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95-472: The Decembrist Revolt of December 14, 1825 shook Emperor Nicholas I's (r. 1825-1855) confidence in his control and led him to desire an effective tool against sedition and revolution. Created by imperial decree on June 25, 1826, Emperor Nicholas’ thirtieth birthday, the Third Section was Nicholas’ personal police force. Although Nicholas gave Count Alexander Benckendorff , the first Head Controller of

190-604: A French contingent at Tempelberg and became one of the first Russians to enter Berlin. He further distinguished himself at the Battle of Leipzig . On 2 November 1813 he arrived at Bad Bentheim . In 22 November he crossed the IJssel with a vanguard regiment from Bashkortostan (under Prince Fyodor Fyodorovich Gagarin). On 27 November he left Harderwijk to cross the Zuiderzee by boat. He consulted Krayenhoff . On 1 December

285-787: A bizarre tendency to forget his own name, and periodically had to be reminded of it by consulting his own visiting card . From the mid-1830s, his family seat was the Gothic Revival manor, Schloss Fall (now Keila-Joa ) near Tallinn in present-day Estonia. He died in Hiiumaa . In 1817 Alexander von Benckendorff married Elisaveta Andreyevna Donets-Zacharzhevskaya (11 September 1788 – Berlin, 7 December 1857). The couple had three daughters: A recent Russian publication reveals his own view of his early life: Zapiski Benkendorfa: Otechestvennaia voina; 1813 god: Osvobozhdenie Niderlandov (Benkendorff's Notes. The Patriotic War; 1813: The Liberation of

380-556: A general and diplomat, and his sister Dorothea von Lieven (1785–1857) a socialite and political force in London and Paris. His other sister, Maria von Benckendorff (1784–1841), married Ivan Georgievitch Sevitsch. Having received his education at a Jesuit boarding school , Benckendorff started military service in 1798 in the Semyonovsky Life-Guards Regiment . Benckendorff then served as aide-de-camp to

475-546: A lieutenant. Not only were political and social activities carefully monitored and prevented, there was interference regarding religious convictions. Local clergy accused Prince Shakhovskoi of "heresy", due to his interest in natural sciences. Authorities investigated and restrained other Decembrists for not attending church. The regime thoroughly censored all correspondences, especially communication with relatives. Messages were scrupulously reviewed by both officials in Siberia and

570-746: A number of imperial sentence reductions, exiles started to complete their labor terms years ahead of schedule. The labor was of minimal travail; Stanislav Leparsky, commandant of Petrovsky Zavod, failed to enforce Decembrists' original labor sentences, and criminal convicts carried out much of the work in place of the revolutionaries. Most Decembrists left Petrovsky Zavod between 1835 and 1837, settling in or near Irkutsk, Minusinsk, Kurgan, Tobol'sk, Turinsk, and Yalutorovsk. Those Decembrists who had already lived in or visited Siberia, such as Dimitri Zavalishin, prospered upon leaving Petrovsky Zavod's confines, but most found it physically arduous and more psychologically unnerving than prison life. The Siberian population met

665-486: A public address, then stabbed by Yevgeny Obolensky . At the same time, a rebelling squad of grenadiers , led by Lieutenant Nikolay Panov, entered the Winter Palace but failed to seize it and retreated. After spending most of the day in fruitless attempts to parley with the rebel force, Nicholas ordered a cavalry charge by Her Sovereign Majesty Empress Maria Theodorovna's Chevalier Guard Regiment that slipped on

760-504: A shipment of jam meant for the Tsar. The fifth and final unsuccessful assassination attempt occurred February 5, 1880 when a carpenter, Stephen Khalturin , detonated a bomb which he had secreted under the Tsar's dining room at the Winter Palace ; the bomb killed numerous soldiers and failed to kill Alexander only because he was late for dinner that night. Although the Third Section had had reason to suspect that there might be an attempt made on

855-639: A unitary Poland (i.e., more or less the territory of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth ), without any Russian involvement in the affairs of these territories. In 1816, several officers of the Imperial Russian Guard founded a society known as the Union of Salvation , or of the Faithful and True Sons of the Fatherland. The society acquired a revolutionary cast after it was joined by

950-517: Is a Russian symbol of the devotion of a wife to her husband. Maria Volkonskaya, the wife of the Decembrist leader Sergei Volkonsky, notably followed her husband to his exile in Irkutsk. Despite the spartan conditions of this banishment, Sergei Volkonsky and his wife Maria took opportunities to celebrate the liberalising mode of their exile. Sergei took to wearing an untrimmed beard (rejecting Peter

1045-477: Is more than magnificent and as for its future — it is beyond anything that the boldest mind can imagine." In his rôle as Chief Censor, he became involved in the tragic death (1837) of Alexander Pushkin in an unnecessary duel, an involvement that for long made him an unmentionable in Russian historiography. Yet by temperament, he was the very opposite of a proto- Dzerzhinsky or a proto- Beria . He suffered from

