Trial and investigation of the Decembrists. Supreme Criminal Court in the case of the Decembrists Investigative commission in the case of the Decembrists

On the same day, arrests of members of secret societies began. Participation in the Decembrist process became Nicholas I’s first experience of public administration. He personally gave orders for arrests and instructions on the conditions of detention of the Decembrists in the fortress and in the guardhouse. He himself interrogated and supervised the investigation. Along with the journals of the Investigative Committee, established to reveal the circumstances of the anti-government conspiracy and uprising on December 14, special memos have been preserved in which the chairman of the committee, Minister of War A.I. Tatishchev informed the emperor almost daily, or even several times a day, about the progress of the investigation. These notes for the first month of the investigation are literally covered with resolutions and instructions from Nikolai - he delved so deeply and carefully into all the details. In this new activity for him, the foundations of his future methods of government were laid.

Without dwelling on the details of Nikolai's participation in the trial and investigation of the Decembrists, we will only point out his decisive role in imposing the death sentence on five members of the secret society. Throughout the six months that the investigation lasted, Nikolai publicly stated more than once that he would surprise the world with his mercy. However, in his heart, apparently from the very beginning, he harbored the idea of ​​the death penalty for the instigators of the conspiracy and active participants in the uprising. Back on June 6, 1826, three days before receiving its decision from the Supreme Criminal Court, Nicholas wrote to Konstantin: “On Thursday (June 3) the trial began with all due solemnity. The meetings go on without a break from ten o'clock in the morning until three o'clock in the afternoon, and despite this, I still do not know approximately by what date it may end. Then the execution will follow - a terrible day that I cannot think about without shuddering. I plan to carry it out on the esplanade of the fortress.” This letter, which deals not only with the execution as a decided matter, but also with the place where it will be carried out, leaves no doubt that the decision was made by Nicholas even before the end of the trial. However, the emperor did everything possible to create the impression that it was not he, but the court, who initiated the death penalty. In the report of the Supreme Criminal Court, signed on June 10, all defendants were divided into categories according to their degree of guilt. Five Decembrists – P.I. Pestel, K.F. Ryleeva, S.I. Muravyov-Apostol, P.G. Kakhovsky, M.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin - the court placed him outside the ranks, sentencing them to death by quartering. Thirty-one Decembrists classified as first category were sentenced to death by beheading. Having received the court's report, Nikolai replaced the death penalty for the first category with hard labor and somewhat commuted the punishments for other categories. About those who were placed outside the categories, Nikolai wrote in a decree given to the Supreme Criminal Court on June 10: “I submit the fate of criminals “...”, who, due to the severity of their atrocities, are placed outside the categories and beyond comparison with others, I submit to the decision of the Supreme Criminal Court and that the final decision that will be made about them in this court.”

But on the same day, when Nikolai tried to shift the formal responsibility for the decision to execute five Decembrists to others, the Chief of the General Staff I.I. Dibich, on his instructions, wrote to the Chairman of the Supreme Criminal Court P.V. Lopukhin:

“Dear sir, Prince Peter Vasilyevich. In the Highest Decree on state criminals at the report of the Supreme Criminal Court, which took place on this day, by the way, in Article 13 it is said that criminals who, due to the special gravity of their atrocities, are not included in the categories and are beyond comparison, are subject to the decision of the Supreme Criminal Court and to the final decision that will be made about them in this court.

In case of doubt about the type of execution that the court can determine for these criminals, the Emperor deigned to order the Supreme Court to preface that His Majesty does not deign not only to be quartered, as a painful execution, but also to be shot, as an execution typical of military crimes. , not even a simple beheading and, in a word, not any execution involving the shedding of blood.” Thus, Nicholas’s order, without any deviations, determined the method of execution. But until it happened, he continued to be overcome by anxiety. This is what he wrote to his mother two days later:

“Dear and kind mother, the verdict has been pronounced and I have been declared guilty. It is difficult to convey what is happening in me; I just have some kind of fever that I can’t pinpoint. This state is mixed with a feeling of some kind of extreme horror and at the same time gratitude to God for helping us bring this disgusting process to the end. My head is positively spinning. If we add to this that I am bombarded with letters, some of which are full of despair, others written in a state of insanity, then I assure you, dear mother, that the consciousness of the most terrible duty alone forces me to endure such torture. This thing must take place tomorrow at three o’clock in the morning.” Nikolai's complaints can be believed. But, despite the anxiety that tormented him, or perhaps precisely as a result of it, Nikolai treated the upcoming tragic event with the same attention and pedantry with which he had previously delved into the details of the investigation. This is evidenced by the surviving handwritten text of the ritual of execution and execution of the rest of the Decembrists that he developed.

