‘Enthusiasts’ and ‘Fanatics’: The Decembrists as a Case Study in French Influence on Russian Culture, Emotions and Thought

2026/04/16 by A. Kayode Coker · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #European Political History Analysis #History of Emotions Research #Soviet and Russian History

paper · doi:10.1111/1468-229x.70112

openalex publication_date 2026/04/16 · openalex created_date 2026/04/17 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21

Abstract

Abstract Participants in Russia's 1825 Decembrist uprising against the Tsarist regime were, quite literally, a case study in French cultural influence upon Russia. This is particularly true as it relates to Russia's emotional cultures. Although this has not, traditionally, been the primary focus of historical analysis of this event (in Soviet or Western scholarship), the episode left behind a wealth of insights on this special bilateral cultural relationship and the history of emotions in Russia, which this article explores.

Discussions

• #History #Skystorians Another new article! Adam Coker's ' "Enthusiasts" and "Fanatics": The Decembrists as a Case Study in French Influence on Russian Culture, Emotions, and Thought', OA, doi.org/10 [bsky, 2 points, 0 comments]

Related

• Вина и гордость: эпистолярный дискурс русского дворянства и следы Декабрьского восстания: Guilt and Pride: Tracing the Decembrist Uprising in the Epistolary Discourse of the Russian Nobility
• Introduction: Studying Russian Letters, From Literary and Social Practices to the History of Emotions
• William Le Queux and Russia
• Sympathy in the Russian Sentimental Letter of the 1770s
• От любви к разочарованию: выражение чувств как средство коммуникации между графом Н.П. Шереметевым и А.Ф. Малиновским (1800-е годы): From Love to Disappointment: The Expression of Feelings as a Means of Communication between Count Nikolai Sheremetev and Aleksei Malinovskii in the First Decade of the Nineteenth Century