Organized by members of the People's Will movement.

Chronology of events

In September 1879, Narodnaya Volya member S.N. Khalturin, using forged documents, got a job as a carpenter in the Winter Palace. Khalturin lived in the basement of the Winter Palace. By February 5 of the following year, he managed to smuggle in parts into the basement of the imperial palace about 2 pounds of dynamite, manufactured in an underground laboratory of the Narodnaya Volya members.

The bomb was detonated using a fuse. Directly above his room there was a guardhouse, and even higher, on the second floor, there was a dining room in which Alexander II was going to have lunch. The Prince of Hesse, brother of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, was expected for lunch, but his train was half an hour late.

The explosion caught the emperor, who was meeting the prince, in the Small Field Marshal's Hall, far from the dining room. A dynamite explosion destroyed the ceiling between the ground and first floors. The floors of the palace guardhouse collapsed (modern Hermitage Hall No. 26). The double brick vaults between the first and second floors of the palace withstood the impact of the blast wave. No one was injured in the mezzanine, but the explosion lifted the floors, knocked out many window panes, and the lights went out. In the dining room or Yellow Room of the Third Spare Half of the Winter Palace (modern Hermitage Hall No. 160, the decoration has not been preserved), a wall cracked, a chandelier fell on the set table, and everything was covered with lime and plaster.

As a result of the explosion in the lower floor of the palace, 11 servicemen who were on guard duty in the palace that day of the lower ranks of the Life Guards of the Finnish Regiment, stationed on Vasilyevsky Island, were killed, and 56 people were injured. Despite their own wounds and injuries, the surviving sentries remained in their places and even upon the arrival of the called shift from the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, they did not give up their places to the newcomers until they were replaced by their distributing corporal, who was also wounded in the explosion. All those killed were heroes of the recently ended Russian-Turkish War.

• sergeant major Kirill Dmitriev,
• non-commissioned officer Efim Belonin,
• bugler Ivan Antonov,
• Corporal Tikhon Feoktistov,
• Corporal Boris Leletsky,
• Private Fyodor Solovyov,
• Private Vladimir Shukshin,
• Private Danila Senin,
• Private Ardalion Zakharov,
• Private Grigory Zhuravlev,
• Private Semyon Koshelev.

According to some reports, one footman, who was in the room next to the guardhouse, died.

The dead were buried in a mass grave at the Smolensk cemetery in St. Petersburg, on which, on a platform lined with granite, the Monument to the Finnish Heroes was erected. By a personal Decree of the Emperor, all soldiers on this guard were presented with awards, cash payments and other incentives. By the same Decree, Alexander II ordered the families of the killed guardsmen to be “enrolled in eternal boarding.”

Khalturin became interested in populist literature while studying at the Oryol district school. He came from a wealthy peasant family and was born in the village of Khalevinskaya, Vyatka province, on December 21, 1856. After graduating from college in 1871, Khalturin entered the Vyatka Zemstvo Teachers' Seminary in 1874 and studied to become a cabinetmaker, but the very next year he was expelled for poor academic performance. In 1875, even with a group of like-minded people, he thought of going to the USA and founding a commune there, but on the way to Moscow, fellow travelers stole his passport and, with its help, went abroad through St. Petersburg. Khalturin tried to catch up with them, but did not have time. He remained in St. Petersburg without documents, housing or work. To feed himself, he took on various jobs.

Khalturin

He managed to establish contact with the revolutionary populists, and soon he met the teacher of the zemstvo school, Kotelnikov, who also moved to St. Petersburg. Kotelnikov helped Khalturin find a job and recommended him to St. Petersburg political circles. Thanks to his eloquence, Stepan was soon able to take the lead as a talented propagandist. He was one of the founders of the Northern Workers' Union, Russia's first political organization of workers. However, at that time Khalturin did not think about terrorist attacks. On the contrary, according to the memoirs of the writer V. Korolenko, “with tears in the eyes of his student workers, he convinced them to continue propaganda, but under no circumstances take the path of terror. “There is no turning back from this path,” he said.” But soon Khalturin’s views changed dramatically.

Explosion in the Winter Palace

Khalturin took the name Stepan Batyshkov and got a job at the Admiralty Shipyards. He was hired to work on the imperial yacht Livadia, where an official from the palace department liked him. Already in September 1879 he began working as a carpenter in the palace. The plan developed by Narodnaya Volya was as follows: to blow up the basement, which was located under the dining room, while the emperor was having lunch. At first, the workers were settled in a basement under the Hermitage, but the workers, at the instigation of Khalturin, demanded that they be moved to another room, citing overcrowding. The carpenters were housed in the basement, above which there was a guardhouse, and on the second floor there was a dining room.