Those arrested (316 people in total) were put in damp and cramped casemates of the Peter and Paul Fortress. The investigation began there, and a specially organized Supreme Criminal Court sat there. All stages of the investigation took place under the leadership of Nicholas I, who showed himself to be a good investigator.

The court verdict (early July 1826) stated that “all defendants, without exception, according to the exact force of our laws, are subject to the death penalty. And therefore, if by establishing categories of punishment it would please Your Imperial Majesty to grant life to some of them, then this will not be the action of the law, much less the action of the court, but the action of a single royal mercy...” At the same time, the court especially noted: “And although mercy , emanating from the autocratic power, the law cannot put any limits, but the Supreme Criminal Court accepts the audacity to imagine that there are degrees of crime so high and so related to the general security of the state that they, it seems, should be inaccessible to the monarch himself.”

Let's look at the source

The role of simple executors of the unsuccessful plan of Ryleev and his friends - the soldiers brought to the square near the Senate - was the most pitiful. They turned out to be pawns in a political game. They were partly deceived by revolutionary officers, saying that they were defending the rights of Emperor Constantine (and also, as stated in a joke of that time, the Constitution - Constantine’s wife). In part, they blindly, as befits servicemen, obeyed the orders of their commanders, and then they were shot in the square and drowned in the Neva ice holes by their former comrades, soldiers of the government troops, who also obediently and blindly acted on orders. This is what the rebel soldier Pyotr Fateev wrote to his parents:

“To my dear parents, I bow low and low to mother damp earth! A great misfortune has befallen me. For shooting in winter on Senate Square, I was ordered to be imprisoned. That's why I haven't written to you for a long time. It was really bad to sit there: they beat me and didn’t feed me. Now I'm free again. I had a trial. I went to trial along with my comrades. There were many of us, almost a hundred, or there were more of us. It was even scary at the trial. Various gentlemen wearing medals with the Tsar around their necks judged there for a long time, and the new sovereign, the Emperor himself, His Imperial Majesty Nikolai Pavlovich, also judged us. They sentenced everyone to hard labor for this very shooting in Siberia. But our Tsar, our father, had mercy and gave such a decree to the court that our entire regiment should be sent to war with the Persians, so that I, I suppose, will soon leave and it is not known when I will return to my homeland. Farewell, dear parents and all acquaintances.

Smart people say that these same Persians live far away, and we won’t get to them soon. I’ll be alive, I’ll come back... I won’t write any more, otherwise they won’t tell us, they’ll put us in prison again...”

Legends and rumors

Secrets of the history of the rebellion on Senate Square

There is much that is unclear in the history of the Decembrists and the uprising on Senate Square. Some historians believe that, in parallel with the Decembrist conspiracy, there was an attempt at a palace coup, which the military Governor General Miloradovich and the command of the guard tried to organize. The generals were extremely disadvantaged by the rise to power of Nicholas - a young man, unfamiliar and alien to them. Therefore, they forced Nicholas, contrary to his will, to swear allegiance to Emperor Constantine I, believing that they, the old military associates of the crown prince, would be able to persuade him to ascend the throne. But Constantine persisted in his refusal of the throne, despite the desperate letters of Miloradovich and others to him. Because of this, there was a pause, which the Decembrists took advantage of.

But there was no unanimity among them either. The plans for the reconstruction of Russia, laid down in the programs of the two secret societies, were very different, and would hardly have been consistent. According to Pestel’s “Russian Truth,” republican Russia was to be headed by a military junta headed by a dictator, whose chair the ambitious Pestel was claiming. According to Nikita Muravyov’s project, Russia was supposed to become a constitutional monarchy with a fairly liberal structure. It is unknown whether the Decembrists would have been able to reach an agreement after the supposed victory. But these plans were not destined to come true.

