, younger brother of Nicolay,
came to the caserns. The remaining soldiers swore their allegiance to him
and went to the Senate Square too, but on Nicolay's side.
11:30 a.m. On the Palace Square Nicolay noticed a sole officer
standing in the arch of the Headquarters.
Squinting, Nicolay recognized Colonel Trubetskoy.
The plan of the revolt was found in Trubetskoy's apartment.
However, the Prince himself was absent. He hid in the estate of his relative –
the Austrian Ambassador. They married sisters,
and the Ambassador didn't want to deliver his brother-in-law over,
referring to the diplomatic inviolability.
When gendarmes came to arrest Trubetskoy, they found him
in the prayer room. He looked very scared and depressed.
Standing before the Emperor, she was shaking, and Nicolay gave his place
on a sofa to him. Before starting the interrogating, the Emperor dictated
Trubetskoy's note to his wife: "I'm fine. I'll be alive and healthy".
Trubetskoy didn't come to the Square. Many conspirators believed
that it determined the failure of the revolt.
The Price realized his responsibility for the people's deaths
only when he heard the cannon's fire. Absence of Trubetskoy
put the rebels in a difficult position. Meanwhile the government,
that had enough of high-ranking military men, lacked decisiveness.
General Governor Miloradovitch tried to take the initiative into his own hands.
Benkendorf found out all the details of what had happened
with Miloradovitch almost right away. During the investigation,
he restored the exact chronology of the events.
December 14. Midday. Standing by the gates of the cavalry guards' caserns,
Miloradovitch waited for them to form for twenty minutes.
But the cuirassiers sabotaged the General's order.
Firing up, Miloradovitch said: "I don't want your shitty regiment.
I'll finish with this", and went to the Senate Square.
12:15 a.m. Sledges with the Emperor's children
hurried along the Neva Avenue to the Winter Palace. From all sides,
crowds of people of different ranks and ages flowed towards the palace
and the Senate. 12:20 a.m. A company of the Leib-Guards Regiment
that refused to swear its allegiance to Nicolay left the caserns
and went to capture the Winter Palace on the Neva ice.
12:30 a.m. The Finland Regiment that supported the rebels
reached the Senate Square. However, its commander didn't dare
attack a live fence of the troops loyal to the Emperor and stopped
his regiment in the middle of the Issakiyevskiy Bridge – as a reserve.
12:40 a.m. General Miloradovitch rode his horse into the middle of the crowd.
He rushed to the rebels and stopped ten steps from them.
An "At attention!' command sounded, and the shouts of the soldiers died down.
The General addressed the rebels trying to reason with them.
The soldiers listened to his speech for twenty minutes.
Gradually, the mood of the rebels changed. At last,
a shout "Hurray for Miloradovitch!" was heard from the crowd.
Miloradovitch turned his horse to lead the rebellious regiment from the square.
To avoid it, Prince Obolenskiy snatched a bayonet from one of the soldiers
to hit his horse but missed and hit the General instead.
At the same moment a shot was heard.
Kakhovskiy fired a bullet that hit Miloradovitch on his back.
"After the shot, Kakhovskiy threw his gun at Miloradovitch; "
it knocked the hat off his head. The General fell from his horse
on his adjutant's arms. The first blood was spilled. The line was crossed.
Peter Kakhovskiy, 28 years old. He started to serve in 1816
as a Junker of the Leib-Guards Regiment of Chasseurs.
Soon he was demoted to privates and sent to the Caucasus
for "disobedience during the service" and "stealing of sweets
from the confectionary shop". In 1825 he returned to Petersburg
where he met Ryleyev and joined the Northern Society.
Kakhovskiy is one of the most mysterious personalities among the conspirators.
"He joined them late; not many people knew him; "
he volunteered to murder the tsar himself. There is evidence
according to which he hated Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovitch
who demoted him to privates. Other legends tie Kakhovskiy's deed
to unrequited love. Relatives wouldn't let a girl marry a not noble
and poor neighbor. On the eve of the revolt Kakhovskiy planned to go
to Greece and fight for its independence from the Turks, like Lord Baron.
Kakhovskiy was very poor and often borrowed money from Ryleyev.
One time he even had to pay Peter's invoice from the tailor.
He didn't keep contacts with any relatives and was the only one
among the Decembrists who didn't write letters during the investigation.
Kakhovskiy didn't have a single close person.