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1140-830: The Carpatho-Ukraine aka Zakarpattia ), Croatia, Serbia, Dalmatia , the Czech lands of Bohemia and Moravia , i.e. all Slavic & Vlach countries with the exception of Bulgaria and Macedonia , in the future. This society joined the Southern Society and adopted its program in exchange for the recognition of the Slavic federation zeal by the Southern society in September 1825. When Emperor Alexander I died on 1 December [ O.S. 19 November] 1825,

1235-760: The Decembrist Revolt that presented the Emperor's actions in a positive light to western Europeans. The Third Section also employed Russians living abroad not only to keep the Section apprised of foreign politics but also to write responses to attacks on Russia published in the foreign press. Additionally, the Third Section used any publications under its direct control, like the Polish newspaper Tygodnik Peterburgski (Petersburg Weekly), to publish pro-Russian articles in other European nations. However little success

1330-516: The Decembrists (Russian: декабристы , romanized:  dekabristy ). At first, many officers were encouraged by Tsar Alexander I 's early liberal reformation of Russian society and politics. Liberalism was encouraged on an official level, creating high expectations during the period of rapprochement between Napoleon and Alexander. The major advocate for reform in Alexander's regime

1425-535: The Third Section of the Imperial Chancellery . He served as the first Chief of Gendarmes and executive director of the Third Section from 1826 to 1844. Under his management, the Third Section established, inter alia , strict censorship over literature and theatre performances. His aim for Russian historiography was reflected in his statement that "Russia's past was admirable, its present

1520-830: The United States Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution may also have influenced Decembrists, as they did other nations. The constitution written by Nikita Muravyov was highly similar to the United States Constitution . But the Decembrists were against slavery in the United States . They worked to free any slaves and serfs from all countries in Russia immediately. Pestel and his followers opposed

1615-503: The serfs was considered from the very beginning; for that purpose, a majority of the nobility was to be invited in order to petition the Emperor about it. This was later thought of on many occasions, but we soon came to realize that the nobility could not be persuaded. And as time went on we became even more convinced, when the Ukrainian nobility absolutely rejected a similar project of their military governor. Historians have noted that

1710-481: The 9,000 loyal troops stationed outside the Senate building, with some desultory shooting from the rebel side. A vast crowd of civilian on-lookers began fraternizing with the rebels but did not join the action. Eventually, Nicholas (the new tsar) appeared in person at the square and sent Count Mikhail Miloradovich to parley with the rebels. Miloradovich was fatally shot in the back by Pyotr Kakhovsky while delivering

1805-685: The Decembrist Revolt. The leaders of the society elected Prince Sergei Trubetskoy as interim ruler. On the morning of 26 December [ O.S. 14 December], a group of officers commanding about 3,000 men (elements of Life-Guards Moscow Regiment , Grenadier Life Guards Regiment, and Naval Equipage of the Guard) assembled in Senate Square , where they refused to swear allegiance to the new tsar, Nicholas I, proclaiming instead their loyalty to Konstantin. They expected to be joined by

1900-432: The Decembrist leaders and could have been aware of their clandestine organizations, notably Alexander Pushkin , Aleksander Griboyedov , and Aleksey Yermolov . On 25 July [ O.S. 13 July] 1826, the first party of Decembrist convicts began its exodus to Siberia. Among this group were Prince Trubetskoi, Prince Obolensky, Peter and Andrei Borisov, Prince Volkonsky, and Artamon Muraviev, all of them bound for

1995-588: The Decembrists fundamentally influenced Siberian life. Their presence was most definitely felt culturally and economically, political activity being so far removed from the "pulse of national life" so as to be negligible. While in Petrovsky Zavod, Decembrists taught each other foreign languages, arts and crafts, and musical instruments. They established "academies" made up of libraries, schools, and symposia. In their settlements, Decembrists were fierce advocates of education, and founded many schools for natives,

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2090-653: The Decembrists lived in isolation, their scholarly activities encompassed Siberia at large, including its culture, economy, administration, population, geography, botany, and ecology. Despite restricted circumstances, the Decembrists accomplished an extraordinary amount, and their work was deeply appreciated by Siberians. On 26 August 1856, with the ascent of Alexander II to the throne, the Decembrists received amnesty, and their rights, privileges were restored. Their children obtained rights, privileges and even titles of their fathers (such as princes) even if their fathers' titles were not restored. However, not all chose to return to

2185-485: The Decembrists sparked an intellectual awakening: literary writings, propaganda, newspapers, and books from European Russia began to circulate the eastern provinces, the local population developing a capacity for critical political observation. The Decembrists even held a certain influence within Siberian administration; Dimitry Zavalishin played a critical role in developing and advocating Russian Far East policy. Although

