These excerpts are from the memoirs of Andrei Evgenevich Rozen (1799-1884), one of the Decembrists who was exiled to Siberia:
For the young Russian nobles serving in the Guards regiments, the campaigns [ of 1813-15] in Germany and France were like an entrance into a new cultural world which heretofore only single individuals or private persons had had any conception of.... The struggle of the numerous political parties then existing in France found its most avid and intelligent spectators and listeners among the young foreigners.
It was precisely the most talented and active of the young Russian guardsmen who enthusiastically imbibed the ideas of civic consciousness, freedom, and constitutional rights and attentively and admiringly entered into the life of the nation they had come from the remote east to pacify. Many began to consider the possibility of transmitting to their homeland the best of the constructive reforms, and with the fiery enthusiasm of youth they leaped across the wide chasm separating the levels of Russian and French cultural development.
When the final hour of their sojourn in France had struck, the flower of the Guards officer corps returned home with the intention of transplanting France in Russia. Thus in most of the best regiments Masonic lodges of a purely political cast were formed. When these lodges were closed and abolished, their members came together in secret societies which had the goal of obtaining a constitutional regime for Russia. They all knew that the emperor Alexander had himself formed this intention, and they thought they would be acting in his spirit by undertaking preparatory measures. But Alexander, frightened by the liberal movements in Germany, changed the course of his policy, and the young nobles in the regiments were left in a position clearly at variance with the dominant system. Various restraining measures proved fruitless, since some of the soldiers had been infected with the French poison and desired the same sort of treatment to which they had become accustomed in France. The most ardent of the conspirators finally turned to a republican ideal.
On the evening of December 12 [1825], I was invited to the homes of Ryleev and Prince Obolenskii for conferences; there I found the chief participants in [the events of] December 14. It was decided to gather in Senate Square on the day appointed for taking the new oath of allegiance, to lead there as many of the troops as possible under the pretense of supporting the rights of Constantine, [and] to entrust command to Prince Trubetskoi, unless [General] M. F. Orlov should arrive from Moscow by that time. If our side should be stronger, we would proclaim the abolition of the monarchy and immediately establish a provisional government consisting of five persons, chosen by the members of the State Council and Senate. Among the five, the names of I. S. Mordvinov, M. M. Speranskii, and P. 1. Pestel' were proposed in advance. The provisional government would direct all affairs of state with the assistance of the Council and Senate, until such time as elected representatives from the entire Russian land could gather and lay the foundation for a new government.... The measures adopted for the uprising were unclear and indefinite, and thus to certain of my objections and remarks Prince Obolenskii and Bulatov replied ironically: "After all, we can't very well stage rehearsals!"
There were altogether more than two thousand soldiers in Senate Square taking part in the uprising. Under the command of a single leader this strength, in view of the thousands of people gathered around and ready to give help, might have been decisive, the more so since in the event of an attack many battalions would have joined the rebels, who stood without their overcoats in a cold of -10 degrees [Centigrade], in newly fallen snow and with a sharp wind from the east, remained passive, and kept warm only by continual shouts of "Hurrah!" The dictator [Prince S. P. Trubetskoi] was nowhere to be seen, nor were his assistants on the spot. Command was offered to Bulatov: he refused; then to N. A. Bestuzhev: he refused on the grounds that he was a naval officer; finally command was thrust upon Prince E. P. Obolenskii, not as a tactician but as an officer whom the soldiers knew and liked. There was anarchy in the full meaning of the word; in the absence of any instructions everyone could give commands, everyone was waiting for something, and while waiting they jointly repelled attacks, stubbornly refused to surrender, and proudly rejected any offer of Pardon.
But the success of the intended venture was possible, taking all factors into consideration. Two thousand soldiers, and ten times that many onlookers, were ready for anything at a leader's beckoning.... Meanwhile time was passing; there was no unity of command: thus instead of acting our forces remained purely passive. The troops of the Moscow [Guards] Regiment stood firm and repelled five attacks by the Horse Guards. The soldiers yielded neither to threats nor to inducements. They did not waver in the presence of the metropolitan [Serafim of Saint Petersburg], who came out in full vestments and with a cross, imploring them in the name of the Lord. This force stood motionless in the cold and without overcoats for several hours, at a time when it could have seized the cannon loaded against it. The cannon stood nearby under cover of a platoon of the Chevalier Guards, commanded by a member of the secret society, I. A. Annenkov.
The investigating committee did not wish to understand the difference between an actual uprising, on one hand, and, on the other, an intention of staging an uprising or an intention of assassinating the tsar; it not only condemned the rebels for their actions but also viewed as crimes their criminal words and phrases which had nothing to do with the uprising or even opposed an uprising. The investigating committee imposed shameful sentences of death and exile not only upon the participants in the uprising but also upon those who had desired an uprising or had merely discussed an uprising without taking any actual part in it. It found equally guilty those who had rebelled and those who had merely discussed rebellion.