On December 26, 1825, officers leading 3,000 men marched on St. Petersburg’s Senate Square, calling for “Constantine and Constitution.” They were met by Nicholas I’s loyal troops, who fired artillery, dispersing the crowd with heavy casualties. Five leaders of the Decembrist Revolt were hanged while others were sent into exile in Siberia. Nicholas I governed his family as strictly as his empire and military regiments. His four sons and three daughters reported each morning to their “father-commander” to explain how they had spent the previous day and what progress they made in their lessons.
