120 years ago, on May 30, 1896, in Moscow during the celebration of the accession to the throne of Nicholas II, a stampede took place on the Khodynskoye field, which was called the Khodynskoy catastrophe. The exact number of victims is unknown. According to one version, 1,389 people died on the field, about 1,500 were injured. Public opinion blamed everything on the Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, who was the organizer of the event, he was nicknamed "Prince Khodynsky". Only a few minor officials were "punished", including the Moscow Chief of Police A. Vlasovsky and his assistant - they were dismissed.
Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov, the eldest son of Emperor Alexander III, was born on May 6, 1868 in St. Petersburg. The heir was educated at home: he was given lectures at the gymnasium course, then at the Faculty of Law and the Academy of the General Staff. Nikolay was fluent in three languages - English, German and French. The political views of the future emperor were formed under the influence of the traditionalist, Chief Prosecutor of the Senate K. Pobedonostsev. But in the future, his policy will be contradictory - from conservatism to liberal modernization. From the age of 13, Nikolai kept a diary and neatly filled it in until his death, not missing almost a single day in his notes.
For more than a year (intermittently), the prince underwent military practice in the army. Later he was promoted to the rank of colonel. In this military rank, Nikolai remained until the end of his life - after the death of his father, no one could confer upon him the rank of general. To supplement his education, Alexander sent the heir on a round-the-world trip: Greece, Egypt, India, China, Japan and other countries. In Japan, he was assassinated, almost killed.
However, the education and training of the heir was still far from complete, there was no experience in management when Alexander III died. It was believed that the tsarevich still had a lot of time under the "wing" of the tsar, since Alexander was in his prime and had good health. Therefore, the untimely death of the 49-year-old sovereign shocked the whole country and his son, becoming a complete surprise to him. On the day of his parent's death, Nikolai wrote in his diary: “October 20th. Thursday. My God, my God, what a day. The Lord recalled our beloved, dear, beloved Pope to Himself. My head is spinning, I don’t want to believe - the terrible reality seems so incredible … Lord, help us in these difficult days! Poor dear Mom! … I felt like killed … ". Thus, on October 20, 1894, Nikolai Alexandrovich actually became the new king of the Romanov dynasty. However, the coronation celebrations on the occasion of the long mourning were postponed; they took place only a year and a half later, in the spring of 1896.
Preparation of celebrations and their start
The decision on his own coronation was made by Nicholas on March 8, 1895. The main celebrations were decided to be held according to tradition in Moscow from May 6 to 26, 1896. Since the accession of Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich, the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin has remained a permanent place of this sacred rite, even after the capital was transferred to St. Petersburg. The Moscow governor-general, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, and the minister of the imperial court, Count I. I. Vorontsov-Dashkov, were responsible for holding the festivities. Count K. I. Palen was the supreme marshal, and Prince A. S. Dolgorukov was the supreme master of ceremonies. A coronation detachment was formed, consisting of 82 battalions, 36 squadrons, 9 hundred and 26 batteries - under the main command of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, under which a special headquarters was formed headed by Lieutenant General N. I. Bobrikov.
These weeks in May have become the central event of not only Russian but also European life. The most eminent guests arrived in the ancient capital of Russia: the entire European elite, from titled nobility to official and other representatives of countries. The number of representatives of the East increased, there were representatives from the Eastern patriarchies. For the first time, representatives of the Vatican and the Church of England attended the celebrations. In Paris, Berlin and Sofia, friendly greetings and toasts were heard in honor of Russia and its young emperor. In Berlin, they even organized a brilliant military parade, accompanied by the Russian anthem, and Emperor Wilhelm, who had the gift of an orator, delivered a heartfelt speech.
