Mify o vosstanii dekabristov - Briukhanov V.A.

The Decembrists for the second century confidently sit on the ideological pedestal, erected for them by revolutionary and Soviet propaganda, and the tragedy of December 14, 1825 is still one of the most mysterious and controversial pages of national history causing a lot of questions for any unbiased historian.
Why were the ideologies of the conspiracy on the eve of the decisive events far from the capital and did not prepare for the speech, but destroyed compromising manuscripts? Why did the main leaders of the uprising not appear at the Senate Square at all? If the Decembrists were those knights without fear and reproach, what is customary to portray them - why so many of them broke down in the investigation, renounced and repented? Did they act on their own or were only pawns in someone else's game? Finally, could they have won? And what would their victory be for Russia? Freedom and prosperity? Or a national disaster?