Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ity. St Petersburg came to exhibit a patriotic culture that saw the capital as more than
just a European city: it was the epicentre of a transcendent Russia whose greatness
came from within. The
Bronze Horseman
looked on approvingly.
If you're interested in the bizarre circumstances that led to Pushkin's fatal
duel with d'Anthès, read
Pushkin's Buttons,
by Serena Vitale, for the
definitive account.
God Preserve Thy People
War did more than confer Great Power status on Russia: it was also a stimulus for
new ideas on political reform and social change. In the 19th century, the clash of ideas
spilled out of salons and into its streets.
On a frosty December morning in 1825, more than 100 soldiers amassed on Senate Sq
cession. When Alexander I died unexpectedly without a legitimate heir, the throne
was supposed to pass to his liberal-minded brother Constantine, Viceroy of Poland,
but he declined, preferring not to complicate his contented life. Instead, the new tsar
would be Alexander's youngest brother, Nicholas I, a cranky conservative with a fas-
tidious obsession for barracks-style discipline. The Decembrist revolt was staged by a
small cabal of officers, veterans of the Napoleonic Wars, who saw first-hand how
people in other countries enjoyed greater freedom and prosperity. They demanded
Constantine and a constitution, but instead got exile and execution. The 'people',
however, were now part of the discussion.
Russia's pathetic performance in another war prompted another reform attempt, this
time initiated by the tsar. In the 1850s, better-equipped British and French armies
really stuck it to Russia in a fight over the Crimean peninsula. The new emperor Al-
exander II concluded from the fiasco that Russia had to catch up with the West, or
watch its empire unravel. A slew of reform decrees were issued, promoting public
education, military reorganisation and economic modernisation. A sensitive sort, Al-
exander dropped the death penalty and curtailed corporal punishment. The Tsar Liber-
ator abolished serfdom, kind of - his solution that serfs pay their masters redemptive
fees in exchange for freedom pleased no one.
