On Saturday, December 13, Dr. Susanna Rabow-Edling presented “The First Russian Revolution. The Decembrist Revolt of 1825” as a part of the Russian History Museum’s Second Saturday online lecture series.

On December 14, 1825, young Russian officers led 3,000 troops to Senate Square in St. Petersburg, refusing to recognize Nicholas I as emperor and calling for a constitution.

Why did so many noblemen risk everything for political change?

About the Speaker

A political scientist by discipline, Dr. Susanna Rabow-Edling’s training was in the subfield of political thought, where political science intersects with history and philosophy. Dr. Rabow-Edling defended her doctoral dissertation at Stockholm University in 2001, had visiting fellowships at Cornell University and at Stanford University, and became an Associate Professor at the Institute of Russian and Eurasian Studies (IRES), Uppsala University, in 2012.

During 2019-2023, Dr. Rabow-Edling served as Director of the Master’s Program in Russian and Eurasian Studies at the Institute. Currently, she is Director of Research and Deputy Director at IRES. She is the author of four books: Slavophile Thought and the Politics of Cultural Nationalism (State University of New York Press: Albany, NY, 2006); Married to the Empire. Three Governors’ Wives in Russian America 1829-1864 (Fairbanks, AK, 2015); Liberalism in Pre-Revolutionary Russia. State, Nation, Empire (Abingdon and New York, 2019); The First Russian Revolution: The Decembrist Revolt of 1825.