Decembrists
Tsarist-era military uprising
The Decembrists were Russian army officers who led an unsuccessful revolt against Tsar Nicholas I in December 1825.
They sought constitutional reform and the abolition of serfdom.
The uprising was quickly crushed, and its leaders were executed or exiled to Siberia, where they became martyrs to the cause of Russian liberalism.
The term occasionally applies to similar idealistic but doomed revolutionaries.
Russian Baltic port city
- 1825A four-digit date
- coupAbrupt seizure of power
- insurrectionViolent uprising against authority
- revoltOrganized resistance to power
mutiny · officers · soldiers · artillery · suppression · execution · exile · Siberia
Those killed for convictions
- sacrificeGiving up something precious
- heroismExceptional courage under duress
- exileBanishment from homeland
- SiberiaRussia's eastern expanse
commemoration · remembrance · inspiration · wives · rehabilitation · monuments · anniversary · literature
Governance bound by fundamental laws
- reformImprove by correcting faults
- emancipationRelease from legal bondage
- republicState with elected leaders
- democracyRule by the people
enlightenment · liberalism · progressivism · freedom · equality · modernization · representation · parliament
Hereditary ruling class
- officersThose holding authority
- nobilityTitled ruling class
- eliteSuperior select group
- guardsProtectors or watchmen
military · gentry · estates · privilege · education · French language · salons · Napoleonic Wars
Organizations operating in concealment
- conspiracyClandestine coordinated scheming
- oathFormal binding promise
- clandestineConcealed from authorities
- membershipState of belonging
cells · meetings · correspondence · infiltration · informers
St. Petersburg
Russian Baltic port city
- 1825A four-digit date
- coupAbrupt seizure of power
- insurrectionViolent uprising against authority
revolt · mutiny · officers · soldiers · artillery · suppression · execution · exile · Siberia · treason
martyrs
Those killed for convictions
- sacrificeGiving up something precious
- heroismExceptional courage under duress
- exileBanishment from homeland
Siberia · commemoration · remembrance · inspiration · wives · rehabilitation · monuments · anniversary · literature · romanticism
constitutionalism
Governance bound by fundamental laws
- reformImprove by correcting faults
- emancipationRelease from legal bondage
- republicState with elected leaders
democracy · enlightenment · liberalism · progressivism · freedom · equality · modernization · representation · parliament · civil rights
aristocrats
Hereditary ruling class
guards · military · gentry · estates · privilege · education · French language · salons · Napoleonic Wars · veterans
secret societies
Organizations operating in concealment
- conspiracyClandestine coordinated scheming
- oathFormal binding promise
- clandestineConcealed from authorities
membership · cells · meetings · correspondence · infiltration · informers
- Russian HistorySoviet Union, tsars, Tsarist Russia, Romanov, czars
- reformersreformers, reformer, social reformers, social reformer, political reformer
- RevolutionsFrench Revolution, Russian Revolution, American Revolution, Cuban Revolution, Mexican Revolution
- Russian RevolutionRussian Revolution, February Revolution, Bolsheviks, October Revolution, Lenin
- Tsarist Russiatsar, tsars, czar, tsarina, czarina
- Rebel GroupsFARC, IRA, ETA, PLO, Viet Cong
Decembristsautocrats
Rulers with unchecked power
reactionaries · loyalists · absolutists · monarchists · conservatives