Attracts the attention of historians. Written great amount scientific articles and even dissertations on the subject. What explains such interest? The thing is that historically the Decembrists in Russia were the first who dared to oppose the power of the tsar. It is interesting that the rebels themselves began to study this phenomenon, they analyzed the reasons for the uprising on Senate Square and its defeat. As a result of the execution of the Decembrists Russian society lost the very color of enlightened youth, because they came from families of the nobility, glorious participants in the war of 1812. The uprising affected the fate of talented poets. So, A. S. Pushkin, because of his connection with members of secret societies, was sent into exile.

Who are the Decembrists

Who are the Decembrists? Briefly, they can be characterized as follows: they are members of several political societies, fighting for the abolition of serfdom and the change state power. In December 1825, they organized an uprising, which was brutally suppressed.
5 people (leaders) were put to shameful execution for officers. Decembrists-participants were exiled to Siberia, some were shot in the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Causes of the uprising

Why did the Decembrists revolt? There are several reasons for this. The main one, which they all, as one, reproduced during interrogations in the Peter and Paul Fortress - the spirit of free thinking, faith in the strength of the Russian people, tired of oppression - all this was born after the brilliant victory over Napoleon. It is no coincidence that 115 people from among the Decembrists were participants Patriotic War 1812. Indeed, during military campaigns, freeing European countries, they never met the savagery of serfdom. This forced them to reconsider the attitude of "slaves and masters" towards their country.

It was obvious that serfdom outlived itself. Fighting side by side with the common people, communicating with them, the future Decembrists came to the conclusion that people deserve a better fate than a slave existence. The peasants also hoped that after the war their situation would change in better side because they shed their blood for their country. But, unfortunately, the emperor and most of the nobles firmly held on to the serfs. That is why from 1814 to 1820 more than two hundred peasant uprisings. The apotheosis was a rebellion against Colonel Schwartz Semenovsky guards regiment in 1820. His cruelty to ordinary soldiers crossed all boundaries. Activists of the Decembrist movement, Sergei Muravyov-Apostol and Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin, witnessed these events, as they served in this regiment.

It should also be noted that the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum instilled a certain spirit of freethinking in most of the participants: for example, I. Pushchin was its graduates, and A. Pushkin's freedom-loving poems were used as inspirational ideas.

Southern Society of Decembrists

It should be understood that the Decembrist movement did not arise out of nowhere: it grew out of world revolutionary ideas. Pavel Pestel wrote that such thoughts go “from one end of Europe to Russia”, even covering Turkey and England, which are opposite in mentality.

The ideas of Decembrism were realized through the work of secret societies. The first of them are the Union of Salvation (Petersburg, 1816) and the Union of Welfare (1918). The second arose on the basis of the first, was less conspiratorial and included more members. In 1820, it was also dissolved due to differences of opinion.

In 1821 there is new organization, consisting of two Societies: Northern (in St. Petersburg, headed by Nikita Muravyov) and Southern (in Kyiv, headed by Pavel Pestel). Southern society had more reactionary views: in order to establish a republic, they proposed to kill the king. The structure of the Southern Society consisted of three departments: the first, along with P. Pestel, was headed by A. Yushnevsky, the second - by S. Muravyov-Apostol, the third - by V. Davydov and S. Volkonsky.

Pavel Ivanovich Pestel

The leader of the Southern Society, Pavel Ivanovich Pestel, was born in 1793 in Moscow. He receives an excellent education in Europe, and upon his return to Russia begins service in Corps of Pages- especially privileged among the nobles. The pages are personally acquainted with all the members imperial family. Here, for the first time, the freedom-loving views of the young Pestel are manifested. Having brilliantly graduated from the Corps, he continues to serve in the Lithuanian regiment with the rank of ensign of the Life Guards.

During the war of 1812, Pestel was seriously wounded. Having recovered, he returns to the service, bravely fights. By the end of the war, Pestel had many high awards, including gold After World War II, he was transferred to serve in the Cavalier Guard Regiment - at that time the most prestigious place of service.

While in St. Petersburg, Pestel learns about a certain secret society and soon joins it. Begins revolutionary life Paul. In 1821, he headed the Southern Society - in this he was helped by magnificent eloquence, a wonderful mind and the gift of persuasion. Thanks to these qualities, in due time he achieves unity of views of the Southern and Northern societies.

Pestel's constitution

In 1923, the program of the Southern Society, compiled by Pavel Pestel, was adopted. It was unanimously accepted by all members of the association - the future Decembrists. Briefly, it contained the following points:

1. Russia should become a republic, united and indivisible, consisting of 10 districts. Public administration will be carried out by the People's Council (legislative) and the State Duma (executive).
2. In resolving the issue of serfdom, Pestel proposed to immediately abolish it, dividing the land into two parts: for the peasants and for the landowners. It was assumed that the latter would rent it out for farming. Researchers believe that if the reform of 1861 to abolish serfdom went according to Pestel's plan, then the country would very soon embark on a bourgeois, economically progressive path of development.
3. The abolition of the institution of estates. All the people of the country are called citizens, they are equally equal before the law. Personal freedoms and inviolability of the person and home were declared.
4. Tsarism was categorically not accepted by Pestel, so he demanded the physical destruction of the entire royal family.

Russkaya Pravda was supposed to come into force as soon as the uprising was over. It will be the basic law of the land.

Northern Society of Decembrists

The northern society begins to exist in 1821, in the spring. Initially, it consisted of two groups, which later united. It should be noted that the first group was more radical, its members shared the views of Pestel and fully accepted his "Russian Truth".

The activists of the Northern Society were (head), Kondraty Ryleev (deputy), and Trubetskoy. Ivan Pushchin played an important role in the Society.

The Northern Society operated mainly in St. Petersburg, but it also had a branch in Moscow.

The path of unification of the Northern and Southern societies was long and very painful. They had cardinal differences on some issues. However, at the convention in 1824, it was decided to begin the process of unification in 1826. The uprising in December 1825 destroyed these plans.

Nikita Mikhailovich Muraviev

Nikita Mikhailovich Muravyov - a native of noble family. Born in 1795 in St. Petersburg. He received an excellent education in Moscow. The war of 1812 found him in the rank of collegiate registrar at the Ministry of Justice. He runs away from home for the war, making a brilliant career during the battles.

After World War II, he began to work as part of secret societies: the Union of Salvation and the Union of Welfare. In addition, writes the charter for the latter. He believes that the country should establish republican form government, only a military coup can help this. During a trip to the south, he meets P. Pestel. Nevertheless, it organizes its own structure - the Northern Society, but does not break ties with a like-minded person, but, on the contrary, actively cooperates.