Emperor Alexander II

Since the fall, Khalturin managed to secretly smuggle about 2 pounds of dynamite into the palace. Leaving the palace, he met with his associates Alexander Kvyatkovsky and Andrei Zhelyabov, from whom he received small portions of dynamite. Stepan kept the explosives in a chest with personal belongings, on which he slept. Later, during the investigation, the carpenters recalled that in early January 1880, Khalturin bought himself a large chest for some reason and always kept it locked. The number of possible victims did not frighten Khalturin: “Let 50-100 people die, just to get to “The Same”!..” In total, Khalturin managed to carry up to 30 kg of dynamite to Zimny.

Dining room after the explosion

The explosion occurred on February 5, 1880 at 18:22. Usually lunch began at 18 o'clock, but on this day they delayed it, and this saved the life of Alexander II. The Prince of Hesse, brother of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, was expected for lunch, but his train was half an hour late. Khalturin detonated the bomb using a fuse at the moment when, as he thought, the emperor would probably already be at dinner. But the explosion caught the king when he met the prince in the Small Field Marshal's Hall, far from the dining room.

From the report of the head of the St. Petersburg provincial gendarmerie department to the III Department, February 8, 1880:

“On the 5th of February at 6:20 in the afternoon, Prince Alexander of Hesse, who had arrived by Warsaw railway, arrived at the palace, and having entered the inner chambers, was met in the middle of the small field marshal’s hall by His Imperial Majesty, at that very time a strong roar was heard, like a cannon shot, Moreover, His Imperial Majesty deigned to ask what had happened; one of the Grand Dukes noticed that the gas had probably exploded, but it turned out that an explosion had been made.”

The explosion destroyed the ceilings between the ground and first floors, primarily affecting the guards of the lower ranks of the Life Guards of the Finnish Regiment. 11 servicemen were killed and 56 were wounded. All those killed were heroes of the Russian-Turkish war. Despite their wounds and injuries, the guards refused to leave their post. By decree of the emperor, the dead were presented with awards and monetary payments, and their families were “enrolled in an eternal boarding house.” Alexander II went to the funeral of 11 dead servicemen, even despite the severe frost and the danger of another assassination attempt.

Murder of prosecutor Strelnikov

The would-be regicide was depressed by his defeat. After the explosion, Zhelyabov consoled Khalturin: “Stepan, my dear, calm down. The explosion in the royal lair is the first blow to the autocracy! Your feat will live for centuries." Khalturin promised not to let us down next time and kept his word. The police quickly figured out that it was he who was hiding under the name Batyshkov and put Stepan on the wanted list. Khalturin went to the south of Russia and for about two years conducted revolutionary propaganda among the workers. However, after the terrorist attack, the fight against revolutionary sentiments intensified. The Emperor sent prosecutor Vasily Strelnikov to the South-Western and Southern Territories to conduct investigative measures in political cases. He treated the detained revolutionaries especially cruelly in Odessa, and a state of emergency was even introduced there. Strelnikov interfered with Khalturin in his propaganda activities, which the revolutionary reported to the executive committee of Narodnaya Volya, which instructed him to organize the murder of the prosecutor.

The boulevard where prosecutor Strelnikov was killed

The assassination attempt was planned for January 1882, but the Narodnaya Volya members considered the operation risky and postponed it until they found a partner for Khalturin. His partner was the popular volunteer propagandist N. Zhelvakov. On March 18 (March 30), 1882, after lunch, Strelnikov, as usual, went for a walk and sat down on a bench in the alley. Zhelvakov, approaching him from behind along the adjacent path, shot the prosecutor point-blank in the back of the head. Strelnikov died on the spot. Everyone present was so shocked that they did not even immediately set off in pursuit of the killer. At the end of Zhelvakov’s alley, Khalturin was waiting in a drawn carriage. Passers-by tried in every possible way to stop Zhelvakov, who was running away from the chase. Khalturin, seeing that his comrade-in-arms could not get through to him, decided to clear the way for him: he took out a revolver, walked towards him and... stumbled. Passers-by rushed to detain him, and Khalturin shouted: “Leave him alone!” I'm a socialist! I am for you! When Zhelvakov saw that Khalturin was arrested, he realized that he could not escape. The chase caught up with him, and he was also arrested. Both Narodnaya Volya members refused to give their names to the investigation. By order of Alexander III, they were handed over to a military court and hanged on March 22, 1882, unidentified.

