Rebellion of the Decembrists: the causes of defeat

The uprising of the Decembrists of 1825 is one of the few events in the history of our country that all its inhabitants know about. In general, almost everyone imagines what kind of event it was, what it was caused by and what ended. Many historians dedicated their work to the study of this amazing period.

And all because the Decembrist uprising had a tremendous impact on the development of the country, and some believe that many of today's events are a consequence of what happened on the Senate Square.

First of all, it is worth mentioning the causes of the Decembrist uprising. And then, of course, it is impossible not to recall the war of 1812, or rather the subsequent victorious march of Russian officers across Europe. During this trip, many of them are imbued with ideas that have long been common in the same France. Under the influence of new trends, they revised their attitude to the state system in our country, and to the current situation as a whole.

Overthrow of the monarchy was associated in many of them with changes for the better, in particular with the abolition of serfdom, and the introduction of universal education. Already in the 13-14 years of the nineteenth century, secret societies, called "artels", began to be created. At the beginning of 1916 two large artels were united: the "Semenov regiment" and "Sacred". The new society is called the Salvation Union. The creator of this union was Alexander Muraviev, and active members - Ivan Yakushkin, Nikita Muravyov, Sergei Trubetskoi, and later Pestel joined them. The aim of the Union of Salvation was to reform the system of governing the country and abolish serfdom. Many of its members were representatives of the Masonic lodges, which could not but affect the rituals of the secret society.

However, this association lasted very little, in the autumn of 17 it disintegrated because of internal disagreements. And only a few months later, in January 1918, a new society, the Union of Welfare, was founded, and it lasted until the age of 21. All its members necessarily conducted an active social life, tried to occupy high posts and enlightened the population. And in 1921, after rumors that the government became aware of the alliance, a fateful decision was made on the formal dissolution of society.

This made it possible to get rid of random people. On this basis, new societies were formed : Southern in Ukraine and Northern in St. Petersburg. The Northern Society was jointly led by Trubetskoi, Nikita Muraviev and Ryleev.

But the Decembrist insurrection provoked an extremely difficult political situation in the country. In connection with the death of Alexander I, an ambiguous situation developed. According to seniority, the throne was to pass to Constantine. However, he had long since abandoned the throne, and Nikolai had to take his place. However, his popularity in the country was low, and Constantine's supporters persuaded him also to write a denial. After that, on November 27, 1825, many swore allegiance to the Emperor Constantine. Confirm his refusal of the throne, he did not hurry, but to take it in no hurry. The expectation dragged on, and Nikolai decided to crown himself. The oath was scheduled for December 14. To this event, it was decided to timed the uprising.

It was planned to bring regiments of guardsmen and sailors to the Senate Square, seize the imperial family and force the Senate to read the National Manifesto, and then proclaim the establishment of an interim government.

However, everything went wrong from the very beginning. From denunciations, Nicholas already knew about the uprising planned. In this connection, the oath was postponed to 7 am the same day. That is, when the Decembrists came to the square, Nicholas actually was already the emperor. In addition, Trubetskoi, who was appointed head of the uprising, did not come to the square. And they managed to collect the troops only 2 hours after the appointed time.

By this time, the government forces had been pulled up to the Senate Square, whose number was four times that of the Decembrists. Nikolay was afraid of the crowd. A little later, artillery was pulled to the square, which decided the outcome of the battle. After several rounds of shot-shot, the Decembrists fled and went to the ice of the Neva. The leadership undertook another escort to organize the retreating, but they were constantly fired from guns, and many drowned in the Neva. Even more dead and wounded were dropped into the river at night.

The Decembrist uprising was suppressed. In this case, almost 600 people were arrested, but only 289 were found guilty. Five of them were hanged, the rest were deported to Siberia.

The reason that the Decembrist uprising on December 14, 1925 failed, in many respects was the inconsistency of the actions of its participants.