Every day, trains brought thousands of people from all over the vast empire. Delegations came from Central Asia, from the Caucasus, the Far East, from the Cossack troops, etc. There were a lot of representatives from the northern capital. A separate "detachment" was made up of journalists, reporters, photographers, even artists, and representatives of various "liberal professions" who had gathered not only from all over Russia, but from all over the world. The upcoming celebrations required the efforts of many representatives of various professions: carpenters, excavators, painters, plasterers, electricians, engineers, janitors, firefighters and policemen, etc. worked tirelessly. Moscow restaurants, taverns and theaters these days were filled to capacity. Tverskoy Boulevard was so crowded that, according to eyewitnesses, “it was necessary to wait for hours to cross from one side to the other. Hundreds of magnificent carriages, carriages, landauses and others pulled along the boulevards in rows. " The main street of Moscow, Tverskaya, was transformed, prepared for the majestic procession of the imperial cortege. She was adorned with all kinds of decorative structures. All along the way, masts, arches, obelisks, columns, pavilions were erected. Flags were raised everywhere, houses were decorated with beautiful fabrics and carpets, and they were wrapped in garlands of greenery and flowers, in which hundreds and thousands of electric bulbs were installed. Stands for guests were built on Red Square.
Work was in full swing on the Khodynskoye field, where on May 18 (30) a festivities were planned with the distribution of memorable royal gifts and treats. The holiday was supposed to follow the same scenario as the coronation of Alexander III in 1883. Then about 200 thousand people came to the holiday, all of them were fed and presented with gifts. The Khodynskoye field was large (about 1 square kilometer), but there was a ravine next to it, and on the field itself there were many gullies and pits, which were hastily covered with boards and sprinkled with sand. Previously serving as a training ground for the troops of the Moscow garrison, Khodynskoye field has not yet been used for festivities. Temporary "theaters", stage stages, booths and shops were erected along its perimeter. Smooth posts for dodgers were dug into the ground, prizes were hung on them: from beautiful boots to Tula samovars. Among the buildings were 20 wooden barracks filled with barrels of alcohol for free distribution of vodka and beer and 150 stalls for distributing royal gifts. Gift bags for those times (and even now) were rich: commemorative earthenware mugs with a portrait of the king, a roll, gingerbread, sausage, a bag of sweets, a bright chintz scarf with a portrait of the imperial couple. In addition, it was planned to throw small coins with a commemorative inscription in the crowd.
Sovereign Nicholas with his wife and retinue departed from the capital on May 5 and arrived at the Smolensky railway station in Moscow on May 6. According to the old tradition, the Tsar spent three days before entering Moscow in the Petrovsky Palace in Petrovsky Park. On May 7, a solemn reception of the Bukhara Emir and the Khiva Khan was held at the Petrovsky Palace. On May 8, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna arrived at the Smolensky railway station, who was greeted by the royal couple in front of a huge crowd of people. In the evening of the same day, a serenade was arranged at the Petrovsky Palace, performed by 1200 people, among whom were the choirs of the Imperial Russian Opera, a student of the conservatory, members of the Russian choral society, etc.
Emperor Nicholas (on a white horse), accompanied by his retinue, walks in front of the stands from the Triumphal Gate along Tverskaya Street on the day of the solemn entry into Moscow
On May 9 (21), the royal entrance to the Kremlin took place. From Petrovsky Park, past the Triumphal Gates, the Passionate Monastery, along the entire Tverskaya Street, the Tsar's train was supposed to follow to the Kremlin. These few kilometers were already filled with people in the morning. Petrovsky Park acquired the appearance of a huge camp, where groups of people who had come from all over Moscow from all over Moscow spent the night under each tree. By 12 o'clock all the alleys leading to Tverskaya were tied with ropes and crowded with people. The troops stood in rows on the sides of the street. It was a brilliant sight: a mass of people, troops, beautiful carriages, generals, foreign nobility and envoys, all in ceremonial uniforms or suits, many beautiful high society ladies in elegant outfits.