On the anniversary of the assassination attempt on Emperor Alexander II...

http://ruskline.ru/images/2014/29561.jpg" alt=" Emperor Alexander II Nikolaevich" width="220" height="315" align="left" />5 февраля (старый стиль) 1880 года в Зимнем дворце прогремел страшной силы взрыв, едва не унесший жизнь Императора Александра II и членов Царской семьи. Теракт, ставший уже пятым по счету покушением на Государя, был спланирован членами «Народной воли» и осуществлен 24-летним революционером Степаном Халтуриным.!}

Khalturin, who plotted regicide, used a fake passport in the name of Stepan Batyshkov and got a job as a cabinetmaker in the Winter Palace. Having received the use of a basement storage room located under the guardhouse and the royal dining room, Khalturin carried dynamite there along with tools for four months, having accumulated about three pounds of explosives by the time of the terrorist attack.

http://ruskline.ru/images/2014/29560.jpg" alt="Stepan Khalturin" width="220" height="220" align="right" />Тут, естественно, возникает целый ряд вопросов: как такое могло быть возможным? где были соответствующие службы и дворцовая стража? неужели никто не заподозрил Халтурина в намерении осуществить злой умысел? Отчасти на эти вопросы ответил тогдашний единомышленник Халтурина (а в будущем консервативный мыслитель) Л.А.Тихомиров: !} "On the occasion of the absence of the Emperor(Alexander II at the time of Khalturin’s admission was on vacation in Livadia - http://ruskline.ru/ ">RNL.), the palace was guarded in the most careless manner. The servants and other inhabitants lived at their own free will, without restraint. Both the morals and the way of life were amazing. Promiscuity and theft reigned everywhere. There was no supervision over the servants. Servants, high and low, organized parties and drinking parties, which were attended by dozens of their acquaintances without any permission or supervision. The front entrances to the palace remained inaccessible to the highest-ranking officials, and the back entrances at all times of the day and night were open to every first acquaintance of the palace employees. These visitors often stayed overnight in the palace. The theft of palace property was widespread and unrestrained. Khalturin, in order not to appear suspicious, even had to go steal food supplies from the storerooms himself.”.

And although it was clear to the Third Department and the police that a real hunt had been announced for the Tsar and sooner or later terrorists would try to carry out an assassination attempt in the Winter Palace, it was not possible to prevent the terrorist attack. But back in the fall of 1879, during one of the arrests, the plan of the Winter Palace, on which the royal dining room was marked with a cross, fell into the hands of the special services! Of course, precautions were taken (obviously, however, insufficient) - the access control regime in the palace was tightened, searches of the servants' quarters began, on the eve of the terrorist attack Khalturin's closet was also searched, but, as it turned out later, the search was carried out formally and carelessly: a policeman opened a chest with dynamite , but was too lazy to stir up the linen covering the explosives...

http://ruskline.ru/images/2014/29567.jpg" alt=" Fragment of a painting by I.E. Repin *Arrest of a propagandist*" width="350" height="282" align="left" />Таким образом, Император оказался совершенно не защищенным от покушения. Первоначально, по свидетельству народовольца М.Фроленко, Халтурин!} “he intended to finish off Alexander II with an axe”. But another Narodnaya Volya member, A. Kvyatkovsky, “Fearing that the Tsar would snatch the hatchet from Khalturin and kill him himself, he suggested it would be better to use dynamite”. True, the original plan almost came true, only instead of an ax, the murder weapon could have turned out to be a hammer. One day, when Khalturin was doing work in the Emperor’s office, he was left alone with the Emperor. A thought flashed through the terrorist’s head: to hit the Tsar on the head with a pointed hammer and try to escape, but something stopped him then. “Narodovolka” O. Lyubatovich said: “Who would have thought that the same person, having once met Alexander II one-on-one in his office, where Khalturin had to make some adjustments, would not dare to kill him from behind simply with a hammer in his hands?.. Yes, it is deep and full of contradictions human soul. Considering Alexander II the greatest criminal against the people, Khalturin involuntarily felt the charm of his kind, courteous treatment of workers.”.

However, Khalturin did not abandon his criminal plan and soon everything was ready to blow up the Emperor with the help of dynamite. The fact that in the explosion, in addition to the Emperor, women, children, servants and soldiers would inevitably die did not bother the terrorist. "The number of victims, - Khalturin said , - it will still be huge. Fifty people will certainly be killed. So it’s better not to spare the dynamite, so that at least strangers don’t die fruitlessly, but so that he himself is probably killed. What’s worse is that you’ll have to start a new assassination attempt again.”.

