The Decembrist uprising in the Senate Square

The uprising in the Senate Square was the result ofpenetration of enlightening ideas from Europe to Russia. The reactionary policy of the tsarist government strengthened the tendency towards free-thinking that arose in the midst of the thinking part of society. After the Patriotic War of 1812, Russia's national economy was in disrepair.

However, the government for severalpost-war years did not bother to implement the necessary reforms that would alleviate the fate of large sections 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 themselves 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 insurrection on the Senate Square.

Secret societies

In the second decade of the XIX century in a liberal environmentthe aristocrats were finally formed an understanding that the current reactionary policy of the tsarist government hinders 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

Oath of the new Tsar Nicholas I was appointed to14 December. 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 them to declare, instead of the solemn monarch's oath, that the tsarist government had been deposed.

After this, the participants in the uprising at the SenateSquare planned to declare a manifesto, addressed to the entire Russian people about the revolution that had taken place. However, the banal inconsistency and indecision led to the collapse of all plans. At a decisive moment it turned out that Nicholas I had already sworn an oath to the Senate early in the morning. The decisive actions of the Decembrists could still save the situation. However, at the determining 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.