He writes the first version of his version of the Constitution in 1821, but it did not find a response from other members of the Societies. A little later, he will reconsider his views and release already new program offered by the Northern Society.

Muraviev's constitution

The constitution of N. Muravyov included the following positions:

1. Russia should become a constitutional monarchy: the legislative power is the Supreme Duma, consisting of two chambers; executive - emperor (concurrently - supreme commander). Separately, it was stipulated that he did not have the right to start and end the war on his own. After a maximum of three readings, the emperor had to sign the law. He had no right to impose a veto, he could only delay the signing in time.
2. With the abolition of serfdom, the lands of the landowners should be left to the owners, and the peasants - their plots, plus add 2 acres to each house.
3. Suffrage - only landowners. Women, nomads and non-owners were kept away from him.
4. Abolish the institution of estates, equalize everyone with one name: citizen. Judicial system one for all.

Muraviev was aware that his version of the constitution would meet fierce resistance, so he provided for its introduction with the use of weapons.

Preparations for the uprising

The secret societies described above lasted 10 years, after which the uprising began. It should be said that the decision to revolt arose quite spontaneously.

While in Taganrog, Alexander I dies. Due to the lack of heirs, the next emperor was to be Constantine, Alexander's brother. The problem was that he secretly abdicated at one time. Accordingly, the board passed to the younger brother, Nicholas. The people were in confusion, not knowing about the renunciation. However, Nikolai decides to take the oath on December 14, 1925.

Alexander's death was Starting point for the rebels. They understand that it is time to act, despite the fundamental differences between the Southern and Northern societies. They were well aware that they had catastrophically little time to prepare well for the uprising, but they believed that it was criminal to miss such a moment. This is exactly what Ivan Pushchin wrote to his lyceum friend Alexander Pushkin.

Gathered on the night before December 14, the rebels prepare a plan of action. It boiled down to the following points:

1. Appoint Prince Trubetskoy as commander.
2. Borrow Winter Palace and Peter and Paul Fortress. A. Yakubovich and A. Bulatov were appointed responsible for this.
3. Lieutenant P. Kakhovsky was supposed to kill Nikolai. This action was supposed to be a signal to action for the rebels.
4. Carry out propaganda work among the soldiers and win them over to the side of the rebels.
5. To convince the Senate to swear allegiance to the emperor was assigned to Kondraty Ryleev and Ivan Pushchin.

Unfortunately, the future Decembrists did not think of everything. History says that traitors from among them made a denunciation of the impending rebellion to Nicholas, which finally convinced him to appoint an oath to the Senate in the early morning of December 14th.

The uprising: how did it go

The uprising did not go according to the scenario that the rebels had planned. The Senate manages to swear allegiance to the emperor even before the campaign.

However, regiments of soldiers in order of battle lined up on Senate Square, everyone is waiting for decisive action from the leadership.
and Kondraty Ryleev arrive there and assure the imminent arrival of the command, Prince Trubetskoy. The latter, having betrayed the rebels, sat out in the royal General Staff. He failed to take the decisive action that was required of him.

As a result, the uprising was crushed.

Arrests and trial

In St. Petersburg, the first arrests and executions of the Decembrists began to take place. An interesting fact is that it was not the Senate, as it was supposed to, but the Supreme Court, specially organized by Nicholas I for this case, that did not deal with the trial of the arrested. The very first, even before the uprising, on December 13, Pavel Pestel was arrested.

The fact is that shortly before the uprising, he accepted A. Mayboroda as a member of the Southern Society, who turned out to be a traitor. Pestel is arrested in Tulchin and taken to the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg.

Mayboroda also wrote a denunciation of N. Muravyov, who was arrested in his own estate.

579 people were under investigation. 120 of them were exiled to hard labor in Siberia (among them, Nikita Muravyov), all were shamefully demoted to military ranks. Five rebels were sentenced to death.

execution

Appealing to the court possible way execution of the Decembrists, Nikolai notes that blood should not be shed. Thus, they, the heroes of the Patriotic War, are sentenced to the shameful gallows.

Who were the executed Decembrists? Their surnames are as follows: Pavel Pestel, Pyotr Kakhovsky, Kondraty Ryleev, Sergei Muravyov-Apostol, Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin. The verdict was read out on July 12, and they were hanged on July 25, 1926. The place of execution of the Decembrists was equipped for a long time: a gallows with a special mechanism was built. However, it was not without overlays: three people fell off the hinges, they had to be hung again.

The place in the Peter and Paul Fortress where the Decembrists were executed is its kronverk. There is a monument, which is an obelisk and a granite composition. It symbolizes the courage with which the executed Decembrists fought for their ideals.

Their names are carved on the monument.

The accession to the throne of Nicholas I was marked by an uprising on Senate Square on December 14, 1825, its suppression and the execution of the Decembrists.

It was the strangest rebellion ever raised against the existing order. In any case, it began as the most bloodless.

More than three thousand guardsmen under the command of noble officers gathered on the Senate Square of the capital. The first to march on the square was the Moscow Guards Regiment. He was raised to rebellion by the revolutionary speech of the officer Alexander Bestuzhev. The regimental commander, Baron Frederick, wanted to prevent the rebels from entering the square, but fell with a severed head under the blow of the saber of officer Shchepin-Rostovsky.

Soldiers of the Moscow Regiment came to Senate Square with a fluttering regimental banner, loading guns and taking live ammunition with them. The regiment lined up in a battle square near the monument to Peter I. The St. Petersburg Governor-General Miloradovich galloped up to the rebels and began to persuade the soldiers to disperse and take the oath.

Pyotr Kakhovsky mortally wounded Miloradovich. Under command naval officers Nikolai Bestuzhev and Arbuzov, insurgent sailors came to the square - the Guards Naval Crew, followed by a regiment of insurgent Life Grenadiers.

"We had to decide to put this imminent end, otherwise the rebellion could be communicated to the mob, and then the troops surrounded by it would be in the most difficult position, ”Nikolai later wrote in his Notes.

After three o'clock in the afternoon it began to get dark. The tsar ordered the cannons to be rolled out and shot at point-blank range.

The arrested were taken to the Winter Palace.

It was not the highest judicial body of Russia, the Senate, that was supposed to administer justice to the Decembrists, but the Supreme Criminal Court, created by circumventing the laws at the direction of Nicholas I. The judges were chosen by the emperor himself, who was afraid that the Senate would not fulfill his will. The investigation established that the conspirators wanted to raise an armed uprising among the troops, overthrow the autocracy, abolish serfdom and popularly adopt a new state law - a revolutionary constitution. The Decembrists carefully worked out their plans.

First of all, they decided to prevent the troops and the Senate from taking the oath 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 the 25-year term of military service, the granting of freedom of speech, assembly, and religion.