There are many mysteries in the history of the uprising itself. There is still no intelligible explanation why Prince S.P. Trubetskoy, elected dictator of the uprising, did not even appear on Senate Square, where the rebels stood for many hours, although he lived next to it and, if it was cowardice or betrayal, why the Decembrists subsequently did not was he convicted for this? Trubetskoy’s own memoirs do not make it possible to solve this riddle. They end at an important point for the reader - the beginning of Trubetskoy’s interrogation by the emperor: “Levashov took my interrogation sheet and went to the sovereign: soon both returned to me. The Emperor told me: “I...”.” What happened next, we will never know.

Finally, recently in the literature serious doubts have been expressed regarding the ramifications and organization of the Decembrist secret societies. Didn’t the defendants themselves, and then the exiles, exaggerate their revolutionary activities in retrospect until they committed a state crime - rebellion? The organizations in which they belonged were largely amorphous, and their meetings and meetings often boiled down to friendly feasts and heated conversations about politics, which was done in many places. Projects for the reconstruction of the country have always been written in Russia, since the time of Ivan the Terrible. It turns out that most of the materials about the secret organization of the Decembrists date back to the time of the investigation and their exile to Siberia. In the materials of the investigation itself, one can clearly see the desire, natural for political investigation of all times, to “structure” the actually ephemeral organization of the Decembrists, to formalize more clearly its goals, objectives, organization. Let's not forget that this was the time of the spread of terrible rumors about European Carbonari and Masonic conspiracies. Those under investigation voluntarily and unwittingly helped. Many felt not just rebel guardsmen, like Minich or the Orlov brothers, but Carbonari, freedom fighters.

There is evidence that Alexander I, back in 1821, knew about secret meetings of officers, the content of their conversations and disputes about the future of Russia, but did not attach much importance to this information. In response to Adjutant General Vasilchikov’s report about the conspiracy, he said: “Dear Vasilchikov! You, who have been in my service since the beginning of my reign, know that I shared and encouraged these illusions and delusions.” Perhaps this explains the inertia of the authorities after the denunciations in 1825 of two officers - Sherwood and Mayboroda - about secret societies in the army. It turns out that if it were not for the interregnum situation provoked by Miloradovich’s group, no rebellion might have occurred...

However, in the decree of July 10, Nicholas I still showed mercy and decided to violate the truly ferocious (since the times of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and Peter the Great) laws on state crimes. This circumstance is somehow overlooked in the story about the Decembrists - state criminals. If the provisions of the law then in force - the Code of 1649, the “Military Regulations” of Peter the Great and other decrees - had been applied to them, then all participants in the state crime would have been subject to execution, and the most severe executions should have been applied to them (by force of law): quartering , wheeling, whipping, impalement - all that Peter the Great, without hesitation, applied to the same rebels - the archers. By the will of Nicholas, criminals were divided into 11 categories, involving different types and terms of punishment. Five leaders of the rebellion (Pavel Pestel, Sergei Muravyov-Apostol, Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin, Kondraty Ryleev and Pyotr Kakhovsky) were executed by hanging at the crown of the Peter and Paul Fortress, the rest were exiled to Siberia. Investigations and trials of participants in the conspiracy and rebellion dragged on for a long time in other cities.

N. Bestuzhev. General view of the Petrovsky Plant (in the center is the prison where the Decembrists served their sentences)

In all trials, the authorities sent 124 people to Siberia. Shackled and dressed in prison robes, the Decembrists served hard labor, first in the Nerchinsk mines, and then behind the high walls of the Chita prison and in other places. Later they were transferred to a settlement. The behavior of the exiled Decembrists and the wives who came to them became a model of dignity and decency. They lived the rich life of cultured people, without losing heart or giving into despair. Many of them in the settlement were engaged in scientific research, painting, organizing concerts, giving lessons, and corresponding with friends. In 1856, after the start of a new reign, the new Emperor Alexander II pardoned the surviving Decembrists, and they returned from Siberia, which “is also Russia, only more terrible.”

In general, the December story of 1825 had the most tragic consequences for Russia. Extraordinary people died and perished in exile, and public life was frozen for many years by fear and despondency. The authorities, having experienced a terrible shock during the days of rebellion, looked extremely warily and unfriendly at all proposals for modernization and changes necessary for the country. The Alexander era, which began in the sunshine of early spring with hopes, optimism, illusions and reforms, ended in the darkness of a December day of disappointment, fear, despondency and hopelessness...

