Senate Square: The Mutiny of Honor and Idealism

The first half of the century before last was marked by the emergence of revolutionary sentiments on the vast expanses of the Russian Empire. At first these were timid sprouts and barely noticeable sparkles of aristocratic discontent with the existing state of things. The Senate Square, where the naive uprising of the best representatives of the Russian aristocracy was held and was ruthlessly suppressed, was the crown and embodiment of the need for radical changes.

The progressive part of the Russian nobility with hope expected that Alexander I would continue the liberal reforms begun in the first few years of his reign. However, a sharp change in the political course of the tsarist government, which happened after the Patriotic War of 1812 , caused a burning indignation of the Russian aristocracy. This eventually resulted in the Decembrist uprising on the Senate Square.

But this open, insane and in some ways even desperate rebellion crowned the tragic pages of the first barely smoldering sparks of the Russian revolution. Senate Square became the end of the movement of the noble Decembrists. The cardinal difference between this desperate act of disagreement and subsequent bloody Russian riots was that the December insurrection of 1825 was based on the concepts of honor, dignity, personal freedom and the primacy of high morality in Russian society. And the Senate Square took in its grasping embrace not the semi-literate proletariat, but highly educated nobles, the elite of society. What, unfortunately, could not boast of the well-known events of October 1917-year.

Long before the Decembrists began to speak at the Senate Square, the first noblemen revolutionaries created secret societies that saw as their goals the abolition of serfdom and the adoption of a liberal constitution. The event that prompted the conspirators to start active operations was the death of Alexander I a month before the tragic events that took place on the Senate Square. It was decided on the solemn day of taking the oath of allegiance to the newly-made Tsar Nicholas I to declare their demands in an ultimatum form.

Here, in the ranks of the revolutionaries, as happened more than once in Russian history, disagreements arose. The most "hotheads" offered to demand the abdication of the new king and elevate Constantine to the throne. Others were in favor of demonstrating their strength in order to force Nicholas to join the rebels in negotiations and meet all their demands. Still others considered it necessary to turn the performance into a kind of duel, where on one side of the barrier there would be a thinking advanced Russia in their person, and on the other - a backward and conservative tsarist government that did not want change. And, finally, the fourth suggested by way of seizure of power to establish a republic.

The plan, developed personally by SP Trubetskoi, at first seemed more than real. According to this plan, the forces of the conspirators formed three autonomous units. On the first of them was assigned a responsible mission to seize the royal residence - the Winter Palace and the isolation of Nicholas and his family. The second was to capture the Peter and Paul Fortress and keep the city center under the sights of powerful serfs. But the rebels from the third detachment were to arrive at the Senate and prevent senators from swearing allegiance to the monarch. And then compel them to sign the Manifesto, which announced the abolition of the autocracy and serfdom. Also in this document, prepared in advance by the Decembrists, freedom of speech and the liquidation of military settlements were proclaimed .

Senate Square became not only an arena for the progressive thinking of the Russian nobility, but also a symbol of the beginning of the era of liberal change. It could have been so, but Nikolai had been informed in advance of the insidious plans of the conspirators. This enabled him to pull in time the parts of the Petersburg garrison loyal to the Crown in the Senate Square area. And the forces were considerable - more than nine thousand infantry, about three thousand cavalrymen and thirty-six guns. The cavalry twice attacked the forces of the conspirators, but both times were unsuccessful. Then the artillery began to work, and the ranks of the insurgents scattered in dense volleys of grapeshot. Panic and flight began. Bestuzhev, the only one who had not lost his head in this whirlpool, tried to raise the loyal regiment to attack, but without much success. The uprising was suppressed ...