2280-409: The Decembrists with great hospitality. Natives played central roles in keeping lines of communication open among Decembrists, friends, and relatives. Most merchants and state employees were also sympathetic. To the masses, the Decembrist exiles were "generals who had refused to take the oath to Nicholas I." They were great figures that had suffered political persecution for their loyalty to the people. On

2375-832: The Decembrists';) was a failed coup d'état led by liberal military and political dissidents against the Russian Empire . It took place in Saint Petersburg on 26 December [ O.S. 14 December] 1825, following the sudden death of Emperor Alexander I . Alexander's brother and heir-presumptive Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich privately renounced his claim to the throne two years prior to Alexander's sudden death on 1 December [ O.S. 19 November] 1825. The line of succession therefore fell to their younger brother Nicholas, who would ascend to

2470-470: The Emperor could be watched since the Third Section answered to Nicholas alone. At one point in the early 1850s, Third Section agents were even detailed to monitor every move of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaievich , Chief of Russia's Navy and Nicholas’ second son. However, since the agents of the Third Section generally surveilled only powerful nobles or bureaucrats or those suspected of treasonous acts,

2565-606: The Gendarmerie was ostensibly tasked with guiding Russians along the political path the Emperor desired; however, the Gendarmerie gradually became a counter-revolutionary force rather than a group of “moral physicians.” Count Alexander Benckendorff was the Head Controller of the Section from 1826. He was the person who tried to warn Alexander I of the Decembrist plot; thus Nicholas I saw him as perfect head of

2660-520: The Governors-General of Moscow, Kiev, Warsaw, Odessa, Kharkov, and Saint Petersburg. Two more assassination attempts on the Tsar were made after the decentralization of the Third Section. In November 1879, The People's Will , a revolutionary group, attempted to blow up the Tsar's train as he travelled from the Crimea to Moscow; however, one bomb failed to detonate and the second destroyed only

2755-598: The Great 's reforms and salon fashion), wearing peasant dress and socialising with many of his peasant associates with whom he worked the land at his farm in Urik. Maria, equally, established schools, a foundling hospital and a theater for the local population. Sergei returned after 30 years of his exile had elapsed, though his titles and land remained under royal possession. Other exiles preferred to remain in Siberia after their sentences were served, preferring its relative freedom to

2850-625: The Netherlands): Yaziki slavyanskikh kul'tur, Moscow, 2001. ISBN   5-7859-0228-1 . This book reproduces two sections of Benckendorff's private notes that had not seen publication since 1903, very lively on the events of the Napoleonic war, correspondences with his contemporaries, Bagration and others, and associated regimental histories. According to that book, Benckendorff kept personal notes and diaries throughout his life. One additional source for his notes, in this case from

2945-765: The Section did not even agree on what suspicious people needed to be surveilled. Rather than sort out the confusion and make the Third Section an effective and efficient secret police once again, Count Loris-Melikov ordered it abolished on August 8, 1880. Managers Gendarme Corps Chief of Staff The Third Section was organized into the following departments (ekspeditsiya); although there was no strict allocation of tasks among different offices.: 59°56′12″N 30°20′35″E  /  59.9366°N 30.3431°E  / 59.9366; 30.3431 Decembrist Revolt Government victory The Decembrist Revolt ( Russian : Восстание декабристов , romanized :  Vosstaniye dekabristov , lit.   'Uprising of

Third Section of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery - Misplaced Pages Continue

3040-534: The Section's reports to Emperor Nicholas, which had been intended to keep the Emperor accurately informed, gave Nicholas an incomplete view of the general mood of his people. In addition to monitoring actions and oral speech, the Third Section also played an important role in censorship of printed works. Although the Ministry of Education created the censorship laws and did the busywork of searching for objectionable material, Ministry censors were instructed to inform

3135-460: The Section's watch. Gregory Goldenberg assassinated the Governor of Kharkov, Prince Dmitry Kropotkin, on February 9, 1879 under the Third Section's eye. Even General Drenteln , the Head Controller of the Third Section, was nearly assassinated on March 13 of that same year. These failures aside, perhaps the most damaging to the Third Section's reputation was its failure to stop, or even to detect,

3230-505: The Section, few specific instructions, the Emperor intended the Third Section to act as Russia's “moral and political guardian.” Just as Russia had ambassadors to other nations keeping the Emperor apprised of political conditions abroad, Nicholas saw the officers of the Third Section, the Gendarmes , as domestic ambassadors who listened, if surreptitiously, to the political discussions of everyday Russians. As ambassadors and moral guardians,

3325-648: The Third Division of the political intelligence service at Saint Petersburg. This screening process necessitated dry, careful wording on the part of Decembrists. In the words of Bestuzhev, correspondence bore a "lifeless ... imprint of officiality." Under the settlement regime, allowances were extremely meager. Certain Decembrists, including the Volkonskys, the Murav'yovs, and the Trubetskoys, were rich, but