Let's look at the source

The behavior of many wives of the Decembrists, who, taking advantage of the right to follow their criminal husbands, voluntarily came to Siberia and shared a difficult lot with them, has become legendary. The authorities, who did not approve of such sacrifice, in every possible way prevented the travel of women belonging to high society, openly intimidated these society ladies, who always lived in comfort and safety. Princess M. N. Volkonskaya, wife of Prince S. G. Volkonsky, wrote:

“The governor (of Irkutsk - E.A.), seeing my determination to go, said to me: “Think about what conditions you will have to sign.” - “I will sign them without reading them.” - “I must order all your things to be searched, you are forbidden to have the slightest valuables.” With these words, he left and sent a whole gang of officials to me. They had to copy very little: some linen, three dresses, family portraits and a travel first aid kit... they presented me with the notorious signature, and they told me to keep a copy of it in order to remember it well. When they came out, my man, who had read it, said to me with tears in his eyes: “Princess, what have you done, read what they demand of you! - “I don’t care, let’s pack up quickly and go.” This is the subscription:

"1. The wife, following her husband and continuing the marital relationship with him, will naturally become involved in his fate and will lose her previous title, that is, she will no longer be recognized as anything other than the wife of an exiled convict and at the same time takes upon herself to endure everything that such a state can have a painful one, because even her superiors will not be able to protect her from the hourly possible insults from people of the most depraved, contemptuous class, who will find in the fact that they seem to have some right to consider the wife of a state criminal, bearing an equal fate with him, as their own kind; These insults can even be violent. Inveterate villains are not afraid of punishment. 2. Children who take root in Siberia will become state-owned factory peasants. 3. You are not allowed to take any money or valuable things with you; This is prohibited by existing rules and is necessary for their own safety, for the reason that these places are inhabited by people who are ready to commit all kinds of crimes. 4. By leaving for the Nerchinsk region, the rights of the serfs who arrived with them are destroyed.”

Having put things in order that the officials had scattered and ordered everything to be put back in order, I remembered that I needed travel aid. The governor, after my subscription, did not honor me with his visit; I had to wait for him in the hallway. I went to him, and they gave me a travel document in the name of a Cossack who was supposed to accompany me, but my name was replaced with the words: “... with the carrier.”

Upon returning home, I found Alexandra Muravyova (born Chernysheva); she had just arrived, having left a few hours earlier than her, I was 8 days ahead of her. We drank tea, now laughing, now crying - there was a reason for both: we were surrounded by the same officials who caused laughter, returning to inspect her things.”

4. Massacre of the Decembrists. The meaning of the uprising.

After the defeat of the uprising, mass arrests began. In total, 316 people were arrested in St. Petersburg. An Investigative Committee was formed in the case of the Decembrists. 579 people were involved in the investigation, and 289 were found guilty. The Supreme Criminal Court in St. Petersburg sentenced to death the five most active figures of the Decembrist movement: P.I. Pestel, K.F. Ryleeva, S.I. Muravyov-Apostol, M.P. Bestuzheva-Ryumina, P.G. Kakhovsky. On July 13, 1826, the sentence was carried out. 121 Decembrists were sentenced to hard labor, exile and settlement in Siberia. All of them were deprived of military ranks and noble titles.

Special commissions examined the cases of soldiers who took part in the uprising: 178 soldiers were driven through the ranks, 23 people were punished with rods. From the remaining participants in the uprising, a regiment of 4,000 people was formed, which was sent to the Caucasus to join the active army.

So, the first revolutionary uprising in Russia, directed against autocracy and serfdom, was defeated. The Decembrists were unable to rouse the broad masses of the people to fight. The actions of the noble revolutionaries were not always consistent and decisive. They wanted to carry out a revolution in the country in the name of the people, but without their active participation, fearing the elements of a popular uprising.

The significance of the Decembrist uprising is that they were the first to oppose absolutism and serfdom and thereby gave impetus to the further development of the democratic movement in the country. Decembrist traditions played a big role in the education of subsequent generations of Russian democrats and reformers.

5. Formation of the direction of social thought in Russia.

Russian social thought in the early 20-30s. XIX century developed under the influence of the revolutionary speech of the Decembrists. Revolutionary circles began to be created among progressive youth. In 1831, the circle of A.I. was formed. Herzen and N.P. Ogareva.