At 12 o'clock, nine cannon volleys announced the start of the ceremony. Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich with his retinue left the Kremlin to meet the Tsar. At half past three, the cannons and the bell ringing of all Moscow churches announced that the ceremonial entry had begun. And only about five o'clock the head platoon of mounted gendarmes appeared, followed by a convoy of His Majesty, etc. They carried senators in gilded carriages, followed by "people of different ranks" horses. Again the cavalry guards and only then on the white Arabian horse the king. He rode slowly, bowed to the people, was agitated and pale. When the tsar proceeded through the Spassky Gate to the Kremlin, the people began to disperse. Illumination was lit at 9 o'clock. For that time it was a fairy tale, the people enthusiastically walked among the city shining with millions of lights.
Illumination in the Kremlin on the occasion of the holiday
Day of the sacred wedding and anointing to the kingdom
May 14 (26) was the day of the sacred coronation. From early morning all the central streets of Moscow were packed with people. At about 9 o'clock. 30 minutes. the procession began, cavalry guards, courtiers, state dignitaries, representatives of volosts, cities, zemstvos, nobility, merchants, professors of Moscow University descended. Finally, with the deafening cries of "Hurray" of the hundred-thousand-strong masses and the sounds of "God Save the Tsar," performed by the court orchestra, the Tsar and Tsarina appeared. They followed to the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.
In an instant, there was silence. At 10 o'clock, the ceremonial rite began, the solemn rite of wedding and anointing to the kingdom, which was performed by the first member of the Holy Synod, Metropolitan Palladium of St. Petersburg, with the participation of Metropolitan Ioanniky of Kiev and Metropolitan Sergius of Moscow. Many Russian and Greek bishops also attended the ceremony. In a loud, distinct voice, the tsar pronounced the symbol of faith, after which he placed a large crown on himself, and a small crown on Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna. Then the full imperial title was read out, fireworks thundered and congratulations began. The king, who knelt down and said the appropriate prayer, was anointed and received communion.
The ceremony of Nicholas II repeated the established tradition in basic details, although each tsar could make some change. Thus, Alexander I and Nicholas I did not wear the "dalmatic" - the ancient clothes of the Byzantine Basileus. And Nicholas II appeared not in the uniform of a colonel, but in a majestic ermine mantle. The craving for Moscow antiquity appeared in Nicholas already at the beginning of his reign and manifested itself in the renewal of ancient Moscow customs. In particular, in St. Petersburg and abroad, they began to build churches in the Moscow style, after more than half a century of hiatus, the royal family magnificently celebrated the Easter holidays in Moscow, etc.
The sacred rite was, in fact, carried out by the entire people. “Everything that happened in the Cathedral of the Dormition,” the chronicle reported, “was like a rumble of the heart, spread throughout this immense crowd and, like a beating pulse, was reflected in its most distant ranks. Here the Sovereign kneeling prays, pronouncing the saints, the great, full of such a deep meaning, the words of the established prayer. Everyone in the cathedral is standing, one sovereign is on his knees. There is also a crowd in the squares, but how everyone fell silent at once, what awe-inspiring silence all around, what a prayerful expression on their faces! But the Tsar got up. The Metropolitan also kneels, behind him all the clergy, the whole church, and behind the church all the people covering the Kremlin squares and even standing behind the Kremlin. Now those pilgrims with their knapsacks dropped down, and everyone was on their knees. Only one King stands before his throne, in all the greatness of his dignity, among the people fervently praying for Him."
And finally, the people greeted the Tsar with enthusiastic shouts of "Hurray", who entered the Kremlin Palace and bowed to everyone present from the Red Porch. The holiday on this day ended with a traditional lunch in the Faceted Chamber, the walls of which were painted again under Alexander III and acquired the look that was during the time of Muscovite Rus. Unfortunately, three days later, the celebrations that had begun so splendidly ended in tragedy.
