Dmitry Karakozov
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| Dmitry Karakozov | |
 Portrait of D. V. Karakozov by Ilya Repin (1866)
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| Born | October 23/November 4, 1840 Kostroma, Russia |
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| Died | September 3/September 15, 1866 St. Petersburg, Russia |
Dmitry Vladimirovich Karakozov (Дмитрий Владимирович Каракозов in Russian) (October 23 Old Style (November 4 New Style), 1840 - September 3 Old Style (September 15 New Style), 1866) was the first Russian revolutionary to make an attempt on the life of a tsar.
Karakozov was born in the family of a minor nobleman in Kostroma. He studied at the Kazan University from 1861 to 1864 and at the Moscow State University from 1864 to 1866. In early 1866, he became a member of the "revolutionary wing" of the Ishutin Society, founded by his cousin Nikolai Ishutin in Moscow in 1863. In the spring of 1866, Karakozov arrived in St.Petersburg to assassinate Alexander II. He circulated his hand-written proclamation called "Друзьям-рабочим" ("To Friends-Workers"), in which he incited people to revolt.
On April 4, 1866, Dmitry Karakozov made an unsuccessful attempt on the life of Tsar Alexander II at the gates of the Summer Garden in St.Petersburg. The attempt was thwarted by Osip Komissarov, a peasant-born hatter's apprentice, who jostled Karakozov's elbow right before the shot was fired . Contemporary monarchists argued that Komissarov's action proved the people's love for their tsar while contemporary radicals and later Soviet historians argued that Komissarov's involvement in the event was either an accident or an outright government fabrication.
Karakozov tried to flee instead of using the second cartridge in his double barreled gun, but was apprehended. The Supreme Criminal Court sentenced him to death by hanging and he was executed in St. Petersburg on September 3, 1866. Komissarov was ennobled and given a generous stipend, but proved to be an embarrassment to the government due to his boorishness and incoherence and had to be politely removed to the countryside.
[edit] Notes
- ^ See, e.g., Adam Bruno Ulam. Prophets and Conspirators in Pre-Revolutionary Russia, New Brunswick, NJ, Transaction Publishers, 1998 (first edition 1977) ISBN 0-7658-0443-3 pp. 3-5.
- ^ For an analysis of the public perception of the assassination attempt and Komissarov's actions, see Richard S. Wortman. Scenarios of Power: Myth and Ceremony in Russian Monarchy: Volume Two: From Alexander II to the Abdication of Nicholas II, Princeton University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-691-02947-4, pp. 110-113