Herzen Alexander Ivanovich (1812-1870) - Russian philosopher, publicist, writer. Illegitimate son of landowner I.A. Yakovleva. In 1831-1834. - head of the student circle at Moscow University. In 1835-1840 - in the link. Published since 1836 under the pseudonym Iskander. Since 1842 - in Moscow, head of the left wing of Westerners. In his philosophical works “Amateurism in Science” (1843) and “Letters on the Study of Nature” (1844-1846), he asserted the union of philosophy with the natural sciences. In the novel "Who's to Blame?" (1841-1846), the stories “Doctor Krupov” (1846) and “The Thieving Magpie” (1846) criticized the serfdom system. Since 1847 - in exile. After the defeat of the European revolutions of 1848-1849. became disillusioned with the revolutionary capabilities of the West, developed the theory of “Russian socialism”, becoming one of the founders of populism. In 1853 he founded the Free Russian Printing House in London, published the almanac "Polar Star" (1855-1868), denounced the autocracy in the newspaper "Bell" (1857-1867), demanded the release of peasants from the land, and contributed to the creation of the secret society "Land and Freedom" in the 1860s in Russia, supported the Polish uprising of 1863-1864. Died in Paris, buried in Nice. The autobiographical essay “The Past and Thoughts” (1852-1868) is one of the masterpieces of Russian memoir literature.

The circle participants showed interest in socio-political issues. They were staunch republicans and were keen on the ideas of utopian socialism. Members of the circle read political literature and studied the history of the French Revolution. Attempts by Herzen and Ogarev to launch revolutionary agitation were stopped in 1834. After a long prison investigation, Herzen was sent without trial to Perm, Vyatka, and then to Vladimir.

Through mass repressions and brutal censorship, the tsarist government managed to cope with the social upsurge of the 30s. This time was characterized by a mood of pessimism and disbelief in further struggle. Such sentiments were reflected in the “Philosophical Letters” of P.Ya. Chaadaev, published in 1836. in Telescope magazine.

Chaadaev Petr Yakovlevich (1794-1856) - Russian thinker and publicist, participated in the Patriotic War of 1812. In 1821 he was admitted to the “Northern Society” of the Decembrists. The publicist reflected on the fate of Russia in Philosophical Letters. Having lost faith in the possibility of social progress in Russia, he did not see anything bright in the present of the Russian people. Chaadaev stated; that Russia has neither its own thinkers nor its own scientists. The reason for this was Russia's separation from the Catholic Western European world, which was the source of progress and civilization. Chaadaev’s conclusions caused a protest from progressive people of that time, but forced them to come out of their stupor and take a closer look at the past and present of Russia in order to comprehend the prospects for its development.

In the 30-40s. There is a gradual change in the mood of society. Two new trends in social thought took shape - Westernism and Slavophilism.

A circle of Slavophiles formed in Moscow. He united a small group of noble writers. Its core consisted of A.S. Khomyakov, brothers Ivan and Pyotr Kireevsky, Yu.F. Samarin, A.I. Koshelee. Slavophiles denied uniform patterns of social development and contrasted “original” Russia with the states of Western Europe. They argued that bourgeois states were in decline, that social contradictions were worsening in them and that the revolutionary movement was growing. They did not recognize the achievements of Western European culture and considered the rapprochement of Russia with Western culture since the time of Peter the Great to be erroneous. Slavophiles declared that the historical development of Russia was following its own, original path and pointed out that the Russian community was a defense against revolutionary upheavals. Their ideology was contradictory and inconsistent. They denounced serfdom, but their speeches were purely declarative.

The socio-political views of the Slavophiles were not widespread.

They were opposed by Westerners - supporters of the Western path of development. The core of the Westerners consisted of T.N. Granovsky, K.D. Kavelin, P.N. Kudryavtsev, V.P. Botkin, P.V. Annenkov and others. Westerners were confident that Russia, like other countries, should move to a bourgeois system. They were supporters of the abolition of serfdom; they considered it necessary to limit autocratic power and use the achievements of Western European culture. To promote their views, they used the departments of Moscow University, public lectures by T.N. Granovsky, the magazines “Otechestvennye zapiski” and “Sovremennik”. Westerners recognized only the reformist path of transition from the feudal system to the capitalist one and shunned the ideologists of the revolutionary struggle.

