The duel is associated with a heightened concept of self-esteem. But how many outstanding scientists, writers, and politicians died in these fights (although sometimes it is not a pity for the latter)! Imperial Russia can be considered a country particularly affected by duels.
Pushkin and Lermontov, who fell in the prime of their talent - these two names are already enough to doubt the usefulness of duels as a way of forming certain moral guidelines. In the first case, the poet becomes a victim of a vile intrigue, in the second, he pays for an unsuccessful joke. If we analyze how both fights were organized, then the thought of murders disguised as a duel comes to mind. So where did this overseas wonder come from?
More than a war
Italy is considered to be the homeland of the duel in the 15th century - remember that in Verona Tybalt stabs Mercutio in a duel, and then himself dies at the hands of Romeo. But this tradition was most widespread in France. Actually, the very word "duel" in translation from French means "duel" or "fight of two."
Over the 20 years of the reign of Henry IV, up to 12 thousand noblemen died in duels - twice as many soldiers (not only nobles) died in the Battle of Ivry (1590), which actually ended the Huguenot wars.
In 1626, Cardinal Richelieu issued a royal edict forbidding dueling under threat of death. And the following year, the Counts of Boutville and de Chapelle were indeed beheaded, and their property was confiscated.
But the nobles preferred to follow not a royal edict, but a dueling code known as Rules 84 (1583). By the way, it was created based on the practice of using cold weapons.
Promotional video:
In Russia, the first duel took place in 1666, but officers from the regiments of the "foreign order" fought in it - the British Major Montgomery and the Scotsman, the future "father" of the Russian regular army, Patrick Gordon.
Probably, there were other precedents, because in the decree of Princess Sophia of 1682, which regulates the rules for carrying weapons, the prohibition of duels was specially stipulated.
In Russia, there was a practice of judicial duels, when the parties crossed weapons, on the basis that God was on the side of the right.
Peter I encouraged the penetration of any foreign customs into Russia, including smoking tobacco, but he had a negative attitude towards duels. In the Military Regulations and Articles published in 1715, such fights were forbidden under the threat of death, and even those who had already died in a duel were supposed to "hang by their feet upon death".
Foreign planting
Duel became widespread only after the publication in 1762 of the "Manifesto on the Liberty of the Nobility", which freed the nobles from compulsory military and civil service, leaving them all privileges.
In 1787, Catherine II issued the "Manifesto on duels", declaring them "foreign planting" and forbidding, but no longer under threat of execution, but at the most - hard labor.
Meanwhile, the dueling traditions borrowed from France in Russia were transformed towards tightening. A relative softening can be considered the fact that fights with melee weapons were almost completely replaced by fights with pistols.
On the one hand, a fight with swords, sabers or foils inevitably ended with at least one of the participants wounded. In a duel with pistols, a weaker and less experienced opponent could defeat a stronger one.
On the other hand, so that no doubts about the interpretation of God's will arise, the fights were distinguished by their uncompromising attitude. The most common duel scheme assumed that the opponents began to walk together to their own firing line (barrier), but they could shoot immediately after starting the movement. Having reached the barrier, they should have fired anyway. But if in Europe the distance between the arrows was usually 25-30 steps, then in Russia - 15-20 steps (6-7 meters).
In Russia, it was common practice when, having missed while moving, one of the duelists had to approach the barrier and dutifully wait for the enemy's shot. One of the duelists always died if they fired "through the scarf" - that is, almost point-blank and blindly. In fights "pistol to the forehead" or "muzzle to muzzle" only one of the two pistols distributed by lot was loaded.
The outcome of the duel was highly dependent on the seconds, who were supposed to promote reconciliation and ensure that the opponents fought on an equal footing. Pushkin, for example, was going to fight in a duel about 30 times, but thanks to intermediaries only 5 times he actually came to the barrier.
By the way, among his opponents were fellow poets. True, he never came out to the barrier with Kondraty Ryleev. But with Wilhelm Küchelbecker, who was offended by the lines “and küchelbeckerno, and sickening”, he really shot himself. Pushkin, whom the duel did not inspire at all, shot into the air. Kuchelbecker chose to just miss.
Take two on the Black River
Unlike France in the 16th-17th centuries, seconds in Russia rarely crossed weapons, although this did happen. In November 1817, the cavalry guard Vasily Sheremetev fired on the chamberlain Alexander Zavadovsky because of the ballerina Avdotya Istomina and received a mortal wound. Sheremetev's second Alexander Yakubovich blamed Zavadovsky's second Alexander Griboyedov (author of Woe from Wit) for the tragedy and also decided to shoot him. Out of harm's way, the authorities sent both on business trips, but a year later they still crossed paths in the Caucasus. The duel took place, and Griboyedov was wounded in the arm.
Three months before the Decembrist uprising, a member of the Northern Society, Second Lieutenant Konstantin Chernov, summoned the adjutant wing Vladimir Novosiltsev to a duel. The reason is that Novosiltsev, at the insistence of his mother, refused to marry the insufficiently noble sister of Chernov, although he compromised her with his courtship. They fired from 8 steps, and both died. Through the efforts of Ryleev, Chernov's funeral turned into a kind of public manifestation, where the advanced young officers were opposed to the reactionary titled nobility.
From the middle of the 19th century, the dueling wave began to decline, but in 1894 it rose again after the issuance of the imperial decree "On the investigation of quarrels that occur among officers."
Presumably, the authorities are concerned about the fact that the officer corps, diluted by commoners, has somewhat lost corporate traditions. By the highest command, in the event of some quarrels, reconciliation was recognized as impossible, and fights became inevitable. The officer who refused the duel was retired.
Interestingly, at the same time, there were also sanctions against participants who could be imprisoned in the fortress.
From the army, which in Russia has always been equal, the dueling fad spread to civilians, especially to politicians. The leader of the Octobrist Party, Alexander Guchkov, over the years spent in the State Duma, got involved in similar stories three times. In 1908, he challenged the leader of the Cadet Party, Pavel Milyukov, to a duel, but after five days of negotiations between the seconds, the matter ended in reconciliation. The next year, Guchkov shot himself with the deputy Count Uvarov and wounded him easily. In 1912, a duel took place with Lieutenant Colonel Myasoedov: he missed, and Guchkov himself fired into the air. It is curious that Myasoedov was hanged in 1915 for espionage, and with Milyukov Guchkov worked together in the First Provisional Government from which they flew together as "reactionary ministers."
The duels became more and more operetta in nature, which was probably most clearly expressed in the duel between Nikolai Gumilyov and Maximilian Voloshin, which took place on November 22, 1909.
In violation of all dueling codes, the combatants were delayed for more than the prescribed quarter of an hour. Gumilyov missed. Voloshin's pistol misfired twice, and shooting the third time was completely against the rules. All this happened in the same place where Pushkin died - on the Black River.
In 12 years, Gumilyov will be shot for real and not at all in a duel …
Defending honor
Of course, there is no exact statistics on the number of Russian duelists who died.
It is known that 322 duels took place in the army in 1894-1910. Of these, 30 fights ended in death or severe wounds. Based on this figure and given that it was the fights between the military that most often ended in death, it can be assumed that since the Peter the Great era and the revolution of 1917, the total number of deaths hardly exceeded 1,000.
Dmitry MITYURIN