Reflections on the 1825 Decembrist Revolt

Two hundred years ago, on 14 December 1825, a handful of liberal military officers wrote a new chapter in the history of human freedom. Braving a bitter Russian winter, these liberals – known to posterity as the Decembrists – rallied approximately 3,000 troops from three guard regiments in St. Petersburg, then the capital of the Russian Empire. They marched to Senate Square, formed up around the statue of Peter the Great, and decried the accession of Nicholas I to the throne. Their motivation was to destabilize the autocracy, the authoritarian regime throttling Russian political life, and secure constitutional liberties.