In their testimonies the plotters said that he was "desperate",
"hot and decisive", "ready for self-sacrifice" and "ready for the inevitable".
Kakhovskiy was obsessed with an idea of the murder of the tsar
and often asked to give him the right to do it. He practiced with the gun,
saying the names of his victims aloud in turns –
all members of the Imperial Family. In his testimony he said:
"For the sake of the society we're ready to murder anybody!
One can't do much with these philanthropists. One shall simply kill!"
Being a lonely man, Kakhovskiy was appointed the murderer of the tsar.
On December 14 on the Senate Square he killed
Petersburg's General Governor Miloradovitch and Colonel Stuller and
"wounded another officer; however, he didn't dare kill the new tsar. "
The murder of the glorious General wasn't a part of the plotters' plan.
Why did Kakhovskiy do it? Was it a provocation?
Or maybe he felt that Miloradovitch succeeded in reasoning with the soldiers.
The authority of the General, the hero of the War of 1812,
his words and his decisiveness reached their goal…
Benkendorf saw Miloradovitch a few hours before
the mortal bullet hit him in the morning.
"The general's chest was decorated with two dozen stars and crosses".
Later, when the crowds of soldiers were ready to disrupt
the oath-swearing Miloradovitch addressed the rebels
and showed them a rapier given to him by Grand Duke Konstantin.
With his example, he confirmed the lawfulness of swearing an oath
to Nicolay. The soldiers started to listen to him.
"Soldiers! Who was with me by Cullman, Lucent, Bounce, Brien?
Who heard of such battles? Nobody? Nobody was there,
nobody heard about them! Thanks God!
There is not a single Russian soldier here. Officers!
Some of you must have been there with me. Officers? Nobody?
God, I thank you! There is not a single Russian officer here.
If there was at least one Russian soldier or officer here,
you'd know that Miloradovitch can't betray his friend and brother –
the tsar! He can't!"
Kakhovskiy listened to that speech too.
However, he only dared shoot into his back.
The bullet went through the chest.
Wounded Miloradovitch was taken to the guardroom
of the Regiment of Cuirassiers that was close by.
While General Governor was moved and placed on a bed,
somebody used the commotion to steal his golden watch
and snatch all the medals from his uniform.
Miloradovitch was conscious and asked to call his surgeon
to remove the bullet. MIloradovitch participated in 55 battles.
Not a single enemy bullet hit him. And now he was dying from a bullet
fired into the back at home, by his compatriot.
The bullet turned out to be self-made. A notch was made on it
to increase its killing power. When the bullet was removed,
general was glad. Until his end, he couldn't believe
that a Russian soldier could kill him.
December 14. 1:20 p.m. The Palace Square.
Nicolay was reported on Miloradovitch's wound.
The Emperor demanded to immediately lead the Cavalry Guards
to the square. In twenty minutes the riders went out of the caserns.
Together with a company of the grenadiers of the Preobrazhenskiy Regiment
Nicolay went to the square. 1:30 p.m. A crowd of 900 people
burst into the yard of the Winter Palace.
They were from the Regiment of Grenadiers that fell out of control.
They hoped to seize the Winter Palace but were too late.
The palace was encircled and defended by the miners' battalion.
On realizing that, the Leib-Grenadiers went along the Admiralty Avenue
towards the Senate where they met Nicolay, his court and cavalry guards.
"We support Konstantin!", Lieutenant Panov shouts.
Emperor answered, pointing towards the Senate: "Then, you shall go there".
A crowd of the rebellious grenadiers silently marched
past a few hundreds of sharp bayonets.
1:40 p.m. The guards formed a square to block the communication with the Neva.
A part of the Moscow Regiment loyal to the government
took a position by the Issakiyevskiy Cathedral that was under construction.
The Semenovskiy, Pavlovskiy and Preobrazhenskiy Regiments
seized the streets adjacent to the Senate Square.
1:50 p.m. Breaking through the cordon of the Pavlovskiy Regiment,
the Guards burst into the square and joined the rebels.
The Leib-Grenadiers also burst through the cordon
of the governmental troops and joined their comrades.
These were the last forces to join the rebels.
At that moment the total quantity of the rebellious troops amounted to 3,000.
The governmental troops on the square consisted of 10,000 people.
2:00 p.m. Nicolay and his court went to the Senate Square.
On his way, foreign ambassadors approached him with an offer
to join him to prove the lawfulness of his rights to the throne.
Nicolay politely declined the offer by saying: "This is a family matter.