If the Senate did not agree to publish the revolutionary manifesto, it was decided to force it to do so. The insurgent troops were to occupy the Winter Palace and the Peter and Paul Fortress, royal family should have been arrested. If necessary, it was supposed to kill the king.

The trial of the Decembrists took place with many procedural violations. The death sentence was handed down to 36 Decembrists. The verdict determined the method of applying the death penalty: quartering. Nicholas I approved only five death sentences.

For the rest of those sentenced, the death penalty was commuted to hard labor.

In pursuance of the king's decree, the Supreme Court was to choose the punishment of five condemned to be quartered.

By his decree, the emperor seemed to leave the Supreme Court itself to decide the fate of the five main convicts. In reality, the king clearly expressed his will here too, but not for general information. Adjutant General Dibich wrote to the Chairman Supreme Court regarding the punishment of five people placed outside the category: “In case of doubt about the type of their execution, which this court can determine for criminals, the sovereign emperor ordered me to deign to preface your lordship that his majesty does not deign in any way not only to be quartered, like a painful execution, but also to be shot as an execution, one military crimes characteristic, not even to a simple cutting off of the head and, in a word, not to any death penalty, with the shedding of blood associated ... "The draft of this letter was compiled by Speransky. The Supreme Court was thus left with one option - to replace the quartering by hanging, which it did.

In general, Nicholas did not allow the outcome of the process without the death penalty. “Regarding the main instigators and conspirators, an exemplary execution will be their just retribution for the violation of public peace,” Nicholas I admonished the members of the court long before the verdict was passed.

The verdict of the Supreme Criminal Court, after being approved by the emperor, entered into force. On July 13, 1826, on the crown work of the Peter and Paul Fortress, the following were executed: K.F. Ryleev, P. I. Pestel, SI. Muraviev-Apostol, M.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin and P.G. Kakhovsky.

Five Decembrists, by the will of the tsar sentenced to hanging, like all other convicts, did not know the verdict. The announcement of the verdict took place on July 12 in the premises of the commandant of the Peter and Paul Fortress. Here from the Senate building moved a long row of carriages with members of the court. Two gendarmerie squadrons accompanied the carriages. In the allotted hall, the judges sat down at a table covered with red cloth. The prisoners were brought from the casemates to the commandant's house. The meeting was unexpected for them: they hugged, kissed, asking what it meant.

When they found out that the verdict would be announced, they asked: “How, were we tried?” The answer was: "Already tried." The convicts were placed according to the categories of the sentence in separate rooms, from where they were led in groups into the hall for hearing the sentence and its confirmation. They were taken out of the hall through other doors to the casemates. The sentenced courageously met the verdict, which was read to them by the chief secretary, and the judges at that time examined them through lorgnettes.

This calmness of those sentenced to death did not leave them, as we will see below, even during the painful hours of execution.

The story of an anonymous witness about the execution was published in Herzen's almanac "Polar Star".

“... The scaffold was arranged in advance in the St. Petersburg city prison ... On the eve of this fateful day, the St. Petersburg military governor-general Kutuzov made an experiment on the scaffold in prison, which consisted in throwing sandbags weighing eight pounds on the same ropes on which the criminals were supposed to be hanged, some ropes were thicker, others thinner. Governor-General Pavel Vasilyevich Kutuzov, having personally verified the strength of the ropes, decided to use thinner ropes so that the loops would quickly tighten. Having finished this experiment, he ordered the chief of police Posnikov, having dismantled the scaffold in parts, to send it to the place of execution at different times from 11 to 12 o'clock at night ...

At 12 o'clock in the morning, the governor-general, the chief of gendarmes with their headquarters and other authorities arrived at the Peter and Paul Fortress, where the soldiers of the Pavlovsk Guards Regiment also arrived, and a square of soldiers was made on the square opposite the Mint, where it was ordered to be taken out of the casemates where criminals, all 120 convicts, except for five sentenced to death ... (These five) at the same time at night were sent from the fortress under the escort of Pavlovsk soldiers, under police chief Chikhachev, to the kronverk to the place of execution.

The scaffold was already being built in a circle of soldiers, the criminals walked in chains, Kakhovsky went forward alone, followed by Bestuzhev-Ryumin arm in arm with Muravyov, then Pestel and Ryleyev arm in arm and spoke among themselves in French, but the conversation could not be heard. Passing by the scaffold under construction in close range, although it was dark, it was heard that Pestel, looking at the scaffold, said: "C" est trop "-" This is too much "(fr.). They were immediately put on the grass at a close distance, where they remained the most a short time. According to the recollection of the quarter warden, "they were completely calm, but only very serious, just as if they were considering some important matter." When a priest approached them, Ryleev put his hand to his heart and said: “Do you hear how it beats calmly?” Convicted in last time embraced.

Since the scaffold could not be ready soon, they were led into a crown work into different rooms, and when the scaffold was ready, they were again taken out of the rooms, accompanied by a priest. Chief of Police Chikhachev read the maxim of the Supreme Court, which ended with the words: "... hang for such atrocities!" Then Ryleev, turning to his comrades, said, keeping all his presence of mind: “Lord! We must pay the last debt, ”and with this they all fell on their knees, looking at the sky, were baptized. Ryleev alone said - he wished the well-being of Russia ... Then, getting up, each of them said goodbye to the priest, kissing the cross and his hand, moreover, Ryleev said to the priest in a firm voice: “Father, pray for our sinful souls don't forget my wife and bless my daughter"; Crossing himself, he ascended the scaffold, followed by others, except for Kakhovsky, who fell on the priest's chest, wept and hugged him so tightly that they took him away with difficulty...

During the execution, there were two executioners who put on a noose first, and then a white cap. On their chests (that is, the Decembrists) had black skin, on which the name of the criminal was written in chalk, they were in white coats, and heavy chains were on their legs. When everything was ready, with the pressure of a spring in the scaffold, the platform on which they stood on the benches fell, and at the same moment three fell off: Ryleev, Pestel and Kakhovskiy fell down. Ryleyev's cap fell off, and a bloody eyebrow and blood behind his right ear, probably from a bruise, were visible.

He sat crouching because he had fallen into the scaffold. I approached him and said: “What a misfortune!” The governor-general, seeing that three had fallen, sent adjutant Bashutsky to take other ropes and hang them, which was done. anything. When the board was raised again, Pestel's rope was so long that he reached the platform with his socks, which should have prolonged his torment, and it was noticeable for some time that he was still alive. In this position they remained for half an hour, doctor, former here announced that the perpetrators had died."

