The Decembrist uprising in the Senate Square

The revolt on the Senate Square was the result of enlightening ideas from Europe to Russia. The reactionary policy of the tsarist government strengthened the trend in free thinking among the thinking part of society. After the Patriotic War of 1812, Russia's national economy was in disrepair. However, the government for several post-war years has not bothered to implement the necessary reforms that would alleviate the fate of large segments of the population. As a result, spontaneous popular uprisings took place throughout the country. Especially frequent they became hungry in 1820-1822. The main demand of the peasants was the abolition of serfdom - a relic of the feudal era, which had long since disappeared in Western Europe. There were painful problems in the army. Particularly hated people became the state commissioner of Alexander I in this area Count A. Arakcheev. His activities to create so-called military settlements, where soldiers had to work in the fields and provide for their own needs, without forgetting about the military drill, met with fierce resistance from the latter. The despotic rule of Alexander I did not arouse sympathy among liberal nobles, who looked with interest at examples of democratic reforms and modernization of society in Europe. Actually, it was the nobles who prepared the uprising on the Senate Square.

Secret societies

In the second decade of the nineteenth century, among liberal-minded aristocrats, an understanding was finally formed that the current reactionary policy of the tsarist government is hindering the development of the country and ensures its lagging behind the advanced states of Europe and North America. In 1816 arose the first secret society, called the "Union of Salvation." It had about 30 members, almost all of them were young army officers. The main goals of the illegal community were the abolition of serfdom and the removal of the tsarist autocracy in the country. However, two years later the conspirators were exposed by the government. The next such organizations were the "Union of Prosperity" and the "Southern Society" and "Northern Society" that emerged as a result of its split. These secret clubs had common global goals, but different views on how to achieve them and on the subsequent administrative-territorial and political arrangement of Russia. However, the sudden death of the autocrat in November 1925 pushed the conspirators to a single decision: to act urgently this year - 1825. The uprising in the Senate Square was prepared in just two weeks.

The failed coup

The oath of the new Tsar Nicholas I was scheduled for December 14. On the same day, the rebels appointed their insurrection on the Senate Square. The main events unfolded in the morning on the day of the royal oath. The troops, led by the opposition officers, had to take control of the senators and force those instead of accepting the solemn monarch's oath to declare that the tsarist government had been deposed. After that, the participants in the uprising on the Senate Square planned to declare a manifesto addressed to the entire Russian people about the revolution that had been accomplished. However, the banal inconsistency and indecision led to the collapse of all plans. At the decisive moment it turned out that Nicholas I had already taken an oath to the senate early in the morning. The decisive actions of the Decembrists could still save the situation. However, at the decisive moment, the main military leader of the uprising, Trubetskoi, did not appear at the square, leaving his supporters without support. This hitch gave the government the opportunity to seize the situation, gather military forces, surround the conspirators and suppress the uprising in the Senate Square.