3420-459: The Third Section of authors who violated the regulations. However, rather than wait to surveil only authors who had violated the censorship regulations, Third Section agents preferred to surveil certain authors and then, once suspicious activity was spotted, reject that author's material even if it had passed the censors. In 1832, the Third Section gained the ability to reject publishers or editors of new periodicals on moral grounds, effectively putting

3515-589: The Third Section offered him a reward. One practical project that the Third Section attempted as part of its duties as moral guardian of Russia was not only to inform the Emperor of the public's opinion but also to try to influence that opinion in the Imperial regime's favor, both in Russia and abroad. Indeed, one of Count Benckendorff's first actions as Head Controller had been the creation and distribution in English, French, and German translations, of an account of

3610-424: The Third Section's modest propaganda efforts met in foreign presses, it had even less success domestically: rather than print pro-Nicholas propaganda of its own to improve Russians’ opinions of the Emperor, the Third Section resorted to pushing even broader censorship of Russian periodicals, threatening in 1848 to punish publishers not only for running seditious articles but even if the publication's “tone and tendency”

3705-560: The Tsar's life at the Winter Palace (agents had discovered blueprints of the palace with strange markings during a search of a suspicious person's house in St. Petersburg weeks before the attempt) the Section had been unable to search the palace or to keep it under surveillance in large part because the Tsar's mistress lived there and so the secret police had to pretend to ignore activities at

3800-706: The Union of Prosperity, together with the members of the Union of Salvation. ) After a mutiny in the Semenovsky Regiment in 1820, the society decided to suspend activity in 1821. Two groups, however, continued to function secretly: a Southern Society , based at Tulchin , a small garrison town in Ukraine , in which Pestel was the outstanding figure, and a Northern Society , based at Saint Petersburg, led by guard officers Nikita Muraviev , Prince S. P. Trubetskoy and Prince Eugene Obolensky. The political aims of

3895-628: The United States' federal model in peaceful times as threatening to the would-be Russian/United Slavic federation; they only approved the US revolutionary model. While agreeing with Pestel that the American revolutionary model could be the best form for Russia, the Polish patriotic society would not agree to participate in establishing a federation. They wanted a United States-style republic or other state, with Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine to be included in

Third Section of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery - Misplaced Pages Continue

3990-608: The West. Some were financially inhibited, others had no family, and many were weak with old age. To many, Siberia had become home. Those that did return to European Russia did so with enthusiasm for the enforcement of the Emancipation Reforms of 1861. The exile of the Decembrists led to the permanent implantation of an intelligentsia in Siberia. For the first time, a cultural, intellectual, and political elite came to Siberian society as permanent residents; they integrated with

4085-530: The Winter Palace to be interrogated, tried, and convicted. Kakhovsky was executed by hanging, together with four other leading Decembrists: Pavel Pestel; the poet Kondraty Ryleyev ; Sergey Muravyov-Apostol; and Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin . A further 31 Decembrists facing the death penalty were instead imprisoned. Other Decembrists were exiled to Siberia , Kazakhstan , and the Far East . Suspicion also fell on several eminent persons who were on friendly terms with

4180-661: The beginning of a revolutionary movement. The uprising was the first open breach between the government and reformist elements of the Russian nobility , which would subsequently widen. Alexander von Benckendorff Konstantin Alexander Karl Wilhelm Christoph Graf von Benckendorff ( Russian : Александр Христофорович Бенкендорф , Alexander Khristoforovich Benkendorf, 4 July [ O.S. 23 June] 1781 or 1783 – 5 October [ O.S. 11 September or 23 September] 1844)

4275-656: The cannon fire, many sank. The revolt in the north came to an end. There was a rumor that during the nighttime, police and loyal army units were detached to clean the city and the Neva river, as many of the dead, dying, and wounded had been cast into it. While the Northern Society scrambled in the days leading up to the revolt, the Southern Society (based in Tulchin) took a serious blow. The day before (25 December [ O.S. 13 December]), acting on reports of treason,

4370-413: The country and participated alongside natives in its development. With the failure of the Decembrists, Russia's autocracy would continue for almost a century, although serfdom would be officially abolished in 1861 and the parliaments in Russia and Finland would be established in 1905. Finland had a parliament since Alexander I, but the number of electors was limited. The Russian Constitution of 1905

4465-451: The court lifestyle, wearing their cavalry swords at balls (to indicate their unwillingness to dance), and committing themselves to academic study. These new practices captured the spirit of the times as a willingness by the Decembrists to embrace both the peasant (i.e., the fundamental Russian people) and ongoing reform movements from intellectuals abroad. Pavel Pestel identified reasons for reform: The desirability of granting freedom to