Governor-General Golenishchev-Kutuzov officially reported to the tsar: "The execution ended with due silence and order both on the part of the troops who were in the ranks and on the part of the spectators, who were few." But he added: “Due to the inexperience of our executioners and the inability to arrange the gallows at the first time, three, namely: Ryleev, Kakhovsky and Pestel, broke, but were soon hanged again and received a well-deserved death.” Nikolai himself wrote on July 13 to his mother: “I am writing two words in haste, dear mother, wishing to inform you that everything happened quietly and in order: the vile ones behaved vilely, without any dignity.

Chernyshev is leaving tonight and, as an eyewitness, can tell you all the details. Sorry for the brevity of the presentation, but, knowing and sharing your concern, dear mother, I wanted to bring to your attention what I have already become aware of.

The next day after the execution, the king returned with his family to the capital. On the Senate Square, with the participation of the higher clergy, a cleansing prayer service was held with the sprinkling of the earth “desecrated” by the uprising.

The tsar also issued a Manifesto about the consignment to oblivion of the whole matter.

October 3rd, 2016

190 years ago, on July 13 (according to the new style - July 25), 1826, five participants in the famous Decembrist uprising were executed in the Peter and Paul Fortress - Kondraty Ryleev, Pavel Pestel, Pyotr Kakhovsky, Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin and Sergei Muravyov-Apostol.

On December 14, 1825, an armed uprising took place on Senate Square in St. coup d'état. In less than a day, it was suppressed by troops loyal to the proclaimed Emperor Nicholas I. According to official figures, 1271 people died, of which 150 were children, and 79 were women. Moreover, many of the victims accidentally ended up at the scene.

But who knows where the grave of the five executed Decembrists is located? Now we will find out...

Puppets and villains

After famous events Three days later, a Commission was established for research on malicious societies, chaired by Minister of War Alexander Tatishchev.

Most of the arrested conspirators were kept in the Peter and Paul Fortress, but some ended up in other prisons, such as the Vyborg Castle. During interrogations, they behaved differently. For helping the investigation, the rebels were promised to alleviate their plight. And some people took advantage of it. For example, the appointed dictator of the uprising, Prince Sergei Trubetskoy, who never appeared on Senate Square, was frank with the investigators, testified and, in the end, escaped the death penalty. Sergei Petrovich, deprived of all ranks and nobility, was sent to hard labor in Siberia, where his wife Ekaterina soon followed him.

For a long time, Ivan Yakushkin persisted and did not want to give any evidence. However, in the end he made a detailed confession, which he later assessed as "the result of a series of deals with himself." Mikhail Lunin behaved in a similar way.

Kondraty Ryleev, Sergei Muraviev-Apostol and Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin did not renounce their beliefs or their role in organizing the uprising. But they did not want to extradite other participants in the rebellion. Kondraty Ryleev, in his affidavit, asked "to spare young people", who, according to him, were involved in what was happening by other persons. By the way, after the execution, Nicholas I ordered to provide from the state treasury financial assistance the Ryleev family.

But Pavel Pestel, on the contrary, at first claimed that he did not know about any conspiracy and about any secret societies. However, realizing that the investigation already knew a lot, he began to testify. The emperor, who personally communicated with the main persons involved in the conspiracy, gave Pestel an expressive description: "Pestel was a villain in all the power of his word, without the slightest shadow of remorse."

Under royal supervision

I must say that the sovereign closely followed the course of the investigation, personally participated in the interrogations. Some historians claim that this gave Nicholas I great pleasure. Although his statements are known about how bitter and insulting it was for him to listen to confessions of treason against the Fatherland from representatives of the Russian elite - officers who bravely fought against Napoleon. And the tsar participated in the process in order to be sure: the materials that will be brought to him for approval were not rigged or falsified.

I also read about the cruel methods of interrogation of the Decembrists, about the fact that they were subjected to physical measures of influence. Those arrested were indeed shackled. But at that time it was a common practice throughout Europe. As for torture, they were not used against the Decembrists.

On May 30 (June 11, according to the new style), 1826, the commission submitted a report to Nicholas I. The Supreme Criminal Court was soon established. The cases of 579 persons under investigation were submitted for its consideration. Of these, more than 250 people were found guilty, and only 121 were punished. The guilt of the rest, according to the judges, was not significant.

The Supreme Criminal Court issued harsh sentences. Five - the death penalty by quartering, another 31 - by cutting off the head. However, Nicholas I significantly reduced the sentences. Quartering was replaced by hanging, and instead of cutting off the head, he sent the rebels to hard labor. According to eyewitnesses, enlightened Europe was then struck by mercy and humanism. Russian monarch. After all, as it turned out during the investigation, the plans of some conspirators included the elimination of all members of the imperial family, including small children.

Ends in the water?

On July 13, 1826, Ryleev, Pestel, Kakhovsky, Bestuzhev-Ryumin and Muravyov-Apostol were hanged in the courtyard of the crown work of the Peter and Paul Fortress. There are many legends about this execution to this day. One of them says that Muraviev-Apostol, Kakhovsky and Ryleev fell off their hinges, they were hung up again. However, there is not a word about this in the memoirs left by Boris Knyazhnin, chief police officer of St. Petersburg, who led the process.

Knyazhnin described not only the execution, but also the procedure for burying corpses. However, he did not indicate specific place. Historians suggest that the chief police chief received such an order from the emperor himself, who was afraid that the grave would become a place of pilgrimage.

In the first half of the 19th century, it was believed that the executed were buried on Goloday Island, which is now called the Island of the Decembrists. Someone even knew exact coordinates: there is indirect evidence that the widow Ryleeva came to her husband's grave. But then the place of burial was mysteriously forgotten. And appeared various versions who are still alive today.

The first is Petrovsky Island. Here, on the territory of the Almaz shipbuilding company, there is commemorative sign executed Decembrists. The hypothesis that they could be buried on this island was put forward during the years of perestroika by the writer Andrei Chernov. He relied on the assumption made by Anna Akhmatova. The poetess, in turn, referred to Pushkin, who allegedly described the burial place in his poems. And it is very similar to Petrovsky Island.

After the publication of Chernov's article, excavations began on the island, in which soldiers, employees of the Almaz association and just enthusiasts took part. Some bones were indeed found, but so decayed that it was impossible to determine to whom they belonged. However, the sign was posted.

According to the second version, the bodies of the executed were wrapped in bags, which were then sewn up and thrown from the ship into the Gulf of Finland. Where this version came from is hard to say. Its supporters claim that Nicholas I sought to completely erase the memory of the Decembrists and wanted their grave to never be found. But neither documents nor eyewitness accounts confirming such an exotic massacre of the dead have been preserved.