The imperial couple at the foot of the Red Porch of the Faceted Chamber on the day of coronation
Solemn procession to the Assumption Cathedral
The emperor leaves the southern gates of the Assumption Cathedral on Cathedral Square after the completion of the coronation ceremony
Solemn procession of Nicholas (under a canopy) after the end of the coronation ceremony
Khodynskaya catastrophe
The start of the festivities was scheduled for 10 am on May 18 (30). The program of the festival included: distribution of royal gifts to everyone, prepared in the amount of 400 thousand pieces; at 11-12 o'clock musical and theatrical performances were to begin (on the stage were to show scenes from "Ruslan and Lyudmila", "Little Humpbacked Horse", "Ermak Timofeevich" and circus programs of trained animals); at 14 o'clock the "highest exit" to the balcony of the imperial pavilion was expected.
Both the supposed gifts, and the spectacles unseen for ordinary people, as well as the desire to see the "living king" with their own eyes and at least once in their life to take part in such a wonderful action, made huge masses of people go to Khodynka. So, the artisan Vasily Krasnov expressed the general motive of people: “To wait for the morning to go by ten o'clock, when the distribution of gifts and mugs“for memory”was appointed, it seemed to me just stupid. So many people that there will be nothing left when I come tomorrow. Will I still live to see another coronation? … It seemed shameful to me, a native Muscovite, to remain without "memory" from such a celebration: what kind of sowing in the field am I? The mugs, they say, are very beautiful and "eternal" … ".
In addition, due to the carelessness of the authorities, the place for the festivities was chosen extremely poorly. The Khodynskoye field, dotted with deep ditches, pits, trenches, all parapets and abandoned wells, was convenient for military exercises, and not for a holiday with crowds of thousands. Moreover, before the holiday, he did not take emergency measures to improve the field, limiting himself to cosmetic arrangement. The weather was excellent and the "prudent" Moscow people decided to spend the night on the Khodynskoye field in order to be the first to get to the holiday. The night was moonless, and people kept coming, and, not seeing the road, even then they began to fall into pits and ravines. A terrible crush has formed.
A well-known reporter, correspondent for the newspaper "Russkie vedomosti" V. A. Gilyarovsky, who was the only journalist who spent the night on the field, recalled: “Steam began to rise above the crowd of millions, like a swamp fog … The crush was terrible. They did wrong with many, some lost consciousness, unable to get out or even fall: deprived of feelings, with closed eyes, squeezed as in a grip, they swayed along with the mass. Standing next to me, across one, a tall, handsome old man had not breathed for a long time: he suffocated in silence, died without a sound, and his cold corpse swayed with us. Someone was vomiting next to me. He could not even lower his head … ".
By morning, at least half a million people had accumulated between the city border and the buffets. A thin chain of several hundred Cossacks and policemen, sent "to maintain order", felt that they could not cope with the situation. The rumor that the barmen are handing out gifts to “their own” has finally taken the situation out of control. People rushed to the barracks. Someone died in a stampede, others fell into pits under the collapsed flooring, and others suffered in fights for gifts, etc. According to official statistics, 2,690 people suffered in this "unfortunate incident", of whom 1,389 died. The true number of those who received various injuries, bruises, mutilations is not known. Already in the morning, all the fire brigades of Moscow were engaged in the elimination of the nightmare incident, transporting the wagon train after the wagon train, taking out the dead and wounded. The sight of the victims was horrified by the experienced police, firefighters and doctors.
Nicholas was faced with a difficult question: to hold the celebrations according to the planned scenario or to stop the fun and, on the occasion of the tragedy, turn the holiday into a sad, memorial celebration. “The crowd that spent the night on Khodynskoye field in anticipation of the start of the distribution of lunch and a mug,” Nikolai noted in his diary, “leaned against the buildings, and then there was a crush, and, it’s awful to add, about a thousand three hundred people were trampled. I found out about it at ten and a half o'clock … A disgusting impression was left from this news. " However, the "disgusting impression" did not make Nicholas stop the holiday, which attracted many guests from all over the world, and large sums were spent.
