Why did the guardsmen support their Decembrist officers.
In Russian history, the opinion is firmly entrenched that under Paul I, instead of real military training, there came a fashion for acrobatic shagistics. And the regiment allegedly guilty at the parade could be sent entirely to Siberia. In fact, the extravagant emperor was simply trying to strengthen discipline among the spoiled guardsmen with the help of drill exercises.
The first half of the 19th century is considered to be the “golden age” of the Russian guard. Indeed, images of brilliant officers with golden epaulettes, leading a wide and riotous life, immediately arise in my head. And then, as in a song: "balls, beauties, footmen, cadets, and Schubert's waltzes, and the crunch of a French roll." However, if you take a closer look at this time, it turns out that not all of them crunched with French rolls. How did those who, in fact, formed the basis of any military unit, namely, soldiers and non-commissioned officers, lived? Alas, the everyday life of ordinary guardsmen was far from rosy …
No romance
To begin with, from the era of Catherine II, almost all rank-and-file ranks in the guard, as well as in the ordinary army, were recruited by recruiting. Every village, every town every few years had to send the required number of recruits from a certain number of "souls".
Each recruitment was perceived by the people as a plague, as a pestilence. By decree of 1805, the service life of a soldier was set at 25 years. The recruit became a kind of "living dead", forever lost to his wife, children, parents. In general, behind the back of each soldier-guard was his own small personal tragedy.
Once in the guards regiment, the recruit found himself in an atmosphere of tiring drills and the most real torture. During the reign of Alexander I (1801-1825) and Nicholas I (1825-1855), the main emphasis was on shagistika, on the synchronized acrobatic movements of the soldiers' masses during numerous parades.
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“Exercises” were regularly held - either in front of the barracks on the parade ground, or in one of the city fields. Thus, the guards regiments located in the center of St. Petersburg (Preobrazhensky, Pavlovsky) conducted their exercises on the Field of Mars. The Life Guards Semyonovsky regiment practiced on the parade ground of the same name (now the Theater of the Young Spectator is here).
The Life Guards Finland Regiment, stationed on Vasilievsky Island, was practicing on the vast Smolensk Field in the northern part of the island. The teachings alternated with reviews, which were attended by the highest authorities - right up to the sovereign emperor personally.
Oddly enough, the soldiers of the guard were allowed to marry. For such a family soldier, a separate room was allocated in the barracks.
Is hard labor sweeter than the guards?
The whole service of an ordinary guardsman was like some kind of corps de ballet. But, unlike the artists of the imperial theaters, the guardsmen could not refuse to teach all these ballet "pas".
For those who poorly mastered acrobatic exercises, a whole range of corporal punishment was provided. And in this respect, the title of the Guardsman did not give any privileges. Rods and rods (sticks) were considered as the most effective means of educating the lower ranks. And this is not counting the "usual" beatings by officers' fists, which were very popular among the guards authorities.
The main difference between the guards regiments from the usual was that the tallest and strongest men were selected here. But even these big men often could not bear the hardships of service in the "elite units". On the parade ground, they had to march for hours with unnaturally outstretched legs, while holding the body so that a full glass of water, placed on the shako, did not splash.
Or, conversely, one had to stand motionless for a long time, like milestones. And all this in any weather: rain, wind, cold. White leather leggings, which look so spectacular in the paintings, had to be worn wet on the naked body in order to achieve the perfect "tight" without folds. And so it was required to do even in severe frost! It is not surprising that the soldiers were mowed down by diseases: tonsillitis, pneumonia, tuberculosis, fever, scurvy.
Many guardsmen, unable to withstand the torture and humiliation of the officers, committed suicide. The future Decembrist Matvey Muravyov-Apostol recalled: “I was walking across the Isaac Bridge and saw a soldier of the Life Guards Grenadier Regiment climb over the railing, took off his shako, ammunition, crossed himself and rushed into the Neva … It often happened that a soldier killed the first person he met, preferring hard labor to a soldier's life.
In the battle of Borodino in 1812, the elite Horse Guards regiment lost 18 men. In the peaceful year of 1817 - 66 soldiers. Someone died of diseases, others committed suicide. Quite impressive numbers …
In this form, the guardsmen had to march regularly for hours on the parade ground …
At the beginning of the 19th century, an integral part of the uniforms of soldiers and officers was a wig, smeared with lard and sprinkled with flour. In this way, a perfect “styling” and whiteness was achieved.
Guards "common fund"
In some respects, the guardsmen were even worse off than the soldiers of ordinary army regiments. The fact is that in those days the army units were in the villages for most of the year. The soldiers settled in peasant huts, ate from a common boiler with the owner of the house.
