The First Russian Revolution

Looking two hundred years in the past, an enlightening study of the neglected liberal tradition in Russian political thought with resonance for today.

On December 14, 1825, a group of young Russian army officers led three thousand troops to Senate Square in St. Petersburg, aiming to force the senate to adopt a liberal constitution and transform the Russian Empire. The Decembrist Revolt — as it came to be known — was suppressed, with a second uprising in the south meeting the same fate. Five leaders were executed, and many others exiled to Siberia. Why did so many young noblemen risk their lives for regime change, what was their vision for an alternative society, and what were the consequences for participants and their families?

This book highlights the often-neglected liberal tradition in Russian political thought and the experiences of Decembrist wives and fiancées, offering a fresh reinterpretation in the light of recent events in Russia.

'This is a fresh, knowledgeable, readable and timely addition to the literature on the Decembrists. It is written from a modern perspective and informed by recent as well as older scholarship. Rabow-Edling has provided a welcome reappraisal of the Decembrist Revolt to mark the bicentenary of this key moment in Russian political and intellectual history.' – Derek Offord, emeritus professor and senior research fellow, University of Bristol

'This is the most comprehensive English-language account of the Decembrist uprisings, their origins and their consequences to be published for many years. The fresh and nuanced analysis of the Decembrists’ historical significances is brilliantly situated in both Russian and European contexts. The concluding section on the Decembrists’ Siberian exile, and the extraordinary stoicism of their wives, is particularly graphic and poignant. The monograph is excellently researched and superbly written by an eminent Swedish historian of nineteenth-century Russia, and it will prove an indispensable addition to the literature.' – Patrick O’Meara, emeritus professor of Russian, Durham University