PETLURA, SIMON (SEMYON) VASILIEVICH(1879–1926), Ukrainian military and political figure, leader nationalist movement in Ukraine during the Civil War. Born on May 10 (22), 1879 in Poltava in a large bourgeois family. Father, V. Petliura, was a small businessman and cab driver. He studied at the Poltava Theological Seminary. He became interested in socialist and nationalist ideas, and in 1900 he joined the Revolutionary Ukrainian Party (RUP). In 1901 he was expelled from the seminary after a conflict with its leadership. He made a living by tutoring. In 1902 he moved to Ekaterinodar (modern Krasnodar); worked in the Kuban archive with F.A. Shcherbina, selecting materials for his work on the history of Kuban Cossack army. Created in Ekaterinodar “Black Sea free society"(Kuban branch of RUP). Arrested in December 1903. In March 1904 he was released on bail pending trial. He fled to Kyiv, where he collaborated in the magazines “Public Thought” and “Rada”. Fearing arrest, he moved to Lvov (Austria-Hungary); was a volunteer student at Lviv University. Together with V.K. Vinnichenko established control over the local organization of the RUP. Participant of the II Congress of the RUP, renamed the Ukrainian Social Democratic workers' party(USDRP); became a member of its Central Committee. Actively supported software requirement broad autonomy of Ukraine. In 1905 he moved to St. Petersburg; edited the Ukrainian monthly “Free Ukraine”. Upon returning to Kyiv, he continued his journalistic activities in the newspaper “Rada” and the organ of the USDRP “Slovo”; worked as an accountant at the Eastern Transport Partnership. After a short stay in St. Petersburg, he settled in Moscow in 1907; played a prominent role in the Ukrainian community, was part of the circle of academician F.E. Korsh, a passionate defender of Ukrainian culture. He was associated with the nationalist circles “Kobzar” and “Hromada”; Served as an accountant at the Rossiya insurance company. Since 1912 - editor of the newspaper " Ukrainian life».
During the First World War, he worked in the All-Russian Union of Zemstvos and Cities, created in 1914 to help the government organize supplies for the Russian army. He held the position of chairman of the main control commission of the Union on the Western Front.
February Revolution, which caused a rise in mass national movement in Ukraine, brought Petliura to the surface political life. In April 1917 he headed the Ukrainian Committee of the Western Front. In May, at the 1st Ukrainian Military Congress, he was elected chairman of the General Military Committee of the Central Rada (the body of all-Ukrainian power created on March 4, 1917). On June 28 (July 11) he joined the General Secretariat of the Rada as General Secretary for Military Affairs. Actively carried out the Ukrainization of units Southwestern Front. He advocated the federal reorganization of Russia.
After October revolution moved to a position of independence. November 7 (20), 1917 The Central Rada proclaimed the creation of the Ukrainian people's republic. November 15 (28) Petlyura was appointed general secretary military affairs (Minister of War) of the new Ukrainian government. Announced the reassignment of Ukrainianized divisions to the Central Rada; disarmed many units of the Russian army stationed in Ukraine that were under the influence of the Bolsheviks; He joined military cooperation With Don Ataman Kaledin. On December 31, 1917 (January 13, 1918) he resigned due to disagreement with the pro-German orientation of the Central Rada and its indecisive military policy.
In connection with the Bolshevik offensive in Ukraine at the beginning of January 1918, he created a special military unit– “Ukrainian haidamak kosh” Sloboda Ukraine" Suppressed the uprising of workers at the Arsenal plant that broke out in Kyiv; fought with Red detachments on the outskirts of Kyiv. After the defeat of the troops of the Central Rada near Kruty and the fall of Kyiv on January 26 (February 8), 1918, together with the government, he took refuge in Volyn.