The idyllic relationship of soldiers with the village population existed only in paintings. In reality, the peasants were terribly afraid of the appearance of the guards in their village. After all, the law absolutely did not protect the villagers from robbery and arbitrariness of the "defenders of the fatherland." ALEXANDER GEBENS, "SONGS OF THE SEMYONOVSKY REGION".
The guards were located in St. Petersburg, and the guards had to live in real barracks. So, one could not count on "home" grubs.
The material support of an ordinary Russian guard consisted of a monetary salary, as well as food and clothing allowances. The guardsman was given 1 kilogram of flour and 100 grams of cereal per day. Soldiers were not entitled to other provisions from the treasury. It is clear that it is impossible to live 25 years of service, eating only porridge and bread every day. The size of the salary of an ordinary guardsman was not large, it was also impossible to provide himself with additional food for him.
In addition, each item given to the soldier had its own "wear period", before the expiration of which the soldier had no right to demand replacement. But what if the uniform fell into disrepair ahead of schedule? Where can I get money to buy food and ammunition?
The life-saving solution was simple. In every company of any guards regiment there was an "artel treasury". Or, in modern slang, "common fund". Each soldier “unfastened” a share of his annual salary into it. All additional earnings of the company went there: awards for successful parades, shooting, reviews. It was a kind of "mutual aid fund" for the needy soldiers.
Few people know that for the entire period of the wars with Napoleon in 1805-1814, the Russian guard went on campaigns practically at their own expense. The quartermaster supplies were terrible. The guardsmen had to buy both food and uniforms with their own money. Moreover, their command promised them that everything would be compensated after the war. But the promise remained just words.
By 1825, the government's debt to 11 Guards regiments amounted to an impressive amount of 122 thousand rubles. In the guards units, the soldiers felt deceived and robbed. By the way, this fact, often overlooked by historical science, allows us to look somewhat differently at the behavior of ordinary soldiers during the Decembrist uprising. Perhaps, if the guards had not had a personal grudge against the government, they would not have been so receptive to the calls of the conspiratorial officers …
Author: Denis Orlov
Guards-guest workers
Since the times of Peter the Great, soldiers-guards have received the right to be hired for "free work" in their free time from service. In 1805, a decree was issued that allowed soldiers to work "on the side" for most of the summer - after the end of the June inspections. In the rest of the seasons, each battalion in the regiment had 2-3 days a week, free from exercises, guards, etc.
Everything that the soldier of the guard earned "on the side" was divided in half: half went to the soldier himself, half to the artel cash desk of the company.
In addition, the company commanders released "proven" soldiers on longer "business trips". Naturally, such a soldier had to share his earnings with the commander. For example, Captain Rovinsky of the Guards bought horse-drawn carriages and sent his soldiers to drive on the streets of St. Petersburg.
Another source of the soldiers' earnings was the sale of vegetables and root crops to the townspeople from company gardens (in the 19th century, each guards company had its own large garden - for the purpose of "self-sufficiency" of the military).
If the regiment commander did not encroach on these "left" earnings of his subordinates, the soldiers were ready to forgive him a lot. But the trouble was, if the power in the regiment received tyrant and fanatic shagistiki! The famous revolt of the Semyonovsky Life Guards regiment in 1820, which shook the capital, happened precisely because the new commander so "loaded" the soldiers with daily drill that they did not have free time to work on the side.
The disciplined, seasoned soldiers of the Guards regiments were welcome workers. Especially often they could be found at St. Petersburg construction sites.
Savior George
The soldiers of the guards were subject to corporal punishment in the same way as the soldiers of ordinary regiments. The only exception was made for those who were awarded the Military Order of St. George's Insignia. The people called him simply - "soldier George". This sign was an analogue of the officer's St. George cross for privates. It was founded by Emperor Alexander I in 1807. "Soldier George" complained of outstanding bravery in battle.
Soldiers who were awarded this award were not allowed to be subjected to corporal punishment.
Guards "pyramid"
All guards units were clearly ranked according to their prestige and status. At the top of the military Olympus was the "big four": Preobrazhensky, Semyonovsky, Cavalier and Horse Guards regiments.
One step below were the Life Hussars, the Life Grenadiers and the Izmailovites. Even lower - all other regiments in the order of chronological seniority (time of receipt of the guard status).
Under Nicholas I, not only uniforms were carefully unified, but also the very appearance of the soldiers-guards. So, the Cuirassier regiment consisted only of red-haired warriors who wore orange uniforms and rode red horses. For this, the people called them "boiled crayfish".
Guards Colonel Fyodor Schwartz demanded that all his soldiers were with mustaches. Those whose mustache did not grow well were glued with hot wax overhead. And so that they do not fall during the exercises.