The disputes between Westerners and Slavophiles were of great importance. They awakened public thought, called for activity, progress, and marked the beginning of the formation of liberal ideology in Russia.

In the 40s, revolutionary radical and democratic trends began to emerge in Russian social thought. Radical revolutionaries called for decisive action, up to and including the violent overthrow of the existing system. They linked the future of Russia with socialism, the transition to which was to be carried out through the peasant community. The peasants were to be led by the various intelligentsia. To one degree or another, such views were shared by A.I. Herzen, V.G. Belinsky, N.G. Chernyshevsky and others.

The nascent democratic movement in the country was personified by the circle of Petrashevites (1845-1849), although some of its members were supporters of radical methods of struggle. The founder of the circle was M.V. Butashevich-Petrashevsky.

Butashevnch-Petrashevsky Mikhail Vasilyevich (1821-1866) - Russian revolutionary, utopian socialist. He studied at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, then became a volunteer student at St. Petersburg University. Served as a translator at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The head of the Petrashevtsy society, advocated the democratization of the political system of Russia. In 1849 he was sentenced to eternal hard labor.

The political circle of Petrashevites operated in St. Petersburg. It united the progressive intelligentsia and consisted of 23 active members. The Petrashevites considered the main task to be the fight against autocracy and serfdom, so they paid great attention to the dissemination of revolutionary ideas. Petrashevsky developed his own concept of preparing the revolution: first propaganda, then the creation of a secret society, and then a revolutionary uprising. The political ideal of the Petrashevites was a republican structure of the state with a unicameral parliament and elections for all government positions. They spoke out for a federal structure of the future Russia, in which the peoples would be given broad autonomy. Criticizing the injustice of bourgeois society, they built the liberation of all mankind at once, hoping to implement them peacefully.

In 1845-1846 Petrashevites compiled and published the “Pocket Dictionary of Foreign Words”, which became part of the Russian language. They wrote an appeal to the peasants ("Ten Commandments") and soldiers ("Soldier's Conversation"), calling for a fight against the landowners and autocracy. The Tsarist government managed to uncover the organization of the Petrashevites in 1849. 21 people, including Petrashevsky, were sentenced to death, which was later replaced by long terms of hard labor. G

The activities of the Petrashevites were of great importance for intensifying the struggle of Russian democrats. They made a certain contribution to the development of democratic thought in Russia.

...: dispute and agreement. // New and recent history. - 1995 - No. 6. pp. 103-120. (Ideology of populism). 19. Budnitsky O.V. “Blood according to conscience”: terrorism in Russia (second half of the 19th - 20th centuries) // Domestic history. - 1994. No. 6.S.203-209. 20. Tkachenko P.S. Student unrest at Moscow University in 1869. // Bulletin of Moscow University. Ser.8. Story. 1991 - No. 4. P. 71-76. ...

The number of Sunday schools in St. Petersburg, made an order to provide them with premises in all capital buildings belonging to gymnasiums, district and parish schools. Sunday schools of the late 50s and early 60s of the 19th century, as official reports noted, were most often located in the buildings of educational institutions of the Ministry of Public Education and the Military Department. So, in St. Petersburg...

... "liberalism, two currents appeared in Russian liberalism: moderate and radical (constitutional). At the turn of the 19th - early 20th centuries, the liberal movement was directed against Russian absolutism and advocated democratic freedoms and reforms. 4. Revolutionary alternative The beginning of the liberation movement in Russia. Decembrist movement. The period of world history from 1789 to 1871 is...

Uprising of the Chernigov regiment.

On the eve of the Decembrists' speech on Senate Square, on December 13, 1825, arrests began among members of the Southern Society. On this day, following the denunciation of Captain A.I. Mayboroda, Colonel Pestel and A.P. Yushnevsky were arrested. Adjutant General A.I. Chernyshev was sent to Tulchin to investigate, on the orders of the Chief of the General Staff I.I. Dibich. Soon many other members of this organization were arrested. That is why the performance of the Southern Society was doomed to failure from the very beginning.

The most active members of the Southern Society, in whose hands were the majority of the organizational threads, were the leaders of the Vasilkovskaya council - Sergei Muravyov-Apostol and Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin.