There is a similar hypothesis that the bodies of the hanged were immediately thrown into the Kronverk channel. Although in this case, after some time, the remains would have surfaced, which, of course, would have become known to the whole city.

Starve Island

For example, the Decembrists Zavalishin and Shtein-gel knew that the bodies of their dead comrades "...the next night were secretly taken to Goloday Island, and buried secretly there." Bestuzhev said: “They were buried on Golodav, behind the Smolensk cemetery ...” Another contemporary, Shchukin, stated the same thing: “... the hanged were taken to Goloday Island and buried in one pit at the end of the island in a deserted place behind the German cemetery” .

Reference:

Until 1775, the island was named Galladai, and then for over 150 years - Golodai.

There are several versions of the origin of the name. First of all, the foreign origin of the word (from Swede, “ha-laua” - “willow” or English holiday - “day off”, “holiday”).
According to another, completely implausible hypothesis, the name of the island in early XVIII centuries were given by the starving peasants - the builders of the city, who lived here in dugouts and barracks.

Most likely, the name of the island comes from the surname English doctor Thomas Holliday (Holliday), who owned here land plot. And the name "Galladai" is explained by the inaccurate pronunciation of a little-known and obscure surname. Later, the inhabitants of the island turned the incomprehensible name "Galladai" into the familiar "Starve".

There were many other people who indicated Golodai as the final resting place of the Decembrists. The most reliable of them is the testimony of an anonymous assistant to the quarter warden - a participant in the funeral: “Do you know the Smolensk cemetery? .. There is a German cemetery, and behind it an Armenian one. There is such an alley to the left. "If you go out to the seaside, there you are. Here they were all buried. At night they were taken out with an escort, and here we went ... Then there was a guard stationed there for four months."

And if ordinary people went in crowds to the place of burial of the Decembrists, then the relatives of the executed were even more so. Ryleev's widow often came to her dear grave. This was told by Kamenskaya, who, being an 8-year-old girl, accompanied her there in 1826: “I remember that our people told me that Ryleev’s widow, by some special favor to her, was allowed to take her husband’s body and bury him herself on Goloday, only so that she does not put a cross over the place where it will be laid and does not make any note by which one could suspect that someone is buried here. But the unfortunate woman could not resist, so as not to drag with her own hands to the ground under which her earthly happiness lay, a pile of simple cobblestones and not to stick them with simple herbs and wild flowers ... For an outsider's eye, this pile of pebbles was not at all noticeable but we saw her from afar and went straight to her."
Rumors that the body of the executed Kondraty Ryleev was given to his widow for burial have no confirmation. On the contrary, something else is known. Bibikova, the sister of the executed Decembrist Muravyov-Apostol, asked to give her the corpse of her brother, to which Nicholas I replied with a decisive refusal. Probably Kamenskaya took for mass grave all five Decembrists are buried by Ryleev.

For example, close friend Natalia Ryleeva, Miller in 1827 went to Hunger with his daughters to pray over the ashes of the dead. The artist Zhemchuzhnikov often walked around Vasilyevsky Island together with the painters Fedotov and Beidemen in the late 1840s and early 1850s. He said: "... in the distance one could see the Smolensk cemetery in the form of a forest, behind the cemetery there was a mound known to us over the bodies of the executed Decembrists." Information about the location of the grave of the Decembrists is available in the diaries of Pushkin's acquaintance Gendra. He visited their grave shortly after the execution, in the summer of 1826, and saw a military guard posted there. Gendre's companion, apparently, was Griboyedov.

In 1862, after an amnesty was declared for all Decembrists, the St. Petersburg Governor-General Suvorov decided to ennoble the famous grave. However, over time, this place began to flood with the waters of the Neva, and the relatives of the executed "five" themselves moved to another world. So last resort the Decembrists were forgotten ...

as assumed the common grave of five executed Decembrists

chance find

In June 1917, the Petrograd newspapers exploded with headlines: "The grave of the executed Decembrists has been found!" Since the February Revolution that recently took place in Russia seemed to be a continuation of the work of the Decembrists, the message about this find aroused unprecedented interest in the most wide circles the public.

Back in 1906, the city authorities decided to build up Goloday Island with a complex of buildings called "New Petersburg".

The owner of the construction company, Italian Richard Gualino, heard that the Decembrists were buried somewhere on the site of the current construction site, and tried to find the grave. However, in 1911, the police found out about the activities of the Italian and forbade him to excavate. After the February Revolution of 1917, he left for Turin, leaving the engineer Gurevich in his place, whom he asked to continue the search. A similar request was made to him by the newly created in Petrograd Society for the Memory of the Decembrists.

On June 1, 1917, Gurevich informed the secretary of the society, Professor Svyatlovsky, that while digging a trench for water supply behind the garrison wing, someone's coffin had been found. The next day, at the request of the professor, General Schwartz assigned soldiers from the 1st Automobile Company for further excavations. As a result, 4 more coffins were dug out of the ground, which lay in a common grave along with the first one. Thus, a total of 5 human skeletons were found, which corresponded to the number of executed Decembrists.

In the first, best-preserved coffin, a skeleton was found, dressed in an officer's uniform from the time of Alexander I. The coffin was rich, once upholstered in brocade, had wooden legs in the form of lion's paws. The rest of the dominoes were much more modest in production and worse preserved. Therefore, the bones in them were only fragments of human skeletons. Judging by the remains of clothing, three of the people buried here were military, and two were civilians. This was fully consistent with the truth - Pestel, Muravyov-Apostol and Bestuzhev-Ryumin were military men, and Ryleev Kakhovsky - civilians. According to the members of the Society for the Memory of the Decembrists, the best preserved skeleton in military uniform belonged to Colonel Pestel.

All found human remains were put into one, the best preserved coffin, and placed in the Smolensk cemetery for "transfer to the Academy of Sciences for the purpose of study and subsequent solemn burial."
A discussion immediately unfolded whether the remains found on Goloday really belong to the executed Decembrists. Opinions were divided. Some argued that the number of skeletons found corresponds to the number of hanged rebels, the uniform also confirms this, the buttons on one of the uniforms were made no earlier than 1808, leather belts were found in the coffins, which usually tied the hands of convicts before execution.

Other Petrograders had strong doubts. From the stories of contemporaries it was known how the Decembrists were executed and buried. Before the execution, they took off their clothes and burned them at the stake, and then changed into suicide shrouds. For this reason alone, they could not be buried in military uniform. Some witnesses even claimed that they were buried naked, since the funeral team took these shrouds for themselves. According to other sources, the corpses of the executed were buried without coffins, and then covered with quicklime, so that neither the form nor the skeletons themselves could be preserved.