Knowing the schedule of the royal dinners, the terrorist calculated the time when the Emperor and his family were supposed to be in the dining room and carried out his plan. The bomb was detonated using a fuse designed to give the terrorist himself time to escape from the crime scene...

http://ruskline.ru/images/2014/29542.jpg" alt=" Explosion in the Winter Palace after the explosion, 1880" width="350" height="243" align="right" />Мощный взрыв адской машины, раздавшийся в половине седьмого, обрушил перекрытие между цокольным и первым этажами. Полы дворцовой гауптвахты обрушились вниз, и лишь двойные кирпичные своды между первым и вторым этажами дворца выдержали удар взрывной волны. В бельэтаже никто не пострадал, но взрывом приподняло полы, выбило оконные стекла и погасило свет. В царской столовой треснула стена, на накрытый к обеду стол рухнула люстра, все вокруг было засыпано известкой и штукатуркой...!}

http://ruskline.ru/images/2014/29541.jpg" alt="Dining room of the Winter Palace after the explosion, 1880" width="350" height="271" align="left" />Государя и членов его семьи спасло то, что они в этот день задержались, ожидая к обеду принца Александра Гессенского, брата Императрицы Марии Александровны, поезд которого опоздал на полчаса. Взрыв застал Государя, встречавшего принца, в Малом Фельдмаршальском зале, расположенном далеко от столовой. Принц Гессенский так вспоминал о случившемся: !} “The floor rose as if under the influence of an earthquake, the gas in the gallery went out, complete darkness fell, and an unbearable smell of gunpowder or dynamite spread in the air.”.

But not everything turned out well and tragedy still occurred. The explosion killed 11 soldiers of the Life Guards of the Finnish Regiment, who were on guard duty that day, and 56 people were injured of varying degrees of severity. “The appearance of the victims,” writes historian E.P. Tolmachev, - presented a terrible picture. Bloodied body parts lay among the masses of debris and debris. It took the efforts of many people to extract the unfortunate people from the rubble. The muffled groans of the mutilated and their cries for help made a soul-rending impression.”.

http://ruskline.ru/images/2014/29562.jpg" alt="Life Guards Finnish Regiment" width="220" height="282" align="right" />Все погибшие были героями недавно закончившейся войны с Турцией, за подвиги направленными на почетную службу в царском дворце. !} “The soldiers, recent peasants, were precisely those for whose better life the Narodnaya Volya members organized the terrorist attack.”, - the modern historian rightly notes. But the Narodnaya Volya members did not seem to care much about this. The executive committee of the organization in its proclamation only stated that the soldiers should understand that their place is on the side of the revolutionaries, and not the tsarist regime, since otherwise “such tragic clashes are inevitable.”

The behavior of the guardsmen is indicative. The surviving guards, despite the wounds they received, each and every one of them got out of the rubble and took their places again. Skinned and bloody, barely able to stand on their feet, they did not give up their posts even upon the arrival of a relief from the Preobrazhensky Guards Regiment, until, as required by the Charter, they were replaced by their own rearing corporal, who was also wounded.

The attitude towards their official duties shown by the Finnish guardsmen amazed not only Russia, but also Europe. Having learned about what happened in St. Petersburg, the German Emperor Wilhelm I issued an order to the army, in which he demanded to carry out guard duty in the same way as the Russian Finnish Guards Regiment did on the day of the explosion of the Winter Palace.

http://ruskline.ru/images/2014/29543.jpg" alt=" Funeral of fallen soldiers, February 7, 1880" width="350" height="245" align="left" />На следующий после теракта день в храме Зимнего дворца по погибшим солдатам и унтер-офицерам была отслужена панихида, по окончании которой Император сказал, обращаясь к гвардейцам: !} “Thank you Finns... You, as always, fulfilled your duty with honor. I will not forget the survivors and provide for the families of the unfortunate victims.". The Emperor kept his word: everyone on guard on February 5 was presented with awards and monetary payments, the families of the killed were enrolled “in eternal boarding.”

Those killed in the explosion were buried on February 7 in a mass grave at the Smolensk cemetery in St. Petersburg, near the Chapel of Xenia the Blessed. Despite the severe frost and the danger of a new assassination attempt, Emperor Alexander II attended the funeral. “It seems that we are still at war, there, in the trenches near Plevna”, - these were the words of the Emperor when bidding farewell to the fallen guards.

http://ruskline.ru/images/2014/29544.jpg" alt=" Monument to the soldiers of the Life Guards Finnish Regiment who died in the explosion on 02/05/1880" width="200" height="360" align="right" />На собранные по всей стране 100 тысяч рублей над могилой был воздвигнут памятник в виде гранитной пирамиды, украшенной уральскими камнями, чугунными ружьями, барабанами и воинскими головными уборами. На памятнике были выбиты имена всех погибших в этот трагический день:!}

Sergeant Major Kirill Dmitriev

Non-commissioned officer Efim Belonin

Bugler Ivan Antonov

Corporal Tikhon Feoktistov

Corporal Boris Leletsky

Private Fedor Solovyov

Private Vladimir Shukshin

Private Daniil Senin

Private Ardalion Zakharov

Private Grigory Zhuravlev

Private Semyon Koshelev...

