On December 22, 1849, the tsarist government staged a sadistically brutal and cold-blooded near-execution of 21 members of Petrashevsky’s circle. This was aimed at breaking their will and bringing them to their knees. The condemned were dressed in white shrouds, blindfolded and tied to stakes prior to being shot. The roll of drums resounded through the drill-ground the execution was being staged in, and the condemned were preparing to meet their fate when at the last moment an imperial A.D.C. came galloping into the square with a rescript from the tsar ordering the commutation of the death sentence to penal servitude, and then exile. Dostoyevsky’s life had been spared, but … Continue reading V. Yermilov