Finally, pieces of leather found in coffins, mistaken for leather belts, are just the remains of boots, from which, by the way, heels have also been preserved. And the buttons found in the "Pestel's grave" corresponded to the samples of the reign of both Alexander I and Nicholas I. In general, the number of human bones found on Goloday could hardly belong to five - there are too few of them.

But what about Pushkin?

Another interest in the grave of the Decembrists was shown by Anna Akhmatova. Exploring the work of Pushkin, she came to the conclusion that the poet was looking for the grave of his friends, visited it and even left a kind of guide to it in some of his works. First of all, it was Pushkin's work "A Secluded House on Vasilyevsky". In the poem "When sometimes a memory..." Pushkin allegedly described the burial place of the Decembrists as follows:

I see an open island there
Sad island and wild coast,
Dotted with winter lingonberries,
Covered with withered tundra
And washed with cold foam

In the poem "The Bronze Horseman" Anna Andreevna found the following lines on this subject:

The island is small.
Visible at the seaside.
Sometimes Mooring with a net there
Belated fisherman on a boat
And cooks his poor supper...

Akhmatova believed that Pushkin depicted in these lines the Goloday Island, where the bodies of the Decembrists were secretly buried. However, Akhmatova's discovery did not cause any sensation then, especially since her conclusions were disputed by historians Tarkhov and Izmailov. In their opinion, Pushkin was describing some other island, not Goloday. And they added that it is not difficult to pick up quotes from any works of the poet under a pre-compiled scheme, as long as they fit in the meaning.

However, in 1985 the Pushkinist Nevelev went even further. Alexander Sergeevich often made various sketches in the margins of his manuscripts. So, on the pages of the draft manuscript of Poltava, he depicted several hanged men: first two hanged men, then a gallows with five hanged men, then one hanged man and, finally, three dead men on the gallows. Nevelev decided that Pushkin displayed "historical information about the execution of the Decembrists" here.

Researchers Belyaev and Tsyavlovsky gave an answer to these unfounded assumptions: Pushkin's drawings are just illustrations for Poltava. It is known that after Poltava battle a number of supporters of the traitor Mazepa were hanged in public, and instead of the runaway hetman himself, his effigy was hung up on the gallows.

Convinced that he was right, Nevelev suggested that, among many other drawings by Pushkin, there must also be an image of the grave of the Decembrists.

The Leningrad poet Chernov in 1987 decided to find the grave of the executed Decembrists, guided by the instructions of Pushkin (or rather, Akhmatova and Nevelev). In the third "Masonic notebook" of the poet, he found a drawing of some kind of broken tree under a rock and big stone lying at its foot. According to Chernov, this was the same stone brought to the grave by the hands of Natalia Ryleeva in 1826. Further, Chernov finds in Pushkin's workbooks and on the pages of the manuscript " Bronze Horseman"Seven drawings depicting some rocks, bushes, cliffs, trees, a fisherman's hut. There is nothing like it on Goloday. Therefore, the researcher suggested that the burial place of dakabristosis is located on the island of Gonoropoulo, separated in the past from Goloday by a narrow channel.

The search for truth for the centenary

Another surge of interest in the grave of the Decembrists arose in 1925 in connection with the upcoming 100th anniversary of their execution. Then the search for truth was led by an organization engaged in the study of the history of the party and revolutionary movement in Russia.

The remains found in 1917 on Goloday were kept in the cellars of the Winter Palace, which in those years became the Museum of the Revolution. Research went in two directions. At the site of the discovery of five coffins, it was decided to conduct new excavations, and medical experts from the Military Medical Academy, Vikhrov and Speransky, were instructed to give an opinion about the skeletons themselves. As a specialist in military uniforms, an expert from Glavnauka Gabaev was invited.

The first sensational detail of the search in 1925 was the news of the sixth coffin, found at the same time, eight years ago, next to five alleged Decembrist dominoes.

Four excavations were laid in the same place on Golodai Island. In the first of them, the workers stumbled upon a half-decayed human skeleton, buried without a coffin. Going deeper, the diggers found a rotten coffin with another skeleton without any signs of clothing. In the second, third and fourth excavations, one dilapidated coffin with fragments of human bones was found. It became clear that there was a cemetery here, and the discovery of five coffins (according to the number of executed Decembrists) in 1917 was a pure accident.

The medical examination of the skeletons gave its sensational results. It turned out that they belonged not to five, but only to four people: three adults and one teenager aged 12-15! The historical examination of the uniform found in one of the coffins showed that it belonged to an officer of the Life Guards of the Finnish Regiment of the 1829-1855 model.

The Eastpart Commission came to the conclusion that the remains found on Goloday "cannot belong to the executed Decembrists." Nevertheless, given that Goloday Island, according to all evidence, is the place where they were nevertheless buried, the authorities decided to build a monument on one of the squares, which was done in 1939, and the island itself was renamed the Decembrist Island.

Thus ended the epic search for the graves of the Decembrists in 1917 and 1925.

But if all the listed versions are wrong, then which one is correct? Opposite the island of the Decembrists, on the banks of the Smolenka River, is the Orthodox Smolensk cemetery - one of the oldest in St. Petersburg. Many are buried here famous people. In the 19th century, two sections adjoined it: for suicides and for domestic animals. Most serious researchers are inclined to believe that, most likely, the remains of the executed Decembrists lie just on one of these sites.

However, finding them now is an almost impossible task ...

sources

“I didn’t sleep,” Obolensky recalls, “we were ordered to get dressed. I heard steps, heard a whisper ... Some time passed, I heard the sound of chains; the door opened on opposite side corridor. The chains rang heavily, I hear the drawling voice of my unchanging friend, Kondraty Fedorovich Ryleyev: "Forgive me, forgive me, brothers!" - and measured steps retired to the end of the corridor. I rushed to the window. It started to get light."

“At two o’clock in the morning, the chains rang for the last time,” writes Rosen. “The five Martyrs were led to hang in the ditch of the Kronverk curtain. - will be at the right hand of the Father. " Ryleev, approaching the gallows, said: "Ryleev is dying like a villain, may Russia remember him!"

Dawn came gloomy, damp. Ryleyev came out cleanly dressed - in a frock coat, well-shaven. He supported the shackles with a handkerchief threaded through one link. The rest also put themselves in order before leaving. Except for Kakhovsky, who didn't even comb his hair.

They were first led to mass in Peter and Paul Cathedral. Then, accompanied by Myslovsky, police chief Chikhachev and a platoon of grenadiers of the Pavlovsky regiment - to the scaffold.

Myslovsky remembered the words of Pestel, who, seeing the gallows, said: “Do we really not deserve a better death? It seems that we have never turned our chela away from bullets or cannonballs. We could have been shot."