The German occupation of Ukraine and the restoration of the power of the Central Rada allowed Petliura to return to Kyiv. In April 1918 he was elected head of the All-Ukrainian Union of Zemstvos. After the overthrow of the Central Rada on April 29, 1918, he stood in opposition to the regime of Hetman P.P. Skoropadsky established as a result of the coup. He protested against his anti-democratic and “anti-national” policies. On July 27, 1918 he was arrested on charges of anti-government conspiracy. He was released on November 13, having given his word of honor not to oppose Skoropadsky. On November 14, he went to Bila Tserkva, where, together with the leaders of the Ukrainian National, he led the anti-Hetman uprising. Became a member of the new government body - the Ukrainian Directory - and the commander of its armed forces (chief ataman of the Ukrainian people's army).
On December 14, Petliura's troops occupied Kyiv, overthrew the Skoropadsky regime and proclaimed the restoration of the Ukrainian People's Republic. On January 16, the Directory declared war Soviet Russia. On February 4, under the pressure of the Bolsheviks, the Petliurists had to leave Kyiv; the government moved to Vinnitsa. After the resignation of V.K. Vinnichenko on February 10, Petlyura headed the Directory and began to pursue a radical nationalist, anti-Russian and anti-Semitic course (condoned mass pogroms against Jews). In March 1919 he tried to get help from France and the United States, promising to give the Entente control railways, banks, major industries and enter into a military alliance with Denikin. The successful offensive of the Red Army forced the Petliurites to retreat to Western Ukraine (the Directorate moved first to Proskurov and then to Kamenets-Podolsk). At the end of March, the main forces of the Ukrainian People's Army were defeated, but Petliura with the remnants of his troops broke through to Galicia; the government settled in Rivne. In April-May, the Petliurites organized Western Ukraine a series of uprisings against Soviet power, which were suppressed by the Bolsheviks.
The offensive of Denikin's troops in Ukraine in the summer of 1919 allowed Petliura's troops, together with the Galician Corps ( military formation Western Ukrainian People's Republic) to occupy part of Right Bank Ukraine and even capture Kiev for a few hours (August 30). But the Directory failed to reach an agreement with Denikin, to whose side the Galician Corps went over. In September-October 1919, the Whites ousted Petliurist detachments from most of Right Bank Ukraine. Petlyura tried to lead guerrilla warfare with the Denikins and even enter into an alliance with the Bolsheviks. However, he gained nothing from the defeat of the White Army by the Reds in October-December 1919; by the beginning of January 1920, the Bolsheviks captured almost the entire territory of Ukraine. The remnants of Petliura's troops retreated to Polish territory.
April 21, 1920 Petliura concluded with the head Polish state J.Pilsudski Warsaw Pact on a joint struggle with Soviet Russia, agreeing to join Poland Eastern Galicia, Western Volyn and part of Polesie in exchange for recognition of the independence of Ukraine. On April 25, the offensive of Polish and Petliura troops in Ukraine began, and on May 6 they captured Kyiv. The directory headed by Petliura settled in Vinnitsa. But the successful counter-offensive of the Red Army in late May - early July 1920 led to the restoration of Soviet power throughout Ukraine. Petlyura's attempt to organize a mass anti-Bolshevik partisan movement on Right Bank Ukraine and reach an agreement on joint actions with General Wrangel ended in failure. After the defeat by the Reds in November 1920 main force Petliurists - the Iron Division - and their capture of Kamenets-Podolsk, he emigrated along with the government to Poland.
In the fall of 1921, with the support of Poland and Romania, he tried to organize a new invasion of Ukraine, hoping for widespread discontent Ukrainian peasantry the policy of “war communism”, however, the Petliurist detachments were defeated by the division of G.I. Kotovsky. At the end of 1923 he left Poland for Hungary, fearing extradition to the Soviet authorities. In 1924 he moved to Austria, then to Switzerland. At the end of 1924 he settled in Paris, where he made an attempt to unite the Ukrainian emigration around the weekly Trizub. On May 25, 1926, he was killed in Paris by Sholom Schwartzbard, who shot him with a cyanide charge. In October 1927, a Paris court acquitted Schwartzbard, taking into account his motives (revenge for his relatives and for all Jews who died during the Petliura pogroms of 1919–1920).