4560-562: The cover of his radical periodical Polar Star . Alexander Pushkin addressed poems to his Decembrist friends; Nikolai Nekrasov , whose father served together with Decembrists in Ukraine, wrote a long poem about the Decembrist wives; and Leo Tolstoy started writing a novel on that liberal movement, which would later evolve into War and Peace . In the Soviet era Yuri Shaporin produced an opera entitled Dekabristi (The Decembrists), about

4655-523: The czar to be sent back to his previous unit. His request was denied, but Benckendorff remained a philhellene until the end of his life. During Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812, Benckendorff led the Velizh offensive, taking three French generals prisoner. When the Grande Armée left Moscow (October 1812), he became the commander of its garrison. In the foreign campaigns following, he defeated

4750-728: The czar. In 1803, while bearing the rank of Colonel he arrived in the Septinsular Republic . He was tasked with raising the nucleus of the Greek Legion , becoming the first commander of the unit. He then became the commander of the Souliote Legion component of the Greek Legion until his return to Russia in March 1805. Benckendorff had developed an amiable relationship with his Souliot subordinates, requesting

4845-534: The emperor even before the revolution. When the society consisting of Russian landlords had refused to kill the emperor based on such rumors, Yakushkin left the society. The more liberal Mikhail Muravyov-Vilensky created a new charter similar to that of Tugendbund . It did not have revolutionary plans and the society was called the Union of Prosperity. It was still considered illegal and similar to masonic lodges . (The small Order of Russian knights, excepting its prominent member Alexander von Benckendorff , also joined

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4940-753: The emperor's vengeance in full. Sentenced by court-martial, many of these "commoners" received thousands of lashes. Those that survived went to Siberia on foot, chained alongside common criminals. Fifteen out of 124 Decembrists were convicted of "state-crimes" by the Supreme Criminal Court, and sentenced to "exile-to-settlement". These men were sent directly to isolated locales, such as Berezov, Narym , Surgut , Pelym , Irkutsk , Yakutsk , and Vilyuysk , among others. Few Russians inhabited these places: The populations consisted mainly of Siberian aborigines, such as Tunguses , Yakuts , Tatars , Ostyaks , Mongols , and Buryats . Of all those exiled,

5035-456: The end of March the French surrendered, which was followed by Treaty of Fontainebleau (1814) ) In 1821 he attempted to warn Emperor Alexander I of the threat from the Decembrist clandestine organisation , but the Tsar ignored his note. After the 1825 Decembrist Revolt he sat on the investigation committee and lobbied for the establishment of a Corps of Gendarmes and of a secret police ,

5130-554: The first of which opened at Nerchinsk. Schools were also founded for women, and soon exceeded capacity. Decembrists contributed greatly to the field of agriculture, introducing previously unknown crops such as vegetables, tobacco, rye, buckwheat, and barley, and advanced agricultural methods such as hothouse cultivation. Trained doctors among the political exiles promoted and organized medical aid. The homes of prominent exiles like Prince Sergei Volkonsky and Prince Sergei Trubetskoi became social centers of their locales. All throughout Siberia,

5225-474: The gendarmes often fail to surveil people who were actually plotting, in one case, they even allowed Sophia Perovsky , who later led the successful plot to assassinate Tsar Alexander II (r. 1855-1881), to escape from them at a railroad station. Although the Third Section was dissolved on August 8, 1880, nearly seven months before Tsar Alexander's assassination on March 2, 1881, there were several assassinations and attempted assassinations which did occur under

5320-483: The guarding of prisoners, but it also allowed the Decembrists to continue to exist as a community. This was especially true at Chita. The move to Petrovsky Zavod, however, forced Decembrists to divide into smaller groups; the new location was compartmentalized with an oppressive sense of order. Convicts could no longer congregate casually. Although nothing could destroy the Decembrists' conception of fraternity, Petrovsky Zavod forced them to live more private lives. Owing to

5415-573: The human rights, Muraviev-Vilensky and others). In 1826, Speransky was appointed by Nicholas I to head the Second Section of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery , a committee formed to codify Russian law. Under his leadership, the committee produced a publication of the complete collection of laws of the Russian Empire, containing 35,993 enactments. This codification called the "Full Collection of Laws" ( Polnoye Sobraniye Zakonov )

5510-411: The icy cobbles and retired in disorder. Eventually, at the end of the day, Nicholas ordered three artillery pieces to open fire with grapeshot ammunition to devastating effect. To avoid the slaughter, the rebels broke and ran. Some attempted to regroup on the frozen surface of the river Neva to the north. However, they were targeted by the artillery and suffered many casualties. As the ice was broken by

5605-468: The idealistic Pavel Pestel . The charter was similar to charters of the organizations of carbonari . Pestel was supported by Yakushkin when there were rumors that the emperor had intended to transfer the capital from Saint Petersburg to Warsaw , and to liberate all peasants without the consent of Russian landlords. They would not be able to influence a government based in Warsaw. Yakushkin intended to kill