Myslovsky turned to Ryleev with consolations. He took his hand and put it on his heart: "Do you hear, father, it does not beat stronger than before."

Before they were brought to the place, in the square, in view of the prepared gallows - a crossbar on two pillars, a civil penalty over all other Decembrists. The verdict was again read to them, then swords were broken over their heads, uniforms were torn off the military and thrown into the fires. In these bonfires - there were four of them - uniforms and epaulettes were still smoldering, red-hot orders were glowing, when five suicide bombers came here. They tore off their outer clothing, threw it into the fire, put white robes on them and tied a leather bib to each with an inscription - white on black. Ryleev: "Criminal Kondrat Ryleev."

Engineer Matushkin was busy with his assistants at the gallows - not everything was ready there. The executioner and his assistant, either from Sweden or Finland, were setting up nooses. The gallows turned out to be too high - they sent to the Merchant Shipping School for benches. While they were being transported, the five convicts sat on the grass and talked. Having torn off the blades of grass, they cast lots, who should go first, who should go second, and so on - to the execution. They went to the benches in the order that fell out by lot. They put nooses around their necks, and caps were pulled over their eyes from above. Here Ryleyev calmly remarked that it would be necessary to tie his hands. The executioners realized it and did it.

The drums beat the beat. The soldiers stood in silence. Governor-General Golenshtsev-Kutuzov, Adjutant General Chernyshov and Benkendorf watched the execution on horseback. There were also chief police chief Knyazhnin, adjutant wing Durnovo, several military and police officers. On the shore - near the walls of the fortress - Petersburg residents crowded. Many people also gathered on the Trinity Bridge - there were Baron Delvig, Nikolai Grech, relatives of many Decembrists. From there, a huge gallows was clearly visible. There was no indifferent face in the crowd - everyone was crying.

The ropes were of different thicknesses and Bad quality. When the executioner pressed the lever, the benches and platform fell into the pit. Pestel and Kakhovsky hung, and three ropes broke - Muravyov-Apostol, Bestuzhev-Ryumin and Ryleev with a roar (they were in shackles) fell into the same hole - after the boards and benches. Bestuzhev-Ryumin lost consciousness from a blow to the boards. Ryleyev bruised his head - blood flooded his face. One of the soldiers remarked: "Know, God does not want them to die." Yes, and the custom was all over the world, from time immemorial: the hanged man broke - his happiness - and they didn’t hang him twice.

Hang them up, hang them up! shouted Golenishchev-Kutuzov furiously. The executioners dragged the unfortunate out of the pit.

Ryleyev got to his feet and looked into Kutuzov's eyes. In complete silence, his slow words rang out:

You, General, probably came to watch us die. Please your sovereign that his desire is being fulfilled: you see - we are dying in torment.

Hang them up again soon! shouted Kutuzov. Even Benckendorff could not stand it - he fell prone on the neck of his horse and remained in this position until the end of this massacre.

The vile oprichnik of the tyrant! Ryleev shouted back. - Give the executioner your aiguillettes, so that we do not die a third time!

Cursed land, where they do not know how to plot, judge, or hang, - said Sergey Muravyov-Apostol.

Bestuzhev-Ryumin could not stand on his feet - the executioners raised him to the platform for the second time. They put loops on them again ...

I forgive and allow! shouted Myslovsky, raising the cross, but immediately staggered and fell unconscious. When he woke up, it was all over.

The wife of Nicholas I, Alexandra Feodorovna, wrote down on Monday, July 13: “What a night it was! The dead people seemed to me all the time ... At 7 o'clock, Nicholas was awakened. Kutuzov and Dibich reported in two letters that everything had passed without any disturbances. .. My poor Nikolai has suffered so much these days!"

The report of Golenishchev-Kutuzov said: “The execution ended with due silence and order both on the part of the troops who were in the ranks and on the part of the spectators, who were few. Due to the inexperience of our executioners and the inability to arrange the gallows at the first time, three and namely: Ryleev , Kakhovsky and Muravyov (Kakhovsky is erroneously named here instead of Bestuzhev-Ryumin) broke, but were soon hanged again and received a well-deserved death.

“Thank God,” Nikolai Dibich wrote, “that everything ended well ... I ask you, dear friend, to be as careful as possible today and ask you to tell Benckendorff to double his vigilance and attention; the same order should be given to the troops” .

On the same day, the tsar's manifesto was drawn up and printed, which stated that "the criminals accepted their worthy execution; the Fatherland was cleansed of the consequences of the infection" and that "this intent was not in the properties, not in the customs of the Russians," which was drawn up "a handful of fiends." “Let all fortunes unite in trust in the government,” Nicholas I called out.

"The first task of history is to refrain from lying, the second is not to hide the truth, the third is not to give any reason to suspect oneself of partiality or prejudiced hostility" "Not knowing history means always being a child" Cicero Mark Tullius

On July 13, 1826, five conspirators and leaders of the Decembrist uprising were executed on the crown work of the Peter and Paul Fortress: K.F. Ryleev, P. I. Pestel, SI. Muraviev-Apostol, M.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin and P.G. Kakhovsky

In the first quarter of the 19th century in Russia, a revolutionary ideology was born, the bearers of which were the Decembrists. Disillusioned with the policy of Alexander 1, a part of the progressive nobility decided to do away with the reasons, as it seemed to them, for the backwardness of Russia.

An attempted coup d'état that took place in St. Petersburg, the capital Russian Empire, December 14 (26), 1825, was called the Decembrist Uprising. The uprising was organized by a group of like-minded nobles, many of them were guard officers. They tried to use the guards to prevent the accession to the throne of Nicholas I. The goal was the abolition of the autocracy and the abolition of serfdom.

In February 1816, the first secret political society, the purpose of which was the abolition of serfdom and the adoption of a constitution. It consisted of 28 members (A.N. Muravyov, S.I. and M.I. Muravyov-Apostles, S.P.T. Rubetskoy, I.D. Yakushkin, P.I. Pestel, etc.)

In 1818, the organization " Welfare Union”, which had 200 members and had councils in other cities. The society promoted the idea of ​​abolishing serfdom, preparing a revolutionary coup by the officers. " Welfare Union” fell apart due to disagreements between the radical and moderate members of the union.

In March 1821 in Ukraine arose Southern society headed by P.I. Pestel, who was the author of the program document " Russian Truth».

Petersburg, on the initiative of N.M. Muravyov was created " northern society”, which had a liberal plan of action. Each of these societies had its own program, but the goal was the same - the destruction of autocracy, serfdom, estates, the creation of a republic, the separation of powers, the proclamation of civil liberties.