Ivan Krivushin
On a hot spring day in 1926, a decently dressed monsieur stood on a Parisian sidewalk, looking through the glass at the books displayed in the window. Another gentleman approached him and quietly called out to him, calling his first and last name. The literature lover turned around, and shots were immediately heard, they thundered until the drum of the revolver full turn. The gendarmes came running, they approached the killer with caution, and he calmly gave them the weapon and surrendered.
So in 1926, on May 26, the biography of Simon Vasilyevich Petliura, one of the most famous wrestlers for Ukrainian independence, a forced emigrant and a convinced anti-Semite. He was only forty-seven years old, but he managed to become famous and become the object of hunting Soviet security officers. The first suspicions fell on them. A carefully conducted investigation confirmed the veracity of the words of Samuil Schwartzbad (that was the name of the shooter), who claimed that what he had done was revenge for a family of fifteen people killed by Petliurists in Ukraine, and that he himself was not a Bolshevik agent, but a simple Jew.
The jury completely acquitted Schwartzbad, admitting that Vasilievich was to blame for the death of his relatives. The biography presented to the court rejected all doubts that the murdered man initiated numerous ethnic cleansings carried out against both the Jewish and Russian populations.
May 17, 1879 in the Poltava large poor family a boy was born who was named Simon. His father was a cab driver; the young man could only receive an education at the seminary, which he entered. Ideas about what the future of Ukraine should be were formed by young man within the walls of this educational institution, there he became a member of the Revolutionary Ukrainian Party in 1900, political organization nationalist sense. The young man's hobbies were varied; he loved music and read Marx. In those years, there were many Jews among his friends, from which we can conclude that he became an anti-Semite for political reasons.
For protests and insolence, Simon was expelled from the seminary (1901), and two years later he was arrested. The freedom fighter of Ukraine did not languish in prison for long; a year later he was released on bail, after which he got a job as an accountant of the Rossiya insurance company, not forgetting about the party’s underground work. In 1914, the seditious man did not get to the front line, his service was not burdensome, he held the position of deputy commissioner of the Union of Zemstvos.
Active political biography Petlyura began after the February Revolution. He immediately became the head of the General Military Committee under the Central Rada. Political situation made it possible to declare the state sovereignty of Ukraine, which was immediately done. After the October coup, the armed forces of the independent republic were reorganized. sounded like a song for any nationalist patriot: “Kurenny Ataman”, “Koshev Ataman”, “Korunzhiy”...
The Ukrainian army must speak Ukrainian, and the Russian army must leave Nenka, these were the first orders. Independence, however, turned out to be more of a sham than a real one; after his imprisonment, the Minister of War came under the command of the German General Staff along with the “Blue Zhupannikov” divisions under his control. The Germans soon preferred to deal with Hetman Skoropadsky. Petliura's biography during this period consists of continuous tortuous maneuvers. He promises Ukraine to the Ukrainians and, it’s unclear what, to the Germans and French.
Of all these tempting offers, the most realistic was the opportunity to rob with impunity. Of course, it was forbidden to requisition the property of Ukrainians, but in such confusion, how can you figure out who is a Jew and who is a “Muscovite”...
By 1919, the situation in Ukraine was completely confused. The Reds fought with the Whites, the Entente sent in troops, the Poles were not at a loss either, Nestor Makhno controlled significant territories, and the Petliurists sided with everyone who agreed to form a temporary alliance with them. The Reds and Denikin refused such help, and the Germans and French demanded too high a price for their intercession.
Petlyura's political biography ended in 1921. If anyone needed him, it was the Bolsheviks in order to shoot him. From Poland, whose leadership was increasingly inclined to decide on extradition, he had to flee to Hungary, then to Austria, and finally to Paris. Here Stepan Mogila (aka Simon Vasilyevich Petlyura) edits the Trizub magazine, a printed organ Ukrainian nationalists, articles in which are replete with the word “Jew” and all its derivatives.
