HISTORICAL DICTIONARY A–Z - Russia: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present - page 129

dov fought against the French, Swedes, and
Turks, distinguishing himself with his bravery in
conflict. During Napoleon's invasion of 1812,
Davydov became known as the leading advocate
and organizer of partisan warfare against the
French. His nonconformist ideas and his hatred
of ARAKCHEEV , the dominant military figure in
the second half of the reign of ALEXANDER I , kept
him on the sidelines of power. But despite his
liberal ideas and his friendly relations with many
prominent members of the future Decembrist
movement, he never joined their secret societies.
Davydov served in the army until 1832, when
he retired with the rank of lieutenant general.
As an author, Davydov wrote poetry and histor-
ical essays. He was a founder of the Arzamas lit-
erary circle, and the themes of his poetry reflect
his moderate, freethinking outlook. In his histor-
ical writings Davydov forcefully argued for the
importance of partisan warfare in turning “the
soldiers' war” into a “people's war,” while chal-
lenging the received wisdom of the day that it
was the harsh winter climate that was most
responsible for the French defeat after Napoleon's
invasion of Russia. Works such as “Test Theory of
the Partisan Movement” (1821), “A Meeting
with General Suvorov” (1835), “Was It the Frost
That Destroyed the French Army?” (1835), and
“Diary of Partisan Warfare” (published posthu-
mously in 1860) remain important sources for
the study of the Russian army in the early 19th
century. Readers of Tolstoy's War and Peace will
recognize Davydov as the model for the charac-
ter Denisov.

secret societies such as the Union of Salvation
(1816-17) and the Union of Welfare (1818-20)
to discuss concrete reforms such as the abolition
of serfdom and the introduction of a constitu-
tion. By 1823 three new secret societies with
more overt revolutionary goals had been
formed: the Northern Society, the Southern
Society, and the Society of United Slavs. The
Northern Society, centered in St. Petersburg, was
led by two Guards officers, Nikita Muraviev and
Prince Sergei Trubetskoi, as well as a romantic
poet, Kondratii Ryleev. Muraviev wrote a plan
based on the U.S. Constitution that envisioned a
federative constitutional monarchy with a
bicameral legislature and an emperor whose
powers would be similar to those of the Ameri-
can president. The Southern Society was based
in the headquarters of the southern or Second
Army in Podolia and was headed by Colonel
Pavel Pestel. Of less aristocratic background than
the leaders of the Northern Society, Pestel wrote
a political manifesto, Russkaia pravda (Russian
justice), in which he outlined a political vision
that owed more to the radical traditions of the
French Revolution than the liberal traditions of
the American Revolution. Pestel called for the
establishment of a centralized egalitarian repub-
lic in which every citizen had the right to receive
a land allotment. Scholars have seen Pestel as
the founder of an authoritarian Russian Jacobin
revolutionary tradition that runs through Petr
TKACHEV all the way to Vladimir LENIN . The Soci-
ety of United Slavs was also formed by officers of
the Southern Army but, in distinction to Pestel,
emphasized the formation of a democratic feder-
ation of all Slavic peoples.
The three societies had not yet coalesced into
a single movement and talk of concrete action
remained in the future when the death of
Alexander I in November 1825 and questions
about who his successor would be provided
members of the Northern Society with what
seemed to be a favorable opportunity to lead a
rebellion. Although Alexander had previously
arranged for his brother Nicholas rather than
his brother Constantine to succeed him, this

Decembrists
The name given to the participants in the upris-
ing of December 14, 1825 (O. S.), in St. Peters-
burg that sought to prevent the accession of
NICHOLAS I to the throne. The roots of the
Decembrist movement go back to the spread of
Western liberal ideas among junior aristocratic
officers who served during the Napoleonic Wars.
Dissatisfied by the lack of substantial reform dur-
ing the reign of ALEXANDER I , officers formed