Chernigov Regiment revolt The Chernigov Regiment revolt was the second and the last major armed conflict of the Decembrist revolt in the former Russian Empire . The revolt unfolded – 1826 in Ukraine between Kiev and Bila Tserkva . After the news of the rebels ' defeat in Saint Petersburg reached Ukraine , the radical Decembrist officers incited the Chernigov infantry regiment against the government . The rebels marched from Trylisy north - east to Vasylkiv and reached one thousand men in strength . Uncertain about their strategy , rebel leaders camped in Motovilivka , while the government seized the initiative and mobilized its forces in pursuit . The rebels dropped their initial plans of taking over Kiev or Brusyliv and marched south to Polohy and back to their starting point at Trylisy . Their retreat was checked by a 400 - strong loyalist unit near Kovalivka . Demoralized rebel soldiers lost around 80 men to artillery fire and surrendered without resistance . According to Hugh Seton - Watson , it was " the first and the last political revolt by Army officers " in Russia : Nicholas I and his successors eradicated liberalism in the troops and secured their unconditional loyalty . Background . In 1820 the Semenovsky Regiment of the Imperial Guards was disbanded for a single incident of insubordination . Semyonovsky officers Alexander Vadkovsky , Mikhail Bestuzhev - Ryumin and others were demoted to the Army units stationed in Ukraine . In 1821 colonel Pavel Pestel , a radical member of a conspiracy ring now known as the Decembrists , was transferred to Tulchyn , Ukraine . Pestel and the Semyonovsky Regiment exiles recruited and indoctrinated a secret society of disgruntled Army officers . In the same year it split with the aristocratic Decembrists of Saint Petersburg and assumed the title of " Southern Society " but by 1823 Pestel ' s influence brought the two groups back together . A third society , the United Slavs , operated in Ukraine in alliance with the Southern Society . Second Army commander Hans Karl von Diebitsch , the imperial government and tsar Alexander I himself received reliable but fragmented information on the scope of conspiracy in the troops . No arrests were made until Alexander ' s death in Taganrog on 1825 . Chernigov Regiment of foot was actually based in the Kiev Governorate , halfway between Kiev and Bila Tserkva . Regimental headquarters were located in Vasylkiv on Stuhna River . Companies of the regiment were scattered in the villages west of Vasylkiv , along the Kamyanka River . These villages , from Trylisy in the west to Ustimivka in south - east , form a continuous band of settlements along Kamyanka , and are connected by roads to Bila Tserkva in the south and Fastivets , Mytnytsia , Vasylkiv and Kiev in the north . The soldiers lived individually in peasant ' s huts , literally " off the country " . This helped the Decembrists in agitating enlisted men one by one without raising suspicion , but in the decisive hour prevented them from assembling the whole force in short time . Regiment commander colonel Goebel was not involved in the conspiracy and was not aware of it . His immediate subordinate , battalion commander Sergey Muravyov - Apostol , was Pestel ' s second in command in the Southern Society . Company commanders Veniamin Solovyov , Anastasy Kuzmin and Mikhail Schepilo were active members of the United Slavs . The regiment was literally infested with rebel officers at all levels . Rebel officers also infiltrated nearby Aktyrka , Alexopol , Kremenchug and Poltava regiments although to a lesser extent . Muravyov - Apostol counted on " allied " units stationed in Zhitomir and Brusyliv in the west and in Bila Tserkva to the south , although in real life these units remained on the government ' s side . Outbreak . Alexander ' s death interrupted the Decembrists ' plans and forced them to act immediately . 