Terrorist Stepan Khalutrin managed to escape. Having moved to Moscow and then to Odessa, in March 1882 he took part in the murder of the prosecutor of the Kyiv Military District Court, Major General V.S. Strelnikov, who proved himself to be an energetic fighter against the revolutionary movement. Detained immediately after the crime by passers-by, Khalturin, by personal order of Emperor Alexander III, was court-martialed and hanged on March 22, 1882.

Unfortunately, after the revolution of 1917, much was turned upside down. This is what happened with the heroes of these events - the memory of the soldiers who fell victims of a terrorist act was quickly forgotten, and the name of the hanged terrorist-murderer turned out to be immortalized in monuments, names of streets and alleys of Soviet cities, factories and ships...

On February 5 (old style), 1880, a terrible explosion occurred in the Winter Palace, almost taking the lives of Emperor Alexander II and members of the Royal Family. The terrorist attack, which became the fifth attempt on the life of the Tsar, was planned by members of Narodnaya Volya and carried out by 24-year-old revolutionary Stepan Khalturin.

Khalturin, who plotted regicide, used a fake passport in the name of Stepan Batyshkov and got a job as a cabinetmaker in the Winter Palace. Having received the use of a basement storage room located under the guardhouse and the royal dining room, Khalturin carried dynamite there along with tools for four months, having accumulated about three pounds of explosives by the time of the terrorist attack.
Naturally, a whole series of questions arise here: how could this be possible? where were the relevant services and palace guards? Did no one really suspect Khalturin of intending to carry out evil intent? These questions were partly answered by Khalturin’s then like-minded person (and future conservative thinker) L.A. Tikhomirov: “Due to the absence of the Emperor (Alexander II at the time of Khalturin’s arrival was on vacation in Livadia - RNL.), the palace was guarded in the most careless manner. The servants and other inhabitants lived at their own free will, without restraint. Both the morals and the way of life were amazing. Promiscuity and theft reigned everywhere. There was no supervision over the servants. Servants, high and low, organized parties and drinking parties, which were attended by dozens of their acquaintances without any permission or supervision. The front entrances to the palace remained inaccessible to the highest-ranking officials, and the back entrances at all times of the day and night were open to every first acquaintance of the palace employees. These visitors often stayed overnight in the palace. The theft of palace property was widespread and unrestrained. Khalturin, in order not to appear suspicious, even had to go steal food supplies from the storerooms himself.”.

And although it was clear to the Third Department and the police that a real hunt had been announced for the Tsar and sooner or later terrorists would try to carry out an assassination attempt in the Winter Palace, it was not possible to prevent the terrorist attack. But back in the fall of 1879, during one of the arrests, the plan of the Winter Palace, on which the royal dining room was marked with a cross, fell into the hands of the special services!
Of course, precautions were taken (obviously, however, insufficient) - the access control regime in the palace was tightened, searches of the servants' quarters began, on the eve of the terrorist attack Khalturin's closet was also searched, but, as it turned out later, the search was carried out formally and carelessly: a policeman opened a chest with dynamite , but was too lazy to stir up the linen that covered the explosives... Thus, the Emperor was completely unprotected from the assassination attempt. Initially, according to the testimony of Narodnaya Volya member M. Frolenko, Khalturin “he intended to finish off Alexander II with an axe”. But another Narodnaya Volya member, A. Kvyatkovsky, “Fearing that the Tsar would snatch the hatchet from Khalturin and kill him himself, he suggested it would be better to use dynamite”.

True, the original plan almost came true, only instead of an ax, the murder weapon could have turned out to be a hammer. One day, when Khalturin was doing work in the Emperor’s office, he was left alone with the Emperor. A thought flashed through the terrorist’s head: to hit the Tsar on the head with a pointed hammer and try to escape, but something stopped him then. “Narodovolka” O. Lyubatovich said: “Who would have thought that the same person, having once met Alexander II one-on-one in his office, where Khalturin had to make some adjustments, would not dare to kill him from behind simply with a hammer in his hands?.. Yes, it is deep and full of contradictions human soul. Considering Alexander II the greatest criminal against the people, Khalturin involuntarily felt the charm of his kind, courteous treatment of workers.”. However, Khalturin did not abandon his criminal plan and soon everything was ready to blow up the Emperor with the help of dynamite. The fact that in the explosion, in addition to the Emperor, women, children, servants and soldiers would inevitably die did not bother the terrorist. "The number of victims, - said Khalturin, - it will still be huge. Fifty people will certainly be killed. So it’s better not to spare the dynamite, so that at least strangers don’t die fruitlessly, but so that he himself is probably killed. What’s worse is that we’ll have to start a new attempt again.”