Preparations began for an armed uprising. The conspirators decided to take advantage of the difficult legal situation that developed around the rights to the throne after the death of Alexander I. On the one hand, there was secret document, confirming the long-standing renunciation of the throne of the brother, Konstantin Pavlovich, following the childless Alexander in seniority, which gave an advantage to the next brother, Nikolai Pavlovich, extremely unpopular among the highest military and bureaucratic elite. On the other hand, even before the opening of this document, Nikolai Pavlovich, under pressure from the Governor-General of St. Petersburg, Count M. A. Miloradovich, hastened to renounce his rights to the throne in favor of Konstantin Pavlovich. After the repeated refusal of Konstantin Pavlovich from the throne, the Senate, as a result of a long night meeting on December 13-14, 1825, recognized legal rights to the throne of Nikolai Pavlovich.

The Decembrists decided to prevent the Senate and the troops from taking the oath to the new tsar.
The conspirators planned to occupy the Peter and Paul Fortress and the Winter Palace, arrest the royal family and, if certain circumstances arise, kill them. Sergei Trubetskoy was elected to lead the uprising. Further, the Decembrists wanted to demand from the Senate the publication of a national manifesto proclaiming the destruction of the old government and the establishment of a provisional government. Admiral Mordvinov and Count Speransky were supposed to be members of the new revolutionary government. The deputies were entrusted with the task of approving the constitution - the new fundamental law. If the Senate refused to announce a nationwide manifesto containing items on the abolition of serfdom, the equality of all before the law, democratic freedoms, the introduction of mandatory for all estates military service, the introduction of a jury, the election of officials, the abolition of the poll tax, etc., it was decided to force him to do this by force. Then it was planned to convene an All-People's Council, which would decide on the choice of a form of government: a republic or constitutional monarchy. If the republican form had been chosen, royal family should have been expelled from the country. Ryleev at first suggested sending Nikolai Pavlovich to Fort Ross, but then he and Pestel conceived the murder of Nikolai and, perhaps, Tsarevich Alexander.

On the morning of December 14, 1825, the Moscow Life Guards Regiment entered Senate Square. It was joined by the Guards Naval Crew and the Life Guards grenadier regiment. In total, about 3 thousand people gathered.

However, Nicholas I, informed of the impending conspiracy, took the oath of the Senate in advance and, having pulled the troops loyal to him, surrounded the rebels. After the negotiations, in which Metropolitan Seraphim and the Governor-General of St. Petersburg M.A. Miloradovich took part on the part of the government (who received mortal wound) Nicholas I ordered the use of artillery. The uprising in Petersburg was crushed.

But already on January 2, it was suppressed by government troops. Arrests of participants and organizers began all over Russia. In the case of the Decembrists, 579 people were involved. Found guilty 287. Five were sentenced to death and executed (K.F. Ryleev, P.I. Pestel, P.G. Kakhovskiy, M.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin, S.I. Muravyov-Apostol). 120 people were exiled to hard labor in Siberia or to a settlement.
About one hundred and seventy officers involved in the case of the Decembrists, out of court, were demoted to soldiers and sent to the Caucasus, where the Caucasian war was going on. Several exiled Decembrists were later sent there. In the Caucasus, some, like M. I. Pushchin, deserved to be promoted to officers by their courage, and some, like A. A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky, died in battle. Individual members of the Decembrist organizations (such as V. D. Volkhovsky and I. G. Burtsev) were transferred to the troops without demotion into soldiers, which took part in Russo-Persian War 1826-1828 and Russian-Turkish war 1828-1829. In the mid-1830s, a little over thirty Decembrists who had served in the Caucasus returned home.

The verdict of the Supreme Criminal Court on the death penalty for five Decembrists was executed on July 13 (25), 1826 in the kronverk of the Peter and Paul Fortress.

During the execution, Muraviev-Apostol, Kakhovsky and Ryleev fell off the noose and were hanged a second time. There is an erroneous opinion that this was contrary to the tradition of the inadmissibility of the second execution of the death penalty. According to military Article No. 204, it is stated that " Carry out the death penalty before end result ”, that is, until the death of the convicted person. The procedure for the release of a convict who had fallen, for example, from the gallows, that existed before Peter I, was canceled by the Military Article. On the other hand, the “marriage” was explained by the absence of executions in Russia over the past several decades (the exception was the executions of participants in the Pugachev uprising).

On August 26 (September 7), 1856, on the day of his coronation, Emperor Alexander II pardoned all the Decembrists, but many did not live to see their release. It should be noted that Alexander Muravyov, the founder of the Union of Salvation, who was sentenced to exile in Siberia, was appointed mayor in Irkutsk already in 1828, then held various responsible positions, up to governorships, and participated in the abolition of serfdom in 1861.

For many years, and even today, it is not uncommon for the Decembrists in general and the leaders of the coup attempt to idealize and give them an aura of romanticism. However, it must be admitted that these were ordinary state criminals and traitors to the Motherland. Not for nothing in Life Reverend Seraphim Sarovsky, who usually met any person with exclamations " My joy!", there are two episodes that contrast sharply with the love with which Saint Seraphim treated everyone who came to him ...

Go where you came from

Sarov monastery. Elder Seraphim, all imbued with love and kindness, looks sternly at the officer approaching him and refuses to bless him. The seer knows that he is a participant in the conspiracy of the future Decembrists. " Go where you came from ', the reverend resolutely tells him. Brings then great old man his novice to the well, the water in which was muddy and dirty. " So this man who came here intends to outrage Russia ”, - said the righteous man, jealous of the fate of the Russian monarchy.

Troubles will not end well

Two brothers arrived in Sarov and went to the elder (these were the two Volkonsky brothers); he accepted one of them and blessed, but did not allow the other to approach him, waved his hands and drove away. And he told his brother about him that he was plotting evil, that troubles would not end well, and that many tears and blood would be shed, and advised him to come to his senses in time. And sure enough, the one of the two brothers whom he drove away got into trouble and was exiled.

Note. Major General Prince Sergei Grigoryevich Volkonsky (1788-1865) was a member of the Welfare Union and the Southern Society; convicted in the first category and, upon confirmation, sentenced to hard labor for 20 years (the term was reduced to 15 years). Sent to the Nerchinsk mines, and then transferred to the settlement.

So looking back, we must admit that it was bad, the Decembrists were executed. It's too bad that only five of them were executed...

And in our time, we must clearly understand that any organization that sets as its goal (openly or covertly) the organization of discord in Russia, the excitation public opinion, organizing actions of confrontation, as happened in poor Ukraine, armed overthrow of power, etc. - is subject to immediate closure, and the organizers - to the court, as criminals against Russia.

Lord, deliver our fatherland from disorder and internecine strife!