This went on for another couple of years. It all ended in 1926. The funeral took place at the Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris.
Today in independent Ukraine, Petliura is remembered much less often than Mazepa or Bandera. It’s not clear why this is so, because the methods of all three are so similar...
(1879-1926) Ukrainian politician
Until recently, Simon Vasilyevich Petlyura was considered more of a caricature than historical figure. Meanwhile, the life of this man is full of extraordinary events and hardly fits into the standard framework that has hitherto been limited to his official biography.
Simon Petliura was born in Poltava, a small city in Ukraine, famous for poem of the same name A. Pushkin and the works of N. Gogol. Petlyura's family came from the bourgeoisie, but proudly called themselves “Cossacks.” Simon Petliura himself was proud that his ancestor had proven himself back in the times of the Zaporozhye Sich.
After finishing third grade parochial school Simon was sent to the Poltava Theological Seminary. There he studied well and was repeatedly awarded certificates of merit. However, in his last grades, the young man became interested in revolutionary ideas and joined the Revolutionary Ukrainian Party (RUP).
The activities of this party were then prohibited, so he was expelled from the seminary with a “wolf ticket.” Hiding from police surveillance, he moved to Yekaterinodar, where he tried to continue his studies, but it was difficult to do, and then Simon Vasilyevich Petlyura passed the exams as an external student.
He continued to study revolutionary activity and in Yekaterinodar, therefore, in 1903, together with other members of the Kuban organization of the Revolutionary Ukrainian Party, he was arrested. True, his trial never took place, and in March 1904 he was released on bail.
Petliura immediately left for Kyiv, where he planned to continue his education. But the doors Kyiv University were closed to him. Then he went to Lvov, where he became a volunteer student at the local university. In parallel with his studies, Simon continued his party work. He becomes an employee of the editorial office of the magazine "Selyanin", the legal printed organ of the Revolutionary Ukrainian Party.
In January 1906, Symon Petliura was sent to the congress of the Ukrainian Social Democratic Party, where he represented the leadership of the RUP. When he returned to Lvov, the Galician police placed him under public surveillance. Fearing that he would end up in prison again, Petliura moved to Moscow.
With the help of friends, he gets a job as an accountant at the Rossiya insurance company. But his main occupation is publishing the magazine “Ukrainian Life”. He not only edited articles, but also published his own works there.
Simon Vasilyevich Petlyura spent almost ten years in Moscow, until the very beginning of the First World War. When he published his article-appeal “War and Ukrainians.” In it, Petliura wrote that Ukrainians would fulfill their duty as Russian citizens to the end, and argued that the Ukrainian population of Austria-Hungary supported Russia.
These views of his did not go unnoticed, and after being drafted into the army, Simon Petliura became chairman of the Main Control Commission of the All-Russian Zemstvo Union on the Western Front.
After the February Revolution, he was elected chairman of the Ukrainian Front Committee of the Western Front. At that time, Ukrainian soldiers were grouped around this organization, who sought to prevent the capture of their country by Austro-German troops.
Simon Vasilyevich Petlyura understood that without Russia Ukraine would lose its independence, so he advocated an alliance with the Provisional Government, although he remained a supporter independent Ukraine within the framework of the federal Russian state. It is known that his proposal was not accepted by either the Provisional Government or the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.
However, supporters of Symon Petliura advocated war to a victorious end. Simon Vasilyevich headed the General Military Committee, which adopted a resolution on the immediate Ukrainization of the army and the preservation of the existing front.
The Provisional Government did not approve either the organization or Petliura’s post. However, at that time Simon Vasilievich had not yet decided to open performance against the Provisional Government.
After the October armed uprising in Petrograd, when all power in Ukraine passed to the Central Rada, he becomes Secretary General of Military Affairs in Ukraine. Already on November 15, 1917, he gave orders to the Ukrainian military units, located in Moscow and Kazan, begin moving to Ukraine.