1825 , on the day of the accession of Nicholas I , they launched a military coup in Saint Petrersburg . It failed at a cost of 1 , 271 lives , mostly civilians . In an unrelated move Diebitsch arrested Pestel on . The Decembrists in Ukraine panicked but did not act , hoping that the arrest was an isolated episode , and that their ringleader will keep silence . Ten days later they received the news of a failed revolt and mass arrests in Saint Petersburg . Muravyov ' s associates Kuzmin , Schepilo , Solovyov and Sukhinov realized that now the ring narrowed around themselves and settled for an open revolt . They rushed to Trylesy and set Muravyov - Apostol and Bestuzhev - Ryumin free . Colonel Goebel was injured in a sword fight and left to bleed but survived . Soldiers of Kuzmin ' s 5th company of the Chernigov Regiment stationed in Trylisy supported their officers , and on the following day Muravyov - Apostol assumed command and declared an open revolt . Unlike the action in Saint Petersburg , where soldiers were lured into defending Constantine Pavlovich as " the " legitimate monarch , the Chernigov Regiment soldiers were clearly told of the anti - government , anti - monarchist nature of the revolt . They marched west to nearby Kovalivka and absorbed the 2nd company . December 30 the rebels ' vanguard reached Vasylkiv . Major Trukhin , the highest - ranking loyalist of the Chernigov regiment , attempted to quell the rebels and was lynched on the spot . Without further resistance the whole regiment united in an open revolt against monarchy . The rebels now counted one thousand men in strength , complete with regimental banner , purse and even their own chaplain Daniel Keyser but without field artillery . Their leaders divided over the course of action . The United Slavs pressed for immediate capture of Kiev , only one day ' s march away . Muravyov and Bestuzhev - Ryumin opposed immediate action until other regiments join the revolt . Their opinion prevailed . Muravyov issued orders to march west to Brusyliv , " away " from Kiev , to unite with " allied " Akhtyrka and Alexapol regiments . Defeat . 1825 Chernigov Regiment left Vasylkiv for Brusyliv . In Motovylivka Muravyov - Amursky learnt that the Decemrists of Alexapol Regiment refused to join the revolt , which made further westward movement useless . Muravyov - Amursky ordered an overnight stop at Motovylivka and took his time evaluating the alternatives . He finally settled on Bila Tserkva , were his lieutenant Vadkovsky apparently had influence over fellow officers of the 17th Jägers Regiment . He was not aware that by this time Vadkovsky was already arrested and that the government moved the unstable 17th Jägers away from Bila Tserkva . Meanwhile , the unexpected stopover and mounting uncertainty demoralized both enlisted men and career officers . Officers Apostol - Kegich , Mayevsky , Meschersky and Petin , who willfully joined the revolt , now deserted it . Soldiers indulged in harassing local Jews . The United Slavs managed to incite local Ukrainian peasants , but their support could not compensate for lack of strategy . Punishment . Immediately after suppression of the revolt the loyalists arrested the officers involved in the revolt , including those who deserted the rebels in Motovylivka . More arrests followed as the prisoners in Saint Petersburg reported their connections , real or imaginary . All commissioned officers were transported to the Peter and Paul Fortress in Saint Petersburg and faced the same investigators and judges as the Saint Peterburg Decembrists . The court in Saint Petersburg pronounced its statement July 9 , 1826 . Of 121 prisoners found guilty , 61 belonged to the Northern Society , 60 to the Southern Society and the United Slavs , although only a small fraction of them was directly involved in the revolt . Thirty - six Decembrists were sentenced to death . Nicholas commuted most of the sentences , although in an indiscriminate manner inconsistent with each individual ' s guilt . Five were actually hanged , including the Chernigov Regiment leaders Sergey Muravyov - Apostol and Mikhail Bestuzhev - Ryumin . Others received sentences ranging from demotion to Army service to life in Siberia . In 1828 one of the Chernigov Regiment veterans , Ivan Sukhinov , was indicted in an attempted prison riot and committed suicide . Prosecution of the Decembrists , most of them ethnic Russian nobles , by a government party led by ethnic Germans ( Geismar , Benckendorff , Osten - Sacken ) gave rise to rumours of a German conspiracy . Enlisted soldiers were punished right where they were detained . 1826 a commission based in Bila Tserkva reviewed 987 individual cases of Chernigov Regiment soldiers and found 51 of them innocent . 106 men were ran through the gauntlet . Three of them received a lethal dose of " twelve runs " ( 12 , 000 strikes ) and died , 103 survived with 1 , 000 to 4 , 000 strikes . They and the rest of the soldiers were transferred to serve in the action of the Caucasian War . Chaplain father Daniel was detained in a monastery for two months and then stripped of his nobility and clerical title and sent for hard work to Babruysk fortress . He was granted amnesty and a pension in 1858 .