They pretended that nothing special had happened. The bodies were cleaned, everything was masked and smoothed out. The feast over the corpses, in the words of Gilyarovsky, went on as usual. A lot of musicians performed the concert under the direction of the famous conductor Safonov. At 14 o'clock. 5 minutes. the imperial couple appeared on the balcony of the royal pavilion. On the roof of a specially built building, the imperial standard soared, fireworks burst out. Foot and horse troops marched in front of the balcony. Then, in the Petrovsky Palace, in front of which deputations from peasants and Warsaw nobles were received, a dinner was held for the Moscow nobility and volost elders. Nikolai uttered lofty words about the welfare of the people. In the evening, the emperor and empress went to a pre-planned ball with the French ambassador, Count Montebello, who, with his wife, enjoyed a great location in the high society. Many expected that the dinner would take place without the imperial couple, and Nicholas was advised not to come here. However, Nikolai disagreed, saying that although a catastrophe is the greatest misfortune, it should not darken the holiday. At the same time, some of the guests, who did not make it to the embassy, admired the ceremonial performance at the Bolshoi Theater.
A day later, an equally luxurious and grandiose ball took place, which was given by the uncle of the young tsar, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and his wife, the elder sister of the Empress Elizabeth Feodorovna. The ceaseless holidays in Moscow ended on May 26 with the publication of the Supreme Manifesto of Nicholas II, which contained assurances of the tsar's inextricable connection with the people and his readiness to serve for the benefit of his beloved Fatherland.
Nevertheless, in Russia and abroad, despite the beauty and luxury of the celebrations, some unpleasant aftertaste remained. Neither the king nor his relatives observed even the appearance of decency. For example, the uncle of the tsar, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, staged on the day of the funeral of the victims of Khodynka at the Vagankovskoye cemetery in his shooting range near him, "flying in pigeons" for distinguished guests. On this occasion, Pierre Alheim noted: “… at the time when all the people were crying, a motley cortege of old Europe passed by. Europe, perfumed, decaying, moribund Europe … and soon shots rang out.
The imperial family made donations in favor of the victims in the amount of 90 thousand rubles (despite the fact that about 100 million rubles were spent on the coronation), port wine and wine were sent to hospitals for the wounded (apparently from the remnants of feasts), the sovereign himself visited hospitals and was present at memorial service, but the autocracy's reputation was undermined. Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich was nicknamed "Prince Khodynsky" (he died from a revolutionary bomb in 1905), and Nikolai - "Bloody" (he and his family were executed in 1918).
The Khodynka catastrophe acquired symbolic meaning, became a kind of warning for Nicholas. From that moment on, a chain of catastrophes began, which had the bloody tinge of Khodynka, which eventually led to the geopolitical catastrophe of 1917, when the empire collapsed, the autocracy and Russian civilization was on the verge of death. Nicholas II was unable to start the process of modernization of the empire, its radical reform "from above". The coronation showed a deep split of society into the pro-Western "elite", for whom affairs and ties with Europe were closer to people's suffering and problems, and the common people. Taking into account other contradictions and problems, this led to the catastrophe of 1917, when the degraded elite died or fled (a small part of the military, administrative and scientific and technical personnel took part in the creation of the Soviet project), and the people, under the leadership of the Bolsheviks, created a new project, which saved civilization and the Russian superethnos from occupation and destruction.
During the Khodynka catastrophe, the inability of Nikolai Alexandrovich, a generally intelligent person, to respond subtly and sensitively to a change in the situation and to correct his own actions and the actions of the authorities in the right direction, clearly manifested itself. All this ultimately led the empire to disaster, since it was no longer possible to live in the old way. The coronation celebrations of 1896, which began for health and ended for the repose, symbolically stretched out for Russia for two decades. Nicholas ascended the throne as a young and full of energy man, in a relatively quiet time, greeted with the hopes and sympathies of the general population. And he ended his reign with a virtually destroyed empire, a bleeding army and a people who had turned their backs on the tsar.
Commemorative calico scarf