Knowing the schedule of the royal dinners, the terrorist calculated the time when the Emperor and his family were supposed to be in the dining room and carried out his plan. The bomb was detonated using a fuse designed to give the terrorist himself time to escape from the crime scene...
The powerful explosion of the infernal machine, which occurred at half past six, collapsed the ceiling between the ground and first floors. The floors of the palace guardhouse collapsed, and only the double brick vaults between the first and second floors of the palace withstood the blow of the blast wave. No one was injured in the mezzanine, but the explosion lifted the floors, broke window glass and turned out the lights. In the royal dining room, a wall cracked, a chandelier collapsed on the table set for dinner, everything around was covered with lime and plaster...
The sovereign and members of his family were saved by the fact that they were delayed that day, waiting for dinner for Prince Alexander of Hesse, the brother of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, whose train was half an hour late. The explosion caught the Emperor, who was meeting the prince, in the Small Field Marshal's Hall, located far from the dining room. The Prince of Hesse recalled what happened: “The floor rose as if under the influence of an earthquake, the gas in the gallery went out, complete darkness fell, and an unbearable smell of gunpowder or dynamite spread in the air.”.

But not everything turned out well and tragedy still occurred. The explosion killed 11 soldiers of the Life Guards of the Finnish Regiment, who were on guard duty that day, and 56 people were injured of varying degrees of severity. "View of the victims, - writes historian E.P. Tolmachev, - presented a terrible picture. Bloodied body parts lay among the masses of debris and debris. It took the efforts of many people to remove the unfortunate people from the rubble. The muffled groans of the mutilated and their cries for help made a soul-rending impression.”.

All those who died were heroes of the recently ended war with Turkey, who were sent to honorable service in the royal palace for their exploits. “The soldiers, recent peasants, were precisely those for whose better life the Narodnaya Volya members organized the terrorist attack.”, - the modern historian rightly notes. But the Narodnaya Volya members did not seem to care much about this. The executive committee of the organization in its proclamation only stated that the soldiers should have understood that their place was on the side of the revolutionaries, and not the tsarist regime, since otherwise “such tragic clashes are inevitable.”

The behavior of the guardsmen is indicative. The surviving guards, despite the wounds they received, each and every one of them got out of the rubble and took their places again. Skinned and bloody, barely able to stand on their feet, they did not give up their posts even upon the arrival of a relief from the Preobrazhensky Guards Regiment, until, as required by the Charter, they were replaced by their own rearing corporal, who was also wounded.
The attitude towards their official duties shown by the Finnish guardsmen amazed not only Russia, but also Europe. Having learned about what happened in St. Petersburg, the German Emperor Wilhelm I issued an order to the army, in which he demanded to carry out guard duty in the same way as the Russian Finnish Guards Regiment did on the day of the explosion of the Winter Palace.

The day after the terrorist attack, a memorial service was served for the dead soldiers and non-commissioned officers in the church of the Winter Palace, at the end of which the Emperor said, addressing the guards: “Thank you Finns... You, as always, fulfilled your duty with honor. I will not forget the survivors and provide for the families of the unfortunate victims.". The Emperor kept his word: everyone on guard on February 5 was presented with awards and monetary payments, the families of those killed were enrolled “in eternal boarding.” Those who died in the explosion were buried on February 7 in a mass grave at the Smolensk cemetery in St. Petersburg, near the Chapel of Xenia the Blessed. Despite the severe frost and the danger of a new assassination attempt, Emperor Alexander II attended the funeral. “It seems that we are still at war, there, in the trenches near Plevna”, - these were the words of the Emperor when bidding farewell to the fallen guards.

Using 100 thousand rubles collected throughout the country, a monument was erected over the grave in the form of a granite pyramid, decorated with Ural stones, cast iron guns, drums and military headdresses. The names of all those who died on this tragic day were engraved on the monument:
Sergeant Major Kirill Dmitriev
Non-commissioned officer Efim Belonin
Bugler Ivan Antonov
Corporal Tikhon Feoktistov
Corporal Boris Leletsky
Private Fedor Solovyov
Private Vladimir Shukshin
Private Daniil Senin
Private Ardalion Zakharov
Private Grigory Zhuravlev
Private Semyon Koshelev...