On December 29, 1825, the uprising of the Chernigov regiment began, stationed in the area of ​​Vasilkov, 30 kilometers from Kiev. The uprising broke out in the village of Trilesy, where one of the companies of the Chernigov regiment was located, where Muravyov-Apostol arrived to escape arrest. The regiment commander, Colonel Gebel, managed to arrest him, but with the help of the guard soldiers, Muravyov-Apostol was freed, and Gebel was wounded. It was at this moment that Muravyov-Apostol decided to start an uprising. From the village Trilesy's rebel company arrived in Vasilkov, where the regiment's headquarters and its main forces were located. The companies located in Vasilkovo joined the rebels.

Over the course of a week, soldiers of the Chernigov Regiment carried out raids across regions of Ukraine, hoping to be joined by other military units in which members of secret societies served. However, the military command managed to isolate the regiment from the rest of the units, while at the same time drawing large forces into the area of ​​the uprising, the overall command of which was entrusted to Konstantin Pavlovich.

Around the village Kovalevka Chernigov regiment met the detachment of General Geisman, sent to pacify the uprising. S. Muravyov-Apostol was confident that this detachment would go over to the side of the rebels, but his illusions collapsed with the first volleys of grapeshot. Muravyov was wounded in the head and captured. His brother Ippolit, who had just arrived from St. Petersburg with the news of the unsuccessful performance on Senate Square, shot himself on the battlefield. There were no killed or wounded from the government detachment. 869 soldiers and five officers of the rebel regiment were arrested, including Bestuzhev-Ryumin.

After the defeat of the protests in St. Petersburg and Ukraine, meetings of the investigative commission began, which worked until June 17, 1826. In total, 579 people were involved in the Decembrist case - this was the number of people included in the “Alphabet of members of the malicious society that opened on December 14, 1825.” - list of members of secret societies. Nicholas I himself acted as an investigator, personally interrogating those arrested.

At the end of May 1826, the investigation into the Decembrist case was completed. The final resolution of the Investigative Commission was written by D.N. Bludov. This report entitled "Report of the investigative commission" was published in Russian and French. In drawing up this document, primarily ideological and political considerations were taken into account. Thus, this document was intended to convince public opinion in Russia and Europe of the randomness of the appearance of secret societies in Russia and the isolation of the Decembrists from Russian reality.

The sessions of the Supreme Criminal Court, at which sentences were passed on the Decembrists according to 11 categories - according to the degree of guilt, began at the end of June 1826, and already on July 13, 1826 in the Peter and Paul Fortress, Pavel Pestel, Kondraty Ryleev, Sergei Muravyov-Apostol, Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin and Pyotr Kakhovsky.

On the night of July 13, 1826, a gallows was built on the crown of the Peter and Paul Fortress. Early on a foggy morning, five Decembrists were taken out for execution. On the chests of those sentenced to hanging hung boards with the inscription: “Regicide.”

The execution procedure was not without complications. Three Decembrists fell from the ropes. Here is what St. Petersburg Governor-General Golenishchev-Kutuzov wrote about this in his report: “The execution ended with due silence and order, both from the troops who were in the ranks and from the spectators, of whom there were few. Due to the inexperience of our executioners and the inability to arrange gallows the first time, three, namely: Ryleev, Kakhovsky and Muravyov, fell through, but were soon hanged again and received a well-deserved death.”

All the other Decembrists were taken to the courtyard of the fortress and placed in two squares: in one - those who belonged to the guards regiments, in the other - everyone else. All sentences were accompanied by demotion, deprivation of ranks, rights and privileges of the nobility: swords were broken over the convicted, epaulettes and uniforms were torn off and thrown into the fire of blazing fires. The Decembrist sailors were taken to Kronstadt and the ceremony of demotion was performed on them on the flagship of Admiral Krone, throwing their uniforms and epaulettes into the water. “We can say that they tried to destroy the first manifestation of liberalism with all four elements - fire, water, air and earth,” wrote the Decembrist V.I. Shteingel in his memoirs.

Over 120 Decembrists were demoted to the ranks, exiled to hard labor or to settle in Siberia, the soldiers were sent to the active Caucasian army; The entire Chernigov regiment was sent there as well.

The surviving Decembrists were amnestied only after the death of Nicholas I, in 1856.