Crush on the Khodynka Field: Description, History, Causes, Victims and Consequences

The tragic crush on the Khodynka Field occurred on May 18, 1896, according to the old style. A huge crowd gathered in the outskirts of Moscow on the occasion of the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II. In the crush, more than 1,300 people died.

On the eve of the tragedy

Traditionally such an event as the coronation was accompanied by mass festivities. And these events were no longer part of the formal ceremony. The very coronation of Nikolai Alexandrovich took place on May 14, after which the authorities organized holidays with gifts for ordinary people throughout the country. This was the reason for the huge crowd. Rumors that they will distribute edible gifts on Khodynka quickly dispersed throughout Moscow. In 1896 this place was a city outskirts. The field was wide, so it was decided to spend the festivities here. In addition, it was planned that the sovereign himself would attend the event - he would listen to the concert, which the orchestra was supposed to give.

Massive crush

Celebrations were to begin at 10 o'clock in the morning. But by the early morning on the site there were a total of about half a million people. The crush on the Khodynka Field began at a time when a rumor was circulating among the crowd that gifts had already begun to be distributed in advance, but due to the large number of people, they were not enough for everyone.

Treats were given in specially constructed wooden pavilions. This is where the distraught people ran. Distributors began to throw food directly into the crowd, so that it did not approach the stalls, which could easily be smashed. However, this only increased chaos. Among people began a fight for gifts. The first crushed ones appeared. Rapidly spreading panic, which only exacerbated the situation.

The reaction of the authorities

About the tragedy was informed to the emperor and his uncle Sergey Aleksandrovich. Within a few hours the field was cleared of all signs of a recent drama. The crush on the Khodynka Field did not change the plans of the autocrat. At first he visited the planned concert, and then went to the Kremlin, where the ball was held, which was attended by the entire Moscow aristocracy, as well as ambassadors. Some of the approximate people advised Nicholas to refrain from visiting the dances in order to somehow show their grief for the dead and the wounded. However, he did not change his plans. Perhaps this was done because the monarch did not want to offend the French ambassador, whom he accepted at the ball. All this was fixed by the emperor in his diary.

Sergei Witte (Minister of Finance), who attended Khodynka on that fateful day, left behind his memoirs, where he shared his opinion on what had happened with the reader. The official believed that the crush on the Khodynka field, the reasons for which was the poor organization of the event, had a terrible effect on the emperor, who looked "painful." Witte wrote that, perhaps, the tsar was influenced by his uncle Sergei (Grand Duke), advised him to continue everything, as planned. The emperor himself, in the minister's opinion, would certainly have served the church service on the site of the tragedy. But Nicholas was always indecisive and extremely dependent on his relatives.

Nevertheless, on the 19th and 20th, he and his wife and uncle visited the Moscow hospitals, where the wounded were held. Mother of the Tsar, Maria Feodorovna, donated from her savings several thousand rubles, which went to medicines. The same thing was done by the imperial couple. In total, 90 thousand rubles were allocated. The families of the victims were assigned personal pensions.

The funeral

A huge number of corpses could not be identified. All these bodies were buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery in a mass grave. Architect Hilarion Ivanov-Shits designed a monument for her. It has survived to our days, it can still be seen at the Vagankovskoye cemetery.

The bodies that could be recognized were given to relatives. The tsar instructed to allocate money for their funeral.

Investigation

Responsibility for the incident was assigned to the local police, which could not adequately provide security in such a vast territory as the Khodynka field. The crush of people caused the resignation of Alexander Vlasovsky. He was in charge of law enforcement in the city. He in his defense first stated that the organization of the holiday, the result of which was a crush on the Khodynka field on May 18, 1896, was occupied by the Ministry of the Court.

Officials of this structure persuaded the investigators that they were not responsible for the police order at the event, although they really directed the distribution of gifts. Count Vorontsov-Dashkov, who was the minister of the court, led him back in the time of Alexander III and was for the new emperor an inviolable figure. He defended his subordinates against the attacks of the Oberpolitzer master Vlasovsky. At the same time, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (who was also a Moscow governor) was the patron of the city's police.

This conflict affected the relations of the top officials, split into two parties. One half was supported by the ministry of the court, the other by the police. Many hesitated, not knowing which side the Emperor himself would be on. In the end, all sought to please the king. Hardly anyone was interested in the victims at the Khodynka Field of 1896.

Nicholas II instructed the investigation of the Minister of Justice Nikolai Muravyov. He received this post under the patronage of Sergei Alexandrovich, so at the court they decided that the Count Vorontsov-Dashkov would be guilty. But then Maria Fedorovna (mother of the emperor) interfered. Largely due to her influence, the investigation was transferred to Konstantin Palen (also former Minister of Justice).

He was known for his saying that in places where the Grand Dukes are leading, there is always a mess. This position has set many Romanovs against him. However, he was under the care of the empress-mother. His investigation made the bloc of the Uberpolis master Vlasovsky.

Reflection in culture

A terrible crush on the Khodynka field shocked the entire Russian public. Many officials have left memories about this terrible event, for example Sergey Vitte. Leo Tolstoy, amazed by what happened, wrote a short story "Khodynka", where he captured a picture of a people's panic during a stampede. Maxim Gorky used the plot in his novel "The Life of Klim Samgin."