5700-519: The interests of Russian landlords, i.e. with land to be retained by landlords, in a style similar to the abolition of serfdom in Baltic provinces. They also supported equality before the law. The Southern Society, under Pestel's influence, was more radical and wanted to abolish the monarchy, establish a republic, similar to the Union of Salvation, and contrary to the Union of Salvation plans, to redistribute land, taking half into state ownership and dividing

5795-577: The intervention of family members. This process of petitioning, and the resultant concessions made by the tsar and officials, was and would continue to be a standard practice of political exiles in Siberia. The chain of bureaucratic procedures and orders linking Saint Petersburg to Siberian administration was often circumvented or ignored. These breaks in bureaucracy afforded exiles a small capacity for betterment and activism. Wives of many Decembrists, as well as some nieces and sisters, followed their husbands into exile. The term Dekabristka ("Decembrist wife")

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5890-554: The largest group of prisoners was sent to Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai , transferred three years later to Petrovsky Zavod , near Nerchinsk. This group, sentenced to hard labor, included principal leaders of the Decembrist movement as well as the members of the United Slavs. Siberian Governor-General Lavinsky argued that it was easiest to control a large, concentrated group of convicts, and Emperor Nicholas I pursued this policy in order to maximize surveillance and to limit revolutionaries' contact with local populations. Concentration facilitated

5985-461: The main task of the Third Section was surveillance. In 1836, a year with no foreign wars that might increase domestic sedition, the Third Section had 1,631 individuals under surveillance, 1,080 of those for political reasons; this included everything from monitoring the actions of potentially dangerous civilians to assigning Third Section agents to pose as officials inside Russian governmental agencies to surveil senior officers and statesmen. Anyone under

6080-639: The majority of exiles had no money, and were forced to live off a mere 15 desyatins (about 16 hectares) of land, the allotment granted to each settler. Decembrists, with little to no knowledge of the land, attempted to eke out a living on wretched soil with next to no equipment. Financial aid from relatives and wealthier comrades saved many; others perished. Despite extensive restrictions, limitations, and hardships, Decembrists believed that they could improve their situation through personal initiative. A constant stream of petitions came out of Petrovsky Zavod addressed to General Leparskii and Emperor Nicholas I. Most of

6175-410: The midst of this confusing transition into Nicholas' reign , the Northern Society , a secret society of liberal revolutionaries, nobles, and military officials, organized a conspiracy to replace the Russian Empire's autocratic regime with a constitutional monarchy . To seize control of the government and implement a regime change , it sought to convince the military that Nicholas was usurping

6270-513: The military governor of Livonia , and of his wife Baroness Anna Juliane Charlotte Schilling von Canstatt (31 July 1744, Thalheim – 11 March 1797, Riga ), who held a high position at the Romanov court as senior lady-in-waiting and best friend of Empress Maria Fyodorovna (the second wife of the Emperor Paul ). His paternal grandparents were Johann Michael von Benckendorff and his wife Sophie von Löwenstern. Alexander von Benckendorff's younger brother Konstantin von Benckendorff (1785–1828) became

6365-577: The mines at Nerchinsk . The journey eastward was fraught with hardship, yet for some it offered refreshing changes in scenery and peoples following imprisonment. Decembrist Nikolay Vasil'yevich Basargin was unwell when he set out from Saint Petersburg, but he recovered his strength on the move; his memoirs depict the journey to Siberia in a cheerful light, full of praise for the "common people" and commanding landscapes. Not all Decembrists could identify with Basargin's positive experience. Because of their lower social standing, "soldier-Decembrists" experienced

6460-482: The more Jacobin , centralizing program of Pavel Pestel or the pan-Slavic confederation-advocating revolutionaries of the "Society of United Slavs". The majority of Decembrists were not members of illegal organizations similar to the participants of palace revolutions . Some were members of the Union of Prosperity only, sympathetic to an official, pro-governmental fairly conservative program. But their revolt, unlike previous Romanov palace revolutions, has been considered

6555-400: The more moderate Northern Society were a British-style constitutional monarchy with a limited franchise . They envisioned that it could be replaced with a republic in the future but only according to the will of the people. They also believed there should be a legislative assembly and did not call for the execution of the imperial family. They supported the abolition of serfdom , according to

6650-432: The palace. In the end, the powerful image of the Section and the Gendarmes was largely undermined when they failed to suppress the rising revolutionary movement and acts of terrorism against government officials. The large network of informers and agents often supplied nothing more than rumors and slanders. On March 3, 1880, Count Loris-Melikov , the chairman of the Supreme Executive Committee that Alexander created in

