The Decembrist Revolt

The psychology of encounters and Russian history

In his 1952 BBC Reith Lecture “The Psychology of Encounters”, historian Arnold Toynbee described how certain ideas can become incredibly dangerous when they are removed from their original historical, political and cultural setting. Toynbee outlined how ideas such as nationalism could prosper in 19^th century Western Europe due to the liberal and homogenous culture of countries like France or Britain, but would lead to outbreaks of violence when exported to other parts of the world, such as Eastern Europe or Asia, which lacked this cultural background.

In Toynbee’s view, the rapid transmission of political, theological or social ideas from one culture to another was a real threat to the stability of the receiving culture, leading to what he called “collisions between one civilisation and another”. The arrival of Tsar Alexander I and the victorious Russian army in Paris on 31 March 1814 was one of those moments of cultural transmission. As Alexander triumphantly marched his soldiers down the Champs-Élysées, the defeat of Napoleon was no longer in doubt, whilst the sight of Cossack horsemen parading through the city streets undoubtedly left an impression on the locals.

A victorious Russian entry into the French capital would have seemed impossible only a few years prior: in 1812, Napoleon had won a series of victories in Russia and captured Moscow, with the French army finding the city already set ablaze by the retreating Russians. However, the harsh Russian winter and continued Russian attacks left Napoleon’s army with a growing list of casualties, and a painful retreat back west was to follow. The remainder of the war would see a coalition of European powers grappling with Napoleon’s forces and the conflict eventually ending in his defeat.

Although the entry of Russian and other coalition troops into Paris left French citizens, who were used to European dominance and regular military victories, humiliated and shocked, it would also have a profound impact on the Russian soldiers too. It was not only the grand architecture and imperial splendour of the French capital that would have a lasting effect on Russia’s solders, but also the ideas they would encounter in a foreign land.

The implications of this cultural transmission were not necessarily instantaneous, but the ideals of 19^th century France – nationalism, liberalism and liberty – would have a profound impact on the development of Russian politics in the years to come. A decade later, these ideas would take on a life of their own in Russia itself, during the Decembrist Revolt.

The Decembrist Revolt started like many revolutions have in the past – against a backdrop of chaos and confusion. In the autumn of 1825, Tsar Alexander I had travelled to southern Russia due to the ill health of his wife, Elizabeth Alexeievna. A lung condition and poor nerves had left Elisabeth increasingly frail and her doctors had recommended that she travel to the warmer climate around the Sea of Azov to support her recovery. But during the journey, Alexander himself caught typhus and passed away on 1 December, leaving the Russian throne vacant.

News of the Tsar’s death spread to St Petersburg and quickly sparked a succession crisis. The crisis itself was not caused by a clamour by rival factions for control of Russia, but simply by confusion over who was next in line for the throne. Alexander himself had no children and, to make matters worse, his brother, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, had already secretly renounced his claim to the throne on account of his marriage to a Polish Catholic aristocrat, who lacked royal blood. As Konstantin was governor-general of Warsaw, news of his decision took time to reach St Petersburg, with the military and other officials swearing an oath of allegiance to Konstantin before his decision was made public.

Konstantin’s decision meant their younger brother, Nicholas, was next in line for the throne. But this series of events had even left Nicholas himself unsure of his position, and he spent several days assessing his options. With Russia without a Tsar and two potential emperors downplaying their claim, a power vacuum gripped Russian politics, allowing radical groups to seize their opportunity.

These radical groups were composed of liberals and reformers, many of whom had served in the Napoleonic War and experienced western liberalism first-hand in the West. In the intervening years, societies such as the Union of Salvation, Union of Prosperity, Northern Society and Southern Society were founded in Russia with the goal of removing its autocratic political system and reshaping the nation along Western liberal lines.

With St Petersburg gripped in a scene of general chaos, these groups began to plot an uprising, and when Nicholas finally agreed to become emperor and was proclaimed Tsar Nicholas I, they made their move. When asked to swear an oath of allegiance to the new emperor, the conspirators refused and instead took up arms against the Tsar.

They made their stand on the morning of 26 December, as a group of officers led 3000 soldiers from the Moscow Regiment (alongside Grenadier and Naval Guards) to Senate Square in the centre of St Petersburg, where they assembled alongside the looming bronze statue of Peter the Great that sits at the heart of the square.

The soldiers refused to swear allegiance to Nicholas I and instead proclaimed their support for Konstantin. But their demands went much deeper than mere royal succession, with the revolutionaries declaring an end to autocracy in Russia and calling for the establishment of a constitutional monarchy or even a republic. The rebels even went so far as to demand the abolition of serfdom and proclaim equality among men, although some of these demands were hidden from the public due to fears that their true aims would spark a wider revolt and violence.

The revolution did not exactly start as planned. Its leader, Prince Sergei Trubetskoy, failed to show up and promptly abandoned the revolution, fleeing to the house of the Austrian Ambassador (who was also his brother-in-law). When his second-in-command left the square and failed to reappear, the revolution appeared to be quickly devolving into chaos. Although an interim chief of staff, Prince Eugene Obolensky, was finally appointed to lead the rebels, this inaction had allowed the soldiers loyal to Nicholas to surround the square.

For the next few hours, 3000 rebels and 9000 soldiers supporting the Tsar were locked in a standoff, with civilians flocking to the square and fraternising with the rebels. After several hours had passed, Nicholas sent one of his generals, Mikhail Miloradovich, to negotiate with the rebels, where he asked them to end the revolt. As General Miloradovich gave a public address to the crowd, he was shot and killed by Pyotr Kakhovsky, one of the leaders of the movement. The two armies were now at an impasse and a violent clash seemed inevitable.

The killing of Mikhail Miloradovich by Pyotr Kakhovsky - Vasily Perov

With negotiations failing spectacularly and his patience wearing thin, Nicholas ordered his troops to crush the rebellion by force, who opened fire at the rebels with artillery. The ensuing violence would disperse the soldiers stationed in the square, with many fleeing on to the frozen Neva river, where further artillery fire would break the ice and send the fleeing rebels crashing into the icy waters below. The Decembrist Revolt was over, and the Tsar held on to his throne through force, killing as many as 1200 of the revolutionaries in the clash. In the coming days and weeks, many of the leaders of the revolt were rounded up in the Winter Palace, where they were tried and sentenced.

A number of the leading figures, such as the poet Kondraty Ryleev and Pyotr Kakhovsky, were executed for the role they played, while a number of others were condemned to exile in the far east – including Prince Eugene Obolensky and Prince Sergei Trubetskoy, who was stripped of his titles and sentenced to work in a coal mine. Several of the conspirators’ wives chose to follow their husbands into exile and share their fate, becoming known as dekabristki due to their loyalty.

The road from Napoleonic France to the massacre on Senate Square was a decade in the making, but the ideas that many of the officer class were exposed to in the West would directly inspire the actions of the Decembrists on that December morning. The Decembrist Revolt would also mark the first of a long series of challenges against Tsarist autocracy in support of liberal values, with exposure to the West shaking the foundations of Russia’s political system. The Decembrists failed to achieve their goal of instituting a constitutional monarchy in Russia, but the clash of ideas that they championed and the cultural transmission that they experienced would continue to shape the course of Russian history.