In order to prevent the Bolsheviks from coming to power, by order of Petlyura, many units of the Russian army located on the territory of Ukraine were disarmed, and the soldiers were expelled to Russia.
At the same time, Simon Vasilyevich Petlyura appealed to the independent governments of Moldova, Crimea, Bashkiria, the Caucasus, Siberia and the Kazakh Union with an appeal to form an all-Russian federal government, which was supposed to become a counterweight to the government of Soviet Russia. These actions, of course, led to a break with Moscow.
But Petlyura did not stop there. He sent Ukrainian units to the front, which were supposed to fight against the Bolsheviks in the army of General Kaledin. On December 3, 1917, V. Lenin presented an ultimatum to the Ukrainian Rada, demanding that all power be transferred to the Bolsheviks.
At the Congress of Soviets of Ukraine, Symon Petliura made a famous statement in which he said that “Lenin is preparing a stab in the back for Ukraine.” At the same time, he addressed an appeal to the Ukrainian army, proposing to maintain the existing front and prevent its disarmament. But the Ukrainian government supported peace talks in Brest-Litovsk and agreed to the introduction of German and Austro-Hungarian troops into Ukraine.
Having learned about this decision, Petliura resigned and already in January 1918 left for left bank Ukraine, where he created the “Ukrainian Gaydamatsky Kosh”. The troops loyal to him played a major role in the battles for Kyiv and prevented the Bolshevik uprising from spreading throughout Ukraine.
In April 1918, Simon Vasilyevich Petlyura was elected head of the Kyiv provincial zemstvo, and a little later of the All-Ukrainian Union of Zemstvos. After the coup, as a result of which Hetman P. Skoropadsky came to power, Petliura began to openly oppose him.
After the new administration began persecuting the bodies of democratic self-government, Simon Petliura sent a memorandum to the Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian ambassadors in Kyiv, in which he asked for help in combating violations of democratic freedoms in the republic.
On Petliura’s initiative, the All-Ukrainian Zemstvo Congress, convened on June 16, 1918, adopted a statement in which it warned Skoropadsky’s government that its policy was leading to disaster. However, Symon Petliura’s warning this time went unheeded. Moreover, he was arrested and sent to Bila Tserkva under guard. From there he led an armed uprising against the hetman's regime.
After the Directory came to power, Petliura became commander of the army of the Ukrainian People's Rada. But he lasted in power for about six months. Already at the beginning of 1919, he realized that he would not be able to achieve the independence of Ukraine.
However, he had a negative attitude towards Bolshevik power. Petliura wrote: “Between Tsarist Russia and communist Russia there is no difference for us, because both of them represent only different shapes despotism and imperialism."
Simon Vasilyevich Petlyura remained in Ukraine until October 1920, then, together with the government of the Ukrainian People's Rada, he emigrated to Poland. After repeated demands from the Soviet government for his extradition, he moved first to Budapest, then to Vienna and finally to Paris. There, at the end of May 1926, Simon Petliura was killed, according to one version, by agents of the OGPU, according to another - by one of the emigrants who took revenge on him for the Jewish pogroms in Ukraine.
Simon Vasilyevich Petlyura (1879 - 1926) - Ukrainian political and military leader, freemason, not recognized as a “brother”. Adhering to left-wing nationalist views, he dedicated his life to the idea of liberating Ukraine. To escape from the “triangle of death,” Petliura gave part of the Ukrainian lands to Poland, but he made a mistake - she soon concluded an agreement with Russia. For the rest of his years he was forced to hide in Paris. Where he was brutally murdered by a man who believed that Simon Petliura was responsible for the genocide of the Jewish people.