6745-522: The petitions were written by Decembrists' wives who had cast aside social privileges and comfort to follow their husbands into exile. These wives joined under the leadership of Princess Mariia Volkonskaia, and by 1832, through relentless petitions, managed to secure for their men formal cancellation of labor requirements, and several privileges, including the right of husbands to live with their wives in privacy. Decembrists managed to gain transfers and allowances through persuasive petitions as well as through

6840-496: The police arrested Pavel Pestel . It took two weeks for the Southern Society to learn of the events in the capital. Meanwhile, other members of the leadership were arrested. The Southern Society, and a nationalistic group called the United Slavs, discussed revolt. When learning of the location of some of the arrested men, the United Slavs freed them by force. One of the freed men, Sergey Muravyov-Apostol , assumed leadership of

6935-419: The presence of a large civilian crowd. A standoff ensued, during which Nicholas' envoy, Mikhail Miloradovich , was assassinated. The loyalists eventually opened fire with heavy artillery, scattering the rebels. In the aftermath of the coup attempt, many of the rebels were sentenced to hanging, imprisonment, or exile to Siberia . The individuals who participated in the conspiracy and coup attempt became known as

7030-521: The reorganization of Russia's government. Because of increasing hostility, he was forced to flee into exile. Returning from exile in 1819, Speransky was appointed as the governor of Siberia, with the task of reforming local government. In 1818, the tsar asked Count Nikolay Nikolayevich Novosiltsev to draw up a constitution. The abolition of serfdom in the Baltic provinces was instituted between 1816 and 1819. However, internal and external unrest, which

7125-604: The rest among the peasants. The Society of United Slavs (also known as the Slavic Union – Pan-Slavism ) was established in Novohrad-Volynsky (now Zviahel ) in Ukraine in 1823. Its never-written program was similar to that of the Southern Society but the main emphasis was on the equal federation of Russia (including Ukraine), Poland, Moldavia (including Bessarabia) with the attachment of Wallachia , Transylvania, Hungary (including Slovakia, Slovenia, Vojvodina ,

7220-470: The rest of the troops stationed in Saint Petersburg, but they were disappointed. The revolt was hampered when it was deserted by its supposed leader Prince Trubetskoy. His second-in-command, Colonel Bulatov, also vanished from the scene. After a hurried consultation, the rebels appointed Prince Eugene Obolensky as a replacement leader. For hours, there was a stand-off between the 3,000 rebels and

7315-470: The revolt, with the libretto written by Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy . It premiered at the Bolshoi Theatre on 23 June 1953. To some extent, the Decembrists were in the tradition of a long line of palace revolutionaries of 1725–1825 who wanted to place their candidate on the throne, but many Decembrists also wanted to implement either classical liberalism or a moderate conservatism contrary to

7410-438: The revolt. After converting the soldiers of Vasilkov to the cause, Muraviev-Apostol easily captured the city. The rebelling army was confronted by superior forces that were heavily armed with artillery loaded with grapeshot . On 15 January [ O.S. 3 January] 1826, the rebels met defeat, and the surviving leaders were sent to Saint Petersburg to stand trial with the northern leaders. The Decembrists were taken to

7505-453: The royal guards swore allegiance to the presumed successor, Alexander's brother Konstantin . When Konstantin made his renunciation public, and Nicholas stepped forward to assume the throne, the Northern Society acted. With the capital in temporary confusion, and one oath to Konstantin having already been sworn, the society scrambled in secret meetings to convince regimental leaders not to swear allegiance to Nicholas. These efforts culminated in

7600-794: The secret force. He also served as Chief of Gendarmes, but the office of the Executive Director of the Third Section was not formally merged with Chief of Gendarmes until 1829. This list enumerates the functions of the Third Section as Emperor Nicholas I described to the Director of the Special Chancellery of the Ministry of Internal Affairs: In the wake of the Decembrist Revolt , Emperor Nicholas wanted above all to know what his people were thinking about his regime and to remain apprised of any growing conspiracies in order to stop them before they caused potential unrest. Thus,

7695-471: The section in control of new periodicals, which could be established only with the Emperor's approval. In the early 1830s, the Section attempted to apply its mandate to be a moral guide to Russians by encouraging publications it deemed good for the Empire rather than just punishing the authors of damaging works. For example, when Mikhail Pogodin wrote an article supporting Russia's historic right to Lithuania ,

7790-456: The six attempts to assassinate Tsar Alexander II, including the successful attempt in 1881. The first failed attempt on the Tsar's life, by the nihilist Dmitry Karakozov on April 4, 1866, led Prince Dolgorukov , the head of the section, to resign out of shame for his and the Section's failure to protect Alexander II. There was a second attempt on Alexander II's life in Paris in 1867, but it

