Khodynka Tragedy

Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra were coronated as emperor and empress of Imperial
Russia on the 14th of May 1896. Four days later, a parade was to be held at Khodynka Field.
Khodynka was a popular site for races, military parades and fairs, and at the time of the
coronation, housed an army of Russian soldiers. Traditionally, the days following a coronation
were supposed to belong to the people, and the new Tsar was determined that the fete would
have unprecedented attendance, entertainment and generosity. It was to symbolise a
prosperous future under the newly crowned emperor, and gifts were to be distributed to the
people. On the evening before the parade on the 17th of May, Russian citizens began flocking
to the field from all across Moscow, and by the early morning of the 18th, there were over
500,000 people waiting for the festivities to begin. The initial mood of the people and the festive
atmosphere had changed, with many losing consciousness from a lack of air and exhaustion
from a lack of food or a long travel to Khodynka. When rumours that gifts were being distributed
began to spread, and that there would be an insufficient amount to give to all the people, the
attendees began to rush forward. People pushed against the barriers, with those directly at the
front being crushed against them. When the barriers were eventually toppled by the sheer force
of the crowd, those at the front were trampled under the heavy feet of the people behind, and
many were killed. Khodynka field was also covered in ditches and holes that became filled with
the bodies of dead and dying people. The crushing continued for 10 minutes, with police and
army personnel looking on helplessly at the carnage and slaughter occurring before their eyes.
The Russian correspondent for the London Times wrote that “no such holocaust of human
victims has ever before been caused by a crowd in the open air, and probably no such ghastly
disfigurement of the dead has ever been seen on any modern battlefield… I was present on
many of the battlefields around Plevna and cannot remember having seen anything so horrible.”
After the stampede had stopped, an estimated 1,389 people had died. Police and firemen at the
scene worked for several days to extricate the dead and dying people. Red Cross vans, fire
brigade carts and even furniture vans were used to transport the bodies first to the hospital and
eventually to Vagankov Cemetery. 80% of the people on the field returned to locate missing
loved ones, with the remainder still waiting for the arrival of the Tsar. When the Tsar eventually
appeared at 2pm on the 18th, the crowd greeted him with loud cheering and music, before the
imperial suite returned to Petrovskii Palace 15 minutes later. Some witnesses reported that a lot
of the enthusiasm from the crowd was artificial, with ‘pseudo-folk’ being assembled around the
pavilion to bow and cheer, whilst others raised their hands and pointed towards the mass of
bodies trying to get the Tsar’s attention, but were ignored.
Following the processions, many writers and reporters sought answers as to who was
responsible. While the general opinion in Moscow and the West was that the victims were to
blame, others such as Aylmer Maude blamed it on the people’s alienation by Russian society.
Maude argued that the people had worked extremely hard and witnessed the value generated
by their labour being spent on lavish palaces, and were anxious to secure something tangible
for themselves in return. Members of the Russian intelligentsia blamed the autocratic regime
itself, stating that the authorities had poorly prepared for the festivities. A similar incident
occurred during the coronation of Alexander III, the previous Tsar in 1883, where 32 people
were killed in a stampede at the same field. A Special Commission for the Arrangement of the
Coronation Popular Spectacles and Festivities was formed in March 1895 to create a timetable
of coronation activities. Although it was noted that the ground of the field was irregular, no plans
were made to rectify it, and no one had bothered to personally examine the fairgrounds. The
best indication of poor organisation on the part of the Russian authorities was the severe lack of
a police and military presence to control the crowd, along with the absurd arrangement of stalls.
There was also a lack of medical personnel and equipment which lead to many people dying of
treatable wounds following the stampede. Captain L’vovich, commanding 12 Cossacks, 2 police
constables and 46 soldiers reported that crowd numbers greatly exceeded expectations and he
required reinforcements. Several other officers sent similar telegrams requesting help. Adequate
reinforcements would not arrive. The Khodynka tragedy called into question the wisdom of Tsar
Nicholas II’s ministerial appointments, specifically Grand Duke Sergei, the Governor General of
Moscow, who was nicknamed ‘The Prince of Khodynka,’ and his continued presence in the
Tsar’s cabinet despite his apparent incompetence would create many new anti-monarchists.
Furthermore, both Nicholas and his wife would later attend the festive Montebello ball at the
French embassy the night of the tragedy on the 18th of May instead of suspending further
festivities. While bodies were being loaded on wagons, the Tsar and empress were drinking
champagne, eating luxurious food and dancing with other aristocrats and diplomats. Although
the Tsar himself was likely appalled at the loss of life at Khodynka, the tone-deaf response of
the Russian authorities caused great indignation towards the Tsar early on in his reign. Even
though Nicholas and Alexandra would attend hospitalised victims the day after the tragedy, it
received little public attention. The tragedy at Khodynka, in hindsight, would seemingly
foreshadow the rest of Nicholas’s reign, with disaster after disaster unfolding over the next
decade from the Russo-Japanese War to Bloody Sunday to World War I and eventually the
collapse of the Romanov dynasty and the Russian Revolution in 1917. The tragedy at Khodynka
made many Russians aware of the apathy that the aristocrats and monarchs felt towards the
lower classes of Russian society, building resentment that would eventually boil over into a full-
blown revolution. Thanks for watching.
Monarchy discredited? Reactions to the Khodynka coronation catastrophe of 1896 - Helen

Baker
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khodynka_Tragedy

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Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra were coronated as emperor and empress of Imperial

Monarchy discredited? Reactions to the Khodynka coronation catastrophe of 1896 - Helen

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