t was a cold December day in St. Petersburg when a blindfolded Fyodor Dostoevsky, who would later become one of Russia’s greatest writers, was about to be executed.
A Tactic of Terror
Due to his involvement in the intellectual group known as the Petrashevsky Circle, Dostoevsky, along with others, was sentenced to death by firing squad for propagating letters containing abusive remarks about the Orthodox Church and the Russian government.
The entire execution was just a performance, otherwise known as a mock execution, designed to instill terror.
The execution was to be carried out on the orders of Tsar Nicholas I, performed by a firing squad in a public square. “Performed” is an especially appropriate word as the entire execution was just that — a performance, otherwise known as a mock execution, designed to instill terror into the prisoners and dissidents.
