The Khodynka disaster of 1896 in Moscow

The last emperor of Russia, Tsar Nicholas II, it was customary in the official Soviet historiography to call "Bloody". The main reasons for this were two. Firstly, the Bloody Sunday of January 1905, when the procession to the Winter Palace was greeted with rifles by misunderstanding or provocation. The second reason is the Khodynka disaster of 1896. This tragedy remained in the people's memory in the form of a common verbal cliche, although not everyone knows its circumstances. "Khodynka" - and today they sometimes talk about an unthinkable crowd and a crush.

Coronation

The Khodynka disaster occurred during the celebrations dedicated to the wedding of the kingdom of Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov. The ceremony itself took place on May 14 and was accompanied by a certain ominous sign. The place of action was the Assumption Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin. The autocrat was young, but the service was also very tiring for him. The day turned out to be hot, the temple was stuffy, and the garments taken in such cases differ from everyday by the special splendor. In general, according to the memoirs of Hegumen Serafim, the 28-year-old monarch simply became ill, he stumbled, nearly fell, even lost consciousness for a short time. This can happen to everyone, but in this context this fact, subsequently compared with the circumstances of the reign, was perceived as clichés.

After the exhausting coronation ritual, the couple went to Il'inskoye, to Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich and his wife Elizabeth Feodorovna, and after waking up, the couple were glad that all the ceremonies were over, and now one can live peacefully doing public affairs. Celebrations were to take place for a long time, until May 26, but it was not necessary to participate directly in the tsar. However, the joy turned out to be premature: just three days later a catastrophe occurred on the Khodynka field.

Plan of celebrations

Nikolay Aleksandrovich sincerely dreamed of becoming a people's tsar, from the very beginning of his reign he wanted to facilitate the life of ordinary people and increase their welfare. The beginning of its rule was traditionally preceded by a manifesto in which the principles of domestic and foreign policy were set out. The people were promised (and at that time it was equivalent to execution) a reduction in the tax burden, forgiveness of arrears and other favorable economic measures. In particular, at the expense of the budget, the debts of citizens for one hundred billion rubles were paid. Given the then purchasing power of the Russian currency, you can see that it was huge money, comparable to the amount of the annual national product of a large developed country. And on his own, Romanov added a lot to the general needs - a five-figure figure in gold rubles.

The Fatal Knot

Large-scale tax reforms, which subsequently led to accelerated economic growth in the empire, did not exclude simple joys. "For dessert" it was planned to distribute four hundred thousand beautiful gift knots, in which were carrots, lollipops, nuts, sausages, saika and a beautiful mug, made according to the last word of the then technology. It was iron (and, therefore, unbreakable, eternal) and covered with hardened enamel, decorated with a double-headed eagle and royal monogram.

Who could have guessed that because of this pleasant gift set, from which no one would ever refuse today, there will be a real tragedy, the Khodynka disaster?

Preparation for the holiday and violation of the plan

Later, analyzing the causes of death, many historians argued that the celebrations were poorly prepared and organized. In a sense, this is true, because the mournful result speaks for itself. The Khodynka disaster led to the fact that in just a quarter of an hour 1389 people were crushed and trampled in the crowd, injuries of various severity were still 2690. But there were also circumstances that mitigated the guilt of the organizers. They can not be caught in total inaction, and the transience of the tragedy precluded the possibility of intervention. Restrict the movement of people should be installed fences and dug in advance trenches, to monitor the order in the city is quite enough for the police. The troops, however, were not. The experience of holding similar events that took place thirteen years ago (then Alexander III was crowned) did not point to any special dangers, then everything went quietly and peacefully, people stood in lines, received gifts and dispersed.

The Khodynka disaster of 1896 occurred according to an absurd combination of circumstances. Someone from the stewards of one of the one hundred and fifty distributing tents began distributing sets to his buddies, without waiting for that hour, and even several times in one hand. People (some of them were drunk), who had gathered in the Khodynka field since the evening, noticed this and rebelled. Then the guilty tried to correct the oversight and began to issue sets ahead of time. The order was broken, the crush began.

Effects

The Khodynka catastrophe plunged the newly crowned monarch into confusion. The situation was aggravated by the fact that on that day an important foreign policy meeting with the ambassador of France was scheduled, it was prepared in advance, and the cancellation of it could cause diplomatic complications. King and his wife had to go to Montebello and attend the ball after the reception. Later, the liberal press inflated this fact as a manifestation of some "fun" of the monarchs at the time of the people's grief. No, Nicholas II did not forget about people, but put Russian interests above personal emotions. Of course, the Khodynka disaster was perceived by him as a personal tragedy, and immediately after the execution of the diplomatic protocols he went to understand her circumstances. The court was righteous and swift. Here are the results:

- The police chief is dismissed, the responsible persons are brought to justice. The circumstances were unforeseen, but everything had to be envisaged.

- Families of victims received a thousand rubles.

- Funerals in individual graves were made at the state expense.

- Orphaned children are placed in the royal shelter.

- All the circumstances of the case are public.

The survivors themselves deserve special words. None of them blamed the authorities for what had happened. They only blamed themselves and their greed.