No need to involve the entire Europe".
The foreign ambassadors stayed to watch the events from the side.
All the night the suspects were brought in to the palace in turns.
The Emperor didn't sleep for two days in a row.
One could say the same about the main plotters.
The events resembled a nightmare.
"In the morning we all looked like shadows and could barely move.
One had to be extremely strong not to get lost among all that chaos".
Nobody could guarantee that the civil war wouldn't start.
The investigation was studying the conspiracy of the aristocrats
who wanted to arrange a coup d'etat. It was evidenced
by numerous anonymous letters with threats to the tsar's life
which were found in the Winter Palace. The majority were planted
by the relatives of the suspects. Members of the secret societies
who were not yet arrested were still in the city.
Any of them could stealthily sneak into the palace to kill the tsar,
if he possessed certain bravery.
In the morning of December 15, a staff officer of the Leib-Guards
of the Dragoon's Regiment Alexander Bestuzhev-Marlinskiy,
a member of the Northern Society
who was present on the Senate Square, easily entered palace.
He walked through all the palace and came to the Emperor.
"Please accept my guilty head".
Not everybody repented like Bestuzhev. Some people among the conspirators
volunteered to murder the Emperor. One of them was Captain
a famous hero from the Caucasus Alexander Yakubovitch.
Alexander Yakubovitch, 33 years old, Captain of the Nizhniy Novgorod
Dragoon Regiment. In 1817, he was demoted from the guards to the army
for a duel and sent to the Caucasus. In one of the battles
with the Chircassians he was wounded into his forehead
and later wore a black bandage on his head for the wound didn't heal.
At the beginning of the 20ies he came to Petersburg
where he became close with the members of the Northern Society.
He repeatedly volunteered to kill Emperor Alexander.
Later during the interrogation Yakubovitch confessed
that he didn't intend to realize his threats
and just wanted to impress his comrades with his courage.
Answering the questions of the interrogators,
Yakubovitch often lapsed into a trance-like state close to an ecstasy.
His testimonies were very confused. He tried to mask it
with grandiloquent words which bordered on open boasting.
"We failed. We fell. However, the future brave men need this sacrifice.
Execute me by the monument of Peter the Great…"
The investigation became more detailed.
Benkendorf went on restoring the per-minute chronology
of the events of December 14.
2:30 p.m. A dragoon officer approached the Emperor,
squeezing through the crowd of court generals.
It was Alexander Yakubovitch. He stood on one side of the horse
and addressed Nicolay. Benkendorf's adjutant noticed the gun
that was in Yakubovitch's pocket but it was too late.
Yakubovitch put his hand into his pocket. In that second,
as if sensing something, Nicolay bent down and took Yakubivitch by the hand.
They stared at each other, and for some reason Yakubovitch went away.
2:50 p.m. Representatives of the religion went out of the church
of the Winter Palace holding gonfalons, icons and the Sacred Gifts.
The holy priests moved towards the square.
The rebels met them with shouts and mockery.
3:00 p.m. Two workers pushed a log from the scaffolding
of the Issakiyevskiy Cathedral. It fell close to the Emperor.
3:10 p.m. The rebels started to shoot. On hearing the shots,
the scared crowd startled and ran towards the Emperor.
Risking being crushed by the crowd, the Emperor stood up in his stirrups,
and shouted: "Take your hats off"! At that moment everybody put hats off,
and the crowd parted. 3:20 p.m. Four cannons were brought and aimed
at the rebels – one from the Cavalry Guards and three from the side
of the Admiralty Avenue. 3:30 p.m. The dusk fell. After the dark,
the situation would get out of control. Generals demanded
to open fire immediately. However, the Emperor lingered…
On January 15, the Investigative Commission –
the secret Committee for Locating the Participants
of the Ill-Intentioned Societies consisting of nine trusted persons
was formed. All the interrogations were carried out according to one scheme.
An arrested was led into the chamber of the Committee
with a blindfold on his eyes. He was stopped ten steps from the table,
and the interrogation started. Often people who knew each other,
even were friends, appeared on different sides of the table.
Prince Sergey Volkonskiy who served in the Second Army on the South
and whom the conspirators intended to make a military leader
of the rebellion once was in the same guerilla unit with Benkendorf.
Together they entered Moscow when Bonaparte left it,
together they sealed the cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin
befouled by the enemy.
"I was full of compassion. They were all noblemen, most of them –
from very good families. Many of them served together with me.