Simon Petlyura was born in Poltava, in large family charioteer. Elementary education the boy received his education at a parochial school, and from 1895 he studied at a theological seminary. Then he got carried away socialist movement, which spread its influence to Ukraine from Europe and the Russian Empire.In Ukraine, this movement had its own characteristics: young people kept the Manifesto in one pocket Communist Party, and in the other - Shevchenko’s “Kobzar”. In 1900, Petliura joined this movement. In 1903, the young revolutionary Petlyura moved to Lvov. In 1911, he founded the magazine “Ukrainian Life”, where he became editor-in-chief. When the February Revolution of 1917 broke out, Symon Petliura plunged into the maelstrom of events, becoming one of the leading political figures in Ukraine - Secretary of Military Affairs. At the end of December 1917, he quarreled with General Secretary V. Vinnychenko and left the government.
In 1918, a hetman's coup took place, but Petliura continued to criticize the activities of this government. The patience of the authorities came to a limit, and in July 1918 Symon Petliura was arrested and imprisoned for four months. Autumn 1918 Ukrainian army found herself in the “triangle of death”, surrounded by A. Denikin’s white army, Bolshevik troops and Polish army General Yu. Haller.
Then Symon Petliura was released and, taking the reins of power in Ukraine into his own hands, convened a military meeting on December 4, 1918. He decided that in this situation it was necessary to fight using guerrilla methods. In addition, Petliura compromised with the Poles and accepted their conditions. He gave Poland part of the western lands - 162 thousand square meters. km with 11 million citizens. However, this sacrifice was in vain. The Polish government soon concluded an agreement with Soviet Russia.
Simon Petlyura fled to Warsaw. In Ukraine reigned Soviet authority, and in 1923 the government Soviet Ukraine demanded that Poland extradite the enemy of the people - Petlyura. As a result, Petliura and her family had to flee to Vienna and then to Paris. There Simon continued to actively conduct nationalist activities and was engaged in journalism. On May 25, 1926, Symon Petlyura was killed by a Jewish anarchist who believed that he should pay for the Jewish pogroms. This happened on one of the Parisian streets, when Petlyura stopped near the window of a bookstore. A man in a work blouse caught up with him and called him by name. Simon turned around and the man pulled out a revolver and opened fire. Turning pale from pain and fear, Simon only managed to shout: “Enough! Enough!”, but the killer fired several more fatal bullets. The criminal then surrendered to the police without resisting. The identity of the shooter was immediately established - it was Samuel Schwartzbard, a Jew, for a long time lived in Ukraine. He stated that he wanted to avenge the death of his loved ones who died at the hands of Petliurists.
According to some sources, the killer was personally acquainted with Nestor Makhno. Makhno himself, when speaking at the trial, stated that he tried to dissuade Schwartzbard from killing him, since he did not consider Petliura an anti-Semite. Realizing that his comrade-in-arms would still decide to kill, Makhno tried to warn Petlyura, but this did not help either.
The killer's lawyer put forward next version defense: 15 relatives of Schwarzbard, including his parents, were killed by Petliurists in Ukraine during pogroms against Jews. The lawyer believed that even if these pogroms took place without Petlyura’s knowledge, he still bore personal responsibility for the crime, being the head of state. Ukrainian historian Dmitry Tabachnik claims that the archives of Berlin contain about 500 documents that contain evidence of Petlyura’s personal involvement in the pogroms. There are similar opinions of other historians on this topic.
Petliura’s associates presented more than 200 documents to the trial, irrefutably demonstrating that Petliura harshly suppressed all manifestations of anti-Semitism in his army. For example, on March 20, 1920, he ordered the execution of 22-year-old Ataman Semesenko because he gave the order to his “Zaporozhye Brigade” to exterminate everything Jewish population in the city of Proskurovo. His 500 thugs, divided into three groups, broke into houses and massacred entire families, not even sparing young children. More than a thousand people were killed during the day, mostly with bladed weapons. Only Orthodox priest they killed him with a bullet when he, holding a cross in his hands, tried to stop the fanatics. It was reported that because of this crime, on March 20, 1920, on the orders of Petlyura, the ataman was shot.
