Western Civilization II / Unit 10 WC2 0923 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Decembrists, 1825, and Nicholas I's Third Section
Captions available
The idea
Officers who had seen the West in the Napoleonic campaigns conspired for a constitution and emancipation when Alexander I died. In December eighteen twenty-five they stood in the square before the palace; loyal troops fired. Nicholas I interrogated them himself.
In practice
The Third Section, Europe's first secret police; autocracy, orthodoxy, nationality.
Where people slip
Russia's only liberal attempt before nineteen-oh-five, the anchor says.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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