Terrorist Stepan Khalutrin managed to escape. Having moved to Moscow and then to Odessa, in March 1882 he took part in the murder of the prosecutor of the Kyiv Military District Court, Major General V.S. Strelnikov, who proved himself to be an energetic fighter against the revolutionary movement. Detained immediately after the crime by passers-by, Khalturin, by personal order of Emperor Alexander III, was court-martialed and hanged on March 22, 1882.

On February 5 (old style), 1880, a terrible explosion occurred in the Winter Palace, almost taking the lives of Emperor Alexander II and members of the Royal Family. The terrorist attack, which became the fifth attempt on the life of the Tsar, was planned by members of Narodnaya Volya and carried out by 24-year-old revolutionary Stepan Khalturin.

Khalturin, who plotted regicide, used a fake passport in the name of Stepan Batyshkov and got a job as a cabinetmaker in the Winter Palace. Having received the use of a basement storage room located under the guardhouse and the royal dining room, Khalturin carried dynamite there along with tools for four months, having accumulated about three pounds of explosives by the time of the terrorist attack.

Naturally, a whole series of questions arise here: how could this be possible? where were the relevant services and palace guards? Did no one really suspect Khalturin of intending to carry out evil intent? These questions were partly answered by Khalturin’s then like-minded person (and future conservative thinker) L.A. Tikhomirov: "On the occasion of the absence of the Emperor(Alexander II at the time of Khalturin’s admission was on vacation in Livadia -.), the palace was guarded in the most careless manner. The servants and other inhabitants lived at their own free will, without restraint. Both the morals and the way of life were amazing. Promiscuity and theft reigned everywhere. There was no supervision over the servants. Servants, high and low, organized parties and drinking parties, which were attended by dozens of their acquaintances without any permission or supervision. The front entrances to the palace remained inaccessible to the highest-ranking officials, and the back entrances at all times of the day and night were open to every first acquaintance of the palace employees. These visitors often stayed overnight in the palace. The theft of palace property was widespread and unrestrained. Khalturin, in order not to appear suspicious, even had to go steal food supplies from the storerooms himself.”.

And although it was clear to the Third Department and the police that a real hunt had been announced for the Tsar and sooner or later terrorists would try to carry out an assassination attempt in the Winter Palace, it was not possible to prevent the terrorist attack. But back in the fall of 1879, during one of the arrests, the plan of the Winter Palace, on which the royal dining room was marked with a cross, fell into the hands of the special services! Of course, precautions were taken (obviously, however, insufficient) - the access control regime in the palace was tightened, searches of the servants' quarters began, on the eve of the terrorist attack Khalturin's closet was also searched, but, as it turned out later, the search was carried out formally and carelessly: a policeman opened a chest with dynamite , but was too lazy to stir up the linen covering the explosives...

Thus, the Emperor was completely unprotected from assassination attempts. Initially, according to the testimony of Narodnaya Volya member M. Frolenko, Khalturin “he intended to finish off Alexander II with an axe”. But another Narodnaya Volya member, A. Kvyatkovsky, “Fearing that the Tsar would snatch the hatchet from Khalturin and kill him himself, he suggested it would be better to use dynamite”. True, the original plan almost came true, only instead of an ax, the murder weapon could have turned out to be a hammer. One day, when Khalturin was doing work in the Emperor’s office, he was left alone with the Emperor. A thought flashed through the terrorist’s head: to hit the Tsar on the head with a pointed hammer and try to escape, but something stopped him then. “Narodovolka” O. Lyubatovich said: “Who would have thought that the same person, having once met Alexander II one-on-one in his office, where Khalturin had to make some adjustments, would not dare to kill him from behind simply with a hammer in his hands?.. Yes, it is deep and full of contradictions human soul. Considering Alexander II the greatest criminal against the people, Khalturin involuntarily felt the charm of his kind, courteous treatment of workers.”.

However, Khalturin did not abandon his criminal plan and soon everything was ready to blow up the Emperor with the help of dynamite. The fact that in the explosion, in addition to the Emperor, women, children, servants and soldiers would inevitably die did not bother the terrorist. "The number of victims, - Khalturin said , - it will still be huge. Fifty people will certainly be killed. So it’s better not to spare the dynamite, so that at least strangers don’t die fruitlessly, but so that he himself is probably killed. What’s worse is that you’ll have to start a new assassination attempt again.”.

Knowing the schedule of the royal dinners, the terrorist calculated the time when the Emperor and his family were supposed to be in the dining room and carried out his plan. The bomb was detonated using a fuse designed to give the terrorist himself time to escape from the crime scene...