Witnesses A. Chomsky and P. Langevin, who spoke on the side of the defense, testified that the “trial” and “sentence” were staged, and Semesenko was secretly released on the orders of Petliura. The lawyer also proved that most of the documents allegedly proving Petliura’s non-involvement in the pogroms were drawn up after the expulsion of the Petliuraites from Ukraine and were not signed by Petliura at all.
This version was also accepted by the French court, which acquitted the killer. In turn, leaders of the Ukrainian emigration almost unanimously (with a few exceptions) rejected the accusation of pogroms and declared Schwartzbard an agent of the GPU, and Petliura a patriot of his people.
THE EXECUTION OF KING CHARLES LEADED THE COUNTRY TO THE FIRST AND LAST REPUBLIC.
Charles 1 was the only one English monarch, who was convicted of treason and the sentence was carried out. This event was one of the most controversial in the history of the Stuart dynasty. No English law could establish the correctness trial against Charles 1. The king was supreme body authorities and inferiors had no legal power to judge the king without support supreme ruler. There were enough opponents of the king in parliament, but only one of them truly wanted him dead. Oliver Cromwell was the one who had King Charles executed. His signature was the third in the court verdict. English historians They called Cromwell the king's murderer.
Charles 1 of the Stuart dynasty was born on November 19, 1600. Since 1603 Duke of Albany of Scotland. Since 1605 Duke of York Anglican. From 1625 to 1649 king of England, Scotland and Ireland. Charles 1 was youngest son Scottish king James 1 and Anna of Denmark from the Oldenburg dynasty.
Karl grew up as a sickly and frail child, so he was not particularly involved in physical and mental education and early years nothing foreshadowed his direct accession to the throne. This privilege was awarded to Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, Charles's elder brother. Everything changed when Henry suddenly fell ill with typhus and died suddenly. Thus, 12-year-old Charles became the direct and only heir to the throne. On the fatal throne the future king absolute monarchy entered at the age of 25 and by his reign ensured that at the age of 49 he was condemned by his parliament and beheaded as a traitor to his country and a tyrant of his people. But it was a criminal execution against the king. To convict the king legally, the judges resorted to the help of a Dutch lawyer. Isaac Dorislaus drew up a verdict of guilty based on ancient Roman law, which mentioned a military body that had the right to legally overthrow a tyrant. At that time, the army led by Oliver Cromwell, with the support of parliamentarians, received enormous power, which, soon, even parliament itself could not control.
The prerequisites for the execution of the king arose in constant conflict the monarch and the House of Commons. Charles 1 held the three main pillars of government in his hands. Politics, economics and religion were the main reasons constant discontent army, people and parliament. The people saw the king as a tyrant who arbitrarily set and raised taxes without the consent of parliament and pushed the country towards Catholicism. Religious innovations led to popular riots. Karl believed that he was God's anointed and had the right to rule the country alone, but the House of Commons did not want to accept the absolute rule of the monarch. During the years of his reign, the king convened parliament five times and immediately dissolved it, since each time he asked for money to arm the army and navy for another war, and parliamentarians refused to pay for the military whims of the head of state. In response, parliament put forward its conditions to the king, but he did not want to meet them. Mainly, Charles was required to renounce the right to propose new taxes and control over them in favor of parliament. The king agreed to this only after 11 years of sole rule, when he was forced to reconvene parliament. This historical moment in the reign of Charles 1 was the beginning of his end.