Some of them were my comrades…"
Benkendorf also met a young midshipman Alexander Belyayev
with whom they were saving people in Petersburg after the flood
in November of 1824. Once Belyayev saved Benkendorf's life
pulling General Adjutant from the freezing water.
"You know that I owe you. You're like a son to me. You saved my life.
I won't advise you anything that would make you lose your dignity".
The promise was fulfilled. Belyayev was sent to the Caucasus,
qualified for freedom and later owned a steam ship on the Volga.
However, all people behaved differently at the interrogations.
Some answered not from the first time, some, on the contrary,
were too open. Lieutenant and poet Alexander Odoyevskiy,
who said on the eve of the rebellion: "We'll die!
What a glorious death it will be!" – was now begging
to let him witness at the Committee to accuse his comrades.
"Russia will boil. I'll point to the root of the evil. I'm so pleased.
I'll name people unbeknown even to Ryleyev and Bestuzhev".
The testimonies of the members of the secret societies
were full of mutual accusations. The majority of the rebels
was scared and tried to save their skins hoping for the tsar's mercy.
Prince Volkonskiy named over 20 people at the very first interrogation.
Each interrogation of Colonel Trubetskoy added over a dozen
of new names to the list of the plotters. Yevgeniy Obolenskiy named the most.
Some officers named by the conspirators were made members
of the society without their consent. Some even had no idea
that they were among the plotters.
Sometimes the leaders of the secret societies appointed people
to murder the tsar without informing them about it.
The list of the conspirators first consisted of 579 people.
However, two thirds were simply slandered.
By listing many names, the conspirators attempted to jack up the price
of the society in the eyes of the government.
Out of 579 surnames mentioned in the testimonies,
173 turned out to have nothing to do with it:
mentioned mistakenly – 13, dead long before the revolt – 22,
informants – 18, madmen – 9, unidentified people – 4,
suspected on false reports – 107. Out of 579 people only 259 were arrested.
Many were released right after their non-involvement was proved.
Twenty arrested later got money compensations for ungrounded detention.
At first all the detained soldiers were sent to the fortress
but after the identification procedure returned to their respective units.
If the regiment included many participants of the revolt on the square,
the regiment was disbanded and the soldiers were sent
to other regiments, as a rule, away from the capital.
The majority of the junior ranks who participated in the revolt,
returned to their caserns in the evening and served as usual.
It was hard to imagine that in the afternoon they were among the rebels.
The investigation was coming to the scariest moment of the revolt.
Now Benkendorf knew for sure – it was impossible
to stop that rebellion without resorting to force.
December 14. Deciding not to wait for the darkness,
Nicolay I ordered to open fire. However, the order wasn't executed.
The artillerists didn't dare shoot at their own kind.
The officer in charge of the cannon had to put the fuse
to the primer himself. A shot was fired.
The case shot flew around. Some billets hit the ground
and threw the snow up. Others hit a few people in the line of the rebels.
Some hit the crowds of the onlookers.
The Winter Palace. On hearing the shots, the young Empress
fell to her knees and starts praying. In the neighboring chamber
the Emperor's children were jumping by the high window
trying to see what was going on.
In the house of the Austrian Ambassador Trubetskoy said:
"This blood is on my shoulders", fainted and fell on the floor.
The Senate Square. The first shot confused the rebels
but they continued to stand. The second shot was fired,
and dozens of the rebels fell to the ground. Panic started in the crowd.
People ran in all directions. The third shot was fired.
Mikhail Bestuzhev ran towards Neva trying to form his unit on the ice.
However, the falling shells cracked the ice and dozens of soldiers
fell into the icy water. At the same time Lieutenant Panov
and Lieutenant Kukhelbeker in the Galernaya Street were also trying
to form their unit to resist but the cannon fire forced the soldiers to run.
Hundreds of the onlookers left the square in panic.
In a jam hundreds of people died. By 5 p.m., the revolt was suppressed.
The arrests of its participants started. The Emperor returned to the Palace.
In the home church ready for the oath to the new Emperor since morning,
a commemoration service in honor of the deceased started.
On December 14, 1825 on the Senate Square 1,271 people died.
The majority were civilians, mostly idlers.
The military losses amounted to 1 general, 18 officers, and 282 soldiers.
Civilian losses – to 970 people.
In the morning of December 20, 1825 Nicolay I gathered
the diplomatic corpsin 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
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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