The powerful explosion of the infernal machine, which occurred at half past six, collapsed the ceiling between the ground and first floors. The floors of the palace guardhouse collapsed, and only the double brick vaults between the first and second floors of the palace withstood the blow of the blast wave. No one was injured in the mezzanine, but the explosion lifted the floors, broke window glass and turned out the lights. In the royal dining room, a wall cracked, a chandelier collapsed on the table set for dinner, everything around was covered with lime and plaster...

The sovereign and members of his family were saved by the fact that they were delayed that day, waiting for dinner for Prince Alexander of Hesse, the brother of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, whose train was half an hour late. The explosion caught the Emperor, who was meeting the prince, in the Small Field Marshal's Hall, located far from the dining room. The Prince of Hesse recalled what happened: “The floor rose as if under the influence of an earthquake, the gas in the gallery went out, complete darkness fell, and an unbearable smell of gunpowder or dynamite spread in the air.”.

But not everything turned out well and tragedy still occurred. The explosion killed 11 soldiers of the Life Guards of the Finnish Regiment, who were on guard duty that day, and 56 people were injured of varying degrees of severity. “The appearance of the victims,” writes historian E.P. Tolmachev, - presented a terrible picture. Bloody body parts lay among the masses of debris and debris. It took the efforts of many people to extract the unfortunate people from the rubble . The muffled groans of the mutilated and their cries for help made a soul-rending impression.”.

All those who died were heroes of the recently ended war with Turkey, who were sent to honorable service in the royal palace for their exploits. “The soldiers, recent peasants, were precisely those for whose better life the Narodnaya Volya members organized the terrorist attack.”, - the modern historian rightly notes. But the Narodnaya Volya members did not seem to care much about this. The executive committee of the organization in its proclamation only stated that the soldiers should understand that their place is on the side of the revolutionaries, and not the tsarist regime, since otherwise “such tragic clashes are inevitable.”

The behavior of the guardsmen is indicative. The surviving guards, despite the wounds they received, each and every one of them got out of the rubble and took their places again. Skinned and bloody, barely able to stand on their feet, they did not give up their posts even upon the arrival of a relief from the Preobrazhensky Guards Regiment, until, as required by the Charter, they were replaced by their own rearing corporal, who was also wounded.

The attitude towards their official duties shown by the Finnish guardsmen amazed not only Russia, but also Europe. Having learned about what happened in St. Petersburg, the German Emperor Wilhelm I issued an order to the army, in which he demanded to carry out guard duty in the same way as the Russian Finnish Guards Regiment did on the day of the explosion of the Winter Palace.

The day after the terrorist attack, a memorial service was served for the dead soldiers and non-commissioned officers in the church of the Winter Palace, at the end of which the Emperor said, addressing the guards: “Thank you Finns... You, as always, fulfilled your duty with honor. I will not forget the survivors and provide for the families of the unfortunate victims.". The Emperor kept his word: everyone on guard on February 5 was presented with awards and monetary payments, the families of the killed were enrolled “in eternal boarding.”

Those killed in the explosion were buried on February 7 in a mass grave at the Smolensk cemetery in St. Petersburg, near the Chapel of Xenia the Blessed. Despite the severe frost and the danger of a new assassination attempt, Emperor Alexander II attended the funeral. “It seems that we are still at war, there, in the trenches near Plevna”, - these were the words of the Emperor when bidding farewell to the fallen guards.

Using 100 thousand rubles collected throughout the country, a monument was erected over the grave in the form of a granite pyramid, decorated with Ural stones, cast iron guns, drums and military headdresses. The names of all those who died on this tragic day were engraved on the monument:

Sergeant Major Kirill Dmitriev

Non-commissioned officer Efim Belonin

Bugler Ivan Antonov

Corporal Tikhon Feoktistov

Corporal Boris Leletsky

Private Fedor Solovyov

Private Vladimir Shukshin

Private Daniil Senin

Private Ardalion Zakharov

Private Grigory Zhuravlev

Private Semyon Koshelev...

Terrorist Stepan Khalutrin managed to escape. Having moved to Moscow and then to Odessa, in March 1882 he took part in the murder of the prosecutor of the Kyiv Military District Court, Major General V.S. Strelnikov, who proved himself to be an energetic fighter against the revolutionary movement. Detained immediately after the crime by passers-by, Khalturin, by personal order of Emperor Alexander III, was court-martialed and hanged on March 22, 1882.

Unfortunately, after the revolution of 1917, much was turned upside down. This is what happened with the heroes of these events - the memory of the soldiers who fell victims of a terrorist attack was quickly forgotten, and the name of the hanged terrorist-murderer turned out to be immortalized in monuments, names of streets and alleys of Soviet cities, factories and ships...