7885-450: The stifling intrigues of Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and after years of exile there was not much for them to return to. Many Decembrists thrived in exile, in time becoming landowners and farmers. In later years, they became idols of the populist movement of the 1860s and the 1870s as the Decembrists' advocacy of reform (including the abolition of serfdom) won them many admirers, including the writer Leo Tolstoy . During their time in exile,

7980-573: The strategic Muiden Castle was taken. On 2 December he was received the townhall by William I of the Netherlands , the provisional king. Benckendorff passed Loevestein when he went to Tilburg and Breda. After British and Prussian forces arrived to succeed him, his unit proceeded to take Louvain and Mechelen , liberating 300 imprisoned Englishmen captured in Spain. On 1 February they surrounded Brussels. It seems he went to Düsseldorf alone. (At

8075-405: The throne as Emperor Nicholas I . Neither the Russian government nor the general public were initially aware of Konstantin's renouncement, and as a result, parts of the military took a premature oath of loyalty to Konstantin. A general swearing of loyalty to the true emperor Nicholas was scheduled for 26 December [ O.S. 14 December] 1825 in Senate Square , Saint Petersburg. In

8170-452: The throne from Konstantin. On December 26th, Northern Society members led a force of approximately 3,000 troops into Senate Square to prevent the loyalty-swearing ceremony and to rally additional soldiers and officers to their cause. This group of rebels, although disorganized due to indecision and dissension among its leaders, confronted troops loyal to Nicholas outside the Senate building in

8265-473: The tsar believed stemmed from political liberalization, led to a series of repressions and a return to a former government of restraint and conservatism. Meanwhile, the experiences of the Napoleonic Wars and realization of the suffering of peasant soldiers resulted in Decembrist officers and sympathizers being attracted to reform changes in society. They displayed their contempt of court by rejecting

8360-471: The wake of the Winter Palace bombing to address the wave of revolutionary terrorism, took control of the Third Section and Gendarmerie from General Drenteln and appointed Major-General Cherevin as acting Head Controller. Soon after this change of command, an investigation of the Third Section uncovered a high level of disorganization within the section. Not only did the Third Section have a long backlog of cases to settle (nearly eleven-hundred), various offices of

8455-430: The whole, indigenous Siberian populations greatly respected the Decembrists and were extremely hospitable in their reception of them. Upon arrival at places of settlement, exiles had to comply with extensive regulations under a strict governmental regime. Local police watched, regulated, and notated every move that Decembrists attempted to make. Dimitri Zavalishin was thrown into prison for failing to remove his hat before

8550-554: Was Count Mikhail Mikhailovich Speransky . During his early years in the regime, Speransky helped inspire the organization of the Ministry of the Interior , the reform of ecclesiastic education, and strengthening the government's role in the country's economic development. Speransky's role increased greatly in 1808. From then until 1812, when they feared him as a liberal similar to Napoleon and his invasion, Speransky developed plans for

8645-921: Was a Baltic German Cavalry General and statesman, Adjutant General of Tsar Alexander I , a commander of partisan ( Kossak irregular ) units during the War of 1812–13 . However, he is most frequently remembered for his later role, under Tsar Nicholas I , as the founding head of the Gendarmes and the Secret Police in Imperial Russia. Alexander von Benckendorff was born into the Baltic German noble Benckendorff family in Reval (Tallinn in present-day Estonia ), son of General Baron Christoph von Benckendorff  [ de ] (12 January 1749, Friedrichsham – 10 June 1823, Kolga ), who served as

8740-540: Was called "The basic laws" as the Decembrists had called it. Though defeated, the Decembrists did effect some change on the regime. Their dissatisfaction forced Nicholas I to turn his attention inward to address the issues of the empire. He included many Decembrists who had joined his forces on the Senate Square and did not ultimately support the revolt in spite of their participation in Decembrist meetings into his government (such as Benkendorf, appointed to supervise

8835-445: Was not positive enough. During the series of European revolutions of 1848 , the Third Section forbade any Russian periodical from printing any article of news describing a European nation facing a revolution. While the Third Section served as the Tsar's deputy for 55 years, the organization had its share of failures and administrative shortcomings. For its entire history, the Third Section's surveillance had been imperfect; not only did

8930-407: Was not until the third attempt, this time by the revolutionary Alexander Solovyov , on April 2, 1879, that the Tsar took concrete actions to remove power and responsibility from the Third Section, with which he was becoming quickly disillusioned. Alexander effected this removal of power by granting the responsibility for investigation of political crimes, previously the domain of the Third Section, to

9025-491: Was presented to Nicholas I , and formed the basis for the "Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire" ( Svod Zakonov Rossiskoy Imperii ), the positive law valid for the Russian Empire. Speransky's liberal ideas were subsequently scrutinized and elaborated by Konstantin Kavelin and Boris Chicherin . Although the revolt was a proscribed topic during Nicholas' reign, Alexander Herzen placed the profiles of executed Decembrists on

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