On March 27, 1625, Charles 1 received the throne and crown. During the first half of his reign, he fought with parliament over taxes and with the people over religion. In addition, he took on the role supreme commander in chief. His closest adviser and friend was the Duke of Buckingham, who convinced the king to start a war with Catholic Spain. Charles agreed because he considered war one of the ways to show his power. In June 1625, the king convened parliament and demanded subsidies. The House of Commons refused. The reason was more likely to be in Lord Buckingham than in distrust of the king. But Charles accepted the refusal as an insult to the crown and dissolved parliament. From the very beginning of Charles's reign, opposition formed in parliament. One of the king's ardent opponents, Sir John Eliot, who hated Buckingham, at the second meeting of Parliament in 1626 demanded his removal. For this demand, Charles again dissolved parliament. In 1628, Buckingham turned the king's gaze to France. Charles made his advisor Lord High Admiral and sent the French rebels to protect him. But this campaign was a failure and for this the number of haters of the royal favorite increased. From personal grievance a naval officer killed an admiral. But the king blamed parliament and J. Eliot personally for the death of his beloved friend. Meanwhile, Eliot continued to interfere with the king and prevented him from increasing taxes without the consent of Parliament. Thus, in 1629, Charles 1 dispersed the demanding parliamentarians for the third time, and sent Eliot to prison. From that moment on, the king continued to rule independently of parliament for 11 years. It cannot be said that Karl did not do anything good for the country during this period, but this did not help prevent the growing tragedy for him and the entire country as a whole.
The main threat to the king originated in popular riots. The king's problems revolved around religion and lack of Money. His marriage to the Roman Catholic princess of France, Marie Henrietta, aroused suspicion among the popular masses. The king introduced new religious canons that were alien to the Presbyterian population. Charles tried to forcefully impose the Anglican form of worship. Most of all, this outraged the subjects of Scotland. Already in 1637, individual pockets grew into general popular unrest. In order to suppress the Scottish uprising, in December 1640 Charles had to again turn to parliament in order to receive funds. And again the king was refused. Parliament was dissolved. Meanwhile, the uprising throughout the country took on threatening forms, and within a year the king for the fifth and last time convened parliament. New chapter Parliament John Pym was an ardent opponent of the king. He demanded that Charles transfer the army under the leadership of parliament. The king categorically refused. Eventually the conflict escalated into civil war. The army of the king is royalists against the roundheads - the army of parliament. Despite the fact that the king's army won the first years, but in the end Charles was defeated. The new model army led by Oliver Cromwell is to blame. Decisive Battle took place in June 1645 under Nasby. Already in 1647, Cromwell finally defeated King Charles 1.
When Karl was informed of his capture, he was playing chess. The completely calm king did not resist. He was confident that he would soon be celebrating his victory in Whitehall. In fact, Parliament did not want the king to be executed, but only uniform distribution authorities. But until his death, Karl was convinced that only he had the right to power in the state. The king refused the deal with parliament and signed his own sentence. The king's friend lamented that it had never been so easy to regain the almost lost crown.
Later, imprisoned in a cell, the king secretly negotiated with the Scots and invaded northern England, but Cromwell defeated these futile attempts by the king to regain power.
The parliamentarians' patience has run out. It was necessary to either agree to the king's terms or execute him. This was unheard of; in fact, no court could try the king.
Charles was tried on January 1, 1649 in London as a tyrant, traitor and murderer of the public and an implacable enemy of the Commonwealth of England. When the king appeared at Westminsterhall, his appearance amazed everyone. Disheveled, gray-haired with sunken eyes, the king looked old. It should be noted that not all members of parliament appeared at the trial. Most of The House of Lords supported the king and did not want to participate in a dubious act. The process was difficult. The fact is that the indictment issued by the House of Commons could not have legal force without the approval of the House of Lords. The king himself did not recognize the legal right of those gathered to judge him and refused to defend himself. Everything that was said by the king no longer had any role. The court found him guilty. Only 59 members signed the death warrant, which Cromwell greatly disliked. But still, the majority of those present approved the execution of King Charles by cutting off his head. Hearing the verdict, Karl laughed mockingly.
On the day of the execution, January 30, 1649, it was so bitterly cold that the Thames was covered with a thick layer of ice. Karl asked to put on two warm shirts so that in the cold he would not shiver and those around the scaffold would not take it for fear. He put two pearl earrings in his ears, put an orange studded with cloves in his pocket and drank a sip of claret. Charles ordered his executioner to wait until he prayed, and then, at a sign of his hand, carry out the sentence. All the king said out loud was: “I’m going to a place where I won’t worry about anything and nothing will bother me...”