Causes Of The Decembrist Revolution In Russia

The late Tsarist period of Russia lasted between 1825 to 1917 from the reign of Nicholas I in 1825 to the last Tsar Nicholas II in 1917. Russia did not have the same origins as the rest of Europe. Russia developed different social, religious and intellectual traditions in comparison to Western Europe. The Tsar did not share his power, Russia was an autocracy in almost its purest form. The Tsar had the final word, he made all the decisions and formed all the policy in Russia. In the period of Russian history that is covered, strong critics of the Tsarist regime didn't attack the notion of autocracy, but instead criticized the corruption and inefficiency of the Tsar's officials and landlords... The collapse of Tsardom in 1917 had many causes
Before 1825, rebellions were often led by individual leaders who most of the time did not have the advantage of the aristocracy; they didn't have the ability to be a real political or economic threat to Russian autocracy. The Decembrist revolution in 1825 however changed this as the people involved in the revolution were not simple peasants, they were aristocrats from the upper echelons of Russian society, who wished to make huge political changes in Russia, namely liberating Russia from autocracy and freeing the serfs which was a main part of their agenda. The Decembrists were not successful in their revolution in the end as they were defeated by loyalist troops quite easily due to a lack of unity among the leaders of the Revolution, for example, a single policy or set of aims could not be agreed. The Northern and Southern societies however, were able to agree on one issue, that the revolution must be carried out by the small elite and not by the masses The Decembrists were not able to gain the support of the people they were attempting to free from autocratic subjugation, the masses of
The Northern and Southern Societies were not able to reach agreement on many issues; however one issue that they were able to reach an agreement on was that the revolution was not be carried out by the masses, rather it was to be led by a small military group. The Decembrists believed that the involvement of the masses would end in the failure of their revolution. The Historian Waclaw Lednicki argues that the Decembrist Revolution was in fact a class revolution which would ultimately be a failure as the masses at this point, did not care about movements to reform the Russian political system. Lednicki believed that "Without the masses the upheaval was impossible, but at the same time the Decembrists expressed no desire to involve the masses." Therefore the collapse of Tsar evidently, could not have solely been brought about by the upsurge of just the political masses as the Decembrist Revolution would've succeeded. Clearly, if the Decembrists had secured the support of the masses and